(SPRINGFIELD) The FBI has released its 2023 Elder Fraud Report, revealing that nationwide fraud victims over 60 years old lost more than $3 billion collectively last year. Illinois was in the top five for biggest losses per state, with elder fraud victims in the state losing nearly $138 million. While nearly 6,000 of the over 100,000 complaints lost more than $100,000 last year in Illinois, most all other victims in the Land of Lincoln lost an average of $34,000.
(SPRINGFIELD) The Illinois Department of Public Health is reporting the first bird to test positive for West Nile virus in Illinois this year. The specimen was collected by the Douglas County Health Department a month ago yesterday (April 2nd) in Villa Grove. Last year, 67 Illinois counties reported a West Nile virus positive mosquito batch, bird, horse, and/or human case, which is up from 44 counties the year before in 2022. There were 119 human cases of West Nile virus around the state last year, along with six deaths reported.
(SPRINGFIELD) In light of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ confirmation that the agency may be open to a possible name change of Starved Rock State Park, along the Illinois River, north of Bloomington, several lawmakers have filed a resoluation in support of keeping the park’s current name. The group is calling for the preservation of the state park’s historic name as the bill notes the importance that the Starved Rock name has on the local communities and acknowledges the concerns regarding the potential renaming.
(SPRINGFIELD) Chronic wasting disease has been detected in Illinois, expanding the geographic presence of the infection in free-ranging deer populations in the northern part of the state. The Illinois DNR has announced that CWD was detected in Ford County in mid-March from a suspect-deer exhibiting symptoms consistent with infection. First documented in Illinois 22 years ago up in Wnnebago County, north of Rockford, CWD has since been detected in 21 total counties across the northern edge and northeastern portions of Illinois, but only as far south of Kankakee and Livingston Counties, all north of Route 24.