(Springfield) A multistate salmonella outbreak has caused dozens of illnesses across 22 states, including Illinois. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a food safety alert for certain diced onion products from ‘Gill Onions’ that have been linked to the out break. Four (4) people in Illinois have been sickened. Go to the cdc.gov website for more.
(Springfield) Changes could soon be coming to Illinois’ early childhood education and care programs as Governor J.B. Pritzker is proposing change in Springfield. The plan would develop a new agency, to be called the Early Childhood Agency, that would function all under one roof. The new ECA in Illinois would focus on the Early Education block grant, which funds statewide preschool for all, the prevention initiative home visiting program, the child care assistance program and the home visiting and early intervention services, plus it would include an additional $250 Million in taxpayer funding for the child care Smart Start program. The cost of creating the new state agency is not yet known.
(Springfield) With the regular waterfowl seasons about to open, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is reminding hunters to be aware that they could encounter highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, again this year. While the state DNR will monitor the state for HPAI outbreaks dur5ing the fall bird migration, the public is also encouraged to be on the lookout for, and if found to report, large concentrations of twenty (20) or more deceased birds found in one location. The disease was first detected in wild Canadian Geese in Illinois in March of 2022. Further information is available on the aphis.usda.gov website online.
(Chicago) Another Illinois community is making a pitch to be the home of a potential Chicago Bears stadium. A Cook County commissioner is asking the team to consider Country Club Hills as a place to build a stadium complex. This comes after the Bears said in June that Arlington Park, which the team bought back in February, was no longer the only focus of a new stadium. Country Club Hills is now the fifth (5th) community to call the Bears. The team wants to move from Soldier Field, one of the NFL’s oldest and smallest stadiums.