Substantial progress has been made in the five years since McLean County began an overhaul of community mental health, but some of the toughest work lies ahead, according to two McLean County Board members who served as architects for the ambitious Mental Health Action Plan. A National Institute of Corrections study requested by former county
The abolition of the death penalty in Illinois was a long, arduous process spanning more than a decade. Former Illinois governor George Ryan took the first and difficult step in 2ooo to halt all executions until a thorough review of every death row case could be conducted. I recently talked with Ryan and Pulitzer Prize-winning
People forced to stay home during the months-long grip of COVID-19 are facing a second health challenge as anxiety, depression and stress take their toll. A Bloomington counseling center which serves those with little or no health insurance has expanded its services to include children and minority residents – two groups that often have difficulties
In his recent interview on the Legal Talk Network podcast, Senator Dick Durbin's recalled his time as a private attorney and his work defending claims against law enforcement agencies. One of those claims was filed against former DeWitt County Sheriff Keith Long whose office was the subject of a series of investigative stories published jointly
Sad news spread across central Illinois recently with the identification of Todd Ledbetter as the latest homicide victim in Champaign County. Todd also was the latest homeless person to be killed in Illinois. I met Todd several years ago when he was living on the streets of Bloomington. I was not aware he had moved
A fire ripped through the Clinton Assembly of God Church this week, leaving behind decades of special memories in the rubble. Lines of cars, moving like a funeral procession showing respect for a friend, drove slowly past the fire scene as the ash smoldered for hours. The church was once home to a daycare that
Before a McLean County jury acquitted Kirk Zimmerman of murder charges in 2019, residents of the Bloomington-Normal area were captivated by the case against the State Farm staffer accused of killing his ex-wife, Pam Zimmerman. The case caught the attention of producers with NBC's Dateline program. The June 2019 episode on the Bloomington case will
State prisons are among the places the coronavirus is spreading in our country. With testing happening on a limited basis and the obvious inability to social distance between inmates and staff, the novel virus has a strong foothold in penal institutions. Lawyers for inmates have filed lawsuits challenging the continued incarceration of medically vulnerable, elderly
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