Sen. Tammy Duckworth Asks Biden Administration To ‘Restore’ Renewable Fuel Standard

A group of senators is pushing the incoming Biden-Harris administration to “restore” the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) — a program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by requiring oil refineries to blend in a minimum volume of biofuels. Under the Trump administration, oil refineries were granted numerous waivers for meeting that requirement. Critics argue the […]
Migrant Farm Workers Allege Pesticide Exposure In Central IL

CHICAGO — More than two dozen migrant workers from Texas allege in a new federal lawsuit that they were sprayed with toxic pesticides while working in central Illinois cornfields. They include teenagers, workers in their 60s and a pregnant woman. The lawsuit alleges the workers were sprayed by a helicopter and plane treating fields in […]
Midwest Farmer Invents ‘Cluster Cluck 5000’ To Bring Livestock Back To Crop Fields

Zack Smith pats the snout of a pig that stretches up to greet him from inside the back pen of a mobile barn. On this field, Smith planted alternating…
‘Either I Risk It All Or Nothing At All’: Migrant Workers’ Need To Work Outweighs COVID-19 Concerns

On the outskirts of Rantoul, in east-central Illinois, about 100 migrant farmworkers are living at an old hotel in a sleepy part of town. Every day at…
‘We Have One Earth’: Researchers Work To Boost Farm Production Without Causing More Harm

At the edge of a corn field on a clear but windy June day, microbiologist Tom Moorman lifts a metal lid and reveals a collection of bottles, tubes,…
Corn Growers Struggle Amid Decreased Ethanol Demand

As the price of gasoline plummeted amid COVID-19 restrictions, so has the price of ethanol. And Midwestern corn farmers are beginning to feel the…
News Around Illinois – February 12, 2020

Actor Jussie Smollett Faces 6 New Charges In Chicago CHICAGO – Actor Jussie Smollett has been indicted for a second time on charges of lying to police about a racist and anti-gay attack he allegedly staged on himself last year in downtown Chicago. The indictment came from a special prosecutor who was appointed after Cook […]