According to the latest ranking by U.S. News and World Report, 13 Illinois High Schools have been named among the best in the nation.

The rankings analyzed more than 20,500 public high schools across the country and 13 of Illinois’ public high schools received gold medal ratings. Gold medals were awarded to the top 500 schools, silver medals were given to the schools ranked between no. 501 and no. 2,711 and bronze medals were given to an additional 3,237 schools.

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NASA inducted Pekin native Captain Scott Altman into the U.S. Astronaut’s Hall of Fame on April 21 with a ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Altman is one of 98 other American astronauts to receive that honor, including Neil Armstrong, John Young and Gordon Fullerton.

Altman began his journey at Edison Junior High School in Pekin before continuing his education at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. There he studied aeronautical and astronautical engineering before joining the Navy and rising to the rank of captain. He later earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

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Illinois ranks fifth in the nation in net tech employment according to a new report from CompTIA CompTIA, one of the world’s leading technology industry associations.

Tech employment in Illinois grew by an estimated 4,040 jobs in 2017, contributing an estimated $48.7 billion to the state’s economy, according to the company’s Cyberstates Report

The added workers put Illinois’ tech industry total at 437,200 or 6.8 percent of the state’s total workforce. The average tech industry wage in Illinois is $100,580, compared to the state's average private sector annual wage of $57,360.

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Illinois hospitals have made great strides this year, making the state home to 37 of the safest hospitals in the country, according to a new report.

Every two years, the Leapfrog Group releases a list of the safest hospitals in the country after analyzing over 2,500 different hospitals across the nation.

Leapfrog analyzes these hospitals according to 27 criteria, including the number of infections in patients, problems arising from surgeries, the use of practices like computerized medication ordering, the strength of hospital leadership and more. The Leapfrog Group then assigns each hospital a safety rating in the form of a letter grade.

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Amazon is devoting a lot of effort to prevent packages from being stolen from porches and outside homes.

The online retailer is making a new service available to Amazon Prime members in 37 cities, including Chicago, who own a 2015 or newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac or Volvo. Those who can meet all these criteria will have the option of having their packages delivered to the trunk or back seat of their car, with a guaranteed safe delivery. These newer-model cars can be remotely unlocked, allowing Amazon's deliverers to receive a one-time access code to open the trunk in order to deliver the package. An alert is sent to customers once it is delivered.

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