U of I's Dial-a-Carol provides holiday cheer on demand

As final exams wind down for the semester at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, students in one dormitory are on their way to shattering a joyful holiday record 56 years in the making.

U of I students in Snyder Hall have been operating the Dial-a-Carol hotline for a week in December every year since 1960. People from all over the world phone the hotline – 217-332-1882 – to be serenaded by students who will sing a requested holiday carol to each caller.

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Keep Your Hunting Fresh

As we make our way into November, it’s easy as a sportsman to be drawn into the urgent feelings of a progressing archery deer season, the impending firearms season soon to come or the call of the Canada geese as they make their way down from the north to winter on the lakes and in the fields. What we tend to forget is the opening of multiple upland game seasons and the simple joys they bring. If your pursuit of big game is starting to get under your skin, maybe it’s time to change things up a bit.

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Why are Illinois’ workers’ comp costs falling and Indiana’s aren’t?

A recent study credits Illinois’ 2011 workers’ compensation reforms with now lowering average payments below neighboring Indiana’s.

The law passed four years ago cut fees by 30 percent, which led to a 15 percent drop in medical payments over a 12-month period that ended in Sept. 30, 2013. Workers’ compensation insurance rates also began to fall.

As a result, Illinois is seeing lower payments even as basic worker protections are upheld and Illinois workers, on average, make 27 percent more than their counterparts in Indiana.

Illinois is one of three states that showed declines in payment from 2010-11 to 2013-14.

Crain’s: Illinois workers' comp costs fall below Indiana, Wisconsin

Insurance Journal: Illinois Workers’ Comp Premium Rate High but Improving

Illinois vs. Indiana – Workers’ Compensation

Illinois artist of the month: John Kettman

Pop artist John Kettman of LaSalle became interested in art at the young age of 3. He became a serious artist in high school and has gone on to complete portraits of many famous individuals, such as Abraham Lincoln. Kettman is also vying for his painting of Streator native Clyde Tombaugh – the famed astronomer who discovered Pluto – to be accepted as a U.S. Postal Service stamp. Kettman has a petition online attempting to persuade the Stamp Advisory Committee to use his artwork on a stamp. You can view the petition here.

One of Kettman’s latest endeavors includes painting pumpkins with political candidates’ faces. You can check out this article to learn more about this interesting project.

Read an interview with the native artist below.

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