Do you want to support Illinois businesses? For one day, do you think you could only buy products made or grown in Illinois?

Shop Illinois Saturday, Oct. 4, is your chance to support entrepreneurs, engage with your community and boost the state’s economy.

Another positive economic sign for Illinois has been revealed this week: more people moved to Chicago than any other U.S. city at the highest rate since 2006, according to a study by United Van Lines moving company. Each fall, United releases a list of areas its clients are moving to and from. The Chicago area was the #1 area for move-ins, followed by Washington, Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, Phoenix and New York.

According to the Associated General Contractors of America, Illinois is second in the nation in construction job gains.

With 115 skyscrapers, ranging from the 1924-built Chicago Temple Building to the recently topped out Loews North Park Drive building, Chicago is a world leader in the number and style of its skyscrapers.

The history of skyscrapers in Chicago goes back to 1885 with the construction of the iconic Home Insurance Building, widely recognized as the world’s first skyscraper.

Illinois is a large state with big towns, small cities, many small towns and a huge city. The population and infrastructure where you live may determine your access to many of life’s resources.

One such resource important to most of us is an ability to use high-speed broadband for Internet access. With so many square miles of Illinois consisting of fields, farms and forests, you might think people who live in those areas are too rural or too remote to conduct personal and professional business easily online. In the early years of the Internet, that old, slow dial-up may have been your only option in rural areas.