The state of Illinois has spent $375,000 the last two years on improvements to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Hotel and Conference Center in Springfield, including new furnishings and replacement of mattresses that, in some cases, had been in use since the property opened in 1985.

Mike Scheerer was sitting at his kitchen table, drinking his coffee - his regular morning ritual. But this particular morning, he kept hearing a "tick, tick, tick." "Do you hear that second hand?" Scheerer asks his guest. "I had never, ever heard that before." The soft click of his wall clock was the first distinct new sound Scheerer's brain picked out the morning after his new cochlear implant was turned on.

In December, Peoria residents Sheldon and MaryAnn Schafer will walk 60 feet into the dark center chamber of an ancient mound and stone formation in Northern Ireland and wait for the sun to rise. They will follow in the footsteps of those who built the Neolithic monument called Newgrange and who made the same walk on the same day to witness the same event - the return of the sun on the winter solstice - 5,200 years ago.

In tae kwon do, age doesn’t factor into where you rank in the classroom. What you’ve achieved does. Danny Hicks has a front-row position at the Auvenshine School of Tae Kwon Do in Auburn. His hard work over the past decade has made him one of the highest-ranking students in the school: a first-degree black belt. And he got there in a manner few, if any, have: from the seat of a wheelchair.

An annual writing project by Carterville second-graders brought praise from the White House earlier this year. Ashley Dixon’s class penned a book last spring entitled “If I Were President.” An envelope with a letter and photo from President Barack Obama reached Carterville in late September.

Earlier this month, Caterpillar Inc. announced that it will fully reimburse drug plan holders only for prescriptions filled at either Walmart or Walgreens — and a lot of people are unhappy. Independent owners of hometown pharmacies say they are worried not only for their businesses but also for their many customers who are Caterpillar employees and retirees — many with whom they have decades-long relationships.

The first sign of tough economic times at Computer Banc was the market for recycled circuit boards. Not that sales from recycled circuit boards were a big part of the organization’s $60,000 annual budget for refurbishing and donating computers to low-income families and social-service organizations. But the financial-market meltdown followed, corporate donors cut back, state grants disappeared or were harder to get, and both consumers and corporations started holding on to old systems a little longer. After an abrupt two-week shutdown in September, the organization is trying to regroup.

Created by Olivier Award-winning choreographer Dein Perry, designer and director Nigel Triffitt and composer Andrew Wilkie, “Tap Dogs” premiered in Australia and is performed on a set made to look like a construction site. The show is a dramatic departure from traditional tap dancing. "Tap Dogs" comes to Sangamon Auditorium on Sunday.

There's a national campaign under way to change the date of Halloween so it always lands on the last Saturday of October like it will this year. Although some people hate the idea, it's an indication of the growing importance to retailers of Halloween sales as a bridge between summer and Christmas.

A growing number of scientists, medical professionals and academicians say there doesn’t need to be a conflict between religion and science. There has long been tension between science and religion, but many claim the din is getting louder and more uncivil in the bicentennial birth year of Charles Darwin.

Lisa Bloom usually dispatches an ambulance upon receiving a call of a woman in labor. If Junior is in a hurry to enter the world, the Ogle County Sheriff’s Department 911 dispatcher may have to do a bit more. That was the case Friday.

The fall season at Del’s Popcorn Shop starts the last week of August when the first harvest of Jonathan apples are dipped in caramel. It continues with all sorts of popcorn options for Halloween.

Property owners snubbed Winnebago County when it came time to pay more than 3,000 property tax bills this year, but more than two dozen savvy middlemen hope to make a tidy profit helping the county recoup the lost revenue.

Most couples spend nine months preparing for a baby. Melanie and James Kochersperger spent nearly three years. The Kocherspergers always wanted a family, one a little larger than the couple and their dog Maui. But after a year of trying it was obvious it wasn’t going to happen, Melanie said. They decided to adopt. Two adoption agencies, hundreds of pages of paperwork, a trip to Poland and $36,000 later, Melanie and James Kochersperger achieved their dreams of becoming parents.

Depending on which direction you're traveling on Illinois Route 29, the signs appear at Hart Lane, right before or right after Chillicothe. Big red letters on white background point the way to Eden Camp and the pear orchard. The orchard, according to its owner, is the first in Illinois to offer Shingo pears.