Sabrina Schultz of Galena belongs to Females In Need of Empowerment, a young widows’ group formed in April. At 25, Schultz now provides and cares for her 15-month-old son, Logan, alone. The pain of loss remains fresh for her. Her husband, David Schultz, a U.S. Army captain, was deployed to Iraq June 8, and their son was born nine days later – on Father’s Day.

Even after three strokes affecting his left side, Bob Clements believes he has suitable balance for daily activities. The 62-year-old negotiates stairs, avoids two dogs and three cats that often dart under his feet, and does all of his household chores.

Kathy Downing believed her husband, the late four-star Gen. Wayne A. Downing, was in Valhalla - the great hall where dead heroes go in Norse mythology - looking down smiling and laughing on Friday.

A state disciplinary panel is recommending that former Marshall County State’s Attorney Donald Knuckey be suspended from practicing law for at least a year because alcohol addiction has rendered him unfit.

Republican Steve Sauerberg wants Illinois voters to send him to Washington to change things from the inside out, using the bully pulpit to get better solutions for the nation’s major economic and health-care problems.

News from around the state as reported by GateHouse newspapers.

“It’s a delightful show, and you just fall in love with it the minute you see it,” Leigh Ann Smith said. “It’s so silly and funny, and it’s like an old-fashioned musical … it’s all-singing, all-dancing, all the time.” She added that “Millie” also has a modern sensibility: “It doesn’t feel old-timey,” she said.

Caterpillar Inc. will create several new divisions and make changes in assignments of officers, all to improve its focus on its customers, the company announced Thursday.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin wishes he could blame Republicans for the mess and dysfunction paralyzing Illinois state government these days, but he knows he can’t.

News from around Illinois as reported by GateHouse newspapers.

It’s been a while since sorghum has been used as a popular sweetener, but Dundas resident Jim Zerkle is doing his part to bring it back.

 

Caterpillar Inc.'s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 42 cents a share, marking the 300th consecutive quarter the company has paid a dividend.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has quietly approved a bill diverting $221 million from restricted state funds that lawmakers want to use to avert more than 300 layoffs and the closure of two dozen parks and historic sites.

Micromedical Technologies Inc. ships around the globe, but it is the credit market at home that has created the immediate uncertainty for sales and leasing of medical diagnostic equipment. “The only place we’ve seen it is in the United States, where the leasing companies are less willing to give credit to doctors,” said Rick Miles, co-owner of the Chatham-based company with his wife, Diane.
 

For hunters, a “deer drive” is a cooperative effort to force deer into the open. At Edward R. Madigan State Park just outside Lincoln, a deer drive is a much more relaxed affair.