In all of her 69 years, Sylvia Service has never celebrated Christmas without a performance of George Frederick Handel’s “Messiah.” But for this Jamaican-born woman, the famed Hallelujah chorus is more than just a holiday tradition. It’s a song of praise, a hymn of thanksgiving.

Spacious. Luxurious. Exquisite attention to detail. Handicap accessible - that's not the first adjective that jumps to mind with Karen Roche's home, but it's the crucial one. Roche designed this sprawling brick Chillicothe home after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and her husband, Ed, was diagnosed with cancer. The couple was still living in Las Vegas, where they had retired, but they decided to move back to Illinois to be close to her family.

Gingerbread men are a highlight of Memorial's Festival of Trees. At the Gingerbread Cookie Bakery, about 100 volunteers decorate and sell 13,800 gingerbread men throughout the weeklong festival — it ends Sunday – in the Orr Building at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

Diabetes expert Caroline Trapp wants you to give yourself three weeks — OK, four counting a week to prepare to do it right — to become a vegetarian. She says a low-fat, plant-based diet can be as effective as some medicines in fighting type 2 diabetes. But she didn’t discount other possible benefits such as weight control, more energy and better-looking skin.
 

Beginning in December, some patients using SwedishAmerican Hospital’s emergency department will leave with their treatment and a health-care connection that could keep them from coming back. Dr. Kathleen Kelly, SwedishAmerican’s chief medical officer, said the hospital has hired a nurse case manager who will follow up, usually before they leave after being treated, with patients who use the emergency room repeatedly or who use it for nonemergencies. The object, she said, is to try to connect them with a primary-care physician or other appropriate provider who could take charge of their medical care. 

As I often say to people, countries that don’t manufacture become colonies of those that do. President Obama’s trip last week to China illustrates how true that is becoming. The president’s trip was light on the usual lectures in democracy. This time it was China’s turn to lecture us, specifically on the need to get our fiscal house in order by reducing our astounding national debt. China, which manufacturers most of our consumer goods, is worried, because to keep America a going concern, they’ve had to buy about $1 trillion of our debt.

Nearly 150 airplanes coming from foreign countries land at Chicago Rockford International Airport each year. The trash from those planes used to have an even longer journey. To meet federal requirements, trucks had to ship international garbage to a sterilization facility in Indianapolis after every flight. But for more than a year, Rockton company Clean Earth Pet Systems has done the job instead. 

Along with bell ringers, fruit cake and carols, the holidays bring something else: jobs. That's no small matter in a down economy, even if the positions are part time and limited to the end of the year.

Yes, Andy Warhol’s famous screen print of Marilyn Monroe is here, larger than life and up close. But viewers will find themselves equally captivated by seascapes, landscapes, abstracts, gelatin silver prints, oils and etchings by this pantheon of late 19th and 20th century artists. “An Adventure in the Arts, Moran to Warhol” has opened at Lakeview Museum with a spectacular collection of more than 70 pieces on loan through Jan. 17 from the Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton, N.Y.

What can diabetics do as they face the challenge of the Thanksgiving meal? Start by surveying the food selections for the meal before making a plate, said Cynthia Ledbetter, MSN, CDE, nurse practitioner at Southern Illinois University Department of Family Medicine.

Becky Davies can’t compare DivorceCare to other support groups for people going through divorce or separation. She hasn’t been to other support groups. But she has facilitated DivorceCare at Northwoods Community Church for the last three years. A lot of the sessions deal with what the Bible has to say about divorce, she says. So what does the Bible say about divorce? “It does not like divorce.” Davies doubts anyone does, which is one reason she’s passionate about the program.

You may dread the Thanksgiving feast as the holiday season’s first big bite out of your family budget, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Planning is the key for making the Turkey Day meal a little easier for your wallet to swallow, according to Kathy Meier, family nutrition coordinator for the University of Illinois Extension office in Tazewell County.

River City Construction is no stranger to economic downturns. The company was formed during the economic woes of the early 1980s when construction was down and unemployment exceeded 16 percent in central Illinois. Not only did the fledgling company survive, it prospered, aggressively pursuing and winning a number of contracts. Since the company was formed in 1984, River City has completed construction projects totaling more than $2.75 billion.

The U.S. government did more than simply extend the tax credit for first-time homeowners recently. The federal program was expanded to include longtime homeowners. Bill Embry, president of the Peoria Area Association of Realtors, said there was a good reason the government elected to expand the program: It worked.

News from around Illinois, as reported by GateHouse newspapers.