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.

Gardeners can look to fall plants to add punches of color to their homes’ landscape — whether in the ground or in containers.
 

Medical researchers hope a study of patients with multiple sclerosis will help them get closer to explaining what causes the disease that affects thousands of people in the region. The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford is soliciting MS patients from 13 northwest Illinois counties, trying to see if certain regions have more diagnosed cases of the disease.

Until five years ago, Jean Oppegard wasn’t a wood carver. Now she’s a champion. Her heron won Best in Show and People’s Choice at this year’s Sangamon Valley Woodcarvers show.

As the weather becomes more crisp, the time is ripe for picking fresh apples.

Frank and Stacy Bowman started raising grass-fed beef for their own use about five years ago. Soon, friends and family started asking for it. Today, their Sangamon Valley Cattle Co. in Pleasant Plains sells to the public, one of a small number of Midwestern farms where cattle graze in open pastures instead of eating the more traditional diet of corn or other grain fed in commercial feedlots.

Charlie Stratton of Springfield believes a “feat of human greatness” has been achieved by Jerry Jimenez for the Habanero Honey Spread he sells at the downtown farmers market.

When a Morton company that helps others find solutions came up against its own problem, where it could turn wasn't a simple matter.