Illinois
Golfing in Illinois
Today’s story is the answer to the August 2024 puzzler.
The suburbs north and west of Chicago contain golf courses—lots of them. At least ten courses dot the landscape in the Landsat 8 image above, captured by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on June 14, 2024. The image below shows a broader view of the same image, with dozens of courses visible.
The short grasses in the fairways appear as the caterpillar-shaped light-green features flanked by the darker greens of the rough—often tall fescue or other grass varieties that are allowed to grow to a greater height. In satellite imagery, many courses are speckled with bright and dark patches, the water and sand hazards that golfers avoid.
Despite the large number of golf courses in this part of Cook County and in the region more broadly, other U.S. metro areas have an even higher density of courses per capita. The Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island area in southwestern Florida ranks especially high, according to one analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Florida is also the state with the most golf courses in total (1,262), according to the National Golf Foundation. That’s 31 percent more than California, the state with the second-most courses. Outside the U.S., only three countries have more than the state of Florida: Japan, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
But there’s one other way this part of Illinois stands out that golfers will appreciate. It’s home to the village of Golf, a small community of 160 households west of Glen View Club, one of the oldest 18-hole courses in the United States. The local train station—and later the village—were named Golf, in part because Albert Earling, a member of Glen View Club and the president of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad company, had the company establish a special train station where he could unhitch his private train car from trains going north before hitting the greens, according to Golf Magazine.
Though numbers have declined in recent decades, the U.S. still had around 16,000 golf courses as of 2024, or about 42 percent of the world’s total. The game requires a large amount of space compared to other sports—about five times more per player than doubles tennis and 37 times more per player than basketball.
All those golf courses cover about 2 million acres, or less than 0.1 percent of the U.S. land surface area. That’s still an area larger than the state of Delaware and more than all the land used to raise Christmas trees, according to an analysis of U.S. land use conducted by Bloomberg. For comparison, the amount of land devoted to feeding livestock, the largest use of land in the U.S., spanned 781 million acres, or 41 percent of the contiguous U.S., the analysis concluded. The analysis was based, in part, on the National Land Cover Database, which is built on satellite observations from the Landsat program, a series of Earth-observing missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.
NASA and the sport of golf have intersected in intriguing ways over the decades. NASA’s honing of an innovative type of threading technology in the 1980s to make screws on the International Space Station extra resistant to vibration eventually led to a sporting goods company achieving the lowest-ever center of gravity in a golf club, NASA Spinoff reported.
A famous connection to the game came in 1971, when astronaut Alan Shepherd attached a 6-iron head to a tool designed to pick up lunar rock samples and hit two golf balls from the surface of the Moon. Shepherd shanked the first shot into a nearby crater but hit the second ball more solidly, propelling it “miles and miles and miles,” the astronaut joked at the time. Three decades later, image restoration by science writer Andy Saunders worked out the exact distances that each of Shepherd’s “moon shots” flew: 24 yards (22 meters) for ball number 1 and 40 yards (37 meters) for ball number 2, Saunders reported in a story for the United States Golf Association.
How far could a golfer theoretically hit a golf ball on the Moon if they were unencumbered by a space suit, like Shepherd was? “If 2016 PGA champion and space enthusiast Jimmy Walker replicated his Earthbound ball speed of 185 miles per hour on the Moon, and used a club that would ensure a 45 degree launch angle, it would travel 2.62 miles (4,611 yards) and stay in the air for more than one minute,” Saunders wrote. “Literally, ‘miles and miles and miles…’.”
NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.
SYCAMORE, Ill. – A Sycamore mother said she is still waiting for justice more than two years after her teenage son was stabbed to death.
The case is back in court this week, where a judge will consider a key request that could change how the case moves forward.
What we know:
A mother said her son’s life was cut short during a confrontation that turned deadly.
Heather Gerken said her 17-year-old son, Kaleb McCall, was stabbed during an incident in September 2023. She said Kaleb agreed to meet another teen for what he believed would be a fist fight while sticking up for a friend.
According to Gerken, the other teen, who was 15 at the time, pulled a knife and stabbed Kaleb in the chest. Kaleb later died from his injuries.
Gerken said a jury later found that teen guilty of second-degree murder after the defense argued he acted in self-defense.
Dig deeper:
The case is not over.
Gerken says the defendant’s attorneys are now trying to move the case out of adult court and into juvenile court. That decision could impact how the teen is ultimately sentenced.
What they’re saying:
Gerken said the legal process has been long and frustrating.
She said the case has stretched on for more than two and a half years and that ongoing court proceedings have made it difficult for her to grieve her son.
“He was everybody’s big brother,” Gerken said. “He had the biggest smile and the sweetest personality. He enjoyed fishing and being outside, and he was the best gift giver. He always got me flowers for every little holiday. Just a very thoughtful boy.”
Gerken also said the possibility of the case moving to juvenile court is especially upsetting, as she continues to push for what she believes is justice for her son.
“I don’t want anybody else’s child to die the way that my son died,” Gerken said. “Caleb is my whole world. I gave birth to him at 17 and he changed my life completely. He made me a better person. He taught me what real love truly is…And I just miss him so much more every day. And just knowing that he died the way he did. It makes me sick.”
What’s next:
The case returns to court Thursday morning.
A judge is expected to determine whether the case remains in adult court or is moved to juvenile court, a decision that could shape what happens next in the case.
The Source: The information in this article was reported by FOX Chicago’s Lauren Scafidi.
Millions of asylum seekers have been impacted as caseloads have grown
A general crackdown on immigration courts the administration sees as liberal has led to the firing of dozens of immigration judges.
Recent polls show President Donald Trump’s approval ratings continue to dip as the war in Iran endures and national gas prices float above $4.
One such poll conducted by CNN/SSRS illustrates widespread upset among Americans with regards to Trump’s handling of the economy and inflation. Here’s how Trump’s approval ratings look nationally and within Illinois, as of April 20.
Donald Trump approval rating: CNN
Only 31% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling the economy, compared to 39% in January 2026, according to the poll.
The decline in approval on the issue is even higher among Republicans, especially Republicans under 45 years old, according to CNN.
In the poll, President Donald Trump received his worst approval rating yet in either of his two terms on the economy.
CNN findings show about two-thirds of Americans say Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions, and 27% say they approve of Trump’s handling of inflation.
CNN also reported 63% of Americans say the prices at the pump have caused financial hardship in their household, including 15% calling it “severe.”
The poll, conducted March 26-30 among 1,201 U.S. adults, found 35% approve of Trump’s job performance overall. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
One poll respondent told CNN and the pollster about the most important issue facing the country: “Prices! Everything is so expensive. Makes it very difficult to do anything other than work and go home. Trips to the grocery store are ridiculous! Between gas and grocery prices, we are poor!”
Trump addressed the concerns about gas prices in his address to the nation on April 1, saying the Strait of Hormuz would reopen when the conflict was over and the prices would fall again.
Trump reaffirmed his promise about the strait on April 18, saying his administration had “very good conversations going on” with Iran after the country said the strait would not be reopened.
Donald Trump approval rating in Illinois: Civiqs
Trump’s job approval rating in Illinois, as of April 18, according to data from online survey platform Civiqs, is as follows:
- Approve — 32%.
- Disapprove — 65%.
- Neither — 4%.
Donald Trump national approval rating: Civiqs
Trump’s national approval rating as of April 13, according to data from Civiqs, is as follows:
- Approve — 39%.
- Disapprove — 57%.
- Neither — 4%.
Donald Trump approval rating in Illinois: The Economist
Trump has a -36% net approval rating in Illinois as of April 20, according to data from The Economist.
Donald Trump national approval rating: The Economist
Trump’s national approval rating as of April 20, according to data from The Economist, is as follows:
- Approve — 38%.
- Disapprove — 56%.
- Don’t know — 7%.
Trump, Iran War approval rating: Pew Research Center
A Pew Research study conducted in mid-March found that about six-in-ten Americans (61%) approve of Trump’s handling of the conflict in Iran, with 39% approving.
A report released in early April found that the largest concern for most Americans as a result of the conflict is higher gas prices, with 69% saying they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the issue.
Other Trump approval rating polls as of April 20
Here is a look at some other polling aggregators to understand how CNN/SSRS’s poll compares to the average Trump approval numbers as of April 20:
RealClearPolitics Poll Average: 41.2% approve, 56.6% disapprove.
The New York Times: 40% approve, 56% disapprove.
Silver Bulletin: 39.7% approve, 56.4% disapprove.
Which president has the lowest approval rating ever?
Although Trump has dropped to a historic low in approval rating polls this term so far, he hit a 34% low in the first term and other recent presidents such as Joe Biden hit a 36% low, Barack Obama hit a 40% low, George W. Bush hit a 25% low and Bill Clinton hit a 37% low, according to the Gallup polls, whose recorded lowest rating was Harry Truman with 22%.
As for the highest presidential approval ratings, George W. Bush holds the highest approval rating ever recorded at 90%, while his father, George H. Bush holds the second highest at 89%.
Trump is the only president that has not reached a 50% or higher approval to date in the Gallup polls’ history.
CENTRALIA, Ill. – An investigation is underway after multiple people were shot Sunday in Centralia, Illinois, according to a report from WFCN News in southern Illinois.
FOX 2 has confirmed the Illinois State Police is investigating a shooting and taking over the investigation, but ISP could not confirm many further details as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The investigation is in its infancy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, no additional details will be released at this time,” ISP said in a statement to FOX 2.
According to WFCN News, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. near the 900 block of East Kell Street in Centralia. Multiple law enforcement agencies have since responded to scene and multiple victims are hospitalized, according to the report.
It’s unclear how many people may have been injured and what led up to the shooting.
Centralia, Illinois is about 70 miles, or just over an hour, east of St. Louis.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.
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