DIXON – The Illinois Department of Natural Resources wants outdoor enthusiasts to start the year off on the right foot with a First Day Hike at an Illinois state park on Wednesday, Jan. 1.

The IDNR is hosting free, self-guided hikes at 15 state parks across Illinois on New Year’s Day. These parks will feature stickers and special photo opportunities for hikers, who are encouraged to share photos and videos of their hikes on social media using the hashtags #ILStateParks and #FirstDayHikes.

“There’s no better way to clear your head, say goodbye to the stress of the holidays, and welcome a new year than to get outdoors for some fresh air and exercise,” IDNR Director Natalie Phelps Finnie said. “The trails at Illinois state parks are ready and waiting for you.”

The following is a list of participating state parks:

• Beall Woods State Park in Wabash County
• Beaver Dam State Park in Macoupin County
• Cache River State Natural Area in Johnson County
• Castle Rock State Park in Ogle County
• Eagle Creek and Wolf Creek State Park in Shelby County
• Eldon Hazlet State Recreation Area in Clinton County
• Ferne Clyffe State Park in Johnson County
• Fox Ridge State Park in Coles County
• Giant City State Park in Jackson County
• Illinois Beach State Park in Lake County
• Pere Marquette State Park in Jersey County
• Rock Island Trail State Park in Stark County
• Sand Ridge State Forest in Mason County
• Sangchris Lake State Park in Sangamon County
• William Powers State Recreation Area in Cook County

First Day Hikes is a campaign in partnership with the America’s State Parks Foundation encouraging participants to hike, bike and visit state parks on the first day of the new year since 1992. Hikers can find trail maps and other useful information at the Illinois First Day Hikes website.

For more information contact dnr.parksadmin@illinois or call 217-782-6302.

A doctor from Illinois who shot and killed a woman to prevent her from testifying against him is among the 37 people whose death sentences were commuted to life in prison by President Joe Biden Monday.

Ronald Mikos, a podiatrist, was convicted in May of 2005 of shooting Joyce Brannon in her church basement apartment to keep her from telling a federal grand jury how he defrauded Medicare. Prosecutors said he shot the nurse and former patient, who was disabled, six times at point-blank range.

Mikos was the last person sentenced to death in Illinois.

Biden said in a statement that he was commuting the death sentences of Mikos and 36 others because it was “consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” he added, referring to President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment.

Mikos proclaimed he was innocent when he was sentenced in 2006, telling U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman, “Your Honor, I did not kill Joyce Brannon.”

Mikos, 57, became only the second person sentenced to capital punishment in the history of Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

His attorneys had suggested at the trial that drug pushers might have hidden narcotics in Brannon’s apartment in a North Side church basement, returned to get them and murdered her.

But the jury found him guilty of murder as well as defrauding Medicare out of $1.8 million by billing it for thousands of foot operations he had never performed.

The jury recommended the death penalty despite testimony of psychiatrists that Mikos had numerous mental problems, including a schizotypal personality and photos that defense attorneys said showed that he had holes where brain tissue should be.

They said the severe brain degeneration might have been caused by abuse of alcohol and his frequent use of a potent prescription painkiller.

No members of Brannon’s family were present at the sentencing. But prosecutors released a letter in which her sister, Janet Bunch, said Mikos acted “out of greed and obviously low or no morals.”

“When he realized that he was caught and faced serious personal consequences for his greed, he chose to take a human life in a violent and merciless way. … I feel that Ronald Mikos forfeited any right to leniency when he planned and carried out the cold-blood execution of my sister.”

Mikos, meanwhile, continues to fight his conviction. In 2020, he filed a motion contending he was not competent to stand trial and that his lawyers were not effective. He also claimed that his death sentence violated the Eighth Amendment because of his mental illness.

In September of this year, a federal judge said some of Mikos’ contentions merited further review and ordered both sides in the case to meet on the issues he raised.

Associated Press contributed