With reports of live cicadas winding down and sightings of the dead insects on the increase, many people wonder what’s coming next. Here’s what to expect.

When do the cicadas go away?

The remaining periodical cicadas out now should be gone by late June. Periodical cicadas are among the longest-lived insects on the planet, but most of their 13- or 17-year lifespan is spent underground. After emerging, singing and reproducing, the adults don’t live long. After about a month, the cicadas begin to die.

Their departure can be memorable. In 1990, there were reports of people in Chicago using snow shovels to clear sidewalks of dead cicadas, which have a noticeable odor.

More: Is your dog eating cicadas? Here’s why you should be worried about it

Do cicadas come out every year?

Some cicadas do show up every year. Annual — or dog-day — cicadas emerge during the heat of summer, usually around July, said Kacie Athey, a specialty crops entomologist with the University of Illinois Extension.

The periodical cicadas that are dying off now were part of a historic dual emergence of two particular broods, an event that hadn’t occurred since 1803 and made Illinois the center of attention for cicada watchers. In some years, no periodical cicadas emerge. After 2024, Brood XIII and Brood XIX cicadas won’t sync up their emergences again until the year 2245.

More: What animals eat cicadas?

Do cicadas have a purpose?

Cicada nymphs aerate the soil. The emergent adults prune mature trees and provide an abundant source of food for wildlife — and some humans. After they die, cicadas’ bodies provide a source of nitrogen for growing trees. CicadaMania.com breaks down the bugs’ many benefits.

MOLINE, Ill (KWQC) – Lutheran Social Services of Illinois held its first-ever foster fair in Moline at Marketplace 2500. The purpose of the fair is to make the community aware of the challenges facing the foster care system as they educated the community during its statewide event.

Andrea McClean who is a resource specialist and social worker with LSSI says the biggest challenge is a shortage of foster parents statewide. She feels awareness could be a contributing factor.

“Until I got into working into the field, I didn’t know it was all around me. I don’t know what’s happening. So I would just say, awareness, maybe people the fear of taking on that challenge, because these children are traumatized. But they need a good loving home that has patience, and are caring and can take in those youth to provide them a safe home,” said McClean

McClean also says foster children can have a range of negative experiences from physical abuse to neglect. A proper home and family are keys to positive change.

“I would love to license at least 10 traditional foster homes this year. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot. But we really don’t have that many homes. I mean, if I could do 20 this year, that that’d be great,” said McClean.

Jasmine Lee, the owner of Marketplace 2500 is someone who knows firsthand what negative experiences can have on a child.

She was in 36 foster homes before being adopted at age seven.

“I remember the day I got adopted, I got they brought me in and I had a black trash bag, a bunny and the clothes on my back. And they invited me into this room with all this stuff. And I was like, I don’t know whose that is. But I’m a sleep in the hallway. Because they’re just, you just don’t have a feeling of home,” said Lee.

Lee says every foster kid doesn’t have a bad experience, and a person doesn’t have to become a foster parent to make a difference.

“It just doesn’t stop at foster fairs. Like if you think that you can reach out if you have any kind of time, whether it is at one of the camps or closet to closet or you just want to donate clothes. There’s a million ways that you can really help out the entire community without necessarily signing up to be a full time foster parent or adopting a kid,” said Lee.

the LSSI staff says anyone interested in learning more about becoming a foster parent can visit lssi.org.

Copyright 2024 KWQC. All rights reserved.

A federal judge sentenced former Illinois Sen. Annazette Collins to a year in prison Friday for cheating on her taxes in a case with ties to the same investigation that snared indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

A jury in February convicted Collins of filing false individual tax returns for the years 2014 and 2015, failing to file one for the year 2016 and failing to file a corporate tax return for 2016.

“Her offenses were driven by greed,” U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso said. “She doesn’t want to hear that, but it’s absolutely true.”

Prosecutors say she ultimately dodged more than $150,000 in taxes, and they asked the judge to sentence Collins to roughly two years in prison. Collins’ attorney argued she dodged closer to $30,000 in taxes and sought probation.

The feds argued that Collins refused to accept responsibility and has instead been “hiding behind vitriol and recrimination.” Even though she was indicted in 2021, prosecutors say Collins owes more than $68,000 in tax, interest and penalties for the years 2020 through 2022.

In a letter to the judge, Collins said she “let the voters down” and is “determined to never be in this situation again.”

“I am embarrassed and humiliated that my name has been tarnished and my legacy ruined,” Collins wrote.

Collins’ name has surfaced repeatedly at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse over the years, including in two 2023 corruption trials. Her own trial revealed that she was caught while working at an insurance company submitting bogus policies for people who did not apply for them or “did not exist.” The allegations did not lead to criminal charges.

Testimony Friday revealed that the alleged fraud steered more than $12,000 to Collins. None of it triggered criminal charges, though, and her attorney suggested Collins had been trying to help people without bank accounts secure life insurance.

Meanwhile, the case brought by prosecutors revolved around her work with her lobbying firm, Kourtnie Nicole Corp., following her years in the legislature. That firm wound up collecting hefty sums from politically connected firms and utilities.

They included ComEd and AT&T Illinois, both of which were caught up in the Madigan investigation and faced criminal charges.

The jury learned that ComEd paid Collins’ firm $207,000, and AT&T Illinois paid it $95,343. A firm tied to former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker — among four political insiders convicted last year of scheming to bribe Madigan — paid Collins’ firm $11,000. And the Roosevelt Group lobbying firm tied to Victor Reyes — who figured prominently in Hooker’s trial — paid $2,500.

Meanwhile, the jury also heard that Collins used money from her lobbying firm to make car, tuition and mortgage payments, and to fund a 2015 trip to Punta Cana, all while filing income tax returns that made it seem she earned paltry sums of as little as $11,000 a year after leaving public office.

During last year’s separate trial of Hooker and three others convicted of a nearly decade-long conspiracy to bribe Madigan, jurors saw a handwritten list of favored lobbyists that included the name “Annazette.”

The list appeared on stationary from the Talbott Hotel and was purportedly dubbed the “magic list” by Madigan confidant Michael McClain, who was among those convicted with Hooker.

Then, jurors in the separate trial of businessman James Weiss heard that Collins also worked as a lobbyist for Weiss’ company, Collage LLC. Weiss was convicted of bribing then-state Rep. Luis Arroyo and then-state Sen. Terry Link, and he is now serving a 66-month prison sentence.