Illinois
Pesticide training available across Illinois
The University of Illinois Pesticide Safety Education Program will host private applicator training across the state. There are six different locations and dates; each costs $45 and requires online registration. Training courses typically last 2.5 to 3.5 hours and conclude with a test.
Young women in ag: Mark your calendar
The 2024 Women Changing the Face of Agriculture career exploration event will be held at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., on March 1. Online registration is open now and closes Feb. 16.
Organized by the Illinois Agri-Women, this year’s event will emphasize entrepreneurial careers, hands-on activities and career development.
Get your scholarship essays ready
‘Tis the season to apply for scholarships! The IIA Foundation has opened its application period for more than $192,000 in scholarships, all directed to agriculture students in the 2024-25 school year. The foundation will award 110 college scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $7,500 and include:
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Promoting Careers in Agriculture Scholarship
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Robert E. Koeller Scholarship
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Allen and Ellen M. Blessman Scholarship
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Prairie Farms Dairy scholarships
Fellowships are also available to support students pursuing advanced degrees in fields that directly relate to agriculture. Scholarships are awarded based on involvement in extracurricular activities, community service, academic performance, leadership experiences and an essay. Previous winners of an IAA Foundation scholarship are eligible to apply again if the individual scholarship allows.
Online applications are due Feb. 15. For more information, contact your county Farm Bureau, call the IAA Foundation at 309-557-2232, or email Jennifer Smith at [email protected].
Time to get estate plans rolling
If you know you need to formulate a succession plan but you don’t know where to start, an upcoming workshop may be just what you need. Cheryl Mitchell is hosting a Farm Legacy Family Workshop, designed to help families start conversations — without trying to sell anyone anything. Mitchell is a former farm kid who works with farm families to help guide and facilitate conversations between generations.
“The purpose of the Farm Legacy Family Workshop is to provide a dedicated time and place for your family to work together toward the successful development of your farm legacy,” Mitchell says. “We will guide you in the process of identifying your challenges and facilitate finding solutions to these obstacles.”
Mitchell says it’s often the weight of the conversation that keeps families from taking the first steps in succession planning.
“I have recognized over and over again, they know the steps to take, but they aren’t taking them because most of the time they can’t get past the ‘soft conversations.’ That’s what I do and why I’m hosting the workshop,” Mitchell explains.
The three-hour workshops are open to any interested farm families from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., with two different dates and locations:
Cost is $30 per person or $100 per family, payable at the door. To register, contact Mitchell at 217-369-0637 or [email protected].
Read about Illinois’ female horse jockey
“Jockey Queen” is a new book by author Roger Peach detailing the life and times of Lillian Jenkinson Holder, an early female horse-racing jockey in southern Illinois. Holder grew up on a dairy in Nebraska, and loved working with horses, ultimately racing thoroughbreds all across southern Illinois county fairs. The book details her life as she attempts to become a recognized, licensed female jockey.
“Jockey Queen: Lillian Jenkinson Holder, Horse Racing’s Fearless Lady” will be released Feb. 20, available nationally through popular booksellers, including Amazon.
Illinois
Unincorporated Bensenville residents say ‘nightmare’ rat infestation threatens their health, safety
UNINCORP. BENSENVILLE, Ill. (WLS) — People living in a neighborhood in unincorporated Bensenville say a rat infestation is a threat to their health and safety.
Those in the White Pines neighborhood say they know the source of the problem, but they feel like elected officials are not doing enough to help them.
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Multiple homeowners say the issue goes back at least two years. They believe one particular property is ground zero and that there have been no significant measures to eliminate what they are calling a rat infestation.
“It’s just a nightmare right now,” said White Pines resident Jim Brill.
Brill says for two years, he and his neighbors have dealt with rats running around their property.
“It’s impacting every house that surrounds that house. The rats come out when we put our trash cans out. They literally swarm out of the yard, that house’s yard, go in our trash cans,” Brill said.
Another neighbor says his home security picked up the rodents after they tripped the camera’s motion sensors, sharing at least a dozen videos with ABC7 showing them scurrying around the side of his house.
And pictures show multiple rats on the windowsills on the home that neighbors believe is the root of the issue.
“We have to, you know, take huge measures to maintain our property, and we’ve done that, but when your neighbor isn’t doing that, and then creating housing for these vermin, right, that carry disease, and can, you know, be troublesome and problematic, it’s quite frustrating,” said White Pines resident Kristin Henri.
Henri says her parents have lived there for more than 50 years, never with a rat problem, until 2024. She says the rats are a hazard to their health and safety.
“We’ve had rats on our property, running through in broad daylight, so it’s unnerving. I can’t let my dog out. I worry about my neighbor’s child across the street, who’s a toddler,” Henri said.
Henri and Brill say living in an unincorporated part of Bensenville has complicated matters. At this point, they believe it is in the county’s hands, but still the problem persists.
“We contacted the county. They keep telling us they’re going to take care of the problem, and they don’t,” Brill said.
“We need somebody to help eliminate this. It’s not fair to us. We maintain our properties, and we want to live in a safe environment,” Henri said.
The DuPage County Building and Zoning Staff told ABC7 they been working on this problem since 2024.
They are working with the owner of a single property to clean the home’s interior.
Once that’s done, the county says, it will have an exterminator come in and set traps in the area.
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Sightings of a fireball were reported across Illinois and at least eight other states on Monday night.
The American Meteor Society received nearly 200 reports of a fireball seen over Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin around 10 p.m.
Some of the reports out of Illinois came from Chicago, Aurora, Carpentersville, Warrenville, Addison, Waukegan, Oak Lawn, Shorewood Westchester, and Glen Ellyn. There were also reports from Indiana, including Valparaiso and Fort Wayne.
There was also a report out of Ontario, Canada.
Home camera footage, posted by the American Meteor Society, shows a flash across the sky in Michigan about an hour Northwest of Detroit.
A car crashed into a home in unincorporated Cary, Illinois, while three people were inside Monday evening, fire officials said.
A spokesperson for the Cary Fire Protection District said they were called to a home in the 2500 block of Oakdale Terrace just after 5:30 p.m. after reports came in that a vehicle had crashed into a house.
When paramedics and firefighters arrived, they found a black Jeep had slammed into a house, causing damage.
Three people were in the home at the time, fire officials said, but they were all able to get out safely and no injuries were reported. There were two people in the Jeep who got checked out by paramedics for minor injuries, but they declined further medical attention and did not want to go to a hospital.
Because of the damage to the home, McHenry County officials deemed it unsafe to occupy until repairs were made.
The American Red Cross is helping the four residents of the home with temporary housing and other needs while repairs are made.
The circumstances surrounding the crash are under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office. It was not clear if any charges or citations would be issued.
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