Midwest
The only way to truly feel the Christmas spirit
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Christmas in Chicago is a beautiful thing to see. You can feel the Christmas spirit when you pass through the Loop down Michigan Ave at night. All the department stores are lit up. You can feel the spirit when you drive through the many townships that make up Chicagoland. Some of those lit up trees in public squares warm your spirit.
You can feel the Christmas spirit in my neighborhood where even those with modest means find the money to string lights around their windows. Rich or poor, down or up, left or right, the spirit of Christmas unites us all and remind us that this is the time of neighborly love, family love, and the birth of Jesus who brought so much love into this world.
For me, the spirit of Christmas touched me this year earlier than most. A few days after Thanksgiving, I received a box in the mail at my church. You could tell that the cardboard box had been used many times before by the softness of its feel. Even the tape felt reused.
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I opened it up and I saw a handwritten note on top of a garbage bag. The note read: “Dear Pastor, I am from Arkansas, and I follow what you’re doing in your community. I don’t have much but I hope what I can provide helps.”
The first thing I pulled out of the bag was a pair of snow boots. I looked for the size and saw it was a size 6. Just days earlier, I had overheard one of the single moms who works two jobs saying she needed boots to get her son ready for the winter. He is a size 5 — close enough. I said a prayer thanking this stranger from Arkansas as I pulled out the rest of her gifts to my community.
I tell the kids in my program, when you go about your day, smile at people, listen to people, and do deeds for people. Help your parents out. Help the neighbor out.
I give so much of myself to my community but I have never thought to give to a stranger in a far-off land. The time and thought she put into this gift was a beautiful thing and her generosity touched me.
Tech gifts can make a big impression on your loved ones. (iStock)
As it turns out, her gift was the first of many.
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The next day I came to church there were several more boxes. They were from California, New Jersey, and two from Arizona. There were also two letters containing donations. All of these givers wanted to help my community. In their letters they said they had heard me on television or read one of my Rooftop Revelations articles for FoxNews.com
I asked several teens to help me carry the gifts to the sorting room and I told them, “See how all these strangers want to help us? They’re all from out of state. Have you ever thought of helping someone so far away? That’s why if they believe in you that much, you have no choice but to learn how to believe in yourself. Then maybe one day you will pay forward these good deeds.”
The next day, I received even more boxes and donations. I had to ask for more volunteers to sort these beautiful gifts — we had piles of sweaters, socks, underwear, shirts, pants, and shoes. All of them new. And so many from people of modest means who could have brought something nice for themselves.
Their kindness reminded me of Proverbs 19:17 (NIV): “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done.”
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When it came time to dole out these gifts, I reminded the children that this is the season of giving. I told them that one of the gifts came from a house cleaner who drove forty miles to drop off a box of socks. She gave out of the goodness of her heart and was very modest when I tried to thank her.
I told the children they were blessed to have that woman and so many strangers think of them. It is a blessing to receive, I told them, but they should also think of how to give.
I could see some of them averting their eyes from mine in shame. I told them that I knew many of them felt they had nothing to give but I told them that was not true. You have yourself to give. When you go about your day, smile at people, listen to people, and do deeds for people. Help your parents out. Help the neighbor out.
We may feel the Christmas spirit when the red and green lights come on, when the scent of freshly cut Christmas trees is in the air, and when Santa sits in his big red chair. But one cannot truly feel the Christmas spirit unless one gives.
To all of those of you that gave to my youths so generously, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I wish you a very merry Christmas.
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Cleveland, OH
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Illinois
Illinois fines multiple Springfield-area nursing homes
Springfield-area nursing homes fined thousands of dollars to end 2025
Multiple Springfield-area nursing homes were fined during the fourth quarter of 2025.
The State Journal-Register
SPRINGFIELD – Four times a year, an Illinois agency releases a report showing violations against nursing homes, and how much the facilities were fined.
The Illinois Department of Public Health recently released its fourth quarter report that spans from October to December of 2025.
Here are facilities within about 45 minutes of Springfield that were fined for violations.
Arcadia Care on the Hill, Springfield
Address: 555 W. Carpenter Road
Fined: $25,000
Survey date: Sept. 17, 2025
What: The facility failed to ensure competency of the Professional Nursing staff when that staff failed to provide one resident in a crisis condition the correct medication. The resident did not receive his glucagon when needed, resulting to his blood sugar dropping to a critical low. The resident was taken to the hospital and subsequently admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.
Arcadia Care on the Hill, Springfield
Address: 555 W. Carpenter Road
Fined: $2,200
Survey date: Oct. 17, 2025
What: The facility failed to send the results of a urinalysis and urine culture in a timely manner to one resident’s urologist. This failure resulted in a nonverbal resident being taken to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with a UTI. IDPH said the failure caused pain, discomfort and invasive interventions during a hospital visit.
After readmission, the facility failed to reassess the resident for warning signs of sepsis for multiple days prior to having a change in condition on Feb. 20, 2024. The resident was again taken to the emergency room and diagnosed with a UTI and sepsis.
Additionally, facility staff failed to complete change in condition documentation which included current vital signs and assessment of two residents reviewed for change in condition. These residents were also taken to the emergency room.
Curtiss Court, Springfield
Address: 2883 S. Taylor St.
Fined: $1,100
Survey date: Aug. 7, 2025
What: IDPH found the facility failed to identify two occurrences of abuse for a resident, failed to verbally notify administrator of abuse allegations per policy, failed to investigate abuse allegations and failed to protect individuals from alleged perpetrator. This failure resulted in the resident feeling targeted and anxious.
The facility also failed to prevent elopement for one resident with a known history of elopement and allergy to bee venom without an EpiPen. This failure resulted in the person walking out of the door unsupervised. Local first responders then found the resident on the asphalt in a parking lot, playing in a puddle of water, around 0.4 miles from the facility and without their EpiPen.
Arcadia Care, Auburn
Address: 304 Maple Ave.
Fined: $2,200
Survey date: Aug. 27, 2025
What: The facility failed to ensure room temperatures were within the heat index/apparent temperature guidelines inside the facility and did not exceed 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The facility also failed to follow their Heat Emergency Policy as residents were not moved out of their rooms when temperatures were reached over 81 degrees for four residents. This failure resulted in residents being left in rooms with the heat index, indicating extreme caution to the residents.
Sunny Acres Nursing Home, Petersburg
Address: 19130 Sunny Acres Road
Fined: $2,200
Survey date: July 26, 2025
What: The facility failed to protect a resident from staff-to-resident mental and verbal abuse for two residents. These findings resulted in a Certified Nursing Assistant yelling at a resident and causing them to feel belittled, to feel like a child, and feel verbally abused, according to IDPH.
Taylorville Care Center, Taylorville
Address: 600 S. Houston St.
Fined: $1,000
Survey date: Aug. 15, 2025
What: The facility failed to conduct pre-employment screening and obtain results of fingerprint checks to determine if employees had a prior criminal history that would disqualify them for employment.
Sunrise Skilled Nursing & Rehab, Virden
Address: 333 S. Wrightsman St.
Fined: $2,200
Survey date: Sept. 4, 2025
Based on interview, observation, and record review, the facility failed to provide supervision to prevent falls for one of three residents reviewed for falls.
Sunrise Skilled Nursing & Rehab, Virden
Address: 333 S. Wrightsman St.
Fined: $25,000
Survey date: Oct. 14, 2025
What: IDPH said the facility failed to properly transfer a resident for appropriate safe transfers. This failure resulted in the resident having a fall, sustaining a right hip fracture and ultimately passing away.
Lincoln Village Healthcare, Lincoln
Address: 2202 N. Kickapoo St.
Fined: $4,400
Survey date: July 20, 2025
What: IDPH found three residents experienced symptoms after not receiving prescribed opioid medication, indicating the health facility failed to perform proper pain assessments and implement pain relieving interventions when residents were not receiving their prescribed medicine.
Lincoln Village Healthcare, Lincoln
Address: 2202 N. Kickapoo St.
Fined: $25,000
Survey date: Sept. 10, 2025
What: IDPH said a resident was taken to the hospital after the facility failed to protect a wound from insect contamination.
Fair Havens Senior Living, Decatur
Address: 1790 S. Fairview Ave.
Fined: $25,000
Survey date: Aug. 13, 2025
What: The facility failed to ensure physician orders were accurately transcribed and implemented for one resident reviewed for blood glucose monitoring. These failures resulted in the resident being hospitalized.
Arc at Hickory Point, Forsyth
Address: 565 W. Marion Ave.
Fined: $25,000
Survey date: Sept. 3, 2025
What: A resident fell and suffered multiple fractured ribs and a collapsed lung. IDPH said the facility failed to ensure fall interventions were in place to prevent the resident from falling.
Tom Ackerman covers breaking news and trending news along with general news for the Springfield State Journal-Register. He can be reached at tackerman@usatodayco.com.
Indiana
Republican primary voters sent dangerous message to America | Opinion
A handful of Indiana Republican state senators saw this abuse of power unfolding and said, ‘Not on our watch.’ And now they’ve been voted out by those who placed loyalty to Trump ahead of democracy.
Indiana state senate candidates endorsed by Trump prevail in primaries
In Indiana’s GOP primary, President Donald Trump demonstrated continued clout. Of seven GOP senators he opposed, at least 5 lost their nominations.
Donald Trump, even more so than other presidents, needs guardrails to keep his worst impulses in check.
But on May 5, Republican primary voters in Indiana further weakened the political and legislative guardrails around the president when they threw out of office at least five GOP state senators because they put the Constitution ahead of Trump’s partisan demands.
It wasn’t just those relatively obscure legislators in Indiana who lost. We all did.
That’s because the message delivered to GOP members of Congress, as well as to Republican lawmakers in other states, is that defying even Trump’s most outrageous demands is still the path to defeat within their own party.
The vote also helps accelerate both political parties’ obscene rush to gerrymander congressional maps beyond any reasonable facsimile of fairness.
Indiana primary sent message to Republicans who stood up to Trump
In 2025, the Indiana Senate, thoroughly dominated by conservative Republicans, said no to Trump’s partisan order to redraw the state’s congressional maps to favor GOP candidates even more heavily than the current districts already do. The senators’ thoughtful independence not only drew Trump’s wrath but also triggered his vow to punish the legislators in the next election cycle.
Now, five senators whom Trump targeted have lost their reelection bids, and one other race is too close to call. Only one Republican incumbent targeted by Trump managed to withstand the president’s onslaught.
Message sent and received.
Our constitutional system is, of course, designed to provide checks and balances, but the system works only if we follow it.
Trump helped kickstart the rush to prematurely redraw congressional boundaries ahead of November’s midterms elections in a desperate bid to salvage Republicans’ tenuous control of the U.S. House.
Congressional redistricting normally takes place every 10 years, following the national census, as prescribed in the Constitution. Trump, as is his wont, ignored historical standards to advance his own interests.
Redistricting push in Tennessee, South Carolina and others won’t help voters
So far, GOP lawmakers in Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas have redrawn districts in ways that could enable Republican candidates to flip 13 Democratic-held seats in November.
Other Republican-dominated states, such as South Carolina and Tennessee, may push forward their own reconfigured maps.
In response, Democrats in California and Virginia adopted heavily gerrymandered maps that favor their party. Democrats could pick up nine seats in those two states, as well as one in Utah, from court-ordered redistricting.
None of this partisan manipulation helps ordinary Americans, and it certainly doesn’t strengthen the public’s trust in our democracy.
A handful of Republican state senators in Indiana saw this abuse of power unfolding and said, “Not on our watch.” They should have been rewarded for their political courage. Instead, they were bullied for months by our nation’s commander in chief and the mercurial leader of their own political party.
And now they’ve been turned out of office by voters who placed loyalty to Trump over allegiance to democratic values.
I scoffed at liberals who claimed before and after the 2024 election that Trump’s win would destroy our democracy. Their self-serving hysteria was over the top then and remains so now, even in light of the president’s heavy-handed redistricting push.
American democracy will be just fine, long after Trump has shuffled out of the Oval Office for the last time. But just as fences make good neighbors, guardrails make better presidents.
It’s our nation’s loss that the guardrails built by brave Republican leaders in Indiana didn’t hold.
Tim Swarens is a former deputy opinion editor of USA TODAY and opinion editor of The Indianapolis Star.
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