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At a news conference, Illinois State Police Major Ryan Starrick says there were multiple deaths in a massive highway pile-up, involving dozens of semi-trucks and cars, after a dust cloud blew across Interstate-55 in south-central Illinois. COURTESY: WICS TV ((mandatory on-air credit))

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At least 6 dead after dust storm causes crashes in Illinois
By JOHN O'CONNOR - Associated Press
Mon,05/01/23-2:55PM , 73 Reads
DIVERNON, Ill. (AP) — A windstorm in central Illinois kicked up dangerous clouds of blinding dust off farm fields Monday, causing numerous crashes that killed at least six people on Interstate 55, police said.
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150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nation's worst
By JOHN O'CONNOR - Associated Press
Sat,04/29/23-11:10PM , 144 Reads
DIXON, Ill. (AP) — Gertie Wadsworth was in the arms of her grandmother that bright day when sunshine dissolved distasteful memories of a long, brutal winter. Christan Goble held the 3 1/2-year-old girl in a crowd of more than 200 on the bridge over the Rock River.
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Marc Smith, director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, discusses the stabbing death of state child welfare worker Diedre Silas during a news conference, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in Springfield, Ill. Silas, 36, was conducting a visit Tuesday, Jan. 4, on a home in Thayer, south of Springfield, when she was stabbed. A man living in the home, 32-year-old Benjamin H. Reed, faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and unlawful restraint. He is being held in the Sangamon County Jail on $5 million bond. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)

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Social workers' field safety remains concern after killing
By JOHN O'CONNOR - AP Political Writer
Sun,01/09/22-9:18AM , 98 Reads
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois officials are seeking answers after the killing last week of a state child welfare worker during a home visit — the second such tragedy to occur in less than five years.
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