The News-Gazette’s owners are shutting down the Rantoul Press - while the Commercial News, based in Danville, has announced reduced days of publication. The Rantoul Press has been in operation since the early 1900s and is published weekly on Wednesday. It was formerly owned by Glenn Hansen, who died in 2008. The newspaper was sold to the News-Gazette in 2004. “It’s sad because it’s been our little newspaper,” said Kaye Heath, secretary and treasurer of the Rantoul Historical Society and Museum. Heath, 75, is a lifelong resident of Rantoul and said that in addition to retaining a copy of the full paper, the historical society often clips articles from the newspaper, such as fires and other happenings, for their files. “We’re going to miss it,” she said.

At the age of 17, Jobie Taylor was just about to graduate high school when he was convicted of first degree murder in the south side of Chicago. Given a sentence of 40 years, of which he served 20, for a crime he claims he didn’t commit, Taylor is now 44 years old and dedicates his life to changing the exact culture he grew up in. He works with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Education Justice Project, a program that provides higher education at Danville Correctional Center. He’s now a case manager at the Housing Authority in Champaign, where he works with at-risk youth to get their GEDs and find jobs.

As a nation of animal lovers, America plays host to a huge population of dogs. Many are sadly neglected, leading to centers taking in 3.3…