SHOULD I USE ASPARTAME? Most people like sweet foods. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame can sweeten foods without the extra calories and glucose-raising sugar. Is aspartame safe? Can it help you lose weight? Could it help you control your diabetes? Aspartame…
By Herman Brockman OpEd Two Arctic apple varieties have been in the news recently because of their “approval” by the USDA and FDA. “Approval” is commonly used in the media, but the reality is that the USDA “deregulated” these Arctic…
Anyone with a brain knows the board and administration of School District 150 is dysfunctional. Too many of their decisions are so ridiculous one has to laugh. I’m still laughing after listening to a jingle produced for the school district…
Hedy Elliott Gardner OpEd All across the country people struggle to find affordable housing. People who are low income or on a fixed income find it especially challenging. The demand is driving the cost up so high that there is…
By Bonnie Cox The monarch butterfly, state of Illinois insect, is in danger of extinction. Their population is down by 90 percent in the overwintering grounds of Mexico. Some believe the monarch will share the history of the passenger pigeon.…
As an American Jew–particularly as one who wears a kippah [a Jewish ritual head-covering]–I have a complicated relationship to white privilege. Like many Jews, at some level I don’t feel white; for 2,000 years or so Jews have been living…
On a summer collecting trip in Northern Illinois, a botanist made “a most remarkable find” near Lake Calumet in Cook County. No, it wasn’t gold or platinum . . . . It was something far more rare. A diminutive flower…
