From stories of hope to the massacre in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood

Opinion WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last Saturday, student journalists at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting told stories from around the globe about religious persecution, sex trafficking and the hopes and dreams of refugees and migrants hunting for a better life across an ocean, or gulf or invisible national border.  They were hopes sometimes realized in…

The contrasting national, local and pro-Trump media perspectives of Trump’s rally in southern Illinois

Analysis For the first time in 23 years, southern Illinois was paid a visit by the President of The United States of America on Saturday, October 27. Thousands of people came from across the Heartland to see President Donald Trump as he spoke at the Southern Illinois Airport in Murphysboro, Illinois. The previous president to…

Illinois’ Public Access Counselor frustratingly slow; AG candidates promise changes

The public ambulance service in the small northwestern Illinois village of Hanover was used to working in private. When Galena Gazette reporter Dan Burke asked its governing board for meeting agendas and minutes, it refused. When citizens asked for a budget, personnel qualifications and a list of purchases, it also refused. Citizens’ rights to demand…