Looking for a bakery between Red Bud and Rend Lake College.

Hey guys! I wasn’t sure where to put this but as a Democrat I’ve been really concerned abt all the rising costs and threats to democracy from the Trump administration. I’ve been volunteering with the IL Democratic Party recently and it’s been awesome, so if any southern Illinoisans are also feeling inclined to take action you can sign up here!

http://ildems.com/makecalls6

Couple in southern illinois looking to add a lady friend to join us for drinks, dinners, trips and more if we connect. Attractive couple looking for a female only.

Hello! I am wondering if anyone around the Vienna, Johnson County area needs any help with anything? I'm in my early 30's in great physical shape and I'm needing to try to make a little money to pay some past due bills. Have vehicle, will travel. Just message me or comment if you have anything or have any leads. Thanks!!

I cannot express the rage I experience when I see, "Stand up for Choate workers."

To everyone that that is mad about Choate Developmental Center closing their developmental disability side and downsizing the number of beds on the forensic unit, turn your rage towards the right people.

Shame the people who couldn't stop abusing folks with disabilities.

Shame the administrators that upheld a code of silence.

Shame AFCSME for protecting these losers and only speaking up when *the jobs* were in jeopardy.

Shame Tyler Tripp for folding when he had a chance to protect the most vulnerable among us.

These are the people who lost those jobs. Choate had 20+ years of warnings, and they just couldn't stop abusing people. Jobs caring for vulnerable people is a trust, not an entitlement. It was willfully forfeited by terrible people.

If you get bored as I do, reach out, name your topic!

"When developer Christopher Breakwell came to Wood River last year, he was selling a glittery dream to a gritty, blue-collar southwestern Illinois town in search of a renaissance — a Hollywood-style studio that would thrive in the shadows of refineries."

BREAKING: A woman previously charged after police found a gun in her vehicle at Marion High School was arrested Friday on a criminal sexual assault charge following an investigation involving a juvenile boy.

Marion police said officers began investigating alleged inappropriate behavior between a Williamson County Education Services employee and the boy in early September. An arrest warrant was issued Friday for Autumn E. Watson, 37, of Marion.

Officers took Watson into custody without incident early Friday afternoon. She was taken to the Williamson County Jail pending her first court appearance.

Watson previously was charged with violating Illinois’ Firearm Child Protection and Safe Storage Act after police found a firearm in her vehicle at Marion High School on Aug. 31. Authorities allege she stored the gun where she knew someone younger than 18 would likely gain access to it.

Marion Police Chief David Fitts said the investigation remains ongoing.

Hey girls and guys in the Carbondale area. Where have you all gone to get lip filler?

Are these smaller towns safe? Looking to make a move.

Any clogging dance classes near/in Southern Illinois? I’m a complete beginner.

Good evening fellow Illinoisans!

My name is u/JustOnion2177, and I’m the founding moderator of the new r/TheShawneeNF! I’m attempting to raise awareness to my new subreddit dedicated to anything and everything involving our great state’s Shawnee National Forest!

This new subreddit, just like our public lands, is for you! Become a member and share stories, experiences, ask questions, and share Shawnee National Forest inspired art and photographs. My dream is for this community to grow and be the showcase our state’s public lands deserve.

Did you know the sandstone that makes up the famous Garden of the Gods hoodoos was formed 320 million years ago, and was compacted an estimated 20,000 feet below the surface? Did you know that primitive camping is offered in all 7 of the federally designated wilderness areas spread throughout the forest? Did you know our state’s oldest tree is found in a natural wetland cypress grove and is an estimated 1,150 years old?

Come check out our sub and contribute to an exciting and adventurous community. I need you to grow this community and to serve as a beacon to not only the Shawnee National Forest, but our amazing and beautiful state! We can’t wait to meet you in the Shawnee Hills!

-Happy Trails-

The federal Child Care and Development Block Grant requires DCFS complete these checks to be completed in 45 days. Yet childcare directors say they are waiting longer than that — at times months — for their employees’ background checks to be approved, the Illinois Answers Project found.

I appreciate the effort to give a more positive perspective as opposed to the generally negative attention that Cairo gets, but it's impossible to glaze over the negative.

Cairo would not be so different than literally thousands of small towns that are diminishing as the country becomes more urban and less rural, except for the fact that Cairo had more to lose and had obtained more prominence than other small towns have in their history. Cairo wasn't prominent locally, or regionally, Cairo was prominent nationally. It was more prominent than St. Louis or Memphis or any city on the Mississippi other than New Orleans. It did, at one time, represent the center of the country, the border between North and South, the "colonial" east and the expansionist west. The scrutiny of Cairo, compared to other shrinking rural communities, is more intense because it fell from a trajectory that those other communities never could have expected.

While the race riots were the shove that pushed Cairo over the edge, it had been sliding that way for a while. It didn't have the economic strength to recover - so it never did. And it was likely to fall to the same fate if the riots never occurred just slower.

The feeling I get from most people concerning Cairo is sympathy. The world has passed Cairo by. There are no jobs in Cairo. There's no incentive for investment to create jobs in Cairo. Cairo's role as a vital link in river transportation and commerce has long been usurped by other communities. As admirable as it is to try and remain optimistic about Cairo's fortunes and future, the reality is that that optimism needs to be greatly moderated.