University of Illinois Extension reminds public about the importance of apple tree pruning

The University of Illinois Extension would like to remind residents to prune their apple trees in order to prevent disease and produce good healthy yields.

In a press release, Maurice Ogutu, University of Illinois Extension local food systems and small farms educator, said, “Pruning is the judicious removal of shoots and branches for the benefit of the tree. A pruned tree will have good sunlight exposure to all the branches, will be of a manageable size, have branches with wider crotch angles that support fruit load, have good spray coverage to all shoots, and bear good-quality fruit every year,”

Mike Farrell: Talk positive, actions not so

The news was encouraging.

On the day after he was inaugurated, President Barack Obama signed a memorandum committing his administration to “an unprecedented level of openness in government.”

His memorandum directed the agencies of his administration to be proactive in disclosing government information to the public. “The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption,” he wrote. “In the face of doubt, openness prevails.” His memorandum explained, “At the heart of that commitment [to transparency] is the idea that accountability is in the interest of the Government and the citizenry alike.”

Jerseyville’s Jacobs laid foundation for Rochester success

Jerseyville coach Dave Jacobs makes his point during Thursday’s drills. Jason Johnson/The State Journal-Register   

Dave Jacobs hasn’t been able to watch the Rochester High School football team play much since he left the school after the 2004 season to take the head coaching job at Champaign Central.

8th Border Security Conference examines benefits and dangers along the U.S.-Mexico borderline

UTEP President, Dr. Diana Natalicio, opens the 8th Border Security Conference. (Luis Hernandez/Borderzine.com)

EL PASO — Under the umbrella ideal of fostering a new era of bi-national collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico, the University of Texas at El Paso was once again home to the annual Border Security Conference.

Testimony For State Nears End

The state is starting to wrap up its capital murder case against Robert Kenneth Stewart after a month of trial.

Stewart, 47, could face death by lethal injection if the jury convicts him of one or more of eight counts of first-degree murder in the March 29, 2009, shooting deaths of eight people at Pinelake nursing home in Carthage.

The Beat: Walking a mile in her shoes

Rallies, protests, demonstrations, buskers and gatherings — it must be spring in Asheville.

Concerned taxpayers ralliedon Monday, April 18, and presented a $3.95 billion “tax bill” to a surprised clerk at the downtown Asheville branch of Bank of America.

Meanwhile, a national event makes its second run, er, walk, in Asheville on Saturday, April 30: Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, “the one where the men walk through downtown wearing women’s heels to take a stand against sexual assault,” says Robin Payne , development coordinator for local nonprofitOur VOICE.

Mind and Body

For your Semana Santa reading list, you may, perhaps, wish to add the paperback “Good Friday People” (Orbis, 1991).

“I coined (this title) for those who find themselves called to powerlessness and suffering,” writes Dr Shiela Cassidy. A hospice director in England today, she was tortured by the Chilean military for treating wounded rebels.

Baseball and the Business of American Innocence - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Football may get the highest television ratings, but no one should doubt that baseball is America's most literary sport. The game has a natural affinity to narrative: Each contest unfolds like a measured story, and the gaps in the action leave room for embroidery of all kinds. And embroidery there has been, with the romance of baseball proclaimed—against evidence that baseball is a big business, and often a venal one.

NationalJournal.com - Latest on Arizona Shooting: Commentary and Updates - Thursday, January 13, 2011

Much of the nation is still focused on the Arizona shooting rampage that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., critically wounded and a crowd of others dead or injured. The National Journal team will update the latest developments as they happen in Tucson and minute by minute on the Web. All times Eastern.

GO! Calendar 12/30/10

GO! do si do: Swing your partner into the next decade with the annual New Year's Square Dance at 8 o'clock sharp Friday in Hudson's Town Hall.

GO! for some Moe: Well, nyuck-nyuck-nyuck and woo-woo-woo: It's a 24-hour New Year's Three Stooges marathon on AMC, from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday.