Features

gen x collage Generation X
by Marcia Frellick
The financial future for this group looks even shakier than it does for their baby boomer parents

fracking well illustration The big frack
by Jamey Dunn
While hydraulic fracturing is hardly new, it’s growing and so is the controversy surrounding the practice

two groom wedding cake topper Same-sex marriage
by Kristy Kennedy
The issue nationwide is a a tipping point

Departments

Dana Heupel Editor’s note
by Dana Heupel
Family values means more than current political slogan

Jamey Dunn State of the state
by Jamey Dunn
Time has come for Quinn’s ‘rendezvous with reality’

charlie Ends and Means
by Charles N. Wheeler III, Columnist
Ideas on easing rate of extreme poverty likely to go nowhere

Also in the May issue...

Impoverished students by Ashley Griffin
As more students fall into poverty, a question emerges: What can schools and the state do to address the problem?

Prairie state grapes by Debra Chandler Landis
Illinois is growing as a wine producer

Special project

Renewing the partnership between the state and nonprofits By Brent Never