Category Archives: Progress

View Larger Image MaryBeth Curtis, RN, of the UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine (second from left), holds a card alerting patients that 45 is the new baseline age for colorectal screening. Curtis, PICS AR program manager, is surrounded at 1st Choice Healthcares Ash Flat clinic by clinic employees (from left) Deborah King, APRN; Starla Smith, APRN; and Denise Boyer, RN and nurse navigator. The card says 45 is the new FIT-ty and will be sent to patients as they turn 45, along with a kit they can use for their at-home test.

Dec. 28, 2021 | Colorectal cancer screening rates jumped by almost 8% in northeast Arkansas clinics that partnered with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) during the first year of a five-year project to increase screening in the state.

The Partnerships in Colorectal Cancer Screening (PiCS-AR!) is a project of the UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicines Community Health and Education Division. In 2020, the division received a $2.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to carry out the project.

Since then, its first clinic partner, 1st Choice Healthcare, exceeded its initial screening goals in five out of six clinics it operates in Salem, Pocahontas, Paragould, Corning and Ash Flat. The providers screening rate was 37% a year ago, and most of the clinics now hover in the mid-40s, with the Pocahontas clinic making the biggest jump, from 29% to 45% in one year.

Denise Boyer, RN, a patient navigator for 1st Choice Healthcare clinics in Ash Flat and Salem, displays her Fit Just Takes a Bit button that clinic staff wore to initiate patient conversations about colorectal screening, and a cookie shared during an educational activity on stool-based screening.

The project targets primary care clinics, especially in counties with low screening rates and low average household incomes. It works directly with providers to teach them best practices and help them implement techniques for increasing screening in their clinics.

Since September of 2020, UAMS and the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) have coached patient navigators at the clinics. The navigators experienced registered nurses who educate patients about the risk of developing colon cancer and explain screening options are credited for making a noticeable impact on screening rates in a short period of time.

More and more conversations between providers and patients are happening about the importance of colorectal screenings, said Alysia Dubriske, M.Ed., director of the Community Health and Education Division. Not only is that an objective of the project, but its also the first step in preventing late-stage colon cancer.

She said provider reminders and chart alerts in the clinics electronic health system also worked particularly well, noting, When patients visited, the clinic staff would check to see if they were due for a screening, and set up appointments for those who were.

Dubriske said new partners likely will be identified in the third or fourth quarter of the projects second year, which wraps up in June 2022.

Screening for colorectal cancer is extremely important in that it is one of the few measures that can prevent cancer from developing, said Jonathan Laryea, M.D., chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. There are very few cancers that can be prevented that way. Not only does it prevent cancer, but it allows cancer to be identified at an early stage, which improves survival and also prevents the complications of cancer.

A colonoscopy is the clearest, most complete screening, but another option is an at-home screening test that is designed to detect DNA abnormalities or blood in the stool, both of which could be indicators of colon cancer or precancerous conditions.

The best colorectal cancer screening test is the one that patients are most likely to complete, said Marybeth Curtis, RN and program manager for the PiCS-AR! Campaign, quoting a senior health analyst at the Mayo Clinic.

I love that quote, she said. Forty-six percent of colorectal cancer deaths in the United States are a result of missed screening opportunities. Patient adherence to screening is the key.

Curtis said one goal of the grant project is to educate providers and patients that stool-based tests are an effective, low-cost alternative to colonoscopies in screening average-risk patients for colorectal cancer.

She noted that stool-based tests are actually preferred by patients, which leads to improved follow-up in completing their screening.

Screening is the best way to beat colorectal cancer, Laryea agreed. My best advice to all adults 45 years and older is, Get your rear in gear and get screened.

Ultimately, our goal is to reduce the amount of late-stage colorectal cancer in Arkansas and the number of colorectal cancer deaths in Arkansas, Dubriske said.

Nationwide, colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths for men and women combined and is expected to cause about 53,000 deaths during 2021, including 500 deaths in Arkansas, according to the American Cancer Society.

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Department of Family & Preventive Medicine's Colorectal Screening Project Sees Progress in First Year - UAMS News

For the first time in the countrys history, government representatives were present at ceremonies to commemorate wartime crimes.

In May, Interior Ministry and police officials attended the commemoration of the anniversary of the deportation of at least 66 Bosniak refugees and some ethnic Serbs from the Montenegrin town of Herzeg Novi in 1992.

The Bosniaks and Serbs were illegally detained and brought to the police headquarters in Herceg Novi, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, from where they were deported on buses to Bosnian Serb-controlled territory. They were then detained in camps and only a few survived.

In July, Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic and President Milo Djukanovic attended the annual genocide commemoration ceremony in Srebrenica, and in October, Foreign Minister Djordje Radulovic and his Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlic laid a wreath at the Morinj wartime detention camp near the coastal town of Kotor, where Croatians captured on the battlefield were held from 1991 to 1993.

But Gorjanc Prelevic said that the new government needs to take a comprehensive approach to deal with the past.

Although there have been positive developments, such as the removal of the Minister of Justice and Human and Minority Rights, Vladimir Leposavic, for denying the Srebrenica genocide, and the laying of wreaths at the Morinj camp, a more serious, systematic commitment to dealing with the past is lacking. Such a commitment could make prosecutors take their war crimes obligations more seriously, said Gorjanc Prelevic.

Leposavic was dismissed by parliament in June after he expressed doubts about the Hague Tribunals rulings classifying the 1995 Srebrenica massacres by Bosnian Serb forces as genocide.

Leposavics dismissal was supported by the votes of opposition MPs and lawmakers from the Black on White coalition, which is part of the ruling majority. The other two blocs in the ruling majority, For the Future of Montenegro and Peace is Our Nation, did not support the dismissal.

Leposavic, a pro-Serbian politician, insisted he was not denying the Srebrenica genocide but only expressing his general position that the Hague court was not legitimate because it had destroyed evidence about the alleged trafficking of the organs of Serb civilians in Kosovo.

On the same day as Leposavic was sacked, the Montenegrin parliament also adopted a resolution condemning public denial of the Srebrenica genocide and calls on state institutions to investigate and prosecute war crimes.

The largest bloc in the ruling majority, For the Future of Montenegro, voted against the resolution, calling it a provocation against the countrys Serbs.

Read the rest here:

Montenegro: New Government, But No Progress on War Crime Probes - Balkan Insight

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but I am starting my 15th year of writing a column for the Progress. This may say more about the patience of the editor than the quality of my writing.

At the start of each year I like to remind my readers this is not a news column, it is an opinion column, and that is why it appears on the Op Ed page of the paper.

While I try to be factual, I dont pretend to be unbiased in my opinions and so with that stipulation, I will begin my new year of writing.

No one asked me but For the following reasons I believe it is imperative that the Nevada State Department of Education place the Clark County School District into receivership and establish an Oversight Committee to run the District bringing it into compliance with all Nevada Revised Statutes. The CCSD past failures to resolve the poor standing of education in the State of Nevada has made it necessary to act to reform the District.

In the last month I have watched a CCSD Board meeting where the Superintendent, Chief Financial Officer and another Central Office Employee, as well as the Board President openly admitted that a proposal the Superintendent was asking the Board to approve was in direct violation of the Nevada Revised Statues dealing with the financial structure of the Clark County School District. The President of the Board called for a motion to approve the illegal action and it was passed on a 6-1 vote.

Later in the month I watched a Nevada State Board of Education subcommittee meeting where the Chief Financial Officer and the same central office employee stated that District would not comply with this financial provision of the NRS. They also admitted that they were out of compliance as to the placement of surplus teachers. They stated to comply with the law would put them in violation of the contract agreement with the teachers association. One must wonder when association agreements supersede the law?

They further stated that they could see no way the District could comply with the requirements of NRS 388G.

During this report the CFO indicated that the reorganization reforms had detrimental effects on the District. One, it took the focus from educating children to reforming the Districts mode of delivery.

Apparently, the District cannot chew gum and walk at the same time. Two, the reorganization did not bring about the desired improvement in the educational growth of the students of Clark County.

While I agree that the District has focused its time on the reform it was NOT to implement it. For over the five years the law has been in effect, they have been busy fighting the reorganization with every means at their disposal, even to the point of out and out violation of the law. While the report presented to the sub-committee of the Nevada State Department of Education said the reorganization has been a failure, I would contend we dont know since it has never been implemented by the District.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for all operations, finances, and services, and, therefore, must accept the responsibility for the malfunction within the District over the past years that have led to the abysmal national ranking of the educational results in CCSD. This open hostility to reform expressed by members of the CCSD Board of Trustees will make it impossible to carry out any meaningful reform without careful monitoring by the Nevada State Department of Education. The past record of the CCSD Board of ignoring, when they found it advantageous to do so, various Nevada Revised Statues would indicate a need to insure the reorganizations laws are carried out in a proper manner.

By voting, under the direction of the on-again-off-again Superintendent, to violate NRS 388G. 660.1(b) (2) requiring 85% of unrestricted moneys be placed in the local school budgets to be controlled by the individual schools the CCSD Board of Trustees has taken a stand against the reform efforts of the legislature; therefore, the Board of Trustees cannot be trusted to carry out any reforms required by the Legislature. The Board of Trustees has demonstrated a lack of understanding as to what is required of the District under the reorganization plan as codified in the Nevada Revised Statues.

For the reasons stated above, it would be irresponsible for the State Department of Education to leave the present CCSD Board of Trustees in charge of the District without an oversight agency. I believe an independent oversight board should be instituted.

I would suggest the following for this oversight board. Two members appointed by the Mayor of Las Vegas, two members appointed by the Mayor of Henderson, two members appointed by the Mayor of North Las Vegas, one member appointed by the Mayor of the City of Mesquite, one member appointed by the Mayor of Boulder City, one member appointed by the Clark County Board of Commissioners to represent all of the unincorporated areas of Clark County, and one member appointed by the Governor to serve as the chairman of the committee who would vote only to break a tie vote among the committee members.

This Oversight Committee would be responsible for the expenditure of all the funds available to CCSD. This Committee would determine which of those funds are restricted and which are unrestricted. This committee would determine the various weighted Student Funding Formulas and their implementation in accordance with the requirements of NRS 388G. 500-810.

The Oversight Committee would review all CCSD Board of Trustees present policies and regulations amending each to conform to the stipulations of the Reorganization Plan ensuring the CCSD Boards compliance with any and all laws of the State of Nevada.

This committee would either approve the continued employment of the present Superintendent or would replace him with a Superintendent who will join them in bringing the District into compliance with the laws of Nevada.

The Nevada State Board of Education Oversight Committee should continue to function until it is determined by the Governor, the State Board of Education, and the Oversight Committee that an elected CCSD Board of Trustees is capable of managing the District as stipulated by Nevada Revised Statue.

When the elected board is re-established, it should be a nine-member board with representation that corresponds to the makeup of the oversight committee boundaries.

Thought of the weekThey say that breaking up is hard to do. Now I know, I know that its true Neil Sedaka

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No One Asked Me But... (December 29, 2021) - The Progress - mvprogress

THE SCOOP:

- The Penguins returned to practice on Monday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex after having four days off for the holidays

- Forwards Evgeni Malkin (knee) and Bryan Rust (lower-body) were both full participants, taking huge steps in their respective recoveries

- Winger Jake Guentzel (upper-body) missed today with a non-COVID related illness. The team will see how he is tomorrow, and are hopeful to get him back fairly soon

- Winger Jason Zucker is now week-to-week with a nagging lower-body injury

- Goaltender Tristan Jarry, defensemen John Marino and Mike Matheson, and forwards Teddy Blueger, Evan Rodrigues and Dominik Simon have all been added to the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol List

**

Let's start with the good news.

Malkin has progressed even closer towards his season debut after practicing in a full capacity for the first time. It was great to see, especially considering that it's been an such a long road dating back to March of last season.

Malkin, 35, was first injured in a collision with Bruins defenseman Jarrod Tinordi and was sidelined for the final six weeks of the year - missing 23 consecutive contests - as well as Games 1 and 2 of Pittsburgh's first-round matchup with the Islanders. After undergoing surgery on his right knee in June, Malkin was cleared to join the team in a non-contact fashion on Nov. 29 and had been mostly participating in that capacity until today.

While Mike Sullivan doesn't think Malkin will be ready to play in Pittsburgh's next game, which is scheduled for Friday in Ottawa - "I think it would be aggressive on Geno's part" - the head coach said there was a reasonable chance Rust could return. The forward echoed that sentiment.

"It feels good out there," Rust said. "Obviously to be able to be back in regular jersey is nice. It's been a while The plan is to have a game in Ottawa. Hopefully I'll be able to play that one, but we'll see how the schedule works out."

Rust, 27, has missed the last 11 games with a lower-body injury suffered in warmups ahead of Pittsburgh's 1-0 win over the Islanders on Nov. 26. The timing of that was particularly difficult, as Rust - who had already been sidelined for seven games from Oct. 16-Nov. 4 - had snapped a 10-game goalless streak in the contest prior.

"Obviously any time you get hurt, it's not ideal," Rust said. "I only played 12 games, so I was playing decent and getting better, and then something unfortunate happens and had to miss some more time. But hopefully I can come back healthy here and get back to playing well, and help this team keep winning games."

Video: Bryan Rust speaks with the media.

Now for the not-so-good news. In addition to Zucker being put on the shelf, the Penguins have been hit with a second wave of COVID-19 cases after Chad Ruhwedel, Brian Dumoulin, Zach Aston-Reese, Marcus Pettersson, Kris Letang, Jeff Carter, Sidney Crosby and Mike Sullivan all confirmed positive earlier in the year. More recently, skills coach Ty Hennes had to isolate as well.

"For the most part, everybody is doing very well," Sullivan said of the players currently in the protocol. "There are a couple of the guys that have mild, almost like cold-like symptoms. But most of them are doing very well. There's a handful of them that are asymptomatic. So none of them, to this point, have anything significant."

As of now, the Penguins are not scheduled to play again until Friday, Dec. 31 at Ottawa after having four games postponed (12/21 vs. New Jersey; 12/23 vs. Philadelphia; 12/27 at Boston, and 12/29 at Toronto) due to COVID-related reasonsacross the league. Letang, who is the team's NHLPA representative, said his sense is that the main goal is to ultimately keep the season going.

"Try to have the season as normal as possible and have the games be played," the defenseman said. "But obviously, a lot of teams are getting COVID, the farm teams also, so it's tough to call up when you have an outbreak in the minors. So right now, it's kind of day-to-day analysis of what's going on around the league and what can be done to play games. And that's all we know right now."

The NHL and NHLPA are taking certain measures to help ensure that happens, like allowing teams to form Taxi Squads on a temporary basis lasting through the date of their final game prior to the scheduled dates for the 2022 All-Star Break (Feb. 4-5). For the Penguins, that will be Feb. 1 vs. Washington.

Sullivan said the Penguins are sorting through that right now, and through his preliminary discussions with general manager Ron Hextall, anticipates them utilizing it in certain instances. Like their upcoming trip to Dallas, Philadelphia, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose and Vegas from Jan. 5-17.

"That might be a circumstance where we utilize a taxi squad and bring some extra guys out there. Just logistically, it's a challenge if you end up needing guys when you're already on the other side of the country," Sullivan said. "We're still trying to sort through that aspect of it, but I would anticipate us utilizing it. I just don't know how consistently at this point."

Video: Coach Mike Sullivan speaks with the media.

There's certainly been a lot thrown at the Penguins in the last week or so, but they've been conditioned to expect the unexpected. Since Day 1 of training camp, Sullivan said they've talked about how they're not on the other side of the pandemic yet, and that's going to keep throwing adversity their way. It's just a matter of reacting the right way and controlling what they can.

"The goalposts move every couple of days, it seems, but I feel very fortunate to be able to come to the rink and do what we do," Sullivan said. "There's a lot of people that are in way worse circumstances than we are. I'm grateful that for the guys that have got COVID to this point, we've had no serious cases, which is a big deal, right? First and foremost, we want to keep everybody healthy. Hopefully, the guys we have in the COVID protocol can continue to be asymptomatic and/or have very mild symptoms, and we can get these guys back in the fold as soon as we can.

"In the meantime, we're going to put the team on the ice that's going to give us the best chance to win. We're going to practice every day. And we're going to get excited about the opportunity in front of us."

Read more:

Malkin and Rust Progress to Full Contact; Six Players Enter Protocol - NHL.com

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Letter: Resolving pandemic is a work in progress - La Grande Observer

As 2021 comes to an end, heres a look back at the most read stories at claremoreprogress.com by month. Stories that were most popular included new businesses coming to town, construction projects awarded and local events. Stories can be read in their entirety by clicking on the story links.

January:

$44 million project in Claremore awarded. This story discussed the $44 million State Highway 20 project through Claremore being awarded to Emery Sapp and Sons Incorporated during the December 2020 Oklahoma Transportation Commission meeting.

February:

Council extends mask mandate until June. City councilors extended the mask mandate to June 30.

The story FUMC offers shelter was a close second. In response to the devastating winter storm in February, First United Methodist Church opened a warming center where anyone in need was welcome.

March:

Cruise nights starts back up. Claremore Cruise Night kicked off its second season as vehicles throughout the ages filled the parking lot of Ne-Mar Center every Friday night for Cruise Night.

April:

Construction begins on Keetonville Hill. Construction on the $44 million project of realigning Highway 20 over Keetonville Hill begun.

May:

ALDI scheduled to open. The grand opening for ALDIs was June 17. The initial discussion to bring ALDI to Claremore began in 2015, but due to transitions, it sat dormant. Crossland Construction Company began construction on the new grocery store in January.

June:

Claremore teen named Miss Rodeo Oklahoma Teen. Myranda Kistler, 15, of Claremore secured the title of Miss Rodeo Oklahoma Teen.

July:

Claremore Walmart temporarily closed. The Claremore Walmart Supercenter, located at 1500 S Lynn Riggs Blvd, was closed to undergo cleaning as a response to a rise in local COVID-19 cases.

August:

Claremore restaurant owner charged in RICO Indictment. El Charro owner Jose Luis Bravo was one of 19 defendants charged in a federal racketeering conspiracy to hire undocumented workers.

September:

Dutch Bros comes to Claremore. Dutch Bros Coffee, a leader in the drive-thru coffee category, is filling the space where the Golden Corral once stood.

October:

5 THINGS TO KNOW: Flags will be flying at half mast in honor of General Colin Powell. Flags across the United States flew at half-mast in honor of General Collin Powell. Powell rose to the highest ranks of the United States military and to advise four Presidents.

November:

One fatality in house fire: Official cause of fire is undetermined. An early morning house fire took the life of one Claremore man.

December:

Sequoyahs Rudd signs with South Dakota State. Sequoyah senior Dawson Rudd signed his National Letter of Intent to play football at South Dakota State University, a consistent program in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) ranks.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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Progress' most-read stories of 2021: New businesses, construction are some of the most read stories - Claremore Daily Progress

It's too early - after just nine NFL starts - to say whether Davis Mills is the Texans' quarterback of the future. However, it's not too soon to say the rookie quarterback has done enough to earn the starting job in 2022. More importantly, Mills has done enough to allow the Texans and general manager Nick Caserio to focus on areas of need other than quarterback in April's NFL Draft.

The Texans (4-11) figure to have a top five pick - if the season ended today, they'd be picking third behind the Jaguars and Lions. If they're able to trade Deshaun Watson in the offseason, the Texans will have multiple first-round picks in a draft where there isn't an obvious franchise quarterback available.

With the way Mills has played recently, that might suit the Texans just fine. With a top five pick - assuming Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux and Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson are gone in the first two selections - the Texans will be able to focus on their offensive line with the likes of Alabama's giant 6-foot-7, 350-pound offensive tackle Evan Neal or perhaps improve the secondary with LSU's stud cornerback Derek StingleyJr, or Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton.

That will be a luxury since they won't be forced to reachon a quarterback like Pittsburgh's Kenny Pickett or Ole Miss' Matt Corral, because Mills has shown rapid improvement late in the season.

Mills had the best game of his young career in Sunday's 30-16 upset of the Chargers, completing 21 of 27 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.Since being handed over the starting role three weeks ago over an ineffective Tyrod Taylor, Mills has gone 2-1 and completed 73-of-106 passes (68.9 percent) for 794 yards with five touchdowns and just one interception.

"We expected him to be where hes at at this point," Texans coach David Culley said Monday.

Not everyone was so sure after the third-round pick wasprematurely thrust into the starting lineup when Taylor injured his hamstring in Week 2. Mills struggled in some of those games as he adjusted to game speed and the game plans were limited as he got his feet under him.

"The way Ive grown in this offense, I feel like Im able to make smarter decisions and not force footballs into tight coverage," Mills said. "Our guys protected me up front so I was able to have time and see guys get open and then credit to the receivers for winning their matchups and getting open and allowing me to get the ball to them."

Mills' progress was never more evident than late in Sunday's upset when the Texans were trying to milk the clock and hold on to a 27-23 lead with less than three minutes remaining. On a first-and-10 at the Chargers' 13, Mills changed the play at the line of scrimmage, switching from a run to a pass and delivered a strike to fellow rookie Nico Collins for a game-sealing touchdown.

"Id like to say I was doing some of the same stuff earlier in the season, but I feel like Ive progressed a lot with stuff like that," Mills said. "How weve been playing recently, Im able to anticipate more pre-snap based on what were getting and based on what were expecting on certain downs and distances and situations in the game, so Im able to go out there in the game and really just take what the defense is giving us."

This was a lost season from the start, so the Texans' No. 1 objective was finding outif Mills is a guy they can count on at least in the short-term. So far, he's proven at least that much and shockingly looks like the second-best quarterback behind the Patriots' Mac Jones in a draft class that includes the highly touted No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence, who has played poorly in Jacksonville.

"Hes a very mature guy and hes getting much better and much better the more he plays," Culley said.

That means the Texans can fill various needs in a quarterback-weak draft, and give Mills another year to develop and see if he can turn into a franchise quarterback. If Mills proves he's not that guy next season,then quarterbacks like Alabama's Bryce Young and Ohio State's C.J. Stroud should be available in the 2023 draft.

Excerpt from:

Davis Mills' progress will allow Texans to focus on other needs in draft - Chron

Oneida County officials are asking people to be patient if they have not yet been contacted about their vaccine incentive.

The county is working with the Prizeout app to award $100 gift cards to anyone who has received a vaccine or booster shot since July 15.

In a post to Facebook Tuesday, the county said the COVID-19 hotline has been overwhelmed with calls from people inquiring about when they will receive their incentives, which is causing outages and long wait times.

Anyone who provided a valid cell phone number or email address when getting their shot will be contacted directly by Prizeout via text or email., according to the county. However, officials say this can take months because the contact information is sent in small batches and there are more than 50,000 to send.

In the post, the county reiterated that only people who do not have a smartphone or email address should call the hotline directly.

PLEASE DO NOT CALL the helpline or any other Oneida County department to inquire about why you haven't received this message from Prizeout. Calls of that nature are preventing us from helping those who need physical gift cards and other important health-related phone calls from coming through, the post read.

People have until Dec. 31 to qualify for the incentive by getting a vaccine or booster, but Prizeout will continue reaching out to eligible residents after that date.

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Oneida County asks for patience amid slow progress with vaccine incentives - WKTV

SPRINGFIELD Officials with the Illinois Department of Transportation are pleased with the major projects delivered or coming to life across the state in 2021.

The Interstate 255 rebuild in Madison County, one of the first Rebuild Illinois projects to fix one of the worst roads in the state, won top honors for technology and innovation from the Midwest chapter of the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials.

This past year was perhaps the most eventful in the history of IDOT, said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. "Because of Rebuild Illinois, we made history in 2021 with generational improvements to highways, bridges, rail, transit, waterways, airports as well as bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

"We head into 2022 prepared to build an even safer, more equitable transportation system for all of Illinois.

IDOT was able to manage about $2.4 billion in improvements to 1,314 miles of highway and 142 bridges, as well as 194 safety improvements, in the 2021 fiscal year.

Additionally, with the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed last month, Illinois is estimated to receive about $17.8 billion over the next five years.

The new $1.2 billion Interstate 74 Mississippi River bridge in the Quad Cities opened to traffic Dec. 3 following four years of construction and a ribbon-cutting led by the governor. A joint project with Iowa, the bridge is one of the biggest projects in state history.

Construction wrapped up on expanding I-80 to six lanes between Interstate 355 and U.S. 30 in Joliet and New Lenox. The work was tied to the reconstruction of the U.S. 30 interchange and a prelude to six-year plan to rebuild 16 miles of I-80 a $1.2 billion project that is currently in progress.

In Champaign-Urbana, construction began on rebuilding the I-57/74 interchange. The $216.8 million project replaces the more than 50-year-old original interchange and will provide safer and more efficient movement of freight and people.

Work advanced on replacing the eastbound McClugage Bridge that carries U.S. 150 in Peoria. One of six bridges spanning the Illinois River in the Peoria area, the $167 million project ended the year about 40% complete. The new structure will improve capacity, increase safety, reduce travel times and provide multimodal access with bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.

In southern Illinois, work will be underway in January on a $67.6 million expansion of nine miles of I-57 north of Illinois 149 to south of Illinois 154. The project continues the ongoing effort to expand I-57 from four to six lanes in West Frankfort.

Lincoln Service, Carl Sandburg/Illinois Zephyr and Illini/Saluki state-supported Amtrak trains resumed full service in July after being limited due to COVID-19. In November, communities along the Illinois Zephyr celebrated the 50th anniversary of the service connecting Chicago and Quincy.

Ground was broken on a new federal and state effort with several railroads to reconfigure an outdated network of tracks and signals while replacing the 97-year-old Lenox Tower in the Metro East. The project, expected to conclude in 2022, is modernizing rail operations, safety and mobility.

In December, a new schedule was implemented for Lincoln Service trains to reflect higher 90 mph speeds as a result of improvements made along the Chicago-St. Louis corridor. Work continues toward the ultimate goal of increasing speeds to 110 mph by 2023. Testing of the new Siemens Venture passenger rail cars occurred, with the cars expected to go into service in early 2022 in Illinois and other Midwest states.

Additionally, more than 50 Alternative Fuels Corridor signs were posted on interstates statewide to guide motorists to electric vehicle charging stations. The Federal Highway Administration has designated 145,000 miles of interstate for promoting alternative fuels, including along Interstates 39, 55, 70, 74, 80, 90 and 94 in Illinois.

An improved winter road conditions map debuted on the popular Getting Around Illinois website. The map now offers greater detail into how weather events are impacting roads under the jurisdictions of the more than 120 snow-and-ice team sections that work out of

Efforts by IDOT to promote pollinator habitat and the monarch butterfly continued going strong in 2021 with the opening of the Litchfield Route 66 Prairie. The result of a four-year partnership between IDOT and local Montgomery County environmental groups, the 10-acre prairie thats part of the Route 66 Monarch Flyway is home to more than 200 native plant species and several types of large and small animals.

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IDOT pleased with 2021 progress - Alton Telegraph

This season's NFC and AFC interception leaders are well known across the NFL landscape:Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs and New England Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson are Pro Bowl starters who have achieved superstar status over the last 16 weeks.

Unless youre a Detroit Lions fan, however, you probably dont know that cornerback Amani Oruwariye currently ranks third in the NFL with six interceptions this season. Unfortunately, Oruwariye wont be able to try and catch Diggs, who has 11 picks, or Jackson, who has seven, because his season is over due to a broken thumb. Still, the 2019 fifth-round pick certainly raised some eyebrows this season as he pushes to achieve his next set of goals.

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I just want to be a household name when it comes to corner, Oruwariye told PFF last week. I want to be someone whos talked about as one of the top corners around the league. Just in general, respect my game. I think the respect of your peers around the NFL is huge.

Oruwariye, who at 6-foot-2, 205 pounds with 4.4 40-yard dash speed has ideal size and athleticism for a man or Cover-3 cornerback, has been especially stingy in post-safety coverage schemes. Oruwariye has allowed just a 64.9 passer rating in Cover-3 and a 44.7 passer rating in Cover-1.

His 57.5 passer rating against ranks ninth out of 130 qualified cornerbacks.

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The progress of third-year corner Amani Oruwariye shows just how close the Detroit Lions are to turning things around | NFL News, Rankings and...