Illinois

Cross posted from the White House blog: Today, I am hosting a forum focused on the rural economy at the Iowa state fair. But, Rural America has been in the spotlight all this week as I joined President Obama to travel across parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, visiting rural communities to...

Terry Bachtold is proud of what the Indian Creek Watershed Project is doing for water quality in north central Illinois.

This past week, I had the chance to sit down with about 20 business leaders in central Illinois to hear their views on ways we can improve the nation’s economy, especially from the agriculture industry perspective. The meeting was part of a series of outreach efforts across the country this summer...

How many mascots does it take to turn a school assembly into a celebration? Well, on June 7, not one, not two, but a total of SEVEN mascots rocked the Chicago Public Schools’ “Go for the Gold” HealthierUS School Challenge celebration at Walsh Elementary School. Three major Chicago sports teams sent...

Chicago is fortunate to have a bevy of talented chefs and also to be the hometown for the Healthy Schools Campaign, a national organization that advocates for policies and practices that allow students, teachers and staff to learn and work in a healthy school environment.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: On April 4 th I had the opportunity to join Illinois’ Senator Dick Durbin, the President and First Lady’s personal trainer and member of President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Cornell McClellan and staff from USDA, the Department of Health and...

More and more of the nation’s children are starting their school day well-nourished and ready to learn with a nutritious breakfast at school. Studies confirm the importance of breakfast in optimizing children’s learning, attendance and classroom behavior. Drawing a conclusion that our mothers knew...

Who would believe that within a year of the restoration of a Lawrence County, Illinois floodplain, two endangered birds could find it? This recently happened when a breeding pair of whooping cranes took a break from their northern migration to enjoy the newly restored wetland.

We don’t often associate rock music with school nutrition, but perhaps that’s changed after a fun-filled, rollicking event I attended at Golfview Elementary in Carpentersville, Illinois.

On January 24, 2011, a wintry day in Chicago, 20,000 high school students in the Chicago Public Schools were treated to a prize-winning, delicious and healthy school lunch created by their fellow students. Topping the menu was Afro-Caribe Plancha (Cuban turkey, black beans, provolone cheese and...