Sick situation: Of the 3.1 million kids in Illinois, 310,000 have no health insurance, a child-advocacy group reported Wednesday. And kids without insurance are less likely to have their vaccines, see doctors when they are sick or visit the dentist. The group that made the report, Voices for Illinois Children, said most of the uninsured parents do work, but don’t have health insurance. The group suggested the state set up a system to provide low-cost insurance.
Netted: A 14-year-old Brighton, N.Y., girl and a 22-year-old guy in the Air Force became friends through an Internet chat room devoted to a vampire game. Then they met in person — and disappeared together. They were missing for four months; then Wednesday a tip led police to a southern Illinois town where the pair were staying. The man was charged with desertion from the Air Force. The girl was taken home.
Evanston unplugged: You say you can’t live a nanosecond without TV? Well, first it’s not true, cuz when would you sleep? But, besides that… Evanston kids are showing again this year that they can go a week without TV. From Thursday through April 30, kids at primary and middle schools are going without their daily TV fix for Tune Out TV Week. The week reflects the concern people have that too much TV stops kids from reading, studying, playing and doing other cool stuff. So, to help Evanston kids fill those long, TV-less hours, the community has come up with stuff for them to do, like swim for free and fish in the park. Pretty fun. (Still, if you have friends in Evanston, be a true blue and tape their fave show for them.)
