Illinois (pronounced or "ill-i-NOY") is the 21st U.S. state and is located in the Midwest region of the United States of America. The state is known for its large and diverse population, its balance of rural areas, small industrial cities, vast suburbs and great metropolis, its highly diverse economic base, and its central location that has made it a transportation hub for 150 years. It is this mixture of factory and farm, of urban and rural that makes Illinois a microcosm of the nation.

About 2000 Native American hunters inhabited the area at the time of the American Revolution, and by a small number of French villagers. American settlers began arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s; they achieved statehood in 1818. Yankees arrived a little later and dominated the north, creating the metropolis of Chicago in the 1830s. The coming of the railroads in the 1850s made highly profitable the rich prairie farmlands in central Illinois, attracting large numbers of immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. Northern Illinois, strongly Republican, provided major support for Illinoisans Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War. By 1900, factories were being rapidly built in the northern cities, along with coal mines in central and southern areas, attracting large numbers of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Illinois was a major arsenal in both world wars; large numbers of blacks left the cotton fields of the South to come to Chicago, where they developed a famous jazz culture.

The state is named for the Illinois River which was named by French explorers after the indigenous Illiniwek people, a consortium of Algonquian tribes that thrived in the area. The word Illiniwek means "tribe of superior men."State of Illinois. Illinois Symbols. Accessed on April 20, 2006

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Neckbeards: Are they growing on you?
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:04:00 -0500
It's the neckbeard -- slang for facial hair that extends wildly beyond jaw line without benefit of grooming tools -- that sets Bears quarterback Orton apart. Can his scraggly example signal the next frontier in facial hair?
How religion guides Palin
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:47:55 -0500
McCain won't fool women Picking up 'change' motif Why isn't she on the Sunday talk shows? Oprah: No pols on show Photos: Palin | Her hometown | Convention
Sox slugger Quentin to have wrist surgery
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:17:22 -0500
Carlos Quentin has been leading the American League in home runs, so the operation is a serious blow to the Sox's AL Central title hopes.
Obamas 'uppity,' Southern congressman says
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:53:34 -0500

Man steals cop's gun and kills himself after holding hostages in bank
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:42:00 -0500
Hostage-taker kills self after stealing cop's gun at knifepoint, police say A police officer responding to a fake traffic accident report was overpowered and had his gun stolen by a man who fled into a downtown Wheaton bank, took as many as 12 hostages and kept them for three hours Friday afternoon. The man then shot himself to death.
Bhutto widower wins Pakistan's presidential election
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:11:00 -0500
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) _ The widower of slain former leader Benazir Bhutto will succeed Pervez Musharraf as president of Pakistan after winning a landslide election victory Saturday.

Chicago Sun-Times :: News ::

Fitzgerald: Flier implies endorsement
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter/apallasch@suntimes.com Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0600
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has asked Republican Cook County state's attorney candidate Tony Peraica to stop passing out a campaign flier that looks to Fitzgerald like Peraica is claiming his endorsement. The flier shows side-by-side photos of Fitzgerald and Peraica and says, "U.S. Attorney's Office Needs Help Fighting Corruption in Cook County."
Do you remember your first...Google?
BY SANDRA GUY Staff reporter Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0600
Ten years after Google debuted, Chicago-area CEOs and business leaders recall their earliest encounters with the search engine that bested Yahoo, AltaVista, Excite and Lycos. Most of the business leaders had trouble recalling a time without Google. Here are the results:
Man charged with cheating sick teen out of wish
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0600
An Arizona man has been accused of cheating an Illinois boy with a terminal illness out of a go-cart, authorities say. Douglas Riesberg, 53, received $11,000 from the Make-A-Wish Foundation's Chicago chapter in March for a custom go-cart for the sick boy, who is 16 and on dialysis, Arizona officials say.

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