In the news: Illinois school districts are meeting internet goals

• Children
• Growth
• technology

Internet access is an invaluable resource. Without it many of our students are unprepared for the future that awaits them in college classrooms, professional careers and everyday life. In decades prior, access to online information was not as widespread or important as it is now.

The EducationSuperHighway 2016 State of States Annual Report found that 83 percent of Illinois School districts representing 1,099,120 students met connectivity goals. The progress made last year tops the 71 percent of school districts with acceptable internet in 2015. The schools and libraries universal service support program, also known as the E-rate program, helps schools and libraries  get affordable broadband.

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Illinois film industry a nearly half-billion dollar enterprise

The Illinois FILM Office released numbers that show Illinois’s film industry continues to grow, with estimated spending in 2016 reaching $499 million. Working with 345 different projects supporting over 13,000 jobs, spending by the film industry was up 51 percent from last year.

Illinois has become a center of film and television thanks to various factors from the tax incentives available to the wide-ranging talent. That talent has grown so much that Chicago has been named one of the top 10 cities for the third consecutive year to live as a filmmaker.

NBC currently has three shows in its lineup with more coming this spring that are filmed on location in Chicago; “Chicago Med”, “Chicago PD” and “Chicago Fire”. “Chicago Justice”, which dramatizes the people of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, airs in March.

Fox’s Emmy-nominated “Empire” is set in New York but filmed in Chicago.

The film industry in Illinois is not just confined to traditional cable networks either. Netflix and Amazon film shows in Chicago with Netflix filming “Easy” and “Sense8” and Amazon filming “Patriot”.

A large part of the growth can be attributed to Illinois’s 30 percent tax credit on all film expenditures. The tax credit is only one in the nation that sets a diversity standard in an attempt to generate opportunity in economically disadvantaged areas.

For more information about the Illinois Film Tax Credit and all Illinois has to offer to the film industry, you can visit the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s film office.

Higher Education Spotlight: Illinois Colleges Recognized as Military Friendly

One of the hardest things for many members of the military when re-acclimating to civilian life is to start or go back into schooling. Some even have been out of school for decades when they decide to return to finish a degree or start a new one. Many schools throughout Illinois are taking steps to make that transition easier.

Victory Media is an organization that has been working with schools and employers throughout the country to make the transition from military life to civilian life much easier. Recently, they announced their list of the top military friendly schools throughout the country.

Victory Media used multiple metrics to determine who the best of the best were. Some metrics for schools include student veteran retention, graduation, job placement and loan repayment. Schools were recognized for the support services they provide to veteran students throughout their degrees.

Nearly 40 Illinois schools were awarded the honor of being military friendly. Loyola University in Chicago was awarded the highest honor by being declared a top 10 graduate school for how military friendly it was.

If schools were within 20 percent of the top 10 scores, they received a gold medal. The following Illinois schools were gold medal recipients: Illinois State University, Richard J. Daley College, Robert Morris University Illinois and Western Illinois University.

For the complete list of military friendly schools, click here.

Throwback Thursday: Prairie farmer newspaper

• Chicago
• agriculture

Founded in 1841 by John S. Wright, the Chicago-based Prairie Farmer is the oldest farm publication in Illinois.

Wright, a businessman and a diligent advocate for Illinois and the welfare of its farmers, founded the paper as a way to connect farmers with the latest farming techniques and issues surrounding crop rotation, fertilization and pest control.

Wright began his endeavor by serving as secretary and general manager of the Union Agricultural Society, for which he began a newspaper, the Union Agriculturist. The merger of the Union Agriculturalist and the Western Prairie Farmer made Wright the owner and the paper’s name was changed to the Prairie Farmer.

The paper featured experts in the field of farming, which was encouraged by Wright. Subscriptions increased exponentially because of the vital information being circulated by the publication.

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