Kids who leave Chicago Hospital have found something even better to have on their casts than their friends’ signatures: Elsa from “Frozen,” Lightning McQueen, dinosaurs, SpongeBob and Patrick, a shark, Captain America’s shield and even more fun animated characters. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Felicity Fishman at Shriners Children’s Chicago also doubles as an artist. Following their surgeries, children will receive a fun art piece of their choosing.

The process to draw on their cast is the main show — even more time and planning goes into it than the surgery. Before the surgery, the doctor, physician’s assistant and nurses will talk to families about what their child might want so they have something to look forward to instead or being nervous for the procedure. Then the pre-op nurses will prepare marker colors and help plan the outline. Finally, Dr. Fishman brings the art to life.

The simple happiness this process brings to the children and staff has been invaluable. These designs also give the children a sense of choice and bodily autonomy in a scary situation for them before surgery. The simplest tasks can bring about the most joy, and this doctor and her team are doing their part not only to fix physical injuries, but also to bring about joy in their part of Illinois.

Continuing its commitment to technological innovation, the city of Chicago plans to offer its first air taxi route between O’Hare International Airport and Vertiport Chicago in 2025. The announcement from Archer Aviation Inc. and United Airlines calls the method of transportation a “safe, sustainable, low noise and cost-competitive alternative to ground transportation.”

Vertiport Chicago, which is North America’s largest vertical aircraft takeoff and landing facility, is located near the Chicago Loop and was selected for its convenient and accessible location. From there, passengers will be able to travel via aircraft to and from O’Hare in about 10 minutes — saving a significant amount of time that is often spent stuck in the city’s rush hour traffic.

Data centers are grand physical locations with hundreds of computers, machines and other hardware that store the data we use every day. Data centers have been expanding around the world as we become more dependent on cloud and data storage. 

As a result of a 2019 data center investment program, Illinois has served as one of the best data center markets in the nation and now ranks fifth in the world for data centers. These centers have rejuvenated the Chicago-area cloud system and attracted more than $4.2 billion in new investments to the state.

The 2019 program was a tax incentive plan designed to jump-start data center development in Illinois. The centers would receive exemptions from state and local sales taxes on data center equipment for 10 years if they invested a minimum of $250 million in the facility and created at least 20 high-paying full-time jobs. A study by Mangum Economics shows that the program drew 13 data center projects to the state, creating more than 8,000 jobs.

With the success of this program, Illinois is now the fifth best place in the world for data centers, cementing our place as one of the forerunners in cloud storage and the technology of the future.

A new vending machine found in Springfield’s Phoenix Center is a little different from the food and drink machines you are used to. This vending machine is the first of its kind in Illinois and provides harm reduction materials like needles, fentanyl strips and narcan at no cost.

The machine is the newest service available as part of the Springfield Harm Reduction Initiative. The Phoenix Center, which has provided harm reduction services in the Springfield area for 12 years, hopes to decrease the number of HIV and hepatitis cases by providing safe materials for those struggling with drug addiction. Anyone can utilize this machine at any time to help keep themselves safe or someone they know who is struggling.

The vending machine also provides free feminine hygiene products, food and other supplies to those who need them.

The Phoenix Center hopes to expand similar harm reduction programs into the rural counties of Illinois as well, citing the importance of safe, clean supplies in reducing disease and fatal overdoses.

A new report ranks Illinois the number one state for workforce development in the East North Central region for 2022.

The ranking, announced by Site Selection magazine, highlights Illinois’ continued job and economic growth, innovative workforce programs and employment services. The state’s ranking improved from number two in 2021.

Combining information from CNBC, U.S. News and other organizations, the ranking recognizes “states that performed well in a set of measures that gauge workforce-related aspects of states’ overall employment climate.”