Illinois

Statewide

Reporting from in and around Illinois.Listen to Statewide on WNIJ Saturdays 6-7 a.m. and Sundays 6-7 p.m.

Statewide: Voices of recovery and hope

NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS | By Sean Crawford

Published April 6, 2023 at 2:18 PM CDT

From left to right: Erin Davis, Anne Buchholz, Roman Griffin, Jr., and Aisha Diss.

This week on Statewide, we listen to a series from Side Effects Public Media on substance use and recovery.

Voices of Recovery and Hope includes people sharing their experiences. Their stories show that there is hope for people affected by substance use, there is help available and there are many people working to make change.

Also,

* WBEZ's Shannon Heffernan reports the Illinois Department of Corrections obtained Do Not Resuscitate orders from prisoners, even when they were not of sound mind. The finding came out last year, but the agency still hasn't changed policy.

* We learn about a St. Louis nonprofit training prisoners to be computer programmers.

* Actor Bob Odenkirk, from Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and his new series Lucky Hank, returned to his alma mater this week. Odenkirk was on the Southern Illinois University Carbondale campus to receive and honorary degree and he visited with reporter Jennifer Fuller.

* Jane Carlson of TriStates Public Radio has the story of a Knox County vegetable farmer getting back in the produce game.

* Side Effects Public Media's Darien Benson brings us the series "Voices of Recovery and Hope."

* WNIJ's Peter Medlin explains why kids are struggling to read and how educators want to fix it.