Rachel Otwell

R​ape crisis centers have had to scale back services because of the budget stalemate - which is headed toward its tenth month.

There are about thirty in the state - all part of the same coalition.

The Prairie Center Against Sexual Assault is one ... it serves 11 counties in central Illinois ... and helps over 500 people annually.

It provides counseling, and medical and legal advice for victims.

Shelley Vaughan heads it ... she says she's had to lay-off employees and stop doing rural outreach.

Money is still being raised to help run the Illinois State Museum in Springfield -- even though its doors have been closed to the public for three months. A not-for-profit that deals with grants and private donations continues to solicit, sending out pleas for donations in the mail.

The chair of the board, Guerry Suggs, says it’s mostly union employees still on the job. 

“We have now obviously more time to do curation work because we don’t have to deal with the public,” Suggs said. “So the museum’s collections are in fact being maintained.”

Muslims in Illinois are coping with increased scrutiny and incendiary rhetoric. This first segment of a two-part Illinois Public Radio report visits a Springfield mosque.

The mosque of the Islamic Society of Greater Springfield is in a fairly nondescript building, save for its copper-colored dome. It's tucked away from a main road, nestled in a cluster of small businesses. The local Imam leads a Friday afternoon call to prayer.

One of the nation's most historical instruments -- a piano that was played for the wedding of the 16th President of the United States -- will be restored to working order.

Edwards Place is the oldest surviving home in Springfield. Family members of Mary Todd Lincoln owned the home, and Abraham Lincoln himself spent time there courting Mary and socializing.

Now, Edwards Place wants to restore its piano -- one of only two surviving instruments that Lincoln is known to have listened to.

Teachers and administrators are working on new guidelines for art education in Illinois. Some schools have no art programs, while others have limited time to teach it.

New federal standards were released last year, though they came with no mandate. The State Board of Education has been organizing meetings for teachers to make the guidelines fit for them.

Jonathan VanderBrug is with Arts Alliance Illinois, an advocacy group that is also helping plan meetings. He says the process is meant to show schools why education in the arts is important.

A civil rights icon made a stop in Springfield this week to talk about activism and his new books. 

John Lewis, a Congressman from Georgia, is the last living member of a group of civil rights leaders known as the "Big Six." Martin Luther King Jr. was also in that group, and mentored Lewis.

Hundreds of artists and administrators met last week to discuss the state of the arts in Illinois.

Politics dominated the discussion, with a focus on ever-shrinking budgets for many arts groups. That includes the Illinois Arts Council Agency, which is the state department that oversees government spending on the arts.

Funding for the council has diminished from about $20 million dollars in 2007 to less than $9 million in 2012.

Ra Joy heads Arts Alliance Illinois, which is the state's largest such advocacy and membership group.

Emma Todd, then a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Tulsa, found herself seriously contemplating suicide, again. This time, the Springfield native had made her way to the top of a building.

She wanted to jump, but someone stopped her.

“I have been extremely lucky,” Todd said. “A lot of people aren’t; a lot of people kill themselves.” 

If you like to attend shows, chances are you've bought tickets online. Problem is, if you're doing a search and buying from the first site that pops up, there's a chance you're getting ripped off. 

These brokers have crafted legitimate looking websites, and often sell tickets at inflated prices, adding "service" fees. It's nothing new, but Carly Shank who works with Sangamon Auditorium in Springfield says 2014 has been the worst year for it yet:

"We've had a lot of high-profile events, and those are events that kind of help egg that problem along."