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Small businesses may be eligible for loans due to drought U.S. Small Business Administration officials announced last week that economic injury disaster loans are available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and private nonprofit organizations as a result of drought that began on June 1. The declaration covers the counties of Boone, DeKalb, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago in Illinois; and Green and Rock in Wisconsin. “When the Secretary of Agriculture issues a disaster declaration to help farmers recover from damages and losses to crops, the Small Business Administration issues a declaration to eligible entities affected by the same disaster,” Kem Fleming, director of SBA’s Field Operations Center East, said in a news release. Under this declaration, the SBA’s economic injury disaster loan program is available to eligible farmrelated and nonfarm-related entities that suffered financial losses as a direct result of this disaster. With the exception of aquaculture enterprises, SBA cannot provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers and ranchers. Nurseries are eligible to apply for economic injury disaster loans for losses caused by drought conditions. The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates of 2.88 percent for small businesses and 2 percent for private nonprofit organizations of all sizes, with terms up to 30 years. The SBA determines eligibility based on the size of the applicant, type of activity and its financial resources. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition. These working capital loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that could have been paid had the disaster not occurred. The loans are not intended to replace lost sales or profits. Applicants may apply online using the electronic loan application via SBA’s secure website at DisasterLoanAssistance.sba.gov/ela/s and should
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Officials at the University of Illinois Extension are reminding residents that the extension offers multiple resources to help people with food preservation. People should go online to go.illinois.edu/jsw to access the Fill Your Pantry home webinar series. The series includes recorded webinars and handouts “covering almost every type of food preservation,” according to a news release. “The Fill Your Pantry webinar series has eight sessions addressing the most common methods of home food preservation,” Diane Reinhold, nutrition and wellness educator, said in the release. “Each session will help consumers safely preserve their fruits and vegetables.” The informational sessions include: • Canning basics: Learn the difference between pressure canning and water bath canning, as well as some tips and tricks to increase the shelf-life of food and the importance of having your pressure canner dial-gauge tested yearly. If you need to have your pressure canner dial-gauge tested, contact the extension office to schedule an appointment. • Freezing the summer harvest: Freezing can be a quick and easy way to put up vegetables. Learn which foods freeze well and why blanch-
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ing before freezing improves the quality of frozen vegetables. • Fermentation: Probiotic properties in foods and drinks continue to be a popular way to help develop a healthy gut. Learn the fundamentals and benefits of lacto-fermentation and gain confidence to ferment veggies at home safely. • Drying: Dehydrating foods is another way to extend the life of produce safely. Learn about different drying methods, the equipment needed and the best way to use dehydrated foods in recipes. • Jams and Jellies: Learn how to troubleshoot challenges in making jams and jellies. • Pickles: Learn basic pickling methods to extend the shelf life of your food with anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. • Apples: Learn about juicing, freezing, canning and dehydrating apples so you can enjoy them year-round. • Tomatoes: Learn all about processing tomatoes. Whether you’re canning, freezing or
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The University of Illinois Extension offers a series of webinars to help people learn techniques for food preservation.
drying your tomatoes, you’ll learn the most up-to-date methods. “It’s important to always use a scientifically tested recipe when preserving foods,” Reinhold said in the release. “Scientifically tested recipes used in canning ensure the combination of high temperature, prolonged processing time and acid level destroys the bacteria and toxic bacterial spores produced by clostridium botulinum spores.”
In addition to using scientifically tested recipes, it is also important to process low-acid foods using a pressure canner. Low-acid foods such as asparagus, beans, beets, carrots, corn, potatoes, meat and poultry all lack the acidity needed to prevent spoilage, she said. For more information about food preservation, contact the local extension office at 815-858-2273 in Jo Daviess County or at 815-235-4125 in Stephenson County.
School mask mandate set as COVID cases rise among young people By Jerry Nowicki CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS
Masks will be required at all Illinois long-term care facilities, day cares and pre-K-12 schools, Gov. JB Pritzker announced last week amid a nationwide surge of COVID-19. “Every time we think we know where this virus is headed, it changes and it shifts,” Pritzker said at a COVID-19 briefing in Chicago. “For example, unlike before, people 29 years old and younger accounted for 12 percent of hospitalizations. All across the nation, we are seeing young people with no underlying conditions now on ventilators. I want to say specifically to young adults: Please do not think that the worst-case scenario can’t happen to you. It can happen. It is happening. Get vaccinated.” Illinois Department of Pub-
lic Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said youth hospitalizations and infections have been rising. About 5.5 percent of COVID-19 cases were among those who are younger than 10 years of age in January, Ezike said, but that number increased to 15 percent last month. Approximately 13 percent of cases in January were among those 10-19 years old, increasing to 23 percent in July. Hospitalizations for those 20 years old and younger have tripled from 2.5 percent to 7.8 percent in that time span. “And yes, while most children who get COVID have fewer symptoms than adults, they absolutely can still get COVID-19 and they can absolutely spread it to others,” Ezike said, noting many cases of the virus have spread at
youth camps this summer. The masking requirement extends to indoor but not outdoor activities and sports. While Pritzker said masks are important in schools, especially for students who are not yet eligible for the vaccine, the best approach to limiting the spread of COVID-19 is getting vaccinated. It’s also the best way to limit severe illness and death. In Illinois, 6.5 million people are fully vaccinated, or 51.2 percent of the population, while 73 percent of the population that is older than 12 years of age has received at least one dose of the vaccine. Of the millions of fully vaccinated individuals, just 714 have spent time in the hospital with COVID-19, according to IDPH. Since January, 180
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