Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland (Heartland Foodways)

Food historian Cynthia Clampitt pens the epic story of what happened when Mesoamerican farmers bred a nondescript grass into a staff of life so prolific, so protean, that it represents nothing less than one of humankind’s greatest achievements.

Blending history with expert reportage, she traces the disparate threads that have woven corn into the fabric of our diet, politics, economy, science, and cuisine. At the same time she explores its future as a source of energy and the foundation of seemingly limitless green technologies. The result is a bourbon-to-biofuels portrait of the astonishing plant that sustains the world.

Let’s hear it for corn!

(Cynthia is smart on top of smart, riveting when she talks corn. Book has to be good.)

Consider this article summary (from Reboot Illinois) and ask yourself what’s really, really unusual about it.

Rauner’s juvenile justice team vows retooling to keep kids out of jail chicagotribune.com – Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Department of Juvenile Justice says it will retool efforts to keep low-risk juvenile offenders out of state facilities and help those who are incarcerated successfully re-enter their communities.

A five-point plan for how to do that was unveiled Friday. It relies on a new tool for measuring young offenders’ risk factors — including mental health, IQ and family history, among others — to determine whether a juvenile would be better served with treatment outside of custodial facilities.

Give up? It’s the reference to IQ! When is the last time you saw that reference?