The Daily Egyptian - January 28, 2026

THE Daily Egyptian

SOUTHERN SNOWSTORM

Students, community brave freezing temps

Southern Illinois sees more than a foot of snow in rare weather event

JACKSON

LYLEE GIBBS

ORION WOLF

jbrandhorst@dailyegyptian.com

lgibbs@dailyegyptian.com

owolf@dailyegyptian.com

A historic winter storm swept across the country this weekend, draping parts of southern Illinois in over a foot of snow, below zero temperatures and dangerous road conditions. For many, the winter weather meant an unexpected weekend o and snowy recreation, but for others, it became a ght to stay safe and warm amid limited shelter space and life-threatening conditions.

Many businesses in Carbondale and most places on the campus of Southern Illinois University were closed during peak storm hours, which began Saturday morning and concluded on Sunday afternoon. e National Weather Service reported 12 inches of snow in Murphysboro, 13 inches in Benton, 14 inches in Du Quoin and 9 inches in Carbondale, prompting Chancellor Austin Lane to cancel classes for Monday, Jan. 26

and Tuesday, Jan. 27.

With now a second three-day weekend in a row, SIU students joined Carbondale community members on the streets of e Strip drifting cars, sledding down the hill at the Banterra Center and nding creative ways to stay warm and entertained.

Max Anderson, 7, soared over a makeshift ramp of snow while sledding down the Banterra hill as his family watched from afar, snow akes urrying around him.

Anderson had been sledding with his family around the area before, but said Banterra is his favorite place to go.

“(I like) this hill because it’s long, it’s steep, it has hills, it has skiing,” Anderson said. “I even watched a guy skiing.”

After making his last sled down the hill, he said he was going home to warm up with hot chocolate, cookies and a movie.

Banterra attracts a variety of sledders, including SIU associate professor of ethnomusicology Maria Johnson, who traversed the campus on skis that she’s owned since she was a kid. She spent her

Neighbors help stuck drivers

LEO CASTRO lcastro@dailyegyptian.com

With the widespread impact of snow coating the streets of Carbondale on Sunday, community members such as Jay Smock were out and about looking for the next stuck vehicle to put back onto the road.

Southern Illinois was hit with a heavy snowfall, ranging from 8 to 9 inches accompanied by freezing winds.

at is why Smock spent Sunday assisting those in need during this historic snowfall.

Smock, who is a dialysis patient, works as towboat captain on the Cumberland river. He moved to Carbondale from Metropolis about three years ago for his ancee’s work. Before moving to Carbondale for an easier commute, he shared interest in a retrieval group in Paducah, Kentucky, which o ers rides and assistance to emergency services personnel and hospital workers. Smock hopes to start something like that in Carbondale through social media. As he awaits a kidney transplant, he said he believes that by helping others during this time, it will prove helpful for him.

“I feel like if you put good into the universe, it’s going to come back to you,” he said.

morning cross country skiing up and down hills on campus before walking back over to her home near Chautauqua.

e powdery snow, Johnson says, creates ideal conditions for sliding around campus.

“It’s really good, and we’ve got so much this time,” Johnson said. “Once you make a path it can be really nice, especially if you like to go down hills and stu like that.”

Jason Riley, a resident of W. Mill St., along with Phillip Hartke and other SIU students, spent their morning shoveling o the sidewalks for their neighbors before enjoying some beer and a bon re in their front yard.

“We have a ‘you honk, we drink sign’ out front,” Riley said. “We’re just trying to stay warm by having a re.”

For some residents of Carbondale, staying warm is a much taller task than a front yard bon re. Subzero temperatures and heavy snowfall make for a tough night’s sleep rather than fun and games.

In anticipation of the unforgiving winter

e Daily Egyptian rode along with Smock on the morning of Jan. 25 as he provided assistance to vehicles trapped in snow and aid to those in need. Smock drives a Jeep Rubicon, a ne vehicle that he claims has never gotten stuck while helping others. Equipped with a propane tank, ropes, hooks and more, Smock seemed con dent in his ability to help anyone looking for it.

Smock’s main medium of communication with those in need is through a Facebook group called “Being Neighborly Carbondale, IL Area.”

Not long after starting patrol Sunday morning, Smock responded to someone in need of assistance to get their car unstuck.

Trinity ompson had posted on Facebook asking for someone to get her car unstuck from the entrance of

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Gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey rallies support in southern Illinois

WILL ELLIOTT welliott@dailyegyptian.com

Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey made stops on his “Take Illinois Back” tour in Mount. Vernon and Anna, Illinois, on Jan. 21, 2026. e “Take Illinois Back” tour promotes Bailey’s run for governor in the 2026 statewide elections.

Bailey, along with his lieutenant governor running mate Aaron Del Mar, spoke past closing time at Kiki’s Co eehouse in Anna to rally members of the community behind his cause. Both talked about a wide variety of topics, but both had three key pillars.

“A ordability, safety and education,” Bailey said. “ at’s what we are going to prioritize.”

e three key pillars of his and Del Mar’s campaign were chosen based on what he said he felt Illinois was frustrated about.

“( e three pillars) revolve around what 80% of Illinoisans have in common and are frustrated about,” Bailey said.

e primary election is on March 17, which is also Bailey’s 60th birthday. During the time in between, Bailey and Del Mar are going to be gathering support.

“We’re going to go down hard,” Del Mar said. “We are going to knock on a couple doors, some doors we’re going to kick down.”

If nominated in the Republican primary, Del Mar laid out his and Bailey’s plan for the general election, in which they would face incumbent Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Their plan involves getting more people out to vote.

“There’s no way a farmer from southeast Illinois can win in the city of Chicago,” Del Mar said of Bailey, who lives in Louisville,

Illinois, in Clay County. “We don’t need Cook County; we need 30% (voter turnout).”

Bailey said that after his loss to Pritzker in the 2022 election, he thought that he would not run again.

“I was going to settle into the farm and just enjoy life with my children and my grandchildren,” he said. “ at was it, there was no talk about it, we were content about it.”

e thought of running again changed one early August morning when Bailey couldn’t fall back to sleep. When his wife, Cindy Bailey, came into his study to ask him what was wrong, the topic of running came back into discussion.

“Cindy, I feel like I have this burden, and I feel like we need to run for governor,” Bailey said.

e two went to church and gave the option some thought. e next week, people called Bailey at random and asked him to run again.

“Every time an opportunity became available, I was asked,” Bailey said.

A few months later, on Oct. 22, 2025, Bailey lost his son, daughter-in-law and two of his three grandchildren in a helicopter crash in Montana. While traveling to Montana late that night, he got help from an unsuspected ally.

“At midnight, I get a call from a businessperson in southern Illinois,” Bailey said. “ is businessman is as far left as I am right, but he had enough respect to call me.”

e businessman had gotten his private jet from Nashville, Tennessee, to meet with Bailey in Sioux City, Iowa.

e plane picked up Bailey and his family and ew them to Bakers eld, Montana. A few weeks later, Bailey called and asked the businessman what

he owed him, and the businessman asked for nothing in return.

“As I thought really about it, it resonated with me about how we are going to operate in Spring eld,” Bailey said. “You go nd your state representative or senator and ask them about Darren Bailey. ey are going to say that ‘we won’t agree with him, but we respect him.’”

After Bailey’s speech, he and Del Mar opened the oor for questions. e rst question was about the Illinois Department of Government E%ciency Transparency, or DOGE, Tracker on Bailey’s campaign website BlueprintforIllinois.com. e website lays out Bailey’s and Del Mar’s plan if elected, while DOGE — modeled after President Donald Trump’s initiative to cut government spending — is meant to expose waste, fraud and corruption within the state government.

“It’s a live tracker,” said Del Mar. “Anything else that comes up, it automatically updates.”

e tracker aims to track Illinois government spending so the people of Illinois can see where their taxpayer dollars go.

e next question was about the 2021 SAFE-T Act and what Bailey and Del Mar are going to do if elected. Illinois’ SAFE-T — or Safety, Accountability, Fairness and EquityToday — Act passed in 2021 and reformed many aspects of the criminal justice system. Bailey said the law has caused more harm than good.

“The only solution is to abolish it, period,” Bailey said. “There is no compromise.”

Sta Reporter Will Elliott can be reached at welliott@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram @cameramanwill06

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Clove is a beautiful 2 year old calico girl with a soft, medium length fluffy coat who came to us after being surrendered by a Southern Illinois family. She has a gentle, sweet presence and a quiet charm that makes her a lovely companion. Clover enjoys calm surroundings and cozy spots where she can relax and feel safe, and she appreciates kind attention from her people. She’s looking for a loving home where she can settle in, be cherished, and start her next chapter surrounded by comfort and care. With her stunning looks and tender nature, Clover is sure to bring warmth and happiness to her forever home.

Durbin’s departure prompts crowded race for U.S. Senate

ELI HOOVER ehoover@dailyegyptian.com

ere are currently 10 candidates in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat that is being vacated by Sen. Dick Durbin, who has been in o ce since 1997, while six candidates vie for the Republican nomination and three Independent candidates wait for November.

It is an awfully crowded eld, with 19 candidates currently in the race, but Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Democratic U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois’ 8th District and Robin Kelly of Illinois’ 2nd District appear to be the frontrunners, given that they are the only Democratic candidates polling above 3% according to a recent Emerson College poll. at same poll has former Illinois Republican Party Chair Don Tracy leading the Republican primary, but with only 6% of Republican primary voters indicating they would vote for him.

On April 3, 2025 Durbin announced his retirement via a video message.

“ e decision of whether to run for reelection has not been easy,” Durbin said in the video. “I truly love the job of being a United States senator. But in my heart, I know it is time to pass the torch. So, I am announcing today that I will not be seeking re-election at the end of my term.”

Illinoisans are guaranteed to have a new senator for the rst time since 2016, when current Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat,

Duckworth — who know that I’m the ghter Illinois needs in the Senate,” Stratton wrote.

Stratton has made a$ordability the top issue of her campaign.

“Right now, life is way too expensive,” she wrote. “(President) Donald Trump’s tari$s and rampant corporate greed are skyrocketing prices on everything from food to health care to utilities, and our families are su$ering as a result. Middle class Illinoisans shouldn’t be forced to go without so that elected o cials can line the pockets of their wealthy friends and corporate overlords.”

“In primaries, particularly when you have three major candidates, some really curious things happen.”

- John Shaw Director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

defeated then-Republican Sen. Mark Kirk.

A day after Durbin’s announcement, Stratton announced she was going to run in the Democratic primary for the Senate seat that has long been held by a man from downstate Illinois who is the second highest ranking Democrat in the Senate. Two weeks after Stratton announced her candidacy, Krishnamoorthi and Kelly entered the fray.

“Once Durbin announced that he was not running, which I did not nd surprising, it was also not surprising that there was going to be this scramble for the seat,” John Shaw, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU, said. Stratton is the only one out of the three that has held a statewide executive o ce, while Krishnamoorthi and Kelly have experience in Washington.

“I’m the only candidate that has represented the entire state of Illinois, spending the last seven years listening to and delivering for all Illinoisians,” she wrote in an email to the Daily Egyptian. “And before that, as a State Representative, I had ten bills signed into law even with a Republican Governor.”

She immediately got the endorsement of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who she has been in o ce with since 2019, and then later got the endorsement of Duckworth, with whom she would work closely on Capitol Hill if elected.

“I’m proud to have the endorsement of many trusted leaders across the state — including Governor JB Pritzker and Senator Tammy

She wrote that she is running on “giving the people what they want,” and said she wanted to “raise wages, ght for Medicare for All, and pass a tax cut for the middle class.”

Krishnamoorthi’s large fundraising lead, nearly $18 million in cash on hand according to the latest FEC lings, doesn’t scare Stratton.

“Despite being up against a longtime federal candidate who has spent ten years raising for this race, we have built a powerful coalition of grassroots supporters who reject the status quo,” Stratton wrote.

Stratton has also taken a strong stance against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Trump’s use of the agency after Alex Pretti was fatally shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.

“If elected to the U.S. Senate, I would support defunding and abolishing ICE, whose budget has ballooned to over $150 billion under Donald Trump,” she wrote. “More than $59 million in taxpayer dollars have been wasted on Operation Midway Blitz alone – critical dollars that would be better spent in programs that invest in communities, not tear them apart.”

Krishnamoorthi has aligned with Stratton on the opinion that economic insecurity is a problem across Illinois.

“We must address the economic insecurity that far too many Illinois families are feeling — and that’s why I’m laser-focused on ensuring that every Illinois family can realize the American Dream, enter the middle class, and

nd themselves on the pathway to success,” Krishnamoorthi wrote in an email to the DE. Krishnamoorthi has also taken a strong stance against Trump’s deployment of ICE agents in American cities, including Chicago.

“I will not support one more dollar for ICE as long as this agency — operating without oversight and accountability — continues to operate with impunity. We saw what they did to Renee Good. We saw what happened in Chicago,” he wrote.

He said that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should be forced to testify in front of the Oversight Committee of Congress, of which Krishnamoorthi is a member. He also put out a video statement after the recent shooting of Pretti in Minneapolis, saying “it looks like a murder to me” and calling it “completely unacceptable.” He called for the abolition of ICE in a Jan. 16 statement, but retracted it four days later when asked what he meant on CNN to mean that there should be no more funding of ICE.

Krishnamoorthi attributed his large fundraising lead to the people of Illinois, while circling back to his “American Dream” messaging.

“I’m incredibly blessed to receive support from tens of thousands of individual donors who are willing to chip in whatever they can because of the central mission of our campaign, which is to make sure everyone has access to the American Dream,” he wrote.

Kelly vehemently disagrees with how ICE is currently being used, so much so that she recently led articles of impeachment against Noem. e articles have been led, but have yet to be voted on. For Noem to o cially be impeached, a majority of the House would have to vote to impeach. For Noem to be removed from o ce, two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote to remove.

“Kristi Noem has turned ICE into a rogue force, violating the Constitution, tearing families apart, and leaving death in her wake,” Kelly wrote in an email to the DE. “ is isn’t just dangerous — it’s impeachable. Kristi Noem is a disgrace to our Democracy, and I am impeaching her for obstruction of Congress, violation of public trust, and self-dealing.”

Kelly turned everyone’s attention to the articles of impeachment for Noem in the wake of the Jan. 24 Minneapolis ICE shooting.

She also brought up the a$ordability crisis that Stratton and Krishnamoorthi have made central issues of their campaigns.

“When I travel the state of Illinois, I hear from nearly everyone that the cost of living is too high. I am running on a platform of People

Over Pro ts because Illinois families have never had to do more with less,” she wrote.

She speci cally named taxing billionaires, raising wages, capping childcare costs and implementing Medicare for All as things she wants to accomplish as a member of the U.S. Senate.

Kelly then went on to give her thoughts on the Israel-Palestine con%ict.

“I am the only candidate in this race who supported the Block the Bombs Act, which blocks the transfer of certain o$ensive weapons that cause mass civilian casualties, distinguishing clearly between destruction and defense,” she wrote.

She also wrote she is “not seeking” money from the pro-Israel political action committee AIPAC, despite AIPAC themselves championing Kelly as a pro-Israel candidate. Open Secrets, a nonpro t that tracks money in politics and its e$ects on elections and public policy, reports that Kelly received over $100,000 from pro-Israel political action committees and individuals between 1990 and 2024.

Open Secrets also reports that Krishnamoorthi has received over $268,000 from pro-Israel sources, while also getting an endorsement from AIPAC. Krishnamoorthi did not directly respond to questions from the DE about support from AIPAC.

Stratton has not received any money from the pro-Israel lobby group according to Open Secrets.

“I am the only candidate in this race that is rejecting corporate PAC money, and I’m proud that End Citizens United endorsed my campaign because of my commitment to reforming our broken campaign nance system,” Stratton wrote in response to DE questions about campaign nance.

Krishnamoorthi is up 22 percentage points among likely primary voters according to the Emerson College poll, but Shaw, the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute director, isn’t convinced that the race is over.

“In primaries, particularly when you have three major candidates, some really curious things can happen,” he said.

He brought up the 1992 election of Illinois political trailblazer Carol Moseley Braun to the U.S. Senate as an example. Braun was polling third for a majority of the time leading up to Democratic primary, but eventually won the primary, and later the general election.

Early voting for the primaries in Illinois starts ursday, Feb. 5. Election Day is Tuesday, March 17.

weather, Jackson County o cials made e orts to discourage travel and emphasized the importance of stocking up on essentials, but with a noticeable homeless population that lacks access to food and shelter — a topic at the forefront of Carbondale civic discourse for months now — many were left on the streets of e Strip cold, hungry and looking for a place to sleep.

Denzel “Shaky” Ridenour, a homeless man from Alderville, Illinois, made it his mission over the weekend to give back to a community that he feels deserves it — despite feeling like the city could be doing more for someone like him.

“I’m out here shoveling some snow trying to get some money and earn my way in life,” Ridenour told the Daily Egyptian. “I’m a recovering addict. I’ve been an addict for 45 years, but I’ve gone 36 days clean and I’m starting my new life.”

Ridenour, spade in hand, donning layers of colorful clothes he got from a shelter, had been up and down e Strip since 6 a.m. shoveling snow in front of businesses and helping people clean o their cars. He claims to have rid 16 cars of snow that morning, and said he does so expecting nothing in return.

“ is town has welcomed me here from the St. Louis area and I want to give back,” Ridenour said. “I’ve been picking up trash and stu . I don’t know if you guys have noticed or heard or whatever, but I’m the ‘trash-pickerupper.’ I’m picking it up every day. It’s something to do. I’m homeless. I’m staying in the police station. ey’re allowing us to stay in there.”

As the Carbondale Warming Center has struggled with funding after budget cuts from the city, limited

sta ng and maintenance needs had previously forced the facility to operate with reduced hours and capacity, but beginning Monday, Jan. 26, the center announced it would remain open 24 hours a day for the next several days in response to the extreme cold.

Center sta and volunteers said they are committed to assisting everyone who comes to the center’s doors, o ering warmth, safety and support as long as space allows. e center is operating on a rst-come, rst-served basis and is requesting donations of co ee, cocoa, soup and snacks to meet increased demand.

e center has also partnered with Take Action Today, a nonpro t organization at 809 W. Main St., which is open during daytime hours to provide showers, laundry and relief from the cold but does not o er overnight shelter.

“Take Action Today — great place,” Ridenour said. “Dylan in there is a real good guy. He tries to help. at’s a place we can get in and out of the weather from 9 to 5. We can do laundry, take a shower — they’ve even given me clothes.”

With the Warming Center often at full capacity and Take Action Today not open overnight, many in Carbondale, like Ridenour, have been sleeping at the police station.

“It’s been hell,” Ridenour said of sleeping at the station. “ ere’s a bunch of idiots in there. ey come in at 3:30 in the morning drinking and raising hell, and then they get us all thrown out — right into the front lawn. e Warming Center’s full — there’s nowhere for us to get out of the weather. It’s 17 degrees or whatever it was, it was like minus-30 or something last night with the windchill.”

Ridenour, pointing to his exposed chin, said that he had recently gotten

frostbite there, his nose and all of his ngers and toes.

“I got out of rehab at the Fellowship Center in Anna and when I graduated, I came here,” Ridenour said. “And so I end up just walking around. I don’t have nothing else to do, so I’ve been going around town and cleaning the streets.”

He said that Jan. 24 was the rst night that they had not been thrown out of the police station.

“We got to sleep all night long,” Ridenour said. “We had an older

woman coming in the other night and she was in just a T-shirt and leggings. She was so frozen that she couldn’t even open the door — I mean she was an icicle. I welcomed her in. I gave her my sleeping bag, I gave her my pillow. We’re trying to nd clothes, coveralls, you know, winter clothes for her.”

e rift Store in Carbondale dispersed winter clothing items all along e Strip throughout the weekend, posting on Facebook that “if you see it on a tree, it’s free.”

e Good Samaritan House, the only other homeless shelter in Carbondale, also provides clothing to those in need, but is looking for additional sleeping bags, blankets, pillows and cots as well as more winter clothes. Donations can be dropped o at 701 S. Marion St. by the SIU Recreation Center.

Over the winter weather weekend, the Good Samaritan House provided emergency shelter to 30 people, supported by donations from the community.

“I like the people here,” Ridenour said of the Carbondale community. “I like everything about it — but they could use a better shelter. I don’t know why some rich guy can’t come in and build a giant pole barn and cut it o into rooms and sections and let us pay to stay. It ain’t that we’re not willing to pay for it, it’s just that, we need something within our means, you know?”

Although Carbondale isn’t anticipating any more snow until next week, temperatures are expected to remain well below freezing for the foreseeable future, meaning that what

has fallen will remain, roads will stay sketchy and the homeless population in Carbondale will continue to need community support.

e City of Carbondale announced in a release that refuse and recycling services would be delayed and would operate on their holiday schedule, which postpones the schedule of a given day to the next available day that they can operate.

“All essential personnel and emergency services will continue operating normally during this time,” the release read. “Roadways will continue to be cleared with expectations of side roads being delayed.”

Another release from the City of Carbondale announced that nonemergency disconnects to the water and sewage systems will cease until temperatures stabilize. Carbondale will also not be assessing penalties on water bills for the rest of the month of January.

e Jackson County Courthouse also closed on Monday, Jan. 26, and all county board meetings and court hearings will be rescheduled, a release from the Jackson County Sheri ’s O ce read.

News Editor Jackson Brandhorst can be reached at jbrandhorst@dailyegyptian. com or @jacksondothtml on Instagram. Senior Editor Lylee Gibbs can be reached at lgibbs@dailyegyptian.com or @lyleegibbsphoto on Instagram.

Sta Reporter Orion Wolf can be reached at owolf@dailyegyptian.com or @orionwolf6 on Instagram.

her apartment driveway on South Washington Street.

Upon arriving at the scene, Smock realized that the trapped Audi Quattro did not have an eye bolt for him to use, which is needed to hook the car without tearing any plastic. It would take a cycle of accelerating and pushing to get the car out.

After 15 minutes, Smock pushed the car to the road, where !ompson was able to drive on her way to work — free of charge. Smock made it clear

that his work is out of pure belief in good karma and that charging people is not something he believes in.

“It almost seems predatory, in my opinion,” he said of those who may be charging to free people who get stuck in the snow.

!ompson later expressed her gratitude for the help through the same Facebook group.

“Jay Smock thanks again! I really appreciate your help,” she posted.

Shortly after a patrol of downtown Carbondale, Smock noticed a stationary vehicle on University

Avenue. An ambulance answering a call was trapped in snow. With quick thinking, Smock strapped his soft shackle and tow strap, rated to haul 60,000 pounds, to the front of the motionless ambulance and began to pull with his Jeep. !e ambulance was brought safely to the road where it continued its call. A new experience for Smock, as he had never pulled anything such as an ambulance.

While heading into Circle K on East Walnut Street to assist a Kia stuck in snow, Smock was met

with an extra helping hand. Denzel “Shaky” Ridenour is a 57-year-old man who said he’s been staying at the Carbondale Police station. Ridenour said he has Huntington disease and is over a month clean from drug use. He had been providing assistance on Sunday to cars that were not able to leave the Circle K parking lot.

“I’m going to do better than I did yesterday,” Rideonour said. “So I try to take baby steps each day, and do a little better.”

While Smock instructed the Kia driver to move the wheels forward

and reverse, Ridenour worked continuously with a shovel to clear the bulk of snow surrounding the car.

Before calling it a day, Smock returned to give Ridenour a warm cup of co ee as a sign of compassion. Ridenour expressed his gratitude and continued to work in the cold, helping others get freed from snow piles.

“!e people that have the least to give usually give the most,” Smock said.

Sta Reporter Leo Castro can be contacted at lcastro@dailyegyptian.com

DASHING THROUGH Southern Illinoisans trek

THROUGH THE SNOW trek through winter weather

stomach while it snows close to a foot of snow Jan. 25, 2026 in Carbondale,

Salukis carve Sycamores 86-74

NOAH

lcastro@dailyegyptian.com

e Saluki Women’s basketball team hosted the Sycamores of Indiana State University on ursday, Jan. 22. Coming o an exciting home victory against the UIC Flames, the Dawgs looked to add another win to the homestand. After a competitive and passionate matchup between two Missouri Valley Conference teams, the Salukis would walk away with a win. e 86-74 victory marked the rst time in two seasons that SIU has won back-to-back games.

e Sycamores won the tipo and began the contest with possession. e score uctuated back and forth before the Salukis were able to sprint out to an 8-point run. To go along with SIU’s e%cient shooting, guard Alayna Kraus posted 10 points of her own, fueling a strong rst quarter for the Dawgs. e Salukis tallied two blocks and a steal, allowing them to nish the rst quarter with a 24-19 lead.

“Trusting my shot, knowing not to rush for it, and knowing that as the game goes on, it will come to me… that’s one thing that coach always tells me,” Kraus said. Coming into the second quarter, the Salukis began to play with a pace that the Sycamores faltered to match. SIU, capitalizing on multiple Indiana State mistakes, would outmatch the opponents in points, rebounds and assists. Along with

the dominant o ensive performance, the Salukis were thriving on the other end of the court with three steals and 11 rebounds.

e remarkable quarter, highlighted by 9 points from guard Kayla Cooper, left the Salukis feeling good going into halftime.

e score at the conclusion of the quarter was 51-30 SIU.

“We were just passing the ball, we were making shots, we were celebrating each other on both the o ensive and defensive end,” Cooper said.

Facing a 21-point de cit, the Sycamores would need to come out with a new plan of attack to gain some ground. e third quarter marked a fresh start for Indiana State as they began to string points together and chip away at the SIU lead. e shots that were falling for the Salukis did not carry over to the third quarter as they shot 3-12 from the eld and 7-14 from the freethrow line. e Sycamores succeeded in shrinking the di erential, but the Dawgs still led at the end of the third by a score of 64-51.

e fourth quarter was underway, and the Sycamores looked determined to swipe the game out of the Salukis’ hands. SIU started to get its mojo back and played back and forth with Indiana State. Struggles from the free-throw line persisted, and the Sycamores were creeping up, getting as close as within 7 points of SIU. e gritty Dawgs did not give up, and forward Indya Green dropped in some late buckets to secure a Saluki victory, 86-74.

“Our kids had fun out there today. You saw a lot of high ves, even when (Indiana State) was making a run, you saw some kids getting excited,” head coach Kelly Bond-White said. With this win, SIU sits at 6-12 overall and has a record of 3-6 in

MVC games. Indiana State also lands at 6-12, but possesses a 2-6 record in conference play. e Salukis take to the court next on ursday, Jan. 29, in Murray, Kentucky, to face o against the dominant Racers of Murray State University.

Sports Reporter Noah Petschke can be reached at npetschke@dailyegyptian.com

Sta Reporter Leo Castro can be reached at lcastro@dailyegyptian.com

Salukis get shut down against Beacons, lose 69-63

e Salukis men’s basketball squad traveled to Valparaiso, Indiana on Wednesday, Jan. 21 to take on the Valparaiso Beacons. e Salukis came into the night looking to snap a 3-game losing streak, but trailed in the nal 34 minutes – and by as many as 21 points –in what ended up being a 69-63 defeat. e loss dropped SIU to 2-7 in Missouri Valley Conference play.

e already shorthanded Salukis, down guards Isaiah Sta ord and Quel’Ron House, had forward Rolyns Aligbe hobble o the oor very early on. Aligbe was able to return a short time later, and his brief absence wasn’t the only woe for SIU – or the Beacons. ere was a lid on the basket for both squads from the tip, and it took over a minute and a half for either team to score.

SIU held a slim 6-5 lead after ve minutes, but Valpo then went on a 17-2 tear. Guard Justus McNair was the driving force, scoring 11 points in the rst eight minutes of play. at burst gave the Beacons a commanding 19-8 lead.

Forward Jorge Moreno put through a layup while being fouled with 7:42 left in the rst half for the Salukis’ rst basket

in seven and a half minutes. During that same stretch, the Beacons scored 20 points, resulting in a comfortable 25-11 lead for Valpo.

Moreno’s layup wasn’t quite the spark the Salukis were looking for. ey were able to slow down the Beacons o ense, but still struggled to score. at predicament put them in a 32-16 hole with 3:39 left until halftime.

Valpo continued to extend their advantage little by little, and the Salukis trailed 39-20 at halftime.

Guard Drew Ste e led SIU in scoring at the half with 7 points on 3-6 shooting.

e team as a whole shot 29.6% from the oor and 11.1% from three in the rst half. In what might have been the lone bright spot for the Salukis, the Beacons’ superstar forward Owen Dease

was held scoreless through the rst half.

e Salukis started chipping away at the lead coming out of the locker room.

A Ste e-led short push from SIU cut the lead to 43-28 ve minutes into the second half.

SIU spent the next portion of the game nishing an 11-0 run, resulting in a single digit de cit for the rst time since early in the rst half. Valpo was able to stretch the lead back out, resulting in a 47-34 lead with 11:52 remaining in the contest.

e Saluki defense stepped up as the game started to reach the later stages.

anks to a three minute scoring drought from the Beacons, SIU was able to climb back within single digits, trailing 49-40 with 7:45 remaining in regulation.

Valpo refused to let the Salukis get much closer, keeping their lead at least eight points over the next four minutes.

e lead stood at 10 points at the nal media timeout, with the scoreboard reading 57-47 in favor of the home side.

A three pointer from guard Caden Hawkins cut the lead to six with 37 seconds remaining, the closest the Salukis had been all second half. en 27 game seconds later, Jalen Haynes nailed a layup to make the score 67-63.

A pair of free throws from Valpo guard Brody Whitaker brought the game to the nal score of 69-63 in favor of the Beacons.

Haynes led the Salukis with 17 points, 15 of which were in the 2nd half. He was joined in double gures by Ste e (14) and Rolyns and Prince Aligbe (10 each). e Salukis continued to struggle shooting the ball, shooting 21.4% from 3-point range and going 18-30 from the free throw line.

“ is is as bad o ensively as I’ve had a team,” Salukis head coach Scott Nagy said postgame.

When asked for a timetable for House and Sta ord’s returns, Nagy had no insight to give.

“I honestly have no idea. I don’t spend much time asking (athletic trainer) Riley (Hoistad) about it,” he said. e now 8-12 Salukis were set to play the Evansville Purple Aces on Sunday, Jan. 25, but the game was postponed due to weather. e Salukis’ next matchup will be at home on Wednesday, Jan. 28 against the Panthers of the University of Northern Iowa.

Lincoln Center Theater’s ‘Ragtime’ soundtrack is an explosive revival of a should-be classic

mcarey@dailyegyptian.com

If I’m being honest, I haven’t been in the musical theater scene for a while. I did my fair share of shows in high school, I’ve gone to one or two Muny performances in my lifetime, but I have never really kept up to date with the newest happening of Broadway until a few weeks ago.

!e Lincoln Center !eater released their studio recording for the “Ragtime” soundtrack featuring the 2025 revival cast on Jan. 9.

Based on E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel of the same name, “Ragtime” features three families from di erent walks of American life reacting, adapting and growing as they interact with each other and the historical events of New York in the years between 1906 and 1912. !e show isn’t afraid of its source material and time period. It not only acknowledges but actively focuses on both xenophobia against immigrants and racism during the American gilded age.

While it garnered mixed reviews during its original Broadway run from 1997-2000, the New York Times called the revival’s cast “glorious,” and I have to agree. If I were to list o every single role in the show that was cast perfectly, this article would be coming out in July, so I’ll start with the foremost culprit: Joshua Henry as the leading man, Coalhouse Walker Jr., makes me want to drive to New York in the middle of the school week and see the show myself. His performance and his deep, strong voice is something that I feel that Broadway has been missing for a very long time.

!e story features three interweaving storylines, each one focusing on a di erent group of golden age New York City, each one interacting with and a ecting the character arcs in the others. As mentioned, there is the ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker, representing the African Americans of New York shortly before the Harlem Renaissance, ghting to win back his lost love Sarah. !en, there is the a uent white family living in suburban New Rochelle, including the ignorant and faux-nobel Father, the compassionate but socially repressed Mother and the passionate but listless Younger Brother. Finally, there is Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania hoping to nd success in America as a silhouette artist.

“Ragtime” also includes several historic characters from the time period as well, such as Evelyn Nesbit, a Vaudeville actress famous for a “Chicago”-esque legal scandal after her husband shot her lover, Anarchist activist Emma Goldman and the Black author and orator Booker T. Washington. !is is also not a full review of the show, but

seeing as “Ragtime” is a 30 song album that is an hour and a half long, I decided to choose my ve favorites which I can review without spoiling too much of the show.

Prologue: Ragtime - 7/10

“!e sound of distant thunder suddenly starting to climb…”

If you’re like me, you went into this album assuming that the show would open like “Les Miserables,” with a big booming orchestral piece and a catapult directly into the story. Instead, “Ragtime” opens very slowly, building up

and Ben Levi Ross as Father, Mother and Younger Brother respectively, giving a solid performance about life as you know it changing without even realizing it.

!is song is also where Joshua Henry o cially steals the show from the rest of the cast as Coalhouse Walker Jr. Not only is his performance in this song musically impressive, it is a masterclass in intent and desire communicated clearly in song. He sings nearly the same line four times in a row. !e notes are mostly the same, some of the words are the same, but every time

momentum like a steam engine, starting with a simple piano solo and a little bit of scene setting before the rest of the orchestra creeps in.

For someone listening to the album rather than watching the show, this song is helpful to introduce you to all of the major players in the show, but for someone who has listened to the show maybe 1000 times and counting since its release, the song runs the risk of being overexplanatory and pedantic. A lot of the fun of the track is found listening to it a second time, getting to hear all the di erent motifs from songs later on in the show, but the lyrics are mostly individual characters monologuing at you like a character synopsis on Sparknotes.

New Music - 10/10

“Sarah, come down to me!”

“New Music” is the most streamed song of the album on Spotify, and I can certainly see why. !e song begins with Colin Donnel, Caissie Levy

my favorite arcs out of the entire cast, and this song sees him, a rich white man from the suburbs of New York City, looking for meaning in life, caught up in the rhetoric of Emma Goldman, played by Shaina Taub. Both Ross and Taub give stellar, passionate performances in their respective roles, and that’s best shown on this track.

Gliding - 8/10

“Imagine you’re fearless, and soon you won’t fear…”

!is is not Brandon Uranowitz’s only solo in the show, but it still leaves me wishing he got a few more. In just under three minutes, Uranowitz as Tateh gives a frankly stunning performance in this song about fatherhood, vulnerability and keeping hope in times of hardship. !ough his songs are some of the least streamed tracks on the album, I still nd myself listening to this one on repeat.

Till We Reach at Day 9/10

“She had life in her, lord, she had my baby!”

Without giving too much away, “Till We Reach !at Day” is about an event that nearly comes out of nowhere in the story, and is a complete emotional gutpunch. Allison Blackwell, though an unnamed ensemble member, deserves so much credit for her solo opening this song with a haunting, Southern-Gospel style soliloquy. Again, Henry as (character name) delivers an absolutely gut-wrenching performance, to the point that other characters, some of which he’s never even interacted with begin to join in.

he says something entirely di erent, running the entire spectrum of emotions, love, regret, hope and excitement in just 15 seconds. I was left entirely speechless when I rst heard it.

e Night at Goldman Spoke at Union Square - 9/10

“Like a rework, unexploded, wanting life but never knowing how!”

!is song is one of my favorites on the album due mostly to its unique accompaniment. !e entire song is driven by sharp, bright woodwinds compared to the rest of the show’s reliance on the brass section as a core part of the ragtime sound. Underneath that is the slow percussion of metal on metal, like a railway spike being driven into the ground followed by the sound of a venting steam pipe, coming together to really give the track the feeling of working in a factory at the turn of the century.

Ben Levi Ross as Younger Brother has one of

Like most songs in the show, this track starts out quiet and with very few accompanying instruments, but becomes louder and more expansive as more people start singing. !is style of slow-burn crescendo works better here than it does anywhere in the show, and gives the song this feeling of pressure and tension building between and among the characters.

Overall rating - 8/10

!e show has its problems for sure. !e album drags in parts, the rst handful of songs are a lot of character set-up for people solely interested in the music and it has an older style of accompaniment that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. With all this in mind, I would still recommend at least giving it a listen. “Ragtime” is at times heartwarming, at times emotionally devastating, and every second feels like the entire cast was pouring their entire heart into their performance.

Sta Reporter Morrigan Carey can be reached at mcarey@dailyegyptian.com.

Carbondale residents discuss race, identity at National Day of Racial Healing event

TREVOR JOHN tjohn@dailyegyptian.com

On the evening of Jan. 20, the Carbondale Civic Center hosted the city’s third annual At the Table Dinner & Dialogue series in observance of the National Day of Racial Healing.

Attendees gathered to share dinner and discuss their personal encounters with race and discrimination while exploring paths toward healing in conversation circles.

Dianah McGreehan, the city’s director of violence prevention programs, facilitated the event alongside Sharonda Cawthon, equity and engagement coordinator for the City of Carbondale.

McGreehan said racism is a learned behavior passed down generations and not just individual choice.

“We all start with our socialization. Race is a social construct,” McGreehan said. “We come to learn about it from our family members, from our television screens, from our communities. So we talk about socialization and then moving down that pathway to allyship.”

McGreehan said the format — conversation circles with individuals of di erent age, race and status — was designed to encourage dialogue without hostility.

“You don’t have to perfectly agree with someone, but you don’t attack them,” McGreehan said. “You ask them further questions. We are here for healing through dialogue.”

Christian H. Gillespie, a psychologist and founder and CEO of Hope & Harmony Wellness Group, PPLC — a culturally informed teletherapy practice based in Carbondale, gave the keynote address. She encouraged participants to have direct conversations about race.

“If you are ready to have an honest and a real conversation, I just want you to shake the fake o just for a second,” Gillespie said. “When we talk about

race, things can get a little uncomfortable sometimes. So I’m giving you permission to get uncomfortable.”

Gillespie introduced the framework “See it. Name it. Move,” which calls for recognizing injustice, identifying it and taking action.

Participants shared experiences at individual tables. Teneiko Modicue, an attendee, said moving to Carbondale from the south side of Chicago required adjusting to a di erent racial environment.

“I didn’t really encounter white people until I moved to southern Illinois,” Modicue said at her table. She said she heard stories about sundown towns — communities that were historically unwelcoming to Black people after dark.

“Living in Chicago, I can remember all nationalities,” Modicue said. “But coming here, you’re always on guard. Not so much fearful, but just being aware.”

Participant Jessie Dooley said she grew up in a household where her father held racist views, particularly regarding interracial dating.

“I grew up in a house where if I would have brought another race, that would have not been okay,” Dooley said.

She said she is teaching her own children di erent values.

“I realized that’s not what I believe in, but that’s how I was raised,” Dooley said.

Samantha Bandy, with the Da odil House — a reentry home for incarcerated women in Carbondale, shared an encounter with law enforcement during a DUI arrest years ago.

“ ey asked me if I was Native American,” Bandy said. She said the question implied a stereotype linking Indigenous heritage to substance use.

Margo Carnoy, a French intern assisting with the event, said racial dynamics in the United States di er from those in France.

“In France, it’s really xenophobia turning into racism,” Carnoy said. “It’s

more regarding immigration. Here it’s like it’s really di erent.”

Gillespie’s framework called for participants to move from recognizing and naming injustice to taking action.

Participant Dana Barnett said she refused to end a relationship with a mixed-race boyfriend despite her father’s disapproval.

Modicue said educating the future generations is key to breaking cycles of bias.

e consensus was that people should be treated based on character, not race.

“If you want to be an asshole, then be an asshole to everybody,” Christy Marie, a participant, said.

At another table, Kara Ho man Dunkel discussed her approach to allyship, which involves helping establish a sound booth at the African American

Museum of Southern Illinois in the University Mall, where community members can record their stories.

Her husband, Ron Dunkel, who has helped at local community centers by preparing food and helping with necessities, shared that participants at his table agreed on a fundamental point.

“One thing everyone agreed on at our table is that racism is bad,” Ron Dunkel said.

Mayor Carolin Harvey addressed the crowd with a challenge that bridged the gap between the city’s leadership and its citizens.

“It’s just wonderful to see how our community wants to be involved with racial healing,” Harvey said. “And you know it just takes all of us to make things better. So my challenge for you tonight is to look at yourself and say, ‘What can I do to make things better?’ Not just for

myself, but for this community.” What began as a single annual observance has expanded into ongoing monthly discussions. e Carbondale at the Table series will continue on the rst Tuesday of every month through June at the Civic Center starting at 5. Although the event is free and open to the public, it is recommended to register as the seats are limited. More information can be provided by reaching out to McGreehan at dmcgreehan@ explorecarbondale.com. or calling 618457-3282.

Gillespie said the event should lead to action.

“Allyship without action is not allyship at all,” Gillespie said. “I will see injustice. I will name it. I will move.”

Sta Reporter Trevor John can be reached at tjohn@dailyegyptian.com

Learning in Retirement confronts modern questions through the Declaration of Independence

As national conversations continue around immigration enforcement and civil liberties, a public discussion on Wednesday, Jan. 21 revisited the Declaration of Independence as a living document whose promise of equality remains un nished.

Suzanne Schmitz, a retired SIU law professor and legal educator, led a discussion on the meaning and modern relevance of the declaration during a monthly meeting hosted by Southern Illinois Learning in Retirement. e event was held Wednesday morning at Epiphany Lutheran Church.

During the discussion, Schmitz walked attendees through key passages of the Declaration of Independence, focusing on its language about equality and natural rights and how those ideas have been debated and reinterpreted over time.

Schmitz said the Declaration of Independence remains relevant because it introduced the idea of equality, even though the nation has yet to fully live up to it.

“As a union, we’re still trying to determine what equality really means and how to make it apply to everyone, not just certain ethnic groups,” she said.

Schmitz said many people misunderstand the declaration’s role, assuming it has little in uence today because of its age.

“People think that because it’s almost 250 years old, it can’t have any in uence today, which isn’t correct,” she said.

She explained that while the declaration expresses foundational ideals, the U.S. Constitution gives those principles structure and authority. Schmitz said the Constitution de nes the relationship among states and the federal government, providing a legal framework that allows

the declaration’s ideals to function in practice.

Schmitz said ideas such as equality and natural rights outlined in the declaration continue to shape modern legal debates, emphasizing that equality remains an ongoing e ort rather than a nished achievement.

Although the declaration is not a legal document, Schmitz said its principles continue to in uence how Americans think about rights, government authority and civic responsibility. She said moments of national tension often lead people to reexamine founding documents to better understand the values behind the law.

She added that debates over immigration enforcement and civil liberties frequently raise questions about equality, due process and the limits of government authority.

Fred Betz, a member of the organization’s curriculum committee,

said the topic was selected because the declaration’s message extends beyond its historical context.

“It’s not just about the historical signi cance,” Betz said. “It’s timeless.”

Betz said discussions about independence, equality and citizenship feel especially timely given ongoing national debates, adding that older adults often bring valuable perspectives shaped by decades of lived experience.

Pam Matthews, president of Southern Illinois Learning in Retirement, said monthly speaker presentations help members stay engaged with the world after retirement.

“Having a new speaker every month helps older adults stay connected to what’s happening in the world and encourages them to remain active and engaged,” Matthews said.

She said the organization’s mission centers on lifelong learning, providing

a space for retired adults to continue learning about current events and foundational ideas.

e Southern Illinois Learning in Retirement program hosts monthly general meetings and speaker presentations that are open to the public. Classes o ered through the program are available to members only, with membership open to adults 50 and older living within commuting distance of Carbondale. Information about upcoming events can be found at https:// conferenceservices.siu.edu/silir.

“I hope people leave understanding that the declaration is a very powerful document, but also an incomplete and imperfect one,” Schmitz said. “It’s daring, and it continues to challenge us.”

Understaffing, violence among concerns for nurses nationwide

MARIAH FLETCHER

etcher@dailyegyptian.com

e nurses in New York City are on strike, which is causing many nurses locally to re ect on the similar conditions they see in their hospitals. On Jan. 12, roughly 15,000 nurses walked o the job in New York City prompting hospitals to bring in thousands of temporary workers to allow operations to continue. Many nurses, locally and nationally are waiting for a federal policy change for more safe and fair work conditions.

e New York State Nurses Association called for a strike as negotiations for wage increases, health bene ts, protection against workplace violence and safe sta%ng stalled for several hospitals across the state.

e NYSNA is a union of 42,000 nurses and health care professionals and New York’s largest union. e NYSNA is an a%liate of e American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, which is the country’s largest and fastest growing union for nurses.

Nursing students are not excused from the hazards of the job, either. SIU nursing student Danielle Scott works as a med-surge, which is a speci c type of surgical nurse who cares for patients pre and post surgery. Scott said that she has experienced understa%ng already in her career within long-term care and nursing homes, which made working in a hospital setting more appealing to her.

Scott said there are dangers in her profession when it comes to understa%ng.

“If we don’t have enough sta on a oor or to take care of those patients, it can be dangerous, we can be moving too fast, we can miss something we needed to

New York are striking, and it’s a shared experience nationwide. According to the American Nurses Association, one in four nurses are experiencing violence on the job. is number is on the rise, according to the National Nurses United’s study on workplace violence, meaning nearly half of nurses have experienced workplace violence in the past year.

Scott said she has also experienced violence in the workplace, mostly in long-term care. Long-term care provides medical and personal support for patients who cannot live independently. is would include nursing homes, assisted living and memory care.

“ ere were times that I would come home from work, and I would be bruised and sore. I would have to come into work the next day and be okay with it.”

Scott said. “A lot of it was people (who) aren’t in their right mental state…”

Because of previous experiences, Scott said she always nds herself asking if the person in the hospital bed is going to be potentially dangerous.

Kaelyn Watson, a pediatric literacy nurse navigator in Georgia has also had violent encounters with patients at workplaces.

Watson said she has seen and experienced workplace violence herself. is includes experiences of patients cussing, spitting, punching, kicking and throwing things at her. She said a family member of a patient once threatened to bomb the hospital where she was working. Watson recalled an incident in which a patient attempted to strangle one of her friends, a nurse, using his bare hands.

“(For) like six months, I had a patient kick me, punch me and spit in my face. And these aren’t the worst cases,” Watson said. “Nurses have been brutally

should back them when it happens.”

While in long-term care, Scott said that she has seen burn out and experienced it herself.

“Every single day you would go in, and someone could call out, you can’t even be mad at them because they have maybe worked ve or six days that week, and they are exhausted,” she said. “A lot (of nurses) have kids and families, it can be too much. You can’t take care of all those people and yourself too.”

Within less than a decade, there has been a shift in the way the U.S. government thinks about nurses. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, nurses were recognized as “warriors” by President Donald Trump. On May 6, 2020, Trump proclaimed National Nurses Day emphasizing nurses’ dedication during COVID-19.

Now, barely ve years later, the Trump Administration passed the Big Beautiful Bill, which no longer recognizes nurses as “professionals.” Since the Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law in 2025, e U.S. Department of Education removed nursing from the list of “professional” degrees. is means people that are wanting to pursue degrees in nursing are no longer eligible for higher loan limits a orded to other professions.

e nursing profession is also dominated by women, with 87.7% of registered nurses being women and 12.3% being men.

Scott said. “It is scary to think about, not being able to take 100% care that we want to give.”

“It’s not the fact that we’re not considered ‘professional,’” Scott said. “It is the removal of support, and I think that in itself has made it a lot easier to blame nurses… A lot of women I know are doctors, but they are not always given the same status. I think maybe that is how the world works, which is frustrating and not okay, but I think that makes us easier to blame. Nurses who are, to society, maybe always perceived as a woman’s job.”

Scott also recognized that nursing can become a dangerous career, she said this is also acknowledged in class among her professors that have worked in the eld. She said that it is not just the patients that can become violent, but some nurses are also around chemicals, biohazards and medicines all day — which can become dangerous.

Scott also resonated with many aspects of the nurses’ strike going on in New York.

“Honestly, it made me happy that they were taking a stand… ere were so many times in the past working (in long-term care) where I thought the exact same thing,” she said. “I would think, ’I wish I was getting paid more than minimum wage for a job where I’m putting myself, my body, my mental (health) on the line every day.’”

While the strike continues in New York City, nurses across the country have stated similar concerns. Watson, who works now on a pediatric unit, has stated her concerns for the future of nursing.

Watson explained that she has experienced burnout in the workplace, leading her to fear she could not take care of patients like she wants to. She said that in previous work experiences, she has had to switch jobs because of burnout. Because she loves what she does so much, she wants to ensure her own happiness.

“You can experience pre-shift anxiety, shift anxiety and post-shift anxiety. It literally a ects everything,” Watson said. “A lot of nurses end up having to shut a piece of yourself o when you walk in the door to the hospital to even make it through a shift. When this happens, you lose your empathy, your love of the job, your e%ciency. You lose yourself. And losing all of that leads to nurses who are worn out, overworked, and mentally and emotionally exhausted. It destroys who you are not just at work, but at home.”

When hearing about the New York nurses’ strike, Watson said that the sta%ng issue resonated the most with her past experiences.

Watson explained that there are no national

standards for sta%ng in nursing. Union hospitals have set ratios, but it doesn’t always happen where the ratio is true to the job. Watson explained while working at Saint Louis University Hospital in med-surge, the ratio should have been one to four, but she worked with more patients that night because they did not have the proper sta . Watson explained that this happens less in pediatrics, but it can still happen.

Although there are no sta%ng regulations in nursing currently, changes will be made this year under the Joint Commission. e Joint Commission, an organization that focuses on healthcare quality and patient safety, will formally recognize nurse sta%ng as a national performance goal, requiring hospitals to meet speci c sta%ng benchmarks.

Watson also expressed her concern for the future of her career under the Trump administration. Robert F. Kennedy is the current U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and he has made changes to the childhood vaccine schedule and major claims regarding vaccines for children and adults.

Regarding the childhood vaccine schedule, Kennedy cut the requirement of vaccines from seventeen to eleven. Kennedy cut vaccines such as in uenza, COVID-19, rotavirus, Hepatitis A and B, meningococcal disease prevention and respiratory syncytial virus vaccine.

Kennedy has previously claimed, which several professionals denounced, that the MMR vaccine, a shot used to help prevent measles, mumps and rubella, is made from “a lot of aborted fetus debris.” Kennedy has also claimed without evidence that childhood vaccines cause autism, a claim that has been debunked, and he has spasmodic dysphonia because of the u shot, which medical experts said his not based in science.

“Before my current role, I was working in the pediatric intensive care unit. Pediatric health care feels like it’s under attack,” Watson said. “I think the biggest hurdle is more people are not vaccinating their children due to this administration’s suggestions. I’ve been in pediatrics for the last six years and you would see the occasional anti-vax family. Now, you’re seeing so many more. is is not scienti cally backed, and it’s putting so many kids and adults at risk.”

Lead vocalist of U2

Sleepless in Seattle director --- Ephron

Overweight

Shell lobber

Exercise venue

--- the ground foor

Adeptness

A lot

Think constantly

Badger

Beloved

Anti-ageist org.

Pulpit delivery 36. Cushion 39. Comparatively costly 41. Getting on 43. Chop

Web address

48. Cleared

50. E.g. Courvoisier

53. Pricey

54. World’s largest economy

57. Stock-market debuts

58. Monotonous routine

60. Daytona racing supervisory grp.

62. Established ceremony

63. Workplace regulation agency

65. Imperial sites?

66. Sweet

67. It starts every Sunday

68. Fifty after 69. ---, a plan, a canal, Panama

70. Fictional Ozzie dame

71. Author/astronomer Carl ---

Down 1. Bouquet 2. Toil

3. Brought down 4. Secluded retreat 5. Glows

6. Abate 7. Harsher

8. --- 500, car race

9. Of worldwide scope

10. Sign up 11. Common odds ending 12. Operatic solos

13. Endures

21. “A Beautiful Mind” actor

26. Record keeper 28. Deform

30. Emulator

32. Fire residue

33. Consumed

35. Donnybrook

36. Bringing forth

37. Everyone

38. Stain

40. One paid to jump out of perfectly serviceable aircraft

42. Before, poetically 45. Soon afterwards

47. Invisible

49. Areas of land

50. About

51. Anything that stupefes

52. Have to 55. Generous annual visitor

56. Fire-raising

59. Pre-loved

61. Mets’ old stadium

64. Alias

Weekly Event Calendar

Your guide to upcoming local events over the next 7 days!

*To play Sudoku, ll a 9x9 grid with digits 1 through 9 so that each row, each column, and each 3x3 subgrid contains each number exactly once.