By: Diane Benjamin 1) I’ve been hearing drug deaths are decreasing across the country, so I decided to look at what’s happening locally. The McLean County Coroner reports them to the Justice Committee every month. December’s number won’t be reported until the February meeting, so I asked Kathy Yoder for the number. Instead of giving […]
By: Diane Benjamin The McLean County Coroner, Kathy Yoder, includes a report every month in the Justice Committee packet. It recaps County deaths including causes. Falls and Fractures continue to be the highest rate of accidental death. Total County deaths for 2023 were 101 less than 2022. https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/10011 The first 3 months of 2024 are […]
By: Diane Benjamin All of the data below can be viewed on the McLean County Justice Committee reports from this page: https://mcleancountyil.gov/Archive.aspx?AMID=70 Find the reports by Kathy Yoder. Data after June 2023 won’t be available until the September meeting. Compare these to the same time period last year: Details of suicides aren’t available. I’ve asked […]
By: Diane Benjamin I am purposely refraining from using percentage increases in the data below. I believe that would distort the actual numbers. For example, I could tell you confirmed suicides increased 40% between 2019 and 2020. The actual number increase was 9, very tragic but 40% sounds far worse than 9. There are a […]
By: Diane Benjamin In 2019 McLean County saw a total of 18 suicides. The total for 2020 was 27. That is is 50% increase in one year. 1 more death is under investigation as a probably suicide according to the December report. Drug overdoses are down from 26 in 2019. Covid? Lockdowns? Schools closed? Anybody […]
by: Diane Benjamin In my opinion voting in September for an election in November is lamebrained, dim-witted, and unintelligent. There will be “October surprises”, the presidential debates don’t even start until next week. The ONLY reason to vote now is to pretend you investigated all the candidates and have determined which ones represent your values. […]
