Tim Lloyd

The worst U.S. drought in decades sizzled farmland last year and cost Illinois its spot as the nation's second-biggest corn producer.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture report on 2012 crops shows that Illinois slumped to fourth among corn-producing states. It was overtaken by Minnesota and Nebraska, while Iowa still heads the pack.

The USDA says Illinois farmers produced 1.3 billion bushels of corn in 2012. That's down from 1.9 billion bushels each of the previous two years.

The worst drought in decades has slowly eviscerated the mighty Mississippi River. 

Monday morning both U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and freshly sworn in U.S. Rep. Bill Enyart (D-Belleville) got a firsthand look at work being done to keep the waterway commercially viable to shippers.

Starting this Monday morning Metro Transit is changing the way it handles ticket validation for MetroLink trains.

Here are three big things riders need to know about the new system.

First, vending machines won’t automatically print the expiration time on tickets or passes; you’ll have to do that separately.

Which leads to number two, the new system will make it much easier to buy tickets in advance and not use them right away.   

And Third, Metro Spokesperson Diane Williams says you really don’t want to forget to validate your ticket.

With a deal to avoid drastic spending cuts behind them, members of Congress are gearing up for what could be another grueling round of negotiations over the federal debt-ceiling.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says members need to get to the bargaining table early this time.

The number two Democrat in the Senate told CNN’s Candy Crowley Sunday that he really doesn’t want to see a sequel to the so called “fiscal cliff” negotiations.

Ready...Set... Go build a robot that can go play a game that looks a little like disc golf meets American Gladiators! 

Oh, we're going to need a website with that, too, and you have around two months to get everything ready to go. 

Sound daunting?

That’s the challenge that was set before nearly 40 teams of high school students from across the region that assembled at the St. Louis Science Center on Saturday for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition.