ROCKFORD — The Carlson Elementary School students standing in line for H1N1 flu shots this morning whispered one universal question to classmates emerging from the room where the shots were administered. “Did it hurt?”  The almost universal answer was a smile and “No.”
 

ON THE WEB
H1N1 vaccination consent forms
 

SPECIAL REPORT
Information on H1N1, the flu
 

INSIDE
A schedule for H1N1 shots at Rockford schools

A steady stream of people showed up at the DuPage County Health Department to be inoculated against the H1N1 virus. Children squirmed in the arms of their parents Thursday as they arrived at the appointed hour to be inoculated. The vaccinations will be available to Rockford School District students in the next few weeks.
 

RECENT FLU HEADLINES
Oct. 22: H1N1 vaccine coming to Rockford schools
Oct. 21: Most flu cases likely to be H1N1 variety
Oct. 20: Software helps county track flu cases
Oct. 20: County issues its first H1N1 shots

MORE FLU COVERAGE
Special report: Find info on flu and H1N1 virus
 

ASSOCIATED PRESS INTERACTIVE
Where swine flu is, how it spreads

ASSOCIATED PRESS VIDEO INSIDE
Illinois school overwhelmed by swine flu

ROCKFORD — The large majority of current influenza cases in Winnebago County are from the H1N1 swine flu virus and, as health officials expected, a good deal of it is in schools.
 

FLU HEADLINES
Oct. 21: H1N1 information meeting Oct. 29
Oct. 20: Software helps county track flu cases
Oct. 20: Hospitals restricting visitors to stop H1N1
Oct. 20: USDA confirms H1N1 in Minn. pigs
Oct. 20: Feds study H1N1 shot dose for asthmatics
Oct. 20: County issues its first H1N1 shots

MORE FLU COVERAGE
Special report: Find info on flu and H1N1 virus
 

ASSOCIATED PRESS VIDEO INSIDE
Why does swine flu make kids more sick?

SYDNEY — The young woman stood naked in her downtown office building, swaying next to an open window. Her final words were sudden and calm: “I know I am going to jump.” Rebekah Lawrence, so modest and shy she often blushed around others, burst into song and leapt out the window. Lawrence died that day. But her mind had begun to show cracks a few days before, as she finished an intense self-help seminar called The Turning Point.

ROCKFORD — Matt Abston knew a blood donation his stepfather made in 2008 had saved someone’s life. That was enough to convince the Rockford Christian High School sophomore to make his first donation Thursday during a Rock River Valley Blood Center drive at the school. About 40 units of blood were expected to be collected at one of the first drives of the school year in a program that will reach most high schools in the area.

LOS ANGELES — Thirteen-year-old Andrea Levy ticked off a mental list of rules to follow when her guest arrived: Greet her at the door. Introduce her to the family. Offer a cold drink. This was a pivotal moment for Andrea. Andrea has autism, and socializing doesn’t come naturally. For the past several weeks, she’s gone to classes that teach the delicate ins and outs of making friends, an Emily Post rules of etiquette for autistic teens.

ROCKFORD — A calm but massive crowd filled a Rockford campus Wednesday night, forcing U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo to expand what was to be one town hall meeting on pending health-care reform to three.

SPECIAL REPORT
The latest on health-care reform
 

ON THE WEB
White House: Health insurance reform reality check
YouTube: Video from town hall meeting

AP INTERACTIVES
Health-care costs by state
Health-insurance coverage by state

HELENA, Mont. — Protesters plan to turn out in force when President Barack Obama brings his health care town-hall tour to Montana on Friday and puts a conservative suburb of Bozeman at the center of the issue for a day.
 

SPECIAL REPORT
The latest on health-care reform

ON THE WEB
White House: Health insurance reform reality check
 

AP INTERACTIVES
Health-care costs by state
Health-insurance coverage by state

AP VIDEO INSIDE
Fact-checking claims about health-care reform

Being a member of the Rockford Rage roller derby team used to be about getting out, doing a little bumping and looking as good as possible in fishnets. Warmups were whatever you did on your own. Practices were punctuated by frequent smoke breaks. It’s a far cry from the organized dynamic stretching, calisthenics and plyometrics — with not a cigarette pack in sight — that now dominate the first 30 to 40 minutes of the Rage’s three-times-a-week practices

When Micheline Leon was diagnosed with HIV, her parents told her they would fit her for a coffin. Fifteen years later, she walks around her two-room concrete house on Haiti’s central plateau, watching her four children play under the plantain trees.

Mexico is urging citizens to stay home for five days and shutting down nonessential government services in hopes of containing the swine flu outbreak, which the World Health Organization warns is on the brink of becoming a global epidemic.

A 23-month-old toddler died in Texas from the swine flu virus as authorities in the United States and around the world struggled to contain a growing global health menace that has also swept Germany onto the roster of afflicted nations.

The swine flu epidemic crossed new borders today with the first cases confirmed in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, as the number of deaths in Mexico blamed on the virus surpassed 150.

Governments are racing to find and contain pockets of swine flu around the globe, seeking to stem both the threat of a pandemic and public panic.

Doctors once told JoAnne Zoller Wagner that she had Type 2 diabetes. Two years later, the 55-year-old woman has slimmed down. She exercises regularly and her blood sugar levels are back in the healthy, normal range. Thanks to her success, she was able to avoid diabetes medication. An American Diabetes Association task force this summer will focus on patients like Wagner and whether they can be considered “cured.”