We Asked: Did You Watch the State of the Union Address?

We hit the streets to see if the Average Joes and Janes tuned in to watch the president's speech.

President Obama had the chance to reach millions of Americans with his State of the Union address on Tuesday. The nations four major networks – ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX ­– carried the speech live. According to HitFix, about 26 million viewers watched the president’s remarks on the broadcast networks. Cable networks, including CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, CNBC and Univision, also aired the speech live. Lasting for just more than an hour, Obama’s address covered a wide range of topics. Main themes included increaseing innovation, providing and reforming education, reducing the national deficit and promoting health care. Dan Rosenberg, 27, of Naperville, was in downtown Plainfield on Wednesday.  He didn’t get a chance to watch the speech on Tuesday …

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Plainly Plainfield

Female Teacher's Arrest on Sex Charge Stirs Response

Why are we so fascinated by female teachers who prey on students yet demonize male teachers for the same thing?

By now there is no one in town who hasn’t heard about the 27-year-old physical education instructor, dance teacher and gymnastics coach arrested last week when Plainfield police officers found her in a car with a partially clothed 16-year-old boy. To a lot of people, Ashley Blumenshine is no different than a male sexual predator who capitalizes on his role as a teacher to prey upon an underage student. Blumenshine abused her authority and took advantage of someone's son. It’s an easy call. She broke the law. She may go to jail. One thing's for sure, she'll never teach again. I know I am not the only one who saw Blumenshine’s slightly smiling mug shot and wondered how it could have come to this. I will venture a guess that I am not the only…

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Nick Beam

4:03 pm on Saturday, February 19, 2011

@ "Honey" - That is the most ignorant thing that has been said on here about this case. The teacher was in a position of authority and abused it. That decision was hers and hers alone. Your comment about teens feeling entitled may be accurate, but deserves to be in another story. It has nothing to do with this adult being caught in the act with a minor. I would trust if she was "being set up" (…   more ›