The governor is scheduled to make an announcement this morning that several state parks, closed by Rod Blagojevich as a cost cutting measure in response to state budget pressures, will be re-opened. The announcement, to be held at at the Department of Natural Resources headquarters in Springfield, will be "good news because that was just a huge economic loss to our district and the rest of the state,” said Dixon Democrat Sen. Tim Bivins. “I think anybody who likes the state parks of Illinois will like what we have to say,” Quinn spokesman Robert Reed told the Peoria Journal Star. more ›

• Castle Rock State Park, Oregon
• Lowden State Park, Oregon
• Illini State Park, Marseilles
• Hidden Springs State Forrest, Strasburg
• Moraine View State Park, Leroy
• Weldon Springs State Park, Clinton
• Wolf Creek State Park, Windsor
• Dana-Thomas House, Springfield
• Lincoln log cabin near Charleston
• Fort de Chartres, Randolph County
• Vandalia statehouse (Saturday is last day; not open Sundays)
• State center at Bishop Hill, Henry County
• Carl Sandburg birthplace, Galesburg
• Cahokia courthouse
• Hauberg Indian Museum, Rock Island County, (part of the Black Hawk State Historic Site) but the adjacent natural area will stay open.
• Jubilee College, near Peoria
• Apple River Fort, Elizabeth
• Fort Kaskaskia, Randolph County
• Pierre Menard home, Randolph County
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