This (Thursday) morning's rain shower brought .33 of an inch of much-needed moisture at the WGFA studio site, north of Watseka. Other volunteer rain gauge reporters checked in with .21 at L'Erable, .20 at Beaverville, Gilman and Kankakee. Watseka and areas to the south had up to .40 of an inch.

The Illinois corn and soybean crops could stand more rain and heat, the state office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported this week.

Last week was cooler and drier than normal, and those factors are starting to hurt crops.

"The dry conditions and cool temperatures are affecting grain development and delaying crop maturity progress," a release from the office said.

Crops in the state's eastern region — which includes Champaign-Urbana, Danville and Kankakee — are generally further along than crops in other parts of the state.

As of Sunday, 100 percent of soybeans in the eastern region were setting pods, compared with 76 percent statewide. Twenty-four percent of the corn in the eastern region had reached the dent stage, compared with only 14 percent statewide.

94.1 FM, WGFA