Among a wide field of potent prescription painkillers -- which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says are fueling an epidemic of abuse in the United States -- hydrocodone may have been flying under the radar among doctors.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Quinn, a Chicago Democrat who favors strict gun control including an assault weapons ban, said violence has been an "epidemic" in parts of the state and Illinois should be the nation's leader in keeping the concealed carry ban in place.

NPR: Ill. Gov. Wants Appeal Of Concealed Carry Ruling

The immediate priority remains taming an epidemic that in the past fortnight has got out of control.

ECONOMIST: Rebuilding Haiti: Politics in the time of cholera | The

Uganda once stood alongside Thailand and Cambodia as an example of a place where the epidemic had been brought under control.

ECONOMIST: AIDS