Monday, October 3, 2022 Today’s headlines: The Old State Capitol in Springfield is now part of the National Underground Railroad Network of Freedom, which recognizes sites as “significant” to helping African Americans escape slavery. Uniting Pride held its annual pride parade and vendors fair this past weekend in downtown Urbana. In a few months, the…
CHAMPAIGN — Del Jacobs likes almost everything about her job. As a SNAP-Ed community worker in Illinois, she likes getting to know the regulars at local food pantries and teaching them about healthy eating on a budget. She likes working with children, especially since she doesn’t have any kids of her own. What she doesn’t…
When Calvin Duncan was 19 years old, he was arrested for a murder he didn’t commit. “I was in Angola for 24 years,” he says. He heard the same story over and over from other inmates: “That they was innocent, that they didn’t commit the crimes that they was in prison for.” Not everyone was…
Over the past four years, Pritzker made good on campaign promises, but faced criticism for pandemic-related restrictions and a failed tax revamp. When JB Pritzker first announced his run for governor in a packed South Side gymnasium in 2017, he told reporters he’d be a “progressive governor for everyone.” Since then, the Gold Coast Democrat…
The GOP nominee for governor gained fame as the voice of opposition on cultural issues — gun rights, abortion — at the statehouse. But he passed few bills of his own. As Illinois’ landmark abortion-rights law was finalized in 2019, current Republican gubernatorial hopeful Darren Bailey grew exasperated about extending protections to an “individual” beyond…
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker is considering changes to the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform to clarify provisions related to the end of cash bail in Illinois, while his Republican challenger, state Sen. Darren Bailey, continues to push for a full repeal. The candidates shared their thoughts Friday on those and other issues during a…
An Illinois State University administrator has died four days after he collided with a bicycle on the Illinois State University campus. According to a joint news release from McLean County Coroner Kathy Yoder and ISU Police Chief Aaron Woodruff, 49-year-old Adam Peck died on Friday morning. Peck was a pedestrian who was involved in a…
SACRAMENTO, Ca. — Jacey Cooper is the director of Medicaid in California, and she’s never been afraid of big challenges. She commuted two hours each way from Bakersfield to Los Angeles to complete her senior year at the University of Southern California after giving birth to twins. Just a few years later, at 27, she…
Updated September 30, 2022 at 9:09 AM ET MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has moved to formally annex four Ukrainian territories, signing what he calls “accession treaties” that world powers refuse to recognize. It’s Putin’s latest attempt to redraw the map of Europe at Ukraine’s expense. “The people made their choice,”said Putin in a…
Friday, September 30, 2022 Today’s headlines: Election officials across Illinois are getting flooded with letters from conspiracy theorists who say the 2020 presidential election was rigged. Former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar is endorsing Republican candidate Dan Brady for Secretary of State. Sept. 30 is the last day the public has the chance to provide input…
The Old State Capitol in downtown Springfield has been accepted to the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. That announcement was made Thursday. The building is one of 17 new listings spanning 13 states. The Network, now consisting of more than 700 sites, honors and preserves the history of resistance to enslavement…
This election season, voters in Illinois will decide on a proposed amendment to the state constitution, dubbed “Amendment 1” or the “Workers’ Rights Amendment.” Voting “yes” on the amendment would establish a state constitutional right for employees to organize and collectively bargain. Frank Manzo IV, Executive Director of the pro-labor Illinois Economic Policy Institute, said…
An independent expert who has monitored the mental health care was terminated reducing the transparency around an often failing system. CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Corrections has long faced accusations of abuse and violence toward people with mental illness and has continually failed to fill positions for mental health care workers. Now for the…
Conspiracy theorists inundate election officials across the state with form letters demanding voter records and threatening lawsuits. CHICAGO — No Republican nominee for president has won Illinois since 1988, with Joe Biden beating Donald Trump by more than 1 million votes in the last election two years ago. As a reliably blue state, Illinois has…
Thursday, September 29, 2022 Today’s headlines: Volunteers from Illinois are on the ground in southwest Florida, with more on the way, after Hurricane Ian made landfall on Wednesday. Illinois Democrats are signaling they’re willing to work more on the SAFE-T Act. Victims of the July 4th mass shooting in Highland Park have filed a set…