Thursday, November 3, 2022 Today’s headlines: A recent report from two environmental justice groups found most Illinois coal-fired plants are not complying with a federal rule to curb groundwater contamination. Governor J.B. Pritzker says the state will be able to afford his plan to make college free for low and middle-income students. On Tuesday, Champaign-Urbana…
DES MOINES, Ia. — Last spring, two pregnant women who had recently arrived from Myanmar showed up at Abigail Sui’s home in Des Moines, Iowa. They needed help finding prenatal care. Sui, a program director for EMBARC, an Iowa-based nonprofit that supports immigrants, figured she could help these women navigate the health care system. “Because…
SAVOY — The Savoy Village Board voted unanimously on Tuesday to recommend the Champaign Unit 4 School District reinstate neighborhood schools. The Savoy Board of Trustees said they were reflecting concerns Savoy parents had brought to them. “I believe what you’re all saying is that you want to promote neighborhood schools with a goal of…
Wednesday, November 2, 2022 Today’s headlines: A long legal battle between inmates and the Illinois Department of Corrections over mental health care has taken another turn. Carle Health in Urbana will take over management of several hospitals in central Illinois from UnityPoint Health. The Village of Savoy voted unanimously on Tuesday to recommend the Champaign…
URBANA – Two members of Champaign-Urbana’s LGBTQ+ community are rebooting a newsletter initially published in the 1980s. Sophie West and Jada Fulcher said they were inspired to create the newsletter in June after seeing an Instagram post from the Urbana Free Library showcasing the library’s archive of The Lavender Praire News, a 1980s newsletter for…
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois has again offered money to help individuals purchase electric vehicles. “The Illinois EPA saw a great deal of interest in electric vehicle rebates in the first round, with more than 2,000 applications received and over $8.7 million issued in rebates,” said Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director John Kim. “Electric vehicles represent the…
SPRINGFIELD – Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his longtime political ally Michael McClain entered not guilty pleas Tuesday to bribery and corruption charges involving utility giant Commonwealth Edison and telecommunications company AT&T Illinois. Both were charged previously in the ComEd scandal, but federal prosecutors last month added new charges involving AT&T after that…
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 Today’s headlines: Illinoisans have so far requested far fewer mail-in ballots for the Nov. 8 general election than they did in 2020. The company that owns the Clinton Nuclear Power Plant says it wants to keep the generating station open for another 20 years. An old virus is getting young children sick…
ARCOLA – Drive a half-hour south of I-57 from Champaign and you’ll arrive in Arcola. The small town is in a part of the state known for its Old Order Amish community, centered around the nearby town of Arthur. Now, Latinos in Arcola are increasing in population and power. It’s close to lunchtime, and doors…
SPRINGFIELD — Since late summer, many Illinois residents have been receiving newspapers that they haven’t paid for nor, in many cases, even heard of. Each paper bears a clear-cut tagline: Real data, real news. And each publication that shows up in driveways and mailboxes carries a partisan punch that’s blatant, but not formally disclosed. “They…
SAN FRANCISCO — Serena Maria warmly remembers the first older person she took care of. “Her name was Liberty Bell, and she was born on [the] Fourth of July and she was the sweetest thing,” Maria said. Listen to this story here. For about a year, Maria would go to the nonegenarian’s home in Southern…
Monday, October 31, 2022 Today’s headlines: A lawsuit that seeks to stop mail-in ballot counting after Election Day in Illinois is still pending even though the election is less than two weeks away. New legislation will provide a financial boost to Illinois Agritourism businesses. Researchers at the University of Illinois said patients with neurological ailments…
SPRINGFIELD – Student test scores continued to fall last year but new data shows Illinois’ students are on the path to recovering from the learning loss that occurred during the pandemic. Numbers from standardized tests administered last spring show steep declines in the percentage of students who met or exceeded state standards in English language…
Updated October 29, 2022 at 6:38 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO – The attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was “intentional” and the police dispatcher’s “intuition” and “quick thinking” resulted in a faster police response, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said. Paul Pelosi was “violently attacked” by an intruder who broke into…
CHICAGO — Illinois students continue to perform far below pre-pandemic levels on state reading and math exams for a second year, test results released Thursday show, offering another sign of the ongoing toll of COVID-19 and remote learning. Students performed at roughly the same level as last year, which is well below the last round…