Monday, September 19, 2022 Today’s headlines: The Safe-T act introduces a wide range of reforms to Illinois’ criminal justice system. This includes the controversial elimination of cash bail in January 2023. Several states that have completed federal consent decrees may offer ways Illinois could improve its child welfare system. On Sept. 28, the White House…
WASHINGTON D.C. — For the first time since the Nixon administration, the White House will hold a conference on hunger, nutrition and health, bringing together advocates, lawmakers and experts to come up with strategies to tackle food insecurity and diet-related health issues. The conference comes after a spike in food insecurity rates across the country…
Queen Elizabeth’s funeral service is taking place at Westminster Abbey in London, with President Biden and other world leaders attending. The queen died on Sept. 8 at age 96. She had served as queen since 1952. Watch the events honoring her reign live.
URBANA – Severe storms early Monday brought hail, heavy rain and high winds through central Illinois. Around 1:00 a.m., the National Weather Service office in Lincoln issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Champaign county. Within the hour, heavy rain poured down on Champaign-Urbana. Large hail was also reported in Mahomet. The National Weather Service reports…
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration has proposed new policies for the state’s schools regarding how they treat transgender students, including restricting which bathrooms they can use and which pronouns they may go by. The Virginia Department of Education released its 2022 Model Policies online Friday, effectively rolling back the work of Youngkin’s predecessor, Democrat Ralph…
SPRINGFIELD – Vice President Kamala Harris came to Chicago Friday to rally voters who support abortion rights and urge them to turn out in the upcoming midterm elections. Speaking at a roundtable discussion on reproductive rights at the University of Illinois Chicago, Harris said the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade has…
Updated September 18, 2022 at 7:23 PM ET Hurricane Fiona made landfall in southwestern Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon, as the entire island continues to reel from the knockout of its electricity grid. Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said the damage on the island is “catastrophic in many areas,” calling it a “very delicate and…
SPRINGFIELD – Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, cash bail will be abolished in Illinois. The measure that will eliminate it has been on the books since early 2021, giving the justice system two years to plan for the major overhaul of the state’s pretrial detention system. It’s also given time for the measure to become politicized…
Yeshiva University says it’s pausing all student clubs on campus just days after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a lower court ruling that ordered the school to recognize an LGBTQ group. In an unsigned email to students, the New York City school said that, considering upcoming Jewish holidays, “the university will hold off…
If air-conditioning your home felt expensive this summer, get ready, because turning up the heat may cost even more this winter. The rising utility bills are being driven by the surge in the price of natural gas, which generates about 40% of the United States’ electricity. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects this surge to…
After three months of planning, two local groups have created a safe space for Latinos to celebrate Mexican Independence Day. University YMCA and Champaign-based restaurant Maize collaborated to commemorate El Grito. El Grito, or the “Cry for Dolores,” is the battle cry and the start of the liberation of Mexico from Spain on September 16,…
URBANA — Sinfonia da Camera, the chamber orchestra in residence at the University of Illinois, begins its new season Saturday night at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana. This concert will feature music director Ian Hobson at the podium and behind the keyboard as the soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C…
Friday, September 16, 2022 Today’s headlines: Democratic Illinois U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth is condemning Republican Senator Lindsey Graham’s recent proposal for a nationwide abortion ban. The Champaign County League of Women Voters is recommending the county do away with its elected executive just four years after its first county executive was elected. After three months…
CHAMPAIGN — Illinois State Conservationist Ivan Dozier is happy to explain the reasons why $18 billion has been set aside for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) farm conservation programs within the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a $740 billion climate, tax and healthcare spending package signed into law by President Joe Biden this summer….
CHAMPAIGN — GOP county clerk candidate Terrence Stuber told The News-Gazette in August, “I don’t know,” when asked if Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. After that remark, Aaron Ammons, a Democrat and the incumbent clerk, accused Stuber of being “unqualified, ill-informed, and unprepared to serve.” More recently, Stuber, a member of the Tolono…