CHAMPAIGN – Champaign reported a record 100 incidents of gun violence last year. This year is only half over and the city says there has already been 95 incidents. On Tuesday, city leaders said most of the shootings are between people who know each other. Anthony Cobb is the police chief. “Gun violence does not…
House Progressive Caucus Weighs In On Madigan, ComEd CHICAGO (AP) — Members of the Illinois House of Representatives’ progressive caucus said Monday longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan must resign if allegations of a bribery scheme involving utility ComEd are true. The 12 caucus members said the allegations disclosed Friday by federal prosecutors in Chicago are…
URBANA – A new statewide effort aims to provide vulnerable young people in Illinois with summer jobs. The COVID-19 Summer Youth Employment Program provides $9.3 million to fund summer jobs for 2,400 young adults with a focus on low-income youth living in high-poverty communities. State and local officials spoke at a press conference Monday, held…
MATTOON – An accountant living in Mattoon is running in the 110th Illinois House District against Republican incumbent Chris Miller. Kody Czerwonka filed ballot petitions on July 13 to run for the seat held by Miller, a first-term Republican from rural Oakland. No Democrat has filed to run for the seat, and Czerwonka says he…
UIC Gets $22M In Federal Money For Health Research Programs CHICAGO (AP) — The University of Illinois at Chicago will receive $22 million in federal funding for health research programs over the next five years. The money comes from the National Institutes of Health and goes to the university’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science….
NOW LIVE: Gov. Pritzker is holding a press briefing with local elected officials in Urbana to discuss opportunities supported by the COVID-19 Summer Youth Employment Program. Watch live below. The questions we receive from you directly inform the stories we tell and what we investigate. Let us know what you need to know!
ComEd To Pay $200M Over Bribery, Illinois Speaker Implicated CHICAGO (AP) — Electric utility ComEd has agreed to pay $200 million to resolve a federal criminal investigation into a long-running bribery scheme that implicates Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, federal prosecutors announced Friday. The company has admitted that it arranged jobs, subcontracted work and monetary…
As Covid-19 surges again in the U.S., the high percentage of “recovered” cases might be cited as a sign that a vast majority of those infected quickly rid themselves of the virus. But the “recovered” statistics are incomplete, inconsistent and call into question the accuracy of any total number of recovered cases, according to a…
At Least 36 Students Test Positive For Virus After Camps LAKE ZURICH, Ill. (AP) — At least three dozen high school students in northern Illinois have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus after some attending summer sports camps showed symptoms of the disease. Investigations and contact tracing of the infections are tied to the camps…
CHAMPAIGN – Severe thunderstorms in Illinois caused tornadoes and other hazards on Wednesday afternoon. Meterorologist Andrew Pritchard captured a picture of a large tornado around 5:20 p.m. in Divernon, a small community 16 miles south of Springfield in Sangamon County. “This was a large tornado that developed very quickly,” said Pritchard. “There was a little…
CHAMPAIGN – Champaign Police say they are making changes in response to concerns raised nationwide about police practices and policies. City Council members endorsed those changes, when they were outlined at a council study session Tuesday night. Chief Anthony Cobb says the latest changes in the department’s use-of-force policy are modeled after recommendations from “8…
Chicago Officials Expand Quarantine Order For Visitors CHICAGO (AP) — People traveling from Iowa and Oklahoma to Chicago will have to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival or face possible fines starting Friday. Chicago first issued a quarantine order early this month for 15 other states based on increasing numbers of confirmed cases of the…
Kush Gupta says he panicked when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a rule last week barring international students from taking a full online course load for the upcoming fall semester. The rule would have forced international students to take in-person classes at American universities and colleges this fall. Otherwise, they’d be barred from…
Each month throughout the pandemic, Illinois Newsroom has received questions from listeners about whether maximum SNAP benefits will be issued. To find out more about how the program works and what SNAP recipients in Illinois can expect going forward, Illinois Newsroom reporter Dana Cronin spoke with Leslie Cully, who oversees the SNAP program for the…
CHICAGO – Thousands of workers travel to Illinois each year to work on farms, with the largest influx to central Illinois in the summer and fall. Amid concerns about COVID-19, the state’s department of public health is partnering with medical clinics to make testing available to farmworkers. The Community Health Partnership of Illinois, based in…