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…
CHAMPAIGN – The Champaign Unit 4 School District is changing their reopening plans for this fall. At a meeting this week, the district’s Board of Education asked school administrators to target special education, emergent bilingual learners and other vulnerable students for in-person instruction — with everyone else beginning the school year virtually. The district released…
Loyola University Chicago Rolls Back Plans For In-Person Classes This Fall Loyola University Chicago is walking back its initial plan to offer a mix of in-person and online classes this fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to students and faculty Monday, University President Jo Ann Rooney and Provost Noberto Grzywacz said most classes…
URBANA – The Champaign County Clerk’s office and the Danville Public Library are both closed temporarily, after an employee at each location tested positive for COVID-19. But a staff member will be at the county clerk’s office on Tuesday to accept petitions from candidates seeking to get their names on the November 3 election ballot….
The number of families experiencing food insecurity has hit a record due to the pandemic, and Black and Hispanic families are disproportionately…
Researchers at the Nature Conservancy have developed a map identifying the best places in Illinois to install renewable wind energy. They say it is a tool to help speed up the move away from fossil fuels. The central United States has the potential to generate a total of 1,000 gigawatts of renewable wind energy, according…
Illinois Launches Campaign To Prevent Abuse Of Seniors SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois is launching a $2.1 million campaign to prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation of seniors and adults with disabilities, a problem officials fear has worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. The Illinois Department on Aging’s Office of Adult Protective Services received federal funds for…
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for parts of Central Illinois through 7 p.m. Saturday evening, and more than 1,700 power outages were reported in Champaign County. The agency suggests unpluging electronic equipment as power surges from lightning can damage computers, monitors and TVs, and cause sparks that might start a fire. Alert…
Gov. Pritzker Names New Head Of Unemployment Department Months After Complaints Pile Up Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Thursday named a new director of the agency that manages unemployment claims after the department encountered serious problems dealing with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The Illinois Department of Employment Security also started a new approach…
RANTOUL – As hundreds of migrant farmworkers arrive in central Illinois to work on detasseling — a process needed to create hybrid seed corn — local organizations are stepping up to provide services to the workers and their families. Martha Gonzalez, executive director of the Rantoul Multicultural Community Center, says the child care they offer…