News Around Illinois Cover

News Around Illinois – January 31, 2020

Illinois Unemployment Rates Fell in December URBANA – December unemployment rates were down from a year earlier in all fourteen of Illinois’ major metropolitan areas, according to new figures from the Illinois Department of Employment Security. The following are the rates and gain of non-farm jobs over the year from three areas: Champaign-Urbana: 3.3%  Gain 3,000…

News Around Illinois Cover

News Around Illinois – January 30, 2020

EIU Reports 2% Spring Enrollment Increase CHARLESTON – Spring enrollment is up at Eastern Illinois University, although by a smaller margin than a year ago.  Tenth-day enrollment figures at the state university in Charleston were up two percent from last spring, at 7,621. That compares to a seven percent increase reported last spring. Undergraduate enrollment…

News Around Illinois Cover

News Around Illinois – January 29, 2020

Answers Demanded About DNA Testing Backlog SPRINGFIELD – Illinois State Police are working their way through the backlog of DNA evidence, and have recently decreased the number of delayed cases by 16 percent. But the turnaround time is still, on average, 215 days. On Tuesday, Carrie Ward, Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault,…

No Coronavirus In Champaign County, But Health Officials Say They’re Ready

No Coronavirus In Champaign County, But Health Officials Say They’re Ready

CHAMPAIGN – Health officials in Champaign County say they are ready, if any cases of the novel coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China should turn up locally. But they say no cases have shown up so far. As of Tuesday, five cases of the coronavirus have been reported in the United States, with one…

Inskeep’s ‘Imperfect Union’ Examines Frémonts, Westward Expansion

Inskeep’s ‘Imperfect Union’ Examines Frémonts, Westward Expansion

You hear Steve Inskeep’s voice weekday mornings on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including WILL, as one of the hosts of NPR’s Morning Edition. He’s also a bestselling author. His latest book out this month looks at the westward expansion of the United States in the mid-19th century, through the story of…

Coronavirus Concerns Empty Local Stores Of Masks

Coronavirus Concerns Empty Local Stores Of Masks

URBANA – Health officials continue to say that the best protection against the novel coronavirus is hand washing and cough-covering. But if you’re looking for more protection, say in the form of a respiratory mask, you’ll be hard pressed to find one in Champaign-Urbana. On Sunday and Monday, we checked with pharmacies, big box stores, medical…

State Capitol of Illinois

State Lawmakers Return Tuesday

[perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]State of the State Address Listen Wednesday at noon on WILL-AM 580 or will.illinois.edu [/perfectpullquote] SPRINGFIELD – Illinois state lawmakers return to Springfield Tuesday to begin this year’s legislative session. The main task on the agenda this week is Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s State of the State address. He’s…

15th District Democratic Candidates Sound Off On Impeachment

15th District Democratic Candidates Sound Off On Impeachment

Most House Democrats voted last month in favor of impeaching President Trump. At a candidate’s forum in Charleston Sunday, three Democrats seeking to run in Illinois’ 15th Congressional District said they would have done the same — while a fourth added a qualification. John W. Hursey Jr. of Collinsville, told the audience at the Charleston…

US Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)

Duckworth Pressing For Testimony In US Impeachment Trial

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) is among the Democrats pressing for witness testimony at President Trump’s impeachment trial. At a weekend news conference, Duckworth cited the time she’d been a jury foreman, and said being able to see witnesses and documents was key to the process. To underscore the point, she held up a book she…

Concern & Solidarity Leads To Cancellation Of Local Lunar New Year Celebration

Concern & Solidarity Leads To Cancellation Of Local Lunar New Year Celebration

CHAMPAIGN – Concerns about the spreading coronavirus and a desire to express solidarity with people in the Chinese city of Wuhan have led to the cancellation of one of the largest Lunar New Year celebrations in the midwest. Yaguang Lian is the president of the Chinese American Association of Central Illinois.  His group has cancelled…

In ‘State Of The University’ Address, Chancellor Jones Discussed U Of I’s Most Critical Challenges

In ‘State Of The University’ Address, Chancellor Jones Discussed U Of I’s Most Critical Challenges

In his annual “State of the University” address Friday, University of Illinois Chancellor Robert Jones applauded the Illinois government for a recent revenue increase, discussed campus strategies to recruit and retain top-notch faculty and announced new efforts to increase outreach to the local community. Jones also explained what U of I officials are doing to…