Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson head to Chicago mayoral runoff
Mayor Lori Lightfoot was handed a stunning defeat, the first time in 40 years a sitting mayor was not reelected.
NIU ‘Project FLEX’ offers fitness and college experiences to incarcerated Illinois youth
DEKALB — Several times a week, a team of NIU graduate students led by professors Zach Wahl-Alexander and Jenn Jacobs bring physical activities to three juvenile justice youth centers in northern Illinois. Wahl-Alexander and Jacobs teach in the school’s Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and have run the program for the past four years….
Illinois governor lays out a roadmap for a ‘transformed’ youth mental health care system
CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday released a blueprint for transforming what the state acknowledges is a confusing patchwork system for families who need greater access to mental health care for their children at a moment of overwhelming need both in Illinois and across the country. The current fragmented system, compounded by a workforce…
COVID federal funding will expire. How are schools investing in student mental health for the long term?
LA MOILLE — Students in the La Moille School District don’t have a full-time school social worker or psychologist. For tiny, rural districts like La Moille — which has only 170 students — that’s not unusual. Rural schools are much less likely to offer mental health services than urban and suburban schools. 37% of high…
Rep. Sorensen ‘optimistic’ Congress can beat farm bill deadline
MOLINE — Congress has a tight deadline to approve a new farm bill. Central Illinois congressman Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., is part of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee that recently reorganized at the start of the 118th Congress in late January. Listen to this story here. Sorensen said it will take compromise to meet the needs…
Illinois governor moves to change agency name
Governor JB Pritzker has submitted an Executive Order to change the official name to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security.
More bald eagles are nesting on the Illinois River. Here’s why that’s a good sign
Mike Miller has had his eagle eyes trained on the Illinois River Valley for a long time, and he says there’s a lot more of the national bird to see around these parts than in years’ past. The Peoria Park District supervisor of environmental and interpretive services and Community Word contributor has participated in the annual winter…
How admittedly corrupt ex-Illinois lawmakers get to keep their pensions
Illinois has paid out millions in pensions to ex-lawmakers who have admitted criminal wrongdoing or are awaiting trial. CHICAGO — Illinois state senator-turned-government mole Terry Link infamously asked “What’s in it for me?” while wearing a wire in a 2019 federal bribery sting that snared a corrupt legislative colleague. Link played the role of undercover…
Former trustee: Kinzy’s abrupt exit was about fit, not wrongdoing
NORMAL — Illinois State University marked its annual Founding Celebration on Thursday with the usual traditions – bellringing and a toast of faculty and staff – even as unanswered questions hovered as to why President Terri Goss Kinzy had abruptly resigned. Some faculty and staff told WGLT they were surprised by Kinzy’s exit. Others heard…
Pritzker pledges more money for education and child care in his budget address
SPRINGFIELD — Building on a “remarkable” fiscal rebound, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker proposed a $49.6 billion state budget Wednesday, prioritizing increased spending on everything from early childhood initiatives to education to reproductive health care. In the first big swing of his second term, Pritzker also underscored his work the past four years in stabilizing Illinois’…
ISU President Terri Goss Kinzy resigns less than 2 years on the job
NORMAL — Illinois State University President Terri Goss Kinzy has resigned after less than two years on the job. The surprise announcement came Wednesday afternoon in an email to campus. Kinzy’s resignation is effective Tuesday, but she’ll be paid an additional 20 weeks of salary (about $144,000) and her unused vacation time, plus get to…
When half of a Rockford elementary school has no bus, the community takes action
ROCKFORD — A group of Rockford elementary school students stand against the front of Lewis Lemon Elementary, trying to stay out of the snow. They’re wearing colorful winter coats and hats to keep warm, which is tough since it feels like -4 degrees with the wind-chill. They live within a mile and a half of…
FBI: Romance scammers made $20M off unsuspecting victims in Illinois in a year
Hundreds of Illinoisans fall victim to online romance scams every year. While the numbers for 2022 are still being calculated, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center preliminary results show a reported victim loss of $739 million, impacting 19,000 victims. In Illinois, the FBI reported 591 victims in 2021, the last year data was available. The…
What does the start of Missouri recreational marijuana sales mean for the Metro East?
COLLINSVILLE — Collinsville City Manager Mitch Bair has managed a budget that’s seen between $1.5 million and $2 million in extra sales tax revenue since 2020 from the addition of recreational marijuana. But the sales tax generated from Illinois dispensaries is expected to drop now that Missouri approved its first shops to sell recreational marijuana…
From classrooms to hospitals – A central Illinois teen spreads knowledge through her nonprofit
CHAMPAIGN — A central Illinois teen started a nonprofit that educates the youth. Now she’s taking things a step further by adapting a concept that one Princeton change agent helped start. Sophia Libman is the founder and CEO of X-TIME. “In math, I learned that x is kind of this value that’s constantly changing,” Libman…