A man holds a microphone with musical instruments behind him.
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Michael Feinstein pays tribute to Tony Bennett in song

Michael Feinstein is currently on tour with the Carnegie Hall Big Band to celebrate the late Tony Bennett and is performing at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, November 9th. Morning Edition host Kimberly Schofield spoke with Feinstein about the Because of You tour and his extensive career.

Gaza march
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Urbana voters support advisory referendum asking U.S. to end military funding for Israel

  URBANA– A majority of Urbana voters backed an advisory referendum asking whether the U.S. should end its military funding for Israel.  Residents petitioned to get the measure on the Cunningham Township ballot earlier this year in response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Based on unofficial results from the Champaign County Clerk’s office, around…

Paws for a cause: Champaign County Humane Society hosts annual Fur Ball to support local animals
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Paws for a cause: Champaign County Humane Society hosts annual Fur Ball to support local animals

The Fur Ball, a fundraiser held by the Champaign County Humane Society, will take place Friday night at the I-Hotel and Illinois Conference Center in Champaign. The funds from the event will go directly toward the care of about 200 pets. These funds will help support adoption services and urgent medical needs.

Nakba
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Chapter Four: Fallout-The Past is Never Dead

Nobel Laureate William Faulkner once wrote that “The past is never dead.  It’s not even past.” Nowhere are Faulkner’s words more true today than in the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. This week’s chapter of Fallout considers the long durability of injustice and violence and asks what it might take to…

Corey Thompsen
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‘Became a hero’: Family announces funeral plans for fallen state trooper

CHAMPAIGN – Funeral arrangements for a fallen Illinois state trooper have been announced. The family of Corey Thompsen said in a news release shared by Illinois State Police that the visitation will be held October 26 from 1-5 p.m. at St. Joseph-Ogden High School in St. Joseph with a first responder walk through at 5…

Fire department offers free smoke alarm checks, installation in north Champaign homes

Fire department offers free smoke alarm checks, installation in north Champaign homes

CHAMPAIGN – Firefighters and staff from the Champaign Fire Department and Neighborhood Services Department along with the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance are offering a free public service this week. They will be going door-to-door in a north Champaign neighborhood on October 25 offering to check smoke alarms and installing free smoke alarms in homes that…

Michael Frerichs
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Nearly 140,000 Illinois residents sent checks for unclaimed property: ‘It is not a scam,’ treasurer says

Thousands of Illinois residents may have a check from the state waiting for them in their mailboxes. The Illinois State Treasurer’s office recently sent unclaimed property checks to 138,561 people in Illinois, totaling a record $13.2 million. Treasurer Michael Frerichs held a news conference Tuesday to remind Illinois residents to cash these checks. “We have…

cars on highway
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Illinois launches push to combat distracted driving

Brenda Protz lost her 14-year-old daughter in November 2019 in a distracted-driving crash. Jenna and a friend were riding home from a football game with Jenna’s paternal grandparents when their car was struck by a distracted driver. Jenna and the others in her car died; the other driver survived. “Jenna’s life was cut short,” said…

Chapter Three: Fallout-Labels

Chapter Three: Fallout-Labels

By October 21st, 2023, some 6,000 people in the Gaza Strip and Israel had been killed in the expanding Israel- Hamas War. Here on the University of Illinois Campus and around the world, tensions between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli communities were rising. As part of their coverage of the conflict last fall, Illinois journalism students spoke…

Climate scientist Jim Angel on recent Illinois weather patterns — and what’s in store for winter
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Climate scientist Jim Angel on recent Illinois weather patterns — and what’s in store for winter

The climate in the Midwest is ever-changing — and that’s what makes it fascinating, says Jim Angel.  Angel is a climate scientist with the Illinois State Water Survey. He served as Illinois State Climatologist for more than two decades until 2018, and has been studying climate extremes in Illinois and the Midwest for almost 40…

tree planting
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Danville gets $1 million to focus on tree planting program

  DANVILLE – The City of Danville has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program. This grant will be used in launching a new program, Community Roots: Danville’s Urban Reforestation and Revitalization Plan. “This initiative is designed to enhance tree canopy…

Community marks a year since Palestinian American boy’s slaying: ‘We were all killed that day’

Community marks a year since Palestinian American boy’s slaying: ‘We were all killed that day’

When 6-year-old Palestinian American boy Wadee Alfayoumi was stabbed to death in October of 2023 in suburban Plainfield Township in an alleged hate crime, it was as though the Muslim community itself had been stabbed. That’s how Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, described the effect of…