In 2000, Charles Davidson was arrested the day before the 4th of July for a crime he said he didn’t commit. Urbana Police responded that evening to a complaint of fireworks and came upon Davidson, who claims he made the complaint on behalf of his mother. According to court records, police accused the now 68-year-old…
In the past, Ann Quackenbush would wake up early on election day to get to her polling place. The elementary school teacher in Champaign says it was often hard to make time to vote during a busy school day. For the primary last March, she tried something different – mailing in her ballot before election…
Technology changing access and outcomes in abortion debate President Donald Trump has stood strongly behind the anti-abortion movement, and his Supreme…
In his first major political speech since leaving office, former President Barack Obama took aim at the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress — blaming them for inciting division and stoking fears in the country. Obama delivered the address at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, where he also accepted the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics…
Earlier this month, we reported on the 1908 Race Riot in Springfield and what’s being done to remember and reconcile 110 years after the violence broke…
You want to be an informed and confident voter this election season, and Illinois Newsroom wants to help. Our statewide public media collaboration is delivering you the highest quality information around the Midterm Elections. And you’ll be our guide. We’re launching our Ask the Newsroom: Election Edition project so you can ask us your pressing…
Major meatpacking company JBS USA faces another religious discrimination lawsuit. The federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, alleges…
Farm towns in Illinois have been shrinking for decades, and the trend doesn’t show signs of reversing. By 2025, rural counties with populations of less than 10,000 people will see 7.4 percent of their residents leave, while counties with populations between 10,000 and 25,000 will lose 5.4 percent. That’s according to projections from the Illinois Department…
It’s been 110 years since the 1908 Race Riot erupted in Springfield. The violence and its aftermath inspired the founding of the NAACP, the prominent civil rights organization. A number of groups in the city recognized and remembered the violence and lives lost in a series of public events earlier this month. There are also…
Just before noon on a recent Saturday, a group of political memorabilia collectors jostled for a spot around an exhibit table, checking their final bids…
The answer lies within the Russian nesting doll structure of our government and law enforcement jurisdictions. The City of Urbana sits within Champaign County which sits within the State of Illinois which sits within the United States of America. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal agency that enforces federal immigration laws, and its…
In a community with as many resources as Champaign-Urbana, why does gun violence persist? That’s the question Donte’ Lotts, a community liaison for CU Fresh Start — an initiative created in 2015 to mitigate gun violence — asked a group of about 50 Champaign-Urbana residents, social service providers, university employees and other community leaders on…
Conversations around gun violence often revolve around long-term solutions, like improving schools or the local economy. But even if those things were easy — and they’re not — it would take a generation to realize the benefits. And for the Illinoisans living and dying in these communities — mostly low-income, black communities — they don’t…
His name was Devon McClyde, and he was 16 years old when he was caught in the crossfire of an argument while playing basketball one evening in a local park in Danville on June 8, 2016. He died three days later – the victim of another gun crime in Central Illinois. At least 100 people…
For many families and young adults living in Peoria’s South Side, gun violence is too often a part of life and something they’ve been fighting against — with few resources. Part of the challenge, according to researchers, is getting the broader community to examine a part of itself and confront the barriers that keep families,…