Before he was elected president, Abraham Lincoln spoke in Urbana on Oct. 24, 1854, to denounce a law that allowed for the expansion of slavery. On Thursday, one hundred and seventy years later, a commemoration was held at the Champaign County Courthouse. Around 50 community members gathered to hear the history behind those remarks.
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
As of Sept. 21, 1,058 cases of the highly contagious respiratory disease have been reported in the state this year, nearly five times higher than the 230 cases reported in 2023. Cases of whooping cough spike in the fall, alongside RSV and COVID-19, experts say. Whooping cough cases are up in Illinois and across
State touts diversity report, but most specialty cannabis businesses have not become operational While Illinois’ cannabis market is booming and the state has made progress in diversifying new licensees, significant hurdles remain for businesses hoping to enter the expanding market, according to an independent review of the industry. Celebratory news releases have marked several
The university said they have scheduled six more bargaining sessions.
Jail populations down, no change in failure to appear rate, analysis shows SPRINGFIELD – One year after Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate the use of cash bail, the impact on the state’s criminal justice system appears to have been far less dramatic than people on either side of the
The case is being heard in federal district court in East St. Louis EAST ST. LOUIS – An engineer who spent decades designing weapons for one of the world’s leading gun manufacturers testified Tuesday that the assault-style weapons now banned in Illinois are intended only for civilian use and cannot be easily converted into military-grade
URBANA — The University of Illinois published its 10-day enrollment numbers Wednesday. It’s a first look at how much of an impact the end of affirmative action has on diversity at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. “We tried to do a number of things in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to improve
The commission will select 10 designs based on how they reflect the identity of Illinois and will host an online public survey for the public to vote on their favorites.
Sean Grayson had a history of credibility issues. It didn’t stop him from being hired at police departments in Central Illinois.
Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday signed a measure designating the “giant puffball” as the state’s mushroom after signing hundreds of bills on Friday, completing action on legislation sent to him by lawmakers this spring. Pritzker has now signed more than 460 bills without issuing any vetoes. Below is a recap of some of the more
“My students want to ask about lynchings in the area,” said Cuba High School history teacher Joe Brewer. “It’s difficult for folks to talk about still, but those are the exact questions my students want to address.”
More than 200 people came to The Virginia Theatre to learn the history and current role of the Black Church in Central Illinois. The event showcased a panel of Black church and community leaders discussing the evolving role of pastors, the diminishing influence of predominantly Black churches, and the overall journey and significance of the Black Church through the years.
This story is part of a partnership focusing on police misconduct in Champaign County between the Champaign-Urbana Civic Police Data Project of the Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit public accountability journalism organization, and IPM Newsroom, which provides news about Illinois & in-depth reporting on Agriculture, Education, the Environment, Health, and Politics, powered by Illinois Public
More than 100,000 people died of an opioid overdose nationwide in 2022 and more than two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids. Synthetic opioids are substances that are synthesized in a laboratory and act on the same targets in the brain as natural opioids to reduce pain. In contrast, natural opioids — including heroin, morphine,