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Illinois Public Media News Headlines:
Quinn to Abolish Controversial Scholarship Program
Urbana Council Approves Hike in Gas Tax
Flatlander Donates Money Raised for Cooking Classes
Ill. Board of Education Chair Worries About Funding
Quinn Dismisses Gambling as ‘Shiny’ Distraction
Ill Lawmakers Vote to End Legislative Scholarships
GOP Candidate Davis Prepares for Campaign Trail
High Court Won’t Hear Ill. Redistricting Challenge
All Illinois Public Media News Headlines
Top news features from Illinois Public Media:
Restoring a Musical Icon
Story air date: Thursday, March 29, 2012
A musical icon in Champaign is back in place… and the downtown Virginia Theatre will celebrate its new sound with some fanfare this weekend.
Illinois Public Media’s Jeff Bossert explains the process of restoring a nearly 100-year old pipe organ.
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Business Group Argues Against Healthcare Law
Story air date: Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The National Federation of Independent Business was one of the plaintiffs arguing against the healthcare law before the U.S. Supreme Court. Kim Maisch is the Illinois director of the organization. Mishe said her group wants healthcare reform, but they don’t think it's necessary to require everyone to buy health insurance.
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Story categories: government • United States • health care
Health Care Advocacy Group: Federal Health Care Law Helping People
Story air date: Tuesday, March 27, 2012
As arguments over the constitutionality of the federal health care law continue at the Supreme Court, one local supporter of the law is pointing out its benefits. The group Champaign County Health Care Consumers said even though the law has not been fully implemented, it’s already helping the people they serve. Illinois Public Media’s Jim Meadows spoke with Health Care Consumers executive director Claudia Lennhoff. She had supported a single payer healthcare system, but Lennhoff said the law now in place goes a long way towards improving healthcare coverage in America.
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Story categories: government • Illinois • health care • people • politics
Neighbors: Meet Mary Ann Pettigrew
Story air date: Monday, March 26, 2012
As part of the series "Neighbors," Illinois Public Media's Celeste Quinn visits Mary Ann Pettigrew, a long-time resident of Danville, Illinois. Pettigrew spent a number of years working as a Registered Nurse for the Santa Fe Railroad, for an oil company in the Middle East and St. Francis Hospital in Peoria. She came back to Danville in the early 1970s and has lived at the house on Buchanan Street ever since.
(With production assistance from Crystal Kang)
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Story categories: community life • people
Incoming U of I President Optimistic About University's Future
Story air date: Sunday, March 25, 2012
Robert Easter takes the helm as president of the University of Illinois on July 1, when the resignation of current President Michael Hogan takes effect. Easter earned his doctorate at the U of I in the early 1970s before taking a faculty position there. He recently served as Dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, and then interim Provost and Chancellor on the Urbana campus. The university has gone through a rough period over the last few years marked by an embarrassing admissions scandal, and the resignations of two presidents.
Easter will stay on as president for two years, and he tells Illinois Public Media’s Sean Powers that he’s ready to help move the university forward.
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- UI Trustees Accept Hogan’s Resignation, Appoint Easter (Related)
- The University of Illinois' Partnership with India (Related)
Story categories: education • people • University of Illinois
Kennedy on Hogan Resignation, Moving Forward with Robert Easter
Story air date: Friday, March 23, 2012
For the second time in three years, the President of the University of Illinois has resigned. In a mass e-mail yesterday, university trustees chair Chris Kennedy announced Michael Hogan would step down in July.
This announcement comes after weeks of criticism from faculty over what some criticize as his dictatorial management style. More than 100 Urbana faculty members had signed two recent letters, urging Hogan to step down.
Jeff Bossert spoke with Kennedy late Thursday about the announcement, and moving forward with former administrator Robert Easter at the helm.
(Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press)
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5 GOP Candidates Vying for Illinois' 106th House Seat
Story air date: Friday, March 16, 2012
An attorney, a teacher, an insurance office manager, a nurse, and a former mayor… all newcomers to state office... are making a bid for the Illinois House in a long stretch of Central Illinois that’s seen its political landscape altered through redistricting.
Illinois Public Media’s Jeff Bossert profiles the five Republican candidates for the 106th House seat.
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U of I Violinist Reminisces, Looks Ahead to New Position
Story air date: Thursday, March 08, 2012
The University of Illinois is losing its string quartet in-residence.
Violinist Sibbi Berhnardsson of the Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet (on the far right) says after weighing options for a few days, the ensemble has accepted the invitation to become Indiana University’s first quartet in residence in more than 50 years. Bernardsson says the decision was seen as a new challenge, but not something the four were looking for. He spoke with Illinois Public Media’s Jeff Bossert.
(Photo Courtesy of Krannert Center for the Performing Arts)
(Piece heard at the end of the interview is Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 13)
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- Pacifica Quartet Leaving U of I, Starts at Indiana Next Fall
- The Pacific Quartet performs with Stefan Milenkovich at the 2010 Allerton Barn Music Festival in 2010
- Pacifica Quartet website
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