The 217 Today Podcast

217 Today: Champaign County Public Defender’s Office is facing a funding crisis after tax referendum fails

Kimberly Schofield and Stephanie Mosqueda
 
Champaign County Chief Public Defender Elisabeth Pollock said she’d been hoping a public safety sales tax referendum on the ballot last fall would’ve passed, to help provide additional funding to her office. Without that additional funding stream, she worries current challenges will get worse.

Champaign County Chief Public Defender Elisabeth Pollock said she’d been hoping a public safety sales tax referendum on the ballot last fall would’ve passed, to help provide additional funding to her office. Without that additional funding stream, she worries current challenges will get worse. Nathan Gonzalez / Illinois Student Newsroom

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Monday, February 3, 2025

Today's headlines:

  • President Donald Trump has targeted transgender and nonbinary people with a series of executive orders. That prompted more than a hundred people to march in downtown Champaign for trans rights on Saturday.
  • Illinois Republicans who protested last month’s inauguration in Springfield are being punished by their own party leadership.
  • Illinois public health leaders are restrategizing, after President Trump ordered the U-S to leave the World Health Organization last week.
  • The Fighting Illini basketball players won both of their match-ups yesterday.

In today's deep dive, we'll learn how some Illinois lawmakers want the state to help the Public Defender’s Office in Champaign County with funding and staffing challenges.

217 Today is produced by Stephanie Mosqueda. Reporting today contributed by Mae Antar, Alex Degman, Mawa Iqbal, Colin Hislope and Nathan Gonzalez.