217 Today:  Illinois schools counted on federal grants to ease a shortage of school psychologists. After cancellation and a year of court battles, the future’s uncertain.

Monday, February 23, 2026

Today’s headlines: 

• King Park in Urbana will undergo extensive renovations, thanks to a 600-thousand-dollar grant from the state of Illinois.
• Services begin this week for Jesse Jackson. The civil rights leader and 2-time presidential candidate died in Chicago last Tuesday at the age of 84.
• The Fighting Illini Women’s basketball team started their final road trip of the season with a dominant win against Northwestern, 92- 65, yesterday.
• The No. 10-ranked Illinois Men’s basketball team concluded its California trip with a loss against the UCLA Bruins 95-to-94 this past weekend.

In today’s deep dive, schools in Illinois were expecting to receive millions of dollars to hire more mental health professionals ... before the Trump administration cancelled those grants. We'll take a look at how that's impacting schools in the northern part of the state.

217 Today is produced by Giuliana Means. Reporting today contributed by Lyric Roy, Reginald Hardwick, Jonathan Mathew, and Peter Medlin.