217 Today: ‘It can implode and our families are suffering’: What are northern Illinois’ early childhood needs?

August 15, 2023

Today's headlines:

• Garden Hills Academy in Champaign re-opened as a pre-K-through-eight school — adding early childhood and middle school grades to the former elementary school.
• Governor JB Pritzker’s administration and the labor union AFSCME agreed last month to raise state employee wages by almost 18% over four years.
• Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says he’s not against nuclear energy, but he vetoed a measure ending the state’s moratorium on new reactors.
• Witnesses implored the state not to renew its contract with the private company that provides that healthcare in a testimony about the poor state of healthcare in state prisons.

In today's deep dive, we’ll learn more about the needs of early childhood care programs in Illinois and what can be done to help. 

217 Today is produced by Stephanie Mosqueda. Reporting contributed by Emily Hays, Mae Antar, Alex Degman, Shannon Heffernan and Peter Medlin.