217 Today: Millions of acres of Midwest forest were left vulnerable by a storm. What’s being done to protect it?
AJ Jones / Harvest Public Media
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Today’s headlines:
- Illinois is one of 24 states suing the federal government over its decision to withhold nearly $7 billion dollars in education funding.
- Emergency hospital visits for tick bites are on the rise nationwide this year.
- Federal banking regulators voted yesterday to start the process of rolling back a law that requires banks and other lending institutions to provide loans to low and moderate income communities.
- Starting next month, The Urbana Free Library will be adjusting its hours to undergo renovations.
In today’s deep dive, much of Michigan’s forests were damaged by a massive ice storm in March. Now officials are scrambling to clean up thousands of acres of broken trees and dead limbs.
217 Today is produced by Stephanie Orellana. Reporting today contributed by Katie O’Connell, Stephanie Mosqueda, Tanya Ott, Anna Koh and AJ Jones.