The 217 Today Podcast

217 Today: Monday January 25, 2021

Olivia Butts
 
University of Illinois senior Latrel Crawford speaks during a protest to defund and abolition University of Illinois Police on the Urbana campus on Oct 1, 2020.

University of Illinois senior Latrel Crawford speaks during a protest to defund and abolition University of Illinois Police on the Urbana campus on Oct 1, 2020. Lee V. Gaines/Illinois Newsroom

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Monday January 25, 2021

Today's headlines:

  • Today (1/25) marks the beginning of “Phase 1B” of Coronavirus vaccine distribution in Illinois – meaning everyone over 65, plus certain frontline essential workers are eligible for the COVID vaccine.

  • Sales of existing homes were up last month in Illinois and in Champaign County, capping off a strong year for realtors.

  • A mostly Black neighborhood in Champaign is shaken and police are investigating after multiple homes received racist flyers.

  • University of Illinois students are back on campus and COVID-19 testing has begun to ramp back up after the holiday break. The campus has seen between 10 and 40 new cases per day since last weekend.

In today's deep dive, students at college campuses across the country have called on universities to defund and abolish their campus police departments – including at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

217 Today is produced by Olivia Butts and hosted by Brian Moline. Reporting today contributed by Hannah Meisel, Jim Meadows, Reginald Hardwick, and Lee Gaines.