217 Today: Tuesday June 8, 2021
Lin Warfel is a farm landlord in central Illinois who feels a deep connection to his land. Not all landlords are like him, he says. Dana Cronin/Illinois Newsroom
Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Today's headlines
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On Monday, Joanne Geigner helped raise the rainbow flag above the Urbana City Building in honor of Pride Month.
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The Flash Index to the Illinois economy increased to 105.3 for May. That’s the second consecutive month above 100, which means economic expansion.
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A bipartisan group of downstate lawmakers is making a final appeal for municipally-owned coal-fired power plants, like the one owned by City Water Light and Power in Springfield, to be spared from a 2035 closing date.
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Champaign County reported Monday that a man in his 50's is the 150th person to die from the coronavirus. As of Monday, there are 114 active cases in the county and 15 people hospitalized.
In today's deep dive, increasingly, farmers don’t own the land they work. That’s particularly true in the country’s breadbasket and can have environmental consequences.
Reporting today contributed by Reginald Hardwick, Jim Meadows, Hannah Meisel and Dana Cronin.