217 Today: Wednesday January 13, 2021

Wednesday January 13, 2021

Today's headlines: 

• Today is the 50th anniversary of Speaker Madigan’s time in the Illinois General Assembly. But his time leading the Illinois House will likely end, as Democrats in that chamber have apparently decided to back a new speaker —Representative Chris Welch.

• Illinois has received nearly 870,000 doses of vaccines. Less than half of those have been administered. That’s according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, which is now reporting vaccine data on its website.  

• University of Illinois students are returning to the Urbana campus this month and university administrators are urging them to remain vigilant as the pandemic rages on.  

• Champaign County authorities are promising changes after the county Animal Control director mistakenly euthanized a dog on Christmas Eve --- after the dog’s owner had been told she had time to pick it up after the holidays. 

• The Champaign-Urbana Health District is reporting 27 people hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s the highest number of Champaign County residents reported to be in the hospital with the virus since the health department began reporting this data. 

In today's deep dive, the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for school districts as they carefully balance their students’ education and safety. An elementary school nurse in Iowa reflects in an interview with Side Effects Media on the extra challenges her team has faced so far this school year.

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