News Local/State
Gasoline prices have gone down in the past week. The price-tracking website GasBuddy says the average price for a gallon of Regular-grade gas in Champaign-Urbana was $2.74 on Monday, down 20 cents from last week. Across Illinois, the average price was $2.95, down 12-and-a-half cents.
News Local/State
A new state law directs the Illinois Department of Human Services to create an online database with mental health resources that parents and school staff can use to help students.
News Local/State
A new Illinois law aims to ensure that parents of justice-involved youth who need costly mental health services don’t have to trade custody for treatment for their child.
News Local/State
Springfield is the only municipality in the state to run its own coal power plant. But city officials are considering a plan to close three of its four coal generators after a report on CWLP’s future found that the cost to run them is more than what the utility can sell the electricity for on the wholesale market.
News Local/State
The American Civil Liberties Union sent letters to eight Illinois municipalities last week — including Danville — urging them to repeal their panhandling bans. The nonprofit organization warned of legal action if community officials don't heed their warning.
News Local/State
Democratic congressional candidate Betsy Dirksen Londrigan said the president’s racist rhetoric about four members of Congress is “very worrisome” in part because it prevents “real issues” like health care from being addressed.
News Local/State
The federal government plans to cut funding to clinics that provide abortion referrals. But in Illinois, any clinics that lose that funding can get grants from the state.
News Local/State
The authors have taken a fresh look at the story of Illinois’ first capital city in a new book published by Southern Illinois University Press called “Kaskaskia: The Lost Capital of Illinois.” They’ve put together what they say is a comprehensive account of the town, complete with historical photos, maps, and even tales of a centuries-old curse.
News Local/State
The man convicted of murdering University of Illinois visiting scholar Yingying Zhang will spend the rest of his life in federal prison “without release”. That was the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Jim Shadid Thursday, after a jury spent about nine hours deliberating before determining they could not reach a unanimous verdict on the death penalty for Brendt Christensen.
News Local/State
A former University of Illinois doctoral student was spared the death penalty Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and killing of a 26-year-old scholar from China. Her parents, disappointed he was not sentenced to death, publicly begged for the killer to reveal where her remains are so they can be returned home.
