News Local/State
A symposium at the University YMCA in Champaign aims to equip people with tools to better support immigrants in the community. The Inaugural Symposium on Local Immigration Activism will feature discussions about sanctuary communities and the unique challenges undocumented students face in higher education.
News Local/State
Eleven young men who had been involved in violent, gun-related offenses were offered a choice Thursday night --- stay on a path that could lead to prison or death, or accept an offer of help to turn their lives around. The choice was offered at a “Call-In” session held in downtown Champaign by C-U Fresh Start.
News Local/State
About 40 percent of the corn grown in the United States gets turned into ethanol for gasoline, but the demand to reduce fossil-fuel emissions could bring pretty drastic changes to agriculture in the Corn Belt.
News Local/State
A class action lawsuit against the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus has been expanded to include the U of I’s campuses in Springfield and Chicago. The lawsuit includes multiple allegations of racial harassment against black U of I employees.
News Local/State
Termites will be the focus of celebration this weekend at the 36th Annual Insect Fear Film Festival in Urbana. The event kicks off at 6 pm on Saturday at Foellinger Auditorium in Urbana. It’s hosted by entomology researchers at the University of Illinois, including department head May Berenbaum.
News Local/State
Lyric Theatre at Illinois’ production of the Benjamin Britten opera “The Rape of Lucretia” opens Thursday at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana.
News Local/State
Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered his first budget address at a time of acute fiscal distress for the state of Illinois. It also comes after Democrats have taken total control of the executive and legislative branches of state government, including supermajorities in the Illinois House and Senate.
News Local/State
Health officials say teenagers are using e-cigarettes at epidemic rates. Lawmakers in a number of Midwest states, like Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota, are addressing the problem and so is the FDA. Side Effects Public Media spoke with Mitch Zeller, director of the agency's Center for Tobacco Products, about efforts to curb the use of smokeless tobacco among youth.
News Local/State
Crumbling sidewalks, gas line failures and cracked concrete — the problems at Brookfield Zoo are a metaphor for what’s wrong with public infrastructure throughout Illinois. As lawmakers begin negotiating a statewide spending plan to fix it, the zoo is among a growing list of those coming to Springfield with their paws out.
News Local/State
The University of Illinois System will need an additional $2.5 million in its operating budget to finance the minimum wage increase signed into law Tuesday by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, according to a spokesperson, and that could mean increased tuition costs across the state’s three campuses in the coming years.
