WILL-AM

News Local/State

Many research labs across the country use animals for testing products such as make-up or medicines. For the past decade, advocates have pushed to get more of these animals — especially research dogs — adopted after they are no longer needed. Just a handful of states have policies in place. Illinois just recently joined that list.

News Local/State

The Illini men's basketball team finally enjoyed a good shooting night, hitting 57-percent of their shots in a 91-60 blowout over the bruised & battered Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

News Local/State

Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III, seen as a rising political star with a famous last name, will deliver the Democratic response to President Trump's State of the Union. In announcing their decision, Democratic leaders in Congress called Kennedy a "relentless fighter for working Americans."

News Local/State

President Trump is delivering his State of the Union address to Congress, which will be followed by a response from the Democratic Party. Journalists across the NPR newsroom will be annotating those remarks, adding fact-checks and analysis in real time. You can also watch the speeches live.

News Local/State

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has extended its contract with renowned Italian conductor Riccardo Muti as its music director through the 2022 season.

News Local/State

Illinois attorney general hopeful Erika Harold said she wants to increase efforts to stop public corruption while simultaneously staying away from partisan politics—a difficult balancing act for a Republican office holder in a blue state.

News Local/State

Part 1: Radium poisoning took the lives of perhaps thousands of female factory workers, many in Ottawa, Illinois, in the last century.

News Local/State

​Townships are a part of local government that Illinoisans often forget they have ---- until there’s a controversy, like that one that flared up in early January in Urbana.

News Local/State

The graduate employee union at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign filed intent to strike paperwork today. According to a press release from the Graduate Employees Organization, or GEO, the union filed its strike notice after the university administration failed to respond to their latest contract proposal.

News Local/State

A Champaign County deputy wants to make sure people handle B-B guns with care, in light of a BB gun related death in Indiana.