News Local/State
At the very southernmost tip of Illinois, the pancake flat cornfields give way to the rolling, forested hills of the Delta.
Here, at the windy confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, it feels more southern than Midwest when you arrive at the old river port and factory town of Cairo, once made famous in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
News Local/State
The Champaign County village of Savoy hasn't elected a new village president since 1989. That will change next week. Village trustees Joan Dykstra and John Brown, are vying to succeed Robert McCleary, who's been in office 27 years. Dykstra, a retired teacher, has served on the Village Board since 2002. Brown, who's a lieutenant with University of Illinois Police, has served since 2005.
News Local/State
Gov. Bruce Rauner was in the Chicago Suburbs Monday pushing to add toll lanes to Interstate 55. He also took the opportunity to attack Illinois Democrats.
News Local/State
In an interview with IPM's Jim Meadows, Democratic mayoral candidate Diane Marlin outlines here plans for Urbana if elected.
News Local/State
Without a budget, Illinois is racking up more debt every day, in the form of interest it owes on its overdue bills. But bill for youth services are not included.
News Local/State
A central Illinois center for addiction treatment will stay open for now, despite payment delays during the state’s ongoing budget crisis. After two years without a permanent budget, the state is facing a backlog of $12.6 billion in unpaid bills to state employees, contractors and agencies.
News Local/State
A rally to end gun violence over the weekend in Champaign also served as a tribute to a local gun violence victim. Michael DeArmond was among those leading a march of 35 people on the city’s north side Saturday, on what would have been his daughter Desirie DeArmond Austin’s 25th birthday.
News Local/State
Next week’s mayoral election in Urbana marks Rex Bradfield’s third bid for the office. He’s twice lost to current mayor Laurel Prussing (in 2009 and 2013), but this time, the Republican engineer and land surveyor faces Democratic Alderwoman Diane Marlin. Bradfield says if he’s elected next week, his top priority is expanding Urbana’s tax base. He says there’s been no stability in what developers can expect when they pitch projects to the city council in recent years.
News Local/State
The Grand Bargain is a package of interlocking legislation designed to break the budget impasse. How important is school funding to that deal? Important enough that leaders titled the latest schools proposal Senate Bill One.
News Local/State
House Republicans have scrapped a vote on their health care replacement plan after defections from both the right and center that made it clear the bill would not pass. NPR's Susan Davis reports that GOP leadership says the Friday afternoon vote is now scrapped after House Speaker Paul Ryan made a last-minute trip to the White House to tell President Trump that the votes weren't there to pass their replacement plan, the American Health Care Act. Trump agreed with Ryan's plan to halt the vote.
