News Local/State
By the end of the year, 41 children younger than 14 were wounded or killed in shootings, according to a WBEZ review of police data.
That is nearly the same amount as 2013, 2014 and 2015 combined.
News Local/State
Ben Johnston doesn't follow the rules of music. Sure, the retired University of Illinois music professor has degrees from two colleges and a conservatory. But from an early age, Johnston heard music differently. When he was growing up in Georgia, he questioned the standard scales he was taught in school. "I played by ear and I invented my own chords," he says.
News Local/State
With the dysfunction in Illinois politics, state government this year is projected to spend as much as $13 billion more than it will collect in taxes. And the situation could be getting worse.
News Local/State
The state still doesn’t have a budget. A stopgap spending plan, which was approved over the summer, will end on January 1, leaving social service agencies, institutions of higher education and others in the lurch. But, in the past year, legislators did approve hundreds of pieces of legislation, which the governor signed. Nearly 200 laws will go into effect at the start of the new year — close to the number that went into effect at the start of each of the past three years.
News Local/State
Illinois is 1-1 in the Big Ten after a 75-70 win over Ohio State at State Farm Center in Champaign. The Illini lost a 15-point lead before recovering to get the win on New Year's Day.
News Local/State
A published report details problems during former Gov. Pat Quinn's administration as Illinois closed an institution for adults withdevelopmental disabilities. The Chicago Tribune reports state officials required
group home operators to promise not to undermine the closure plans - or risk getting no referrals to fill beds. The Tribune reports 67 businesses signed a loyalty pledge to avoid being shut out of referrals in what amounted to an auction.
News Local/State
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia won't be expelling U.S. diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to U.S. sanctions, as his foreign minister had suggested earlier Friday. Instead, he says he will decide how to move forward depending on the actions of President-elect Donald Trump's administration.
News Local/State
While Hillary Clinton won the presidential race in the State of Illinois, a lot of voters chose "none of the above." Nearly 130-thousand voters skipped the presidential category on the ballot, leaving that blank. That's more than three times the number who sat out the presidential race 4 years earlier.
News Local/State
As we get ready to welcome 2017, we thought we’d take a few minutes to listen back to another tough year in Illinois government and politics. We heard Republicans struggling to reckon with Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy, Democrats and Republicans engaging in another year of war over the soul of Illinois policy, and a growing list of everyday people being crushed by the budget standoff. Here now are some of the voices that made news in 2016.
News Local/State
President Obama has imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation for Russia's interference in the U.S. presidential election by hacking American political sites and email accounts. The State Department also has kicked out 35 Russian diplomats from its embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco, giving them and their families 72 hours to leave the U.S.
