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.
News Local/State
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) made a stop at the Springfield Boys & Girls Club, saying it’s funding is under threat by President Trump’s budget proposal.
A leading Democrat in Congress, Durbin also took the opportunity to attack the Republican healthcare plan. He says given the opposition from medical providers, he doesn’t understand how a Congressman from Illinois could support it.
News Local/State
Governor Bruce Rauner’s office confirms a report that one of the three vacancies on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees has been filled. The governor has named U of I alumnus and former business associate Donald Edwards to fill a six-year term.
News Local/State
A documentary series now in production follows a University of Illinos professor as she travels to the West Africa to find the home of her ancestors. Janice Collins says the inspiration for "Journey To My Mother's Land" comes from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and his TV show "Finding Your Roots."
News Local/State
The long-running legal fight between the Carle Foundation and Urbana and other local governments over hospital tax exemptions will last a little longer.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an appellate court that ruled against current state law on the exemptions lacked the jurisdiction to do so. The high court sent the case back to circuit court. And for now at least, the 2012 state law defining how much charity work a hospital must provide to earn a tax exemption stays in place.
Campbell Hall
300 N. Goodwin
Urbana, IL 61801
217-333-7300
