WILL-AM

News Local/State

At least some of the lawmakers headed back to Springfield Wednesday are optimistic progress could be made towards a state budget after almost two years without a spending plan.

News Local/State

Commentary: Could a reborn Mushroom Caucus be the key to breaking the political impasse that has Illinois’ financial health at death’s doorstep? The self-deprecatory moniker was coined a generation ago by a group of legislative backbenchers who complained they were kept in the dark by their leaders and fed horse (manure).

News Local/State

Gov. Bruce Rauner has called state legislators back to Springfield this week. He says he wants a budget deal. But Rauner is also spending money attacking Democrats.

News Local/State

There are now two separate rewards posted for information that helps solve the disappearance of Yingying Zhang. Zhang is the 26-year-old University of Illinois visiting scholar from China who has  been missing since June 9th. One reward is being offered by the FBI, and the other by her family, using community donations.

News Local/State

Lincoln’s Challenge Academy in Rantoul will delay the start of its next class to make sure the state plans to pay its share of the school’s costs amid the ongoing budget impasse. And it isn't the first time this has happened.

News Local/State

Two Illinois Congressmen held a rare bipartisan community meeting Saturday. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, and U.S. Representative Rodney Davis, a Republican, discussed health care policy with the Ministerial Alliance of Springfield.

News Local/State

Higher education has been one of the most notable victims of the Illinois budget impasse, which is nearing two years. So, it's unusual to hear Parkland College president Tom Ramage talk about growth amid that backdrop.

News Local/State

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information that'll help locate Yingying Zhang, a visiting scholar from China who disappeared from the University of Illinois at Urbana. And the university credit union is raising money to help members of her family who are in Champaign-Urbana during the search.

News Local/State

The University of Illinois’ Urbana campus has been taken off an academic censure list. Delegates to the annual meeting in Washington, DC, of the American Association of University Professors voted Saturday to take the campus off the list — recognizing that the school had addressed concerns over the Steven Salaita controversy.

News Local/State

Champaign County Administrator Rick Snider says the county nursing home is cooperating with an investigation into the death of a resident of the home. According to the News-Gazette, the county coroner and Illinois State Police are investigating the death of a 78-year-old woman who was discovered last weekend in the courtyard and may have been outside in high temperatures for as many as three hours.