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Entrance to Champaign Central High School.
Landmarks Illinois

News Local/State

Unit 4 Committee Wants Central HS Renovated

Thursday marked the last meeting of the Champaign Unit 4 Tier 2 Facilities Committee, which unanimously agreed that Central High School should remain on site and expand, rather than be torn down and rebuilt. The panel didn't endorse a specific financial package for a fall bond issue that would also include additions at Centennial High School, and work on as many as four other school district buildings. 

In this Tuesday, May 31, 2016 photo, Illinois lawmakers press ahead on the last day of the spring legislative session inside the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield.
Seth Perlman/Assocated Press

News Local/State

Moody’s Lowers Illinois’ Credit Rating Over Budget Impasse

Moody's Investors Services has lowered the state's credit rating another level, to Baa2, two levels above "junk" status, citing the "political gridlock" that's blocked Illinois from having a budget for more than a year. Gov. Bruce Rauner says this news "underscores the need for real structural changes to repair the years of unbalanced budgets and deficit spending by the majority party on Illinois’ finances."

A Jimmy John's location on University Avenue in Urbana.
Jeff Bossert/Illinois Public Media

News Local/State

Illinois AG Madigan Sues Jimmy John’s Over Worker Non-Compete Clause

The Attorney General's lawsuit against two corporate entities of the Champaign-based sandwich chain is over non-compete agreements on its employees, which keeps them from working at any sandwich business within two miles of any Jimmy John's in the country - both during the employment, and for two years after. But the company later issued a statement, says it's no longer enforcing the agreements, removing the language from paperwork for new hires.

Illinois Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Champaign, argues legislation while on the House floor during session at the Illinois State Capitol, Wednesday, May 4, 2016, in Springfield, Ill.
Seth Perlman/Associated Press

News Local/State

Rep. Ammons Discusses End Of Legislative Session, Hope For Budget Compromise

Democratic State Rep. Carol Ammons of Urbana says Republican Governor Bruce Rauner continues to stick to reforms detailed in his 'Turnaround Agenda', as legislators debated budget measures in the last hours of their spring session May 31.  Ammons also refutes the comments of Republican counterparts that members of the majority party were fighting when debating a K-12 education funding plan that night.

In this May 26, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Billings, Mont., Thursday, May 26.
Brennen Linsley/Associated Press

News Local/State

Sen. Kirk, Gov’s Rauner and Pence React To Trump Comments

Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk, one of the party's most endangered incumbents, said Tuesday he won't support the presumptive GOP presidential nominee after Trump's controversial comments about a federal judge of Mexican heritage. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said he was 'disgusted' by Trump's words, and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence called them 'inappropriate.'