WILL-AM

News Local/State

Negotiators for the Champaign school district and its teachers’ union return to the bargaining table Wednesday afternoon, to continue efforts to reach a new contract agreement for some 800 teachers.

News Local/State

The agreement that made possible the reopening of the Illinois State Museum in Springfield also allowed the state of Illinois' Dickson Mounds Museum to reopen in the west-central part of the state. Both had been put on a nine-month hiatus, due to the state budget impasse.

News Local/State

Kadeem Fuller organizes community engagement for the Black Lives Matter chapter located in Champaign-Urbana. He says the time for educating white people on the cause has passed - now is time for action. Numerous events were held in Central Illinois throughout the weekend after the shootings of African-Americans in Minnesota and Louisiana, and the sniper shootings of officers in Dallas.

News Local/State

Illinois’ judicial system is increasingly being funded by the men and women who find themselves in court. For both civil and criminal cases, fees and fines have been growing, especially in the last decade.

News Local/State

Donald Trump's campaign is planning a rally in the Indianapolis area following a fundraiser in the city with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Tuesday. Pence is considered a leading candidate to be Trump's running
mate, and he's listed as a host of Tuesday's private fundraiser.

News Local/State

The Los Angeles band headlines Friday night's "Outside at Research Park" concert, hosted by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.  Illinois Public Media's Brian Moline talked with four members of Las Cafeteras about their unique fusion of musical styles, and how the group came together in their East Los Angeles neighborhood.

News Local/State

Days after signing off on a stopgap budget measure, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner says he wanted to provide more funding for higher education, but politics got in the way.

News Local/State

A state labor board has rejected Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's request to bypass an administrative judge's recommendation and expedite proceedings in union negotiations. The decision means the case will continue as it has for months with the judge. Meanwhile, the AFSCME union is laying the groundwork for a strike, just it case it has to.

News Local/State

Dallas Police Chief David Brown says a suspect in the overnight attack that killed five police officers, wounded seven others and wounded two civilians said he was upset over the recent police shootings of black men and wanted to kill white people. The suspect who died in a parking garage has been identified as Micah Xavior Johnson.

News Local/State

Jason Benetti is the new TV play-by-play announcer for the Chicago White Sox's home games. Thursday on 'The 21st', the Homewood native talked about growing up a Sox fan, and working through the challenge of cerebral palsy, something Benetti never saw as a limit on his career. "I was too dumb to think about it," he said.