WILL-AM

News Local/State

WBEZ, Chicago Public Media has bought the public radio station in Kankakee. The company will take over operation of WKCC at midnight on Saturday.

News Local/State

Muslims in Illinois are coping with increased scrutiny and incendiary rhetoric. We take you inside a local mosque and introduce you to a business owner in Champaign-Urbana.

News Local/State

Former athletic director Mike Thomas, who was fired last month, and soccer coach Janet Rayfield are no longer defendants in the lawsuit filed by former U of I soccer player Janet Rayfield.  Judge Jeffrey Ford says the suit didn't provide a basis for claims.

News Local/State

How many standardized test do you remember taking when you were in school?  Your answer probably depends on whether you finished school before 2002 when No Child Left Behind took effect.  Illinois Public Radio's Dusty Rhodes discusses NCLB's replacement, the Every Student Succeeds Act, with Illinois Education Association President Cinda Klickna.

News Local/State

Champaign City Council members Tuesday approved a second excessive force lawsuit settlement involving Police Officer Matt Rush, this one for $225,000, but only after an hour of emotional public comments and a march by activists through the downtown streets, calling for Rush to step down and face criminal charges.

News Local/State

Work on a plan for the consolidation of local governments in Illinois is in the final stages, and the finished report could be submitted to Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Illinois General Assembly by year's end.

News Local/State

The administration at Western Illinois University in Macomb wants time to revise its budget-cutting plan, and is asking the Board of Trustees to delay its vote on the plan until next month.

News Local/State

The die-out was organized to remind people of the injustices African Americans face in the community and in the courtroom.

News Local/State

Champaign City Council members will be voting on the settlement of an excessive-force lawsuit involving the same Champaign police officer, Officer Matt Rush, for the second time in three weeks.

News Local/State

One of the many ways Star Wars has changed the movie industry since the first movie came out in 1977 is through special effects.  Much of the industry standard in special effects even today has its roots in the original Star Wars trilogy of the late 1970’s and early 80’s.  That’s according to Julie Turnock, a professor of media and cinema studies at the University of Illinois Urbana campus.  She spoke with Illinois Public Media's Brian Moline this week.