Illinois Public Media News

Lyric Theatre at Illinois will kick off the annual Allerton Music Barn Festival Thursday night with their production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

Champaign County Democrats have pulled out of a county board candidates’ forum co-sponsored by the News-Gazette. It’s their response to an editorial cartoon printed in the newspaper on Tuesday, which Democrats say excuses sexual assault and depicts supporters of the “Me Too” movement as “humorless scolds”.

On the 21st: We visited the Champaign Farmers' market and talked to vendors who shared their ideas about what it means to eat local here in Central Illinois. Plus, we discuss how the market is working to make produce available to people of all income levels through the SNAP program. And, our Farm Bill is set to expire Sept. 30. What might that mean for the programs it covers?

Illinois' political parties can make a leap toward eliminating sexual harassment and bolstering gender equity by electing women to half of all political offices in the state, according to a report released Wednesday by a panel of women in state government.

Dozens of children a year enter state custody when parents run out of options for getting them the mental health care they need. Fundamentally this issue of who pays for mental health treatment comes down to a law that requires insurance companies to cover mental health care at the same level as other medical conditions.

One of the four Ford County residents accused of committing crimes to support a private militia group changed his plea to ‘guilty’ in federal court in Urbana Tuesday. Ellis “EJ” Mack has agreed to cooperate with authorities.

On the 21st: We're live from EnterpriseWorks at the University of Illinois’ Research Park, home to tech startups and businesses. We spoke to student entrepreneurs and community members about startups, and what it takes to attract talent to this college town. And we also talked to people trying to push the envelope on cycling and public transit in Champaign-Urbana.

Trump administration cabinet member Linda McMahon toured EnterpriseWorks, the University of Illinois’ technology and science startup incubator, Thursday morning. The Small Business Administration head addressed questions about the administration's immigration policy, including the accessibility of visas for international entrepreneurs.

President Trump is addressing the United Nations General Assembly. Watch his remarks live. You can also listen to NPR Special Coverage below.

Some experts say black women could feel financial pain if union membership declines as a result of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, which decreed that public sector unions can no longer force workers they represent to pay fees in lieu of union dues. But conservative groups are cheering Janus v. AFSCME as a victory for workers’ free speech rights.