Illinois Public Media News

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth has called President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria reckless and short-sighted. It was an opinion the Illinois Democrat repeated during a visit Wednesday to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

On Oct. 9, 2009, a white police officer in Champaign shot and killed an unarmed black teenager. Ten years later, community members came to the WILL studio to talk with each other about living with that pain, and what's changed (and hasn't changed) since then.

The war on drugs has affected communities of color the most. Now, as Illinois gets ready for legal recreational marijuana, state officials say they want the new legal industry to be more equitable. Plus, ten years ago today, an unarmed black teenager in Champaign was shot and killed by a white police officer. We’ll hear community members talk with each other about how they’ve been dealing with that pain. And, we’ll talk with one Illinois man about a condition that temporarily erased his memory for a day with no lasting physical or mental effects.

Anne Burke becomes the Illinois Supreme Court's chief justice later this month. A WBEZ investigation finds several cases she heard on the Supreme Court, even though they involved clients of her husband's law firm.

Winter is still months away, but road crews are already stockpiling salt — millions of pounds of it. 

A broad majority of Illinois voters support major changes to the state income tax, favoring a system where the wealthy pay more. That’s according to new survey data from NPR Illinois and the University of Illinois Springfield.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether it’s legal to fire someone for being gay or transgender. Plus, Native Americans in the Midwest helped black men, women and children escape slavery through the Underground Railroad. We spoke about why that history is often overlooked. And, a Champaign-Urbana organization is celebrating its fifth annual Black Girl Genius Week through art, music and workshops.

The photos or videos you store in “the cloud” aren’t actually up in the air. They’re in computer systems housed in hundreds of vast buildings across the country. Illinois is now providing tax breaks for companies that build those centers in the hopes of attracting more of them.

The city of Fairview Heights in southwestern Illinois has drawn national attention for the stealthily built Planned Parenthood Clinic that will open there later this month.

Ozone is an air pollutant that forms when emissions from cars, power plants and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight. The highly reactive molecule is hazardous to human health and can also harm plants by hindering photosynthesis in plant leaves. New research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reveals that certain maize varieties are more susceptible than others to damage caused by rising ozone levels.