Illinois Public Media News

Illinois has made progress on K-12 education in recent years, but there’s still more to be done in early childhood and higher education. We look at one report from the education non-profit Advance Illinois. We also talk about what it takes to help more Latinx community college students get the support they need to earn a degree. Plus, houses of worship have been closing all over the state. Now, there’s a movement of people who want to make sure that these buildings are still being used by their communities.

The University of Illinois has released a 127-page report on faculty sexual misconduct on its Urbana-Champaign campus. The report includes 64 recommendations for policy changes, stemming from incidents involving faculty and staff over the past several years.

The focus of the last two weeks has been President Trump and the congressional impeachment inquiry. But Tuesday night, Democrats running for president will take center stage again.

Charlie Besher and his wife raise cattle in two southeast Missouri counties. They’re among a growing population of producers who say they are losing calves and mother cows to black vultures that target soft tissues, such as the eyeballs and anus, until an animal dies or must be put down. 

Some have blamed the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act for helping fuel America’s opioid epidemic, noting how states that expanded the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people have seen higher rates of opioid overdose deaths. But a new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago casts doubt on this theory.