Illinois Public Media News

2020 is the 75th anniversary of America dropping atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II. Without Illinois, there wouldn’t have been nuclear medicine, nuclear power or nuclear weapons.

Genevieve Kirk said it was only fitting that this year’s Champaign Center Parade of Lights pay tribute to the man credited with inventing the first LED.

University of Illinois Professor Emeritus Nick Holonyak Jr. is the honorary grand marshal of the 19th annual Parade of Lights. Holonyak is 91, and he retired from teaching in 2013.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has paid out a record $4.24 billion in claims for acres farmers couldn’t plant this year

Fifty years ago, an Illinois engineer named Barbara Crawford Johnson helped land astronauts on the moon. She was from Sandoval and graduated from the U of I. Today, we learn about her life, and what it was like to work on the space program all those years ago. Plus, there are many reasons why people don’t drink alcohol, and those numbers of people continue to grow. How are bars and restaurants starting to cater cocktails to the sober set? Also, a study finds that just half of collegiate level sports programs follow the medical model of care for student athletes. 

Across the U.S., more than 2,000 people have reported vaping-related lung illnesses, and 47 have died. Some vaping happens in schools, so they share the burden of bringing this crisis under control. Which raises the question: what should the consequences be for a student caught vaping?