Illinois Public Media News

Federal prosecutors will officially rest their case Wednesday in the sentencing phase of Brendt Christensen’s trial for kidnapping and killing University of Illinois visiting scholar Yingying Zhang. Government prosecutors spent the second day of the sentencing phase presenting testimony from Zhang’s family and other loved ones, as they tried to prove the aggravating factors that would qualify Christensen for the death penalty.

Every year, a ‘dead zone’ of water, starved of oxygen, forms off the Gulf Coast. It can kill fish and marine life. It turns out it’s mostly caused by pollution from here in the Midwest. Plus, health care that meets the cultural and social needs of patients can actually improve health outcomes. We’ll hear about the independent, black-owned pharmacies that are providing that kind of care. And a state law is being used for the first time in McLean County. It allows a judge to take away guns from who someone might be a danger to themselves or others, at the request of police or family members.

Julie Dowling is one of several researchers who opposes adding the citizenship question. Dowling is a professor at the University of Illinois, and vice chair of the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations.

As President Donald Trump pushes for a question about citizenship on the census, a Republican Congressman from central Illinois is avoiding taking sides on the issue.

The new director of the Illinois Department of Corrections said during a legislative hearing in Chicago on Monday that the agency plans to revise its policy regarding what books can and cannot enter the prison.