Illinois Public Media News

Many students and teachers are headed back to school this month. Today we’ll ask a couple of educators who have been away from the classroom how they feel about coming back. Plus, about four in five community college students say they want to earn a bachelor’s degree. But the transfer rate has stayed low. We’ll learn why. And, the Pentagon is testing surveillance balloons around the Midwest, including parts of central Illinois. These balloons could be used to stop drug trafficking but they’re also raising concerns about privacy. Also, the story behind the "Scabby the Rat" inflatables. 

Food and building service workers on the University of Illinois Urbana campus have voted to ratify new contract, avoiding a strike that would’ve begun Thursday, on freshman move-in day. 

Kathleen O’Gorman spent her summer on the front lines of America’s broken immigration system.

Many cities have neighborhoods where it’s hard to find healthy food, especially fruits and vegetables. In Columbus, Ohio, a new mobile market is bringing healthy food to people who live in these food deserts. It's part of a wider effort to see what helps people eat better.

Congressman Rodney Davis found both supporters and critics at his second Open Government Night, held Monday night at Parkland College in Champaign. But it was the critics who were the most vocal.