Illinois Public Media News

If you live in Champaign-Urbana, you may have noticed a surge in new apartment construction in recent years, but this boom is part of a larger pattern of construction happening across the country.

As lawmakers consider raising taxes on the video gambling industry, ProPublica Illinois and WBEZ report on several powerful lawmakers from both parties who have direct financial ties to the industry. Plus, last week, activists and workers’ rights groups organized walkouts and filed lawsuits against McDonald’s, for everything from higher wages, union rights, and reports of violence in the workplace. And, if you’re planning to hit the road for the perfect summer day trip, we’ll speak with some of the artisans and restaurateurs featured as Illinois makers.

Illinois state Senators approved a proposal on Wednesday to legalize recreational marijuana for adutls 21 years and older beginning on January 1, 2020. 

Nationwide, e-cigarette use rose an alarming 78 percent among high school students last year, the FDA says. The agency taken steps to address what it calls an epidemic. For example, it has warned manufacturers to stop marketing to kids by using fruity flavors and colorful packages. But e-cigarettes are still a big problem in schools — even those in rural communities.

Staff at the Danville Correctional Center in east-central Illinois removed about 200 books from a college in prison program's library earlier this year. A majority of the books removed from Education Justice Project's library are about race.