Illinois Public Media News

Illinois is now the third state to require graduating high school seniors fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, otherwise known as the FAFSA form.

Public housing officials are expecting 1,000 slots on a waiting list for a new subsidized housing project in Champaign to fill up quickly, when the list starts taking applications at 9 AM Tuesday morning. The list is for people hoping for a chance to live in the new Bristol Place development, which is going on the north side of Champaign.

On this sweltering summer day, only a few people walk by Mousie’s restaurant. The building’s blue facade stands out next to its neutral surroundings. In one of its circular windows, there’s a neon ‘open’ sign that’s turned off. 

More than forty well-off families in the Chicago suburbs got extra financial aid from the University of Illinois by strategically giving up custody of their kids, sometimes months before their child turned 18. Plus, Illinois State Senator Tom Cullerton has been charged by federal prosecutors. He’s accused of being on a union payroll for hundreds of thousands of dollars, even though he did almost no work for them. And you’ve likely heard the phrase “Will it play in Peoria?”. But its meaning has evolved over the years to adapt to the city’s surprising history. 

The president is speaking from the White House about the mass shootings that took place over the weekend in Ohio in Texas. Watch his remarks live.