Illinois Public Media News

On The 21st: A group of black employees have filed a class action lawsuit against the University of Illinois. They say they face regular racial harassment while on the job. And, for tens of thousands of Americans, living with sickle-cell disease can be excruciatingly painful and even deadly. Now, new gene therapy advancements have given a handful of patients hope for a symptom free life, and even a cure. Plus, have you seen the movie Green Book? It talks about sundown towns in the South, but it’s something that was actually a bigger issue for black citizens in Illinois. 

A blast of cold air driven by a polar vortex has shut down schools, courts and government buildings throughout the upper two-thirds of Illinois.

A lawsuit filed Monday in federal court includes numerous allegations of racial harassment of black employees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The plaintiffs allege in court documents racial harassment is U of I’s “standard operating procedure.”

Illinois officials issued dire warnings ahead of the arctic cold blowing into the state Tuesday night.

On The 21st: Illinois is facing sub-zero temperatures for the next couple of days. How do administrators decide whether or not to close school? Plus, the Illinois Supreme Court is hearing a case today that asks: how long is too long when it comes to sentencing juvenile offenders? Also, two men from central Illinois pleaded guilty in Minnesota federal court last week for trying to bomb a mosque in August of 2017. And, a new study shows more than 80 percent of the time we’re prescribed antibiotics we don’t actually need it.