Illinois Public Media News

Illinois prison officials are being accused of letting a transgender inmate be harassed and assaulted.

Alaska plans to use federal grant money to purchase a controversial device used in opioid addiction treatment. Addiction experts argue the device has not been properly studied, and that states should put resources toward more proven therapies, such as medications that are used to treat opioid withdrawals and addiction.

On the 21st: How Wisconsin went from a progressive bastion to a state dominated by Republican politics. Plus, Matt Dietrich from the State Board of Elections joins us to talk about how Russian intelligence stole some voters' information in July of 2016. And, the story of how the Special Olympics began in Chicago, 50 years ago.

Scientific research could deliver transformative technologies to the food system over the next decade, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Advances in things like gene editing, data sharing and microbiology could make crops more resilient to climate change and livestock more environmentally sustainable.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has issued a violation notice to Vistra Energy Corporation for alleged violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act at the Vermilion Power Station near Oakwood, Illinois. In May the Illinois EPA conducted a stream survey of the Middle Fork Vermilion River near three coal ash ponds owned by Vistra, and found water with “heavily stained reddish-brown discoloration” seeping from the riverbank. The violation notice says the seeps were discharging into the river, staining sediment and rocks, and creating “offensive conditions in the Middle Fork.”