Illinois Public Media News

While the smoking rate has declined overall in the United States, national data show it remains high among the poor. The Polis Center’s research found that in some low-income Indianapolis neighborhoods, with higher numbers of people of color, the smoking rate is 29.4 percent, nearly twice the national average.

The U.S. Justice Department says a federal grand jury has indicted Brendt Christensen of Champaign with the kidnapping of visiting Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang from the University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus.

On the 21st: We continue our series on summer gun violence and visit the Rockford community. Also, we look at a group of Chicagoland lawyers taking on domestic violence cases to help victims and look at racial bias in jury pools. 

A lot of discussion around the topic of health care is centered around the idea: How can we reduce costs while improving care? That’s the driving force behind an effort launched in Illinois to overhaul the way Medicaid operates. That’s the federal-state health insurance program for low-income residents, children, and people with disabilities.

The budget approved by Illinois lawmakers provides Western Illinois University with funding for last fiscal year and the current fiscal year. Now university leaders will decide how to proceed.