In-depth reporting from WILL, NPR, the Associated Press, and other sources
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The Grand Bargain is a package of interlocking legislation designed to break the budget impasse. How important is school funding to that deal? Important enough that leaders titled the latest schools proposal Senate Bill One.
House Republicans have scrapped a vote on their health care replacement plan after defections from both the right and center that made it clear the bill would not pass. NPR's Susan Davis reports that GOP leadership says the Friday afternoon vote is now scrapped after House Speaker Paul Ryan made a last-minute trip to the White House to tell President Trump that the votes weren't there to pass their replacement plan, the American Health Care Act. Trump agreed with Ryan's plan to halt the vote.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) made a stop at the Springfield Boys & Girls Club, saying it’s funding is under threat by President Trump’s budget proposal.
A leading Democrat in Congress, Durbin also took the opportunity to attack the Republican healthcare plan. He says given the opposition from medical providers, he doesn’t understand how a Congressman from Illinois could support it.
Governor Bruce Rauner’s office confirms a report that one of the three vacancies on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees has been filled. The governor has named U of I alumnus and former business associate Donald Edwards to fill a six-year term.
A documentary series now in production follows a University of Illinos professor as she travels to the West Africa to find the home of her ancestors. Janice Collins says the inspiration for "Journey To My Mother's Land" comes from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and his TV show "Finding Your Roots."
