Illinois Public Media News

On this encore edition of The 21st: This summer, we made a few visits to the Boys and Girls Club in Danville to talk about what the American Dream means to them. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia won't be expelling U.S. diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to U.S. sanctions, as his foreign minister had suggested earlier Friday. Instead, he says he will decide how to move forward depending on the actions of President-elect Donald Trump's administration.

While Hillary Clinton won the presidential race in the State of Illinois, a lot of voters chose "none of the above."  Nearly 130-thousand voters skipped the presidential category on the ballot, leaving that blank.  That's more than three times the number who sat out the presidential race 4 years earlier.  

As we get ready to welcome 2017, we thought we’d take a few minutes to listen back to another tough year in Illinois government and politics. We heard Republicans struggling to reckon with Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy, Democrats and Republicans engaging in another year of war over the soul of Illinois policy, and a growing list of everyday people being crushed by the budget standoff. Here now are some of the voices that made news in 2016.

President Obama has imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation for Russia's interference in the U.S. presidential election by hacking American political sites and email accounts. The State Department also has kicked out 35 Russian diplomats from its embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco, giving them and their families 72 hours to leave the U.S.