Illinois Public Media News

Most of the WILL Severe Weather Coverage Area is under a freezing rain advisory until Sunday night, while counties to the west (including McLean) are under a Winter Storm Watch.

Fleeing, unarmed people shot in the back. Mentally ill men and women, not suspected of any crime, stunned by a Taser while they lay on the ground. People already detained or incapacitated who were beaten, with police accounts falsely describing the force as necessary. A 161-page report from the Justice Department details harrowing accounts of excessive force by the Chicago Police Department and highlights systemic failures that allow the violence to continue even as members of the public attempt to protest or report the brutality.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has named a former political rival and a retired state lawmaker to state posts.

The first-term Republican appointed Democrat Paul Vallas on Friday to the Chicago State University Board of Trustees. Vallas is one of four people Rauner appointed to the board.

The largest public-employee union in Illinois will ask its members this month whether they'd support a strike in a contract dispute with Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration. The state council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees told members Friday that they'll vote on authorizing the union's bargaining committee to call a strike.

John Groce announced today that Illini sophomore forward DJ Williams has returned to practice, and will be ready to play against Maryland Saturday evening. Williams was absent from Wednesday's game against Michigan, prompting speculation on social media that he may have left the team with the intention of transferring.