Illinois Public Media News

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has canceled Wednesday's scheduled Illinois House session so budget talks can continue.

The Illinois legislature adjourned last week with no budget in place --- not even a plan to fund public schools. Illinois Public Radio Education Desk reporter Dusty Rhodes takes a look at what issues kept the lawmakers squabbling over school funding until it was too late.

After video of a white Chicago police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times was released to the public, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel became the focus of intense backlash. He responded by firing Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. In many ways this was history repeating in a city that has had twice as many police chiefs than it’s had mayors in the past six decades — and more than its share of police scandals.  

EIU President David Glassman sent out a mass e-mail Monday to students and staff, saying there were no longer any plans at the school for additional large-scale layoffs, but said those lasting up to 29 days may be needed.  Glassman said more cost-cutting measures may be needed to bridge the school in Charleston through the summer.

Illinois is losing topsoil – the layer of surface dirt that’s rich with nutrients and vital for food production. And the problem of erosion on Illinois farms is serious: In 2015, roughly one-fifth of Illinois’s farmland lost more soil than it made. Austin Keating has more.