Illinois Public Media News

On the 21st: We talked about the outreach that the Illinois Department of Family Services is making to the broader LGBT community to help place LGBT children in foster and adoptive homes. Also, we had the story of a Belvidere woman whose dog was missing for more than a month - and the happy ending helped along by strangers. Plus, we learned about the White House initiative on precision medicine and checked in on the attempt in Chillicothe at a world record for the longest line of pencils.

Champaign Unit 4 School Board President Chris Kloeppel says members heard overall positive results from a phone survey of 100 voters, favoring a bond issue on November ballots, as opposed to waiting until next spring. The board has less than two weeks to decide what language to place on those ballots.

Bloomington physician David Gill has filed a federal lawsuit, seeking to have his name restored to the ballot as an independent candidate for Illinois' 13th Congressional District. The suit seeks to change the minimum requirement for independent candidates. This is Gill's fifth attempt at Congress, running four unsucessful Democratic candidacies.

On The 21st: We talked about what it means to be a caregiver for a person living with dementia - we were joined by a Champaign caregiver and a licensed professional counselor at Alzheimer's Association, Greater Illinois Chapter. Plus, we talked about what foods people think are healthy versus what nutritionists say are actually healthy.

The Flash Index of the Illinois economy fell to 104.7 in July, down from 105.0 in June.  The reading indicates that that state economy continues to grow, but more slowly than before.