Illinois Public Media News

Illinois lawmakers may soon take up the controversial question of which bathrooms should be used by transgender students.

A week ago, Urbana aldermen approved lowering the fine for posessing small amounts of marijuana from $300 to $50.  Alderman Aaron Ammons calls the higher amount 'egregious', and said it disproportionately impacts African-Americans in the city.  The fine applies to someone with less than 30 grams of the drug.

California and New York -- where almost 1 in 5 Americans live -- are on their way to raising their minimum wage to $15 an hour. And the activists who spearheaded those efforts are now setting their sights on other similarly liberal, Democratic-led states, including Illinois.

The private fund-raising arms of public universities, called foundations, are coming under scrutiny around the country.  Watchdogs have found questionable spending that’s led to resignations and legal challenges to their privacy.  In the course of reporting on a University of Illinois professor,  Monica Eng of WBEZ discovered a different way foundation privacy practices are raising questions.  

Frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress in contract negotiations, the Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition will hold a strike authorization vote for its members at the University of Illinois Urbana campus next week.