Illinois Public Media News

Tim Beckman's firing is just the latest crisis to affect University of Illinois athletics. The university faces lawsuits and allegations of mistreatment in two other sports on the Urbana campus. Murray Sperber teaches in the Cultural Studies of Sport in Education program at U-C Berkley. In this encore report, he tells Illinois Public Media's Scott Cameron that going public with complaints of abuse are often a first step toward changing the culture of big time college sports..

Arrieta shut out the Dodgers 2-0 Sunday, his first career no-hitter and the Cubs first no-hitter since 2008, when Carlos Zambrano shut out Houston.  It was the 14th no-hitter in Cubs history. 

John Rogers has been tapped to lead a $25 million biomedical engineering research center at Northwestern University, beginning in 2016.   He holds a Swanlund Chair, the highest chaired position at the university's Urbana campus.

The 22 families who lived on Hero Street in Silvis, Ill. sent 57 of their children to fight in World War II. Some combination of those 22 fought in every theater, in every major battle, and through them, author Carlos Harrison shares a vivid portrait of the war. We dive into some of the stories and realities he uncovered, as well as talk with some of those from Silvis and the surrounding area who went to fight and who were here during the war. 

U of I Athletic Director Mike Thomas announced he was dismissing head football coach Tim Beckman, following preliminary results of an external review into allegations about the football program.  Offensive coordinator Bill Cubit, who's been with the program since 2013, is taking over as interim head coach.