(Springfield-jm) – Governor J.B. Pritzker says the state is working to address the issues within the Department of Child and Family Services at an event at Harvard University in Boston this week. In January, a report released by the Illinois Inspector General showed that in 2022, nearly 50 more children died while in the custody of DCFS than in 2021. The report by an inspector general for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services shows 171 children died while in contact with the department last year alone. DCFS in Illinois receives $1.5 billion in taxpayer money annually.

 

(Undated-jm) – Governor J-B Pritzker is continuing his push for an assault weapons ban in Illinois. The Governor was asked about it recently…

 

 

Illinois Governor J-B Pritzker.

 

(Urbana-jm) – A University of Illinois student is facing aggravated battery charges following an incident at Carle Hospital early Wednesday morning. U of I Police officials said Lisandra Galarza, struck a hospital employee in the head after she was taken there during a medical emergency. The employee nor anyone else was seriously hurt.

 

(Paxton–jc)  –  The Paxton Buckley Loda Booster Club is using a unique way to raise money for athletic programs in the PBL school district. Boosters are selling “ducks” to be dropped via a helicopter. PBL Booster Club Spokesperson Jena Schaumburg says coming up with the idea was a group effort…

 

 

Paxton Buckley Loda Booster Club Spokesperson Jena Schaumburg

The event is set for 3pm Sunday at Lakeview Country Club.  They were down to a few tickets remaining for the event. A total of 400 tickets are being sold. 

 

(Champaign-jm) – Many schools around Illinois were disrupted by threats Wednesday, including one in Champaign. Champaign Police say the department received a report of a shooting in progress at Central High School just before 9 a.m. Following protocol, officers immediately contacted school officials in the building and confirmed that no such event was happening. The incident in Champaign is just one of nearly two dozen false alarms and threats toward schools that were reported to police across the state on Wednesday.  Another threat was at a school in Bloomington. 

 

(Champaign-jm) – The Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon is coming up in Champaign-Urbana in just a few weeks. On Wednesday, race organizers announced that part of the race is coming back after a four year COVID hiatus, and they said the full 26.2 mile marathon will return to C-U in 2024.

 

(Washington-jm) – Soybean crops in Argentina and Brazil are major factors in USDA's April outlook of global bean production, as well as supply and demand estimates. Rod Bain reports…

 

 

(Gibson City-jm) – Help could soon be coming for schools dealing with a statewide teacher shortage, thanks to a pair of bills filed by State Senator Tom Bennett of Gibson City, that have passed the Illinois Senate. Senate Bill 1488 deals with the much-criticized edTPA evaluation for prospective teachers. Bennett’s legislation waives the edTPA requirement for two years and creates the Teacher Performance Assessment Task Force to develop a better evaluation system. Senate Bill 1468 would help retired teachers return to the classroom to cover temporary vacancies and to serve as substitutes. The legislation would allow retired teachers to work 120 days or 600 hours in each school year. Senate Bill 1470 allows districts to utilize remote learning days in place of emergency days, for a total of 5 days per year.

 

(Champaign-jm) – A Champaign man was sentenced to jail time for possessing a firearm as a felon. Prentiss Jackson was sentenced to six years in prison, to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release. Officers from the Urbana Police Department executed a traffic stop on Jackson’s car in June 2022 and eventually asked him to exit the vehicle after he handed an officer marijuana that had been inside it. After exiting the car, Jackson ran from the stop, producing a Ruger handgun during his flight. After he was apprehended, police found ecstasy and a large amount of cash on Jackson’s person.

 

(Thomasboro–jc)  – Today’s WPXN Business of the Day is Hoveln Heating Cooling and Plumbing of Thomasboro. The three generation business was started in 1977. Hoveln Heating Cooling and Plumbing’s Brant Hoveln says they are indeed a “family” and local business…

 

 

Brant Hoveln talks about the partnership with the “Bryant” product line…

 

 

Hoveln Heating Cooling and Plumbing’s Brant Hoveln

 

(Charleston-jm) – Officials At Eastern Illinois University have issued their “last, best and final offer” to the union representing its teachers and staff to end a week-long strike while declining any further offers of bargaining. The offer comes after the school met with union members on Tuesday. In a news release, EIU officials said the two sides agreed on everything but economics. The school proposed an additional 3% pay increase over the next four years, but the union rejected the offer.

 

(Springfield-jm) – The state is pumping several million dollars to help increase tourism in Illinois. Governor J-B Pritzker says so far the program has been successful…

 

 

Illinois Governor J-B Pritzker.

 

(Champaign-jm) – This week the Champaign City Council voted to extend its contract with a private security firm until January 2024. This renewal costs around $330,000. This comes after the city hired AGB Investigations in May of 2022 to help patrol the downtown area.

 

(Champaign County-jm) – A new digital platform will make it easy for potential residents to connect with Champaign County’s employers and community members. The Community Job Application was created by Champaign County Economic Development Corporation and Visit Champaign County. The platform will allow newcomers to streamline their job search and community exploration process with personalized assistance, job matching, and relocation information in three short steps. The team worked with RoleCall, a national talent attraction consulting agency, to build this program.

 

(Champaign-jm) – The Boneyard Arts Festival returns to C-U this weekend. The countywide festival takes place over a variety of venues, both traditional like galleries and museums and non-traditional like bars, libraries, florists, and retail stores and features the work of hundreds of local artists. Sculptors, weavers, painters, photographers, woodworkers, and other visual artists join musicians, dancers, poets and other performers to share creativity throughout Champaign County. Running tomorrow through Sunday, details can be found at BoneyardArtsFestival.org.

 

(Thawville-jc)  –  The 55th Thawville Community Sale is set for Saturday. Sale Spokesperson Robert Lange says the sale brings in over 1 thousand 500 buyers, visitors from the local area more than 7 surrounding states to Thawville, the third Saturday in April…

 

 

Thawville Community Sale Spokesperson Robert Lange

 

(Washington-jm) – There's a bit of good news for food shoppers in the latest Consumer Price Index report. Gary Crawford reports…

 

 

(Bloomington-jm) – The Illinois High School Association Board of Directors has approved two changes to the IHSA Officials licensing process. Both changes are geared toward trying to recruit more new officials and retain officials who are currently licensed. The first change lowers the price for officials when registering to officiate in more than one sport, while the other lowers the licensing fee for out-of-state officials.