By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – On-campus housing for first-year students is about to undergo a $16.5 million renovation at Illinois Wesleyan University. Munsell and Ferguson Halls will be getting the upgrades this summer thanks to the family of the late B. Charles Ames, from Wesleyan’s Class of 1950 and Joyce Ames from the Class of…… MORE
By 25 News NORMAL – Facing a nearly $12 million structural deficit in 2023, McLean County Unit 5 is going to try again to put a question raising the existing property tax on the ballot. In a statement, the district says that Unit 5 maintains the lowest education fund tax rate of all the neighboring districts. Despite…… MORE
By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – If you need a bus ride around the Twin Cities, you may soon be able to get one for free. Connect Transit, Bloomington-Normal’s public transit system, is considering a proposal to eliminate bus fares entirely, thanks to $28 million in state and federal grants that can offset the possible deficit…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – Hours after a Highland Park mother played a recording of a six-year-old shrieking away from gunfire, members of the Illinois Senate Monday okayed an assault weapons ban. It came after Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) slammed the House version, one endorsed by Gov. JB Pritzker. The new agreement is…… MORE
By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington Police sergeants and lieutenants will receive pay raises, and they’ll have to submit to random drug and alcohol testing each year under terms of a new, four-year union contract. The deal approved unanimously Monday night by the Bloomington City Council calls for the 21 union members to get 2.5%…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker ran down what mostly amounted to a “greatest hits” album of his first four years in office. In his second inaugural address Monday afternoon at the Bank of Springfield Center in Springfield, the victories he declared included: “We legalized cannabis,” then added, to cheers, “Oh, I see…… MORE
By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – Local Republican leaders have chosen who will replace outgoing State Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington). Barickman chose to resign after winning re-election in the new 53rd District. Current 106th State Rep. Tom Bennett (R-Gibson City) will now take his place, receiving 87% of the vote from party chairmen. Normal Town Council…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – The lawmakers who will take their oath of office Wednesday will be paid a base salary of $85,000, up $14,000 from the pay of the previous General Assembly. That nugget was buried in a bill which does many other things – for one, giving the governor a “closing fund” to…… MORE
By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – McLean County prosecutors on Friday charged a Bloomington man with 15 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault involving a child younger than 13. Prosecutors say David Oliver, 51, faces mandatory life in prison if he’s found guilty on any of the charges because of his conviction in 2000 for sexually…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters Thursday morning he is optimistic that the last days of the General Assembly – with only a simple majority required and with many lawmakers unlikely to ever face voters again – will produce a ban on assault weapons. Supermajority Democratic lawmakers have been discussing it…… MORE
By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …
By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…
By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…
Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…