The Illinois State Board of Education voted Wednesday to approve a budget request for the upcoming fiscal year of nearly $11.4 billion, a 4.6% increase over this year’s budget, despite projections that the state will face a substantial revenue shortfall next year.… MORE
Older drivers in Illinois could face fewer barriers to renew their driver’s licenses next year as part of a bill that would raise the age for the state-mandated annual driver’s test from 79 to 87.… MORE
Revenue returns remain on track halfway through Illinois’ budget year, though it’s next year that is causing concern in the Capitol. … MORE
Trash schedules for Normal will look a bit different due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day next Monday.… MORE
By WMBD TV BLOOMINGTON – No family ever wants to evacuate their home. Rebecca Stevens is a Bloomington native, and graduated from Bloomington High School. Stevens, her husband and her two sons, a three-year-old and a four-year-old, live in Studio City, which is in the middle of Los Angeles. They are within 10 miles of…… MORE
After Michael Madigan spent several hours facing blistering cross-examination in his federal corruption trial, the former Illinois House speaker on Tuesday made a rare candid remark about the yearslong investigation that landed him on the witness stand in a Chicago courtroom.… MORE
The Town of Normal is remembering a former mayor who had a significant economic impact on the town.… MORE
Many Illinois residents will be able to use the IRS Direct File service to electronically prepare and file their 2024 federal tax returns for free.… MORE
With homelessness increasing in Illinois, a coalition of shelter providers and advocates is calling for a $100 million increase in state funding to prevent homelessness and provide shelter to people without homes. … MORE
The Normal Fire Department is letting people know just how massive the Los Angeles fires have been over the last two days.… 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…