Category Archives: WJBC’s Top Stories

ISU enrollment slightly down from last year

ISU enrollment slightly down from last year

Posted on September 2, 2021

  By Neil Doyle NORMAL – The fall 2021 enrollment at Illinois State University is 20,233, down two percent from last year, but the freshman class saw a modest increase. ISU welcomed 3,374 freshmen to its student body, up one percent from last year, according to a news release Wednesday. “This most recent recruitment cycle presented several…… MORE

Carle Health raises minimum wage to $15 per hour

Carle Health raises minimum wage to $15 per hour

Posted on September 2, 2021

By Neil Doyle NORMAL – Carle Health, which owns Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal, is increasing its minimum wage to $15 per hour. The health care system based in Urbana says this change supports team members by improving career opportunities and strengthening the work culture. “We believe that to provide the best possible healthcare for…… MORE

Fugitive who ran from rural Hudson car crash still on the loose

Fugitive who ran from rural Hudson car crash still on the loose

Posted on September 2, 2021

By HOI ABC HUDSON – The McLean County Sheriff’s Office said a man who fled apparently shoeless from a rural Hudson crash scene early Tuesday morning was still on the loose and might still be in the Hudson area. On the sheriff’s department’s Facebook page, police released a new photograph of Brian Morgan, who’s wanted on several…… MORE

Missing ISU grad student Jelani Day’s loved ones continue search in Bloomington

Missing ISU grad student Jelani Day’s loved ones continue search in Bloomington

Posted on September 2, 2021

By HOI ABC BLOOMINGTON – Family members are still searching for missing Illinois State University graduate student Jelani “J.J.” Day more than a week after he was reported missing. Carmen Bolden Day, Jelani’s mother, said she last spoke to him Aug. 23. She said they were planning a family trip for Thanksgiving. “He said ‘Mama, I…… MORE

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

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.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

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…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

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…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

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…