By WMBD-TV MCLEAN COUNTY – YouthBuild McLean County has some building going on, all thanks to the Lowe’s Hometowns Program. YouthBuild is a program for low-income youth and adolescents, where the kids are able to build, learn and develop skills for adulthood, and the YouthBuild location in Normal has an open space next to its…… MORE
By WMBD-TV BLOOMINGTON – A man was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison on Monday for the death of Jaleel Johnson in Oct. 2020. According to McLean County Circuit Court records, Malcolm J. Johnson, 31, was sentenced to serve 123 years in prison. That breaks down to 75 years for murder, 45 years…… MORE
By WMBD-TV TAZEWELL COUNTY – One person was injured as a result of a Wednesday morning single-unit rollover crash in Tazewell County. According to a crash report from Genelle Jones, a trooper and public information officer with Illinois State Police, the incident happened just before 9 a.m. Wednesday on Interstate 74 headed westbound near milepost…… MORE
Miller Park Zoo will soon be reopening the Katthoefer Animal Building to the public after being closed for over four years.… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – The big “pharmacy benefit managers” like Express Scripts and CVS Caremark have almost 100 percent of the market already. Chad Worz told an Illinois House health care committee he is frustrated. “A recent FTC report shows the abuses and powers of PBM’s is a national challenge. It accurately depicts that…… MORE
Two new lawsuits allege decades of sexual abuse at a Chicago juvenile detention center. … MORE
Police are investigating a shots fired incident that happened Tuesday night in north Normal.… MORE
McLean County Animal Control broke ground Tuesday morning on a new building just east of Shirley.… MORE
Tuesday’s update on the Sonya Massey case in Springfield included family attorney Ben Crump announcing that the U.S. Department of Justice is on the case; that the governor and lieutenant governor met with the Massey family; and that, the family alleges, deputies lied about what happened.… MORE
By Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD – An Illinois lawmaker heading a child welfare committee said the state must strengthen its laws and policies to protect homeschooled children facing inadequate education, abuse and neglect. Rep. Terra Costa Howard, the chair of the Adoption and Child Welfare Committee in the Illinois House, called for action following a…… 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…