Category Archives: Headlines
Normal Police to start drone program for first responders
By WMBD TV NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) - The Normal Police Department is looking to start a first responder drone pilot program. The program would allow NPD to use a drone to assess crime or traffic scenes to...
Apr 08, 2026
BREAKING: ISU support workers on strike
NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) - Some 300 workers at Illinois State University are walking the picket line early Wednesday morning after contract negotiations broke down Tuesday night. The walk out began about 6...
Apr 08, 2026 Illinois State University's president. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)
Illinois farmers ease critical labor shortages through this agricultural visa program
By GEORGIA EPIPHANIOU Medill Illinois News Bureau news@capitolnewsillinois.com Article Summary A lack of domestic workforce participation in agriculture pushes Illinois farmers to employ foreign worke...
Apr 08, 2026 The sun sets over a field of corn in Douglas County. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)
Karla Huffman to head Heartland Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) - Heartland Community College announced the new dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, set to start at the end of the spring semester. Karla Huffman has been a t...
Apr 07, 2026 (Photo courtesy: Heartland Community College)
Goodfield police arrest 19-year-old in $39,000 fraud case
GOODFIELD, Ill. (WMBD) - A North Carolina woman was arrested recently by the Goodfield Police Department in connection with a fraud scheme that resulted in more than $39,000 being taken from more than...
Apr 07, 2026
Bloomington-Normal receives $5M grant for sewer upgrades
By WMBD TV BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) - The Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District is receiving a $5 million grant from the state to help fund sewer infrastructure upgrades. The grant will help f...
Apr 07, 2026 (Photo courtesy: File)
McLean County judge's rise from humble beginnings inspires many
By WMBD TV BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) - From the early age of 16, Carla Barnes-Wheeler was essentially on her own, having to navigate the world through her family's adversity. "I didn't come from privil...
Apr 07, 2026 (Photo courtesy: Law and Justice Center)
Waymo begins testing in Chicago as bill seeks to legalize autonomous vehicles
By JACQUES ABOU-RIZK Medill Illinois News Bureau news@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO - In downtown Chicago, people have been spotting Google's Waymo automated vehicles testing and mapping the Windy C...
Apr 07, 2026 A Waymo vehicle drives through Chicago’s Near North Side on March 20 as the company begins testing and mapping the city. (Medill Illinois News Bureau photo by Georgia Epiphaniou)
Republicans, Pritzker point fingers over cause of rising property taxes
By BEN SZALINSKI Capitol News Illinois bszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com Article Summary Republicans are blaming Democratic policies, such as unfunded mandates on local governments and school distric...
Apr 06, 2026
CEJA workforce hubs deliver hope, but will they deliver jobs?
By REECE DOWER Medill Illinois News Bureau news@capitolnewsillinois.com Article Summary While the state program that created them is still relatively new, Illinois' clean energy workforce hubs are str...
Apr 06, 2026
