Expect more hearings on efforts to legalize and tax adult cannabis use in Illinois in an effort lawmakers say is meant to craft the best law possible.… MORE
Biss drops running mate
The Daniel Biss campaign for governor is making changes to the ticket.… MORE
Redbird men add graduate transfer
Graduate transfer Jerron Martin, a 6-foot, 175-pound senior guard, will continue his education and basketball career at Illinois State, head coach Dan Muller announced Wednesday.… MORE
State Farm aids Midwest Food Bank’s hurricane relief effort
State Farm Insurance is making a donation to send disaster relief boxes containing food to Texas from the Midwest Food Bank in Bloomington even as the food bank makes plans for when Hurricane Irma is expected to pound Florida this weekend.… MORE
New downtown library proposal likely to test council woman’s persuasion skills
Key members of a task force looking to speed up Downtown Bloomington’s resurgence are promoting the idea of building a new public library where a city parking garage is located at Market and Monroe Streets. However, a majority of city aldermen and the Bloomington Public Library Board seem to favor library expansion at its current Olive Street location.… MORE
Illinois Attorney General joins lawsuit to keep Dreamers in U.S.
More than a dozen attorneys general, including Illinois’ attorney general, are suing the Trump Administration in an effort to save DACA, the program granting legal status to 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.… MORE
NPD: Local mom falsely accused daycare center of abusing her toddler
A woman from Normal faces criminal charges for allegedly lying on social media and then to authorities that her toddler child had been abused at a local daycare center.… MORE
IWU football seeks to avoid letdown after win over Whitewater
Coach Norm Eash’s motto for his Illinois Wesleyan football team this season is ‘Sense of Urgency.’… MORE
Gunshots reported on Bloomington’s west side
Bloomington police are looking for suspects after a report of shots fired Tuesday night on the city’s west side.… MORE
ISU enrollment down slightly, graduate students at three-year high
Total enrollment at Illinois State University for the fall term is down slightly, although the number of graduate students is at a three-year high.… 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…