HELP WANTED: McLean County’s largest school district in dire need of substitute teachers

Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, observes action on the Senate floor during the last week of the 2025 legislative session. Harmon was the sponsor of a bill to reform the Prisoner Review Board. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)

By JOHN VOLK Medill Local News Initiative Forty Illinois local news entities operating 120 outlets are receiving $4 million in state tax credits under a new law designed to encourage the retention and hiring of journalists, according to documents released this week. The organizations that have received credits represen...

NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) - The Flying Dragon's Pole Vault Club in Normal was robbed while at a junior Olympic competition in Texas. At around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, two people stole over $50,000 worth of items. Vaulting poles, personal belongings, and a 2021 Chevy Silverado were all stolen in around three minutes. According t...

NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) - A local police department got their Hollywood break after an ab-Normal cameo in a Netflix original show. In a scene in season two of "Wednesday," a mugshot of "Thing" sporting a stylish hairdo and mustache can be seen, and it is said that the picture was at the town of Normal P...

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD - Gov. JB Pritzker brushed aside suggestions Thursday that FBI agents could be deployed to arrest a group of Texas Democratic lawmakers who have fled to Illinois to delay voting on a mid-decade Republican redistricting plan. Pritzker's ...

By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD - State officials ushered in the start of the Illinois State Fair on Wednesday with the annual unveiling of the butter cow. The sculpture is made of 800 pounds of unsalted butter spread across a wire frame. This year's iteration depict...

By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO - Longtime Chicago lobbyist Jay Doherty was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in prison for his role in a yearslong bribery scheme between his biggest client, electric utility Commonwealth Edison, and former Illinois House Speaker Micha...

NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) - A Normal man will spend sixty years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after he was sentenced for several child pornography charges. Scott T. Johnson, 26, was sentenced more than two years after he was arrested, according to Normal Police Chief Steve Petrilli. He said on January 25, 2023, J...