Local Headlines

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. J.B. Pritzker has appointed a state lawmaker as director of the state’s Veterans Affairs department after his first choice stepped down. The Democrat on Friday named state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia. The former Army officer was named in place of Army Lt. Col. ...Read more

URBANA, Ill. (AP) — A federal judge has denied a request to exclude evidence about a cadaver-sniffing dog from the trial of a former University of Illinois physics student accused of killing a Chinese scholar in 2017. U.S. District Judge James Shadid ruled Friday that prosecutors can present ...Read more

AURORA, Ill. (AP) — More than 1,500 people braved snow and freezing drizzle to attend a prayer vigil for five slain co-workers Sunday, two days after they were fatally shot at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant by a longtime employee who was fired moments earlier. The Rev. Dan Haas told ...Read more

CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois hotline that supports people addicted to opioids and other substances has received 10,000 calls since it was set up in late 2017. The Illinois Department of Human Services also said Thursday the Illinois Helpline website created last June has been visited more than ...Read more

AURORA, Ill. (AP) — The man who opened fire and killed five co-workers at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant took a gun he wasn’t allowed to have to a job he must have known he was about to lose. Right after learning Friday that he was being fired from his job of 15 years at the Henry ...Read more

  AURORA, Ill. (AP) — A man being fired from his job started shooting at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was killed by police. Police say 45-year-old Gary Martin had been working at Henry Pratt Co. in ...Read more

PERU – The medical director of the Illinois Valley Community Hospital emergency department is now board-certified in addiction medicine. Dr. Paul Bonucci received the certification from the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM) in January. He is also certified by the American Board ...Read more

OTTAWA – Students seeking careers in health care can earn money toward tuition as part of the educational loan assistance program offered by OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center. Designed to support high school seniors and college students living within LaSalle County, the program ...Read more

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Hunting and fishing groups have teamed up to support a plan for preventing Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes. They have formed the Great Lakes Conservation Coalition, which will push for funding of a strategy proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The ...Read more