Emily Hays started

2 weeks ago | ipmnewsroom.org | Emily Hays |Emily Hays started

SAVOY — Ronnie Carrasquillo was among the last sentenced before the state ended parole in 1978. Unlike everyone convicted since then, he’s had the chance to ask the parole board to release him early. Instead, he was denied parole over 30 times. Year after year, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board debated his actions at age 18, when he shot at a fighting crowd from over a block away and killed a plainclothes police officer. “I’m the oldest 18-year-old you know.

3 weeks ago | ipmnewsroom.org | Emily Hays |Emily Hays started

CHAMPAIGN — While mail-in ballots could shake up the election results, five candidates are currently in the lead to win seats on the Champaign Unit 4 Board of Education. According to unofficial results from the Champaign County Clerk’s office, Fatima Ahmed currently has the highest vote total out of the 11 candidates running for the school board. Ahmed and Justin Michael Hendrix are ahead in the race to fill the seats that have been left vacant due to resignations. Their terms would last two years.

3 weeks ago | ipmnewsroom.org | Emily Hays |Emily Hays started

https://ipmnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CCP-Letter-Audio.mp3URBANA — The Republican-led House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter in March to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and five other universities. The letter asks administrators for information on their Chinese international student populations. It claims relying on foreign enrollment for tuition poses a national security threat that could undermine U.S. research initiatives.

4 weeks ago | ipmnewsroom.org | Emily Hays |Emily Hays started

https://ipmnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/unionworkers.mp3CHAMPAIGN — For 17 years, Sheri Walker’s job has been to teach people how to get healthy meals while on food stamps. As a union employee, Walker earns $17 per hour. She said under that salary, she is also eligible for public assistance. “In our program, we teach poverty-level people. That’s me,” Walker said.

1 month ago | ipmnewsroom.org | Emily Hays |Emily Hays started

CHAMPAIGN — 11 people are competing in the April 1 election to fill five open seats on the Champaign Unit 4 Board of Education. In recent years, board members have been closely divided, clashing with one another and administrators. That has led to vacancies on the board and accusations that the group is fostering an unproductive work dynamic. Many of this year’s candidates say they are running to heal those divisions on the board.