Illinois loses bid for sweet 16 in final minutes against Miami
After Larkin's first field goal in about 9 1/2 minutes, D.J. Richardson missed a 3-pointer. In the fight for the rebound, the ball appeared to ricochet off the hands of Miami's Kenny Kadji out of bounds. But the Hurricanes kept the ball, and Durand Scott made two free throws after that.
Miami (29-6) is in the round of 16 for only the second time in school history. The Hurricanes play Marquette (25-8) in Washington D.C. on Thursday night.
Larkin, the only non-senior starter for Miami and the ACC player of the year, finished with 17 points. Rion Brown had 21 with five 3s.
Brandon Paul had 18 points for Illinois (23-13).
Five Illinois airports to lose traffic control towers
The agency announced Friday that it will begin closing 149 air traffic facilities starting April 7.
The affected Illinois towers are at St. Louis Regional Airport in East Alton, Central Illinois Regional Airport at Bloomington-Normal, Decatur Airport, Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale and Waukegan Regional Airport near Chicago.
All of the affected airports will remain open. Under long-established procedures, pilots will be left to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves over a shared radio frequency without help from controllers.
The FAA is being forced to trim $637 million for the rest of the fiscal year under the federal cuts known as sequestration.
Gov. Quinn says lottery revenue fell short last year
The lottery says that Northstar Lottery Group projected net income of about $851 million for fiscal year 2012. The lottery says profits actually were $757 million, about $95 million short. Northstar took over management of the Illinois Lottery in July 2011.
Quinn told reporters after an unrelated event in Chicago that the management model needs improvement. He didn't offer many specifics but says one fix could be trying to attract more people to play the lottery.
The profit targets are part of a management agreement between the lottery and Northstar. The agreement says Northstar must pay the lottery $20 million if it doesn't reach the target.
U of I students want Chief back
Almost 80 percent of the more than 11,500 students who voted in a recent campus referendum said they believed the American Indian mascot should be the symbol of the university's Urbana-Champaign campus.
University officials say that's not going to happen.
The university dropped the Chief mascot in 2007 under pressure from the NCAA.
Environmentalists praise IL House Speaker for leadership on fracking
Madigan said today he supports a temporary ban on the drilling practice that critics say causes air and water pollution. Lawmakers are working on a bill to regulate the practice that drillers say is safe.
Illinois village chief at center of investigation
The Belleville News Democrat reported Monday that Police Chief J.D. Roth did not sell the pickup truck at auction, as directed by state law. Village records show that Roth instead drove the 2003 Dodge Ram 65,000 miles for personal use and charged the village more than $6,000 for maintenance.
Roth was placed on leave Monday by Mayor George Chance after St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly asked that Roth not be involved in police investigations or have access to evidence or village computers.
Roth says he can't comment without the village's permission.
Illinois settles SEC fraud case
Gov. Pat Quinn's office said Monday that the state has agreed to settle the Securities and Exchange Commission case. Assistant budget director Abdon Pallasch (AB'-dun PAL-lish) says the state is promising better financial disclosures but admitted no wrongdoing.
The case revolved around more than $2 billion of municipal bonds sold from 2005 to early 2009 to pay state obligations to public-employee pension programs.
The SEC charged that the state did not adequately inform investors that a 50-year funding plan adopted in 1995 did not adequately cover pension liabilities.
The five pensions systems are now $97 billion in debt and a solution is lawmakers' top priority.
Madison County deputy cleared in fatal shooting
Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons says the deputy's actions involving 51-year-old Barry Cloninger outside the man's rural Edwardsville home in January were reasonable.
Gibbons says neighbors had called authorities to report the odor of lighter fluid in their home and snowy footprints on their roof, which is easily accessible because the home is built into a hillside. The residents have a wood-burning stove and suspected someone poured the flammable liquid down their chimney.
Gibbons says deputies went to question Cloninger, who refused demands that he drop the shotgun he carried. After being shot by the deputy, Cloninger's body was found behind the home.
Illinois unemployment rate jumps in January
That was up from 8.7 percent in December and back to almost the 9.1 percent rate of January 2012.
Department Director Jay Rowell blamed the uneven recovery the state has experienced since the recession.
The number of unemployed people in the state rose by 4 percent to 594,800. The state added a relatively small 7,100 jobs in January.
The biggest job losses were among companies in the trade, transportation and utilities sector where the state lost a net 5,500 jobs in January. Government agencies also shed a net 1,500 jobs. Educational and health services employers added 5,500 jobs.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in January. That was slightly higher than December.
Gov. Quinn cuts state boards by executive order
He made the announcement Wednesday during his annual budget address. He says the elimination will increase efficiency.
Quinn did not detail which the boards and commissions would be eliminated. His spokeswoman later said the list of the 75 would come when Quinn issues the order.
Quinn delivered a budget address that called on lawmakers to reform the pension system. He says the nearly $100 billion in unfunded liability squeezes out funding in other parts of the budget, like education and that's why he had to propose cuts.
His budget calls for roughly $400 million in cuts to education.
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