BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) – The Belleville School Board has approved purchasing Google Chromebooks for second-graders and younger. District 118 students in third through eighth grades have had the laptops. The (Belleville) News-Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/1l69Miy ) the school board approved Chromebook purchases for younger students. There will be one Chromebook for each of six kindergarten centers.…
( KTRS ) Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office has reached four-year labor agreements with 11 unions and has criticized one of the larger state-employee unions for not doing the same. A spokeswoman for the Republican says the unions that agreed to deals represent more than 500 workers. 17 deals have now been reached with labor unions…
( KTRS ) Bond has been set at $10,000 cash for a man accused of making online threats against black students and faculty at University of Missouri’s Columbia campus. A Defense attorney for 19-year-old Hunter Park, told a Boone County judge Wednesday that Park’s cystic fibrosis was made worse by his stay in the county…
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – Missouri’s athletic director wouldn’t tip his hand about who might replace retiring football coach Gary Pinkel, but said Houston’s Tom Herman, Memphis’ Justin Fuente and Tigers defensive coordinator Barry Odom are quality candidates. Mack Rhoades said Wednesday that the decision will come down to finding the right fit. Rhoades hired Herman…
ALTON, Ill. (AP) – The school board in the Mississippi River city of Alton has approved a two-year contract with teachers, ending concerns about a possible strike. The (Alton) Telegraph reports (http://bit.ly/1QvecN6) the school board approved the agreement Tuesday. Alton Education Association members had approved the deal last week. The agreement includes wage increases and maintains…
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – A coalition has more than two-thirds of its goal of 600,000 petition signatures to put a measure on the ballot creating a special commission to draw state legislative districts. The Independent Maps coalition announced Monday that more than 400,000 Illinois residents have signed petitions to put the proposed state constitutional amendment…
If everything moves ahead, the zoo could close on the land December 2016 and begin renovations as soon as 2018
Since 2010 Illinois has received 169 Syrian refugees
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) – Prosecutors in Missouri have accused a Texas woman of causing the death of another woman with an illegal cosmetic injection into the victim’s buttocks. St. Louis County prosecutors charged 44-year-old Nitica Deonte Lee of Dallas with first-degree involuntary manslaughter, alleging she recklessly caused Daysha Phillips’ death in July by injecting her…
SEATTLE (AP) – Many voters don’t have the money to donate to political candidates or don’t care enough to bother. But what if the government gave them $100 to dole out as they saw fit? That’s the experiment underway in Seattle after voters adopted the nation’s first voucher system for campaign contributions. The idea is…