The Winter Olympics are officially underway in Milan. A number of the members of Team USA come from right here in Illinois — including four members of the U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team. WBEZ's Noah Jennings reports.

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To reduce water use in an ongoing severe drought, the City of Bloomington has asked residents to conserve water by a goal of 10%. Water shortages are not unheard of for the city. Even at its start, water was scarce in Bloomington.

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Illinois lawmakers say they have concerns with increasing higher education funding because of a tight budget. The Illinois Board of Higher Education is requesting a nearly 5% increase in its budget for public colleges and universities and a change to flexible funding informed by specific institutional factors, referred to as "evidence-based."

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The Meet the Newsroom series pulls back the curtain to introduce you to the team that makes WGLT possible. The series continues with digital content director Emily Bollinger.

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Illinois State University's Queer Coalition kicks off a month-long film series this week at the Normal Theater. Fired Up: The American AIDS Crisis on Film captures the early days of the AIDS crisis, with community leaders and scholars introducing each film—those who lived through and cared for others during the height of the epidemic.

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A cancer survivor from Springfield is urging Black women in Illinois to share their experiences with health care. Erica Austin earned her Ph.D. from Illinois State University and works in the medical field. She is the Illinois ambassador for "VOICES of Black Women," a nationwide research study aimed at closing health gaps among Black women, including disproportional cancer mortality rates.

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Many major medical and health care organizations have decided to ignore new guidance from the federal government related to the childhood vaccination schedule. President Donald Trump and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently reduced the number of immunizations routinely recommended for all children from 17 to 11. Last September, Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood voiced concerns about some of the statements coming out of Kennedy's department. But LaHood is refusing to break entirely with the Trump administration on the vaccine question — while acknowledging he now has more than just concerns.

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Illinois Senate Republicans have introduced a series of bills to increase penalties for repeat offenders of orders of protection, no stalking orders and civil no contact orders.

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