WCBU Reports

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood won re-election for a seventh term in Washington, fending off a challenge from a political newcomer who benefitted from Republican unrest but could not overcome a political map that heavily favors the incumbent.

The Peoria County Coroner's Office, OSF Saint Francis, and others collaborated on a special mass burial for deceased individuals unclaimed by family or friends.

Bradley University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute will bring former Reagan and Obama presidential photographer Pete Souza to campus as part of its Voices and Visionaries program. For WCBU Reports, Souza shared how his career went from small town newspapers in Kansas, to the Chicago Sun Times, Tribune, the White House and beyond.

Halloween is a fun time for kids to get creative with costumes and go door to door collecting candy from friends and neighbors. But it becomes more "trick" than treat when the kids have food allergies. One wrong piece of candy with the wrong ingredients can have dire consequences. Red Sneakers for Oakley's Peoria group is an advocacy, education, and practical group started by families whose children face some of these issues every day.

Midwest Food Bank is expanding its Morton facility as part of boosting its capacity for disaster relief. Earlier this month, the Central Illinois-based nonprofit broke ground on a year-long expansion and renovation of the site.

Republican incumbent state Rep. Ryan Spain of Peoria faces a challenge from a first-time candidate Democratic challenger Nicole Dopler in the bid to represent a largely rural district that includes parts of Peoria and Woodford counties. WCBU's Joe Deacon reports.  

We've reached the time of year for the City of Peoria's annual budget process. City council members this week began discussions on the recommended $348 million spending plan. It includes using around $10 million in fund-balance to bridge the gap with anticipated revenue. In her latest regular interview with WCBU, Mayor Rita Ali tells reporter Joe Deacon what she sees as Peoria's budget priorities.

Birth to Five Illinois helps families with children ages birth to 5 get equal treatment. Its Peoria County council manager spoke to WCBU about the group and how social media helps.

The Tazewell County Veterans Assistance Commission is hiring more staff and offering help with employment. They've expanded the staff from one full-time employee and one part-time employee to six full-time veteran service officers.

A state prison in Lincoln is setting a new standard for juvenile corrections. Monarch Youth Center uses a trauma-informed approach that incarcerated youths say is changing their lives for the better. WCBU's Lauren Warnecke reports.

A journalism professor who has roots in Pekin and Peoria says journalists must do more than cover the news; they must actively build community for local news outlets to survive in a challenging world.

A group of high school students from Illini Bluffs High School in Glasford in Peoria County was among 10 finalists in this year’s NPR Student Podcast Challenge. In its 8th year, the contest had more than 1,500 entries from 42 states across both the high school and middle school categories for 2026.

East Peoria City Council members were unmoved by a protest and public comments urging them to rethink Flock police cameras. In an interview with WCBU after the meeting, East Peoria Police Chief David Catton said the technology is a critical tool for his department.

Since the time of the first President of the United States to today, executive power has steadily grown to address crises, a changing electorate and evolving interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. Generally speaking, the Central Illinois congressional candidates this year agree the House and Senate roll over too much for the president.

Foreign policy may not be the top issue for voters in Central Illinois this election cycle, but the war in Iran — or conflict, depending on who is talking — undeniably takes up some of the oxygen in Central Illinois congressional races. Plus, the issue relates closely to what else is top of mind for voters which is their pocketbooks. The 16th and 17th District candidates for Congress are well aware residents are not fond of the war. All four say they want an end to the fighting as soon as possible.

In Illinois’ 16th Congressional District, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood and the Democratic challenger Paul Nolley, and in the 17th District, incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen and challenger Republican Dillan Vancil, hear it every day: high gasoline prices, high diesel prices, high cost of fertilizer for farmers. There's not a lot of support for President Donald Trump's approach to tariffs on either side of the congressional races — even the Republicans are creating some distance because of the disproportionate effect blanket tariffs have had on farmers.

The major party candidates for Congress in Central Illinois have significantly different views of how to deal with looming financial crises over the federal budget deficit, national debt, and Social Security. Charlie Schlenker reports.

Bradley University celebrates homecoming this weekend, placing a greater emphasis on the three-day event to welcome alumni and supporters back to campus. Highlighting this year's festivities is an inaugural "yard party" Saturday, along with a ribbon-cutting for the new Zaleski Outdoor Recreation Complex. Bradley vice president for advancement Jane Walsh tells reporter Joe Deacon why the university is taking a new approach to homecoming.

After 50 years in broadcasting on radio and television, Chuck Collins retired in late 2025. But the former WMBD and WEEK meteorologist is still busy, including teaching this October at Bradley University's Osher Life Long Learning Institute.

Tazewell County will be asking voters in November to support a referendum on a 1% school facility tax. Morton District 709 Superintendent Joe Sander explains more of what the tax means to residents across Tazewell County, if approved.

Recreational basketball leagues were common in Peoria for many years. But after COVID, many of them went away. Now a new adult men's basketball league in Peoria is getting ready to debut.  The 10-team Peoria Basketball League will play Sundays at Peoria Academy, starting Oct. 4. Former Woodruff High and Lincoln College player Jay Wallace is the league's co-founder and CEO. He says the league is about more than just basketball. Wallace tells reporter Joe Deacon what inspired them to start a new league. 

Gov. JB Pritzker is for the first time revealing publicly that he’s lost 80 pounds with the help of a GLP-1 weight loss medication, with plans to lose more. The governor laid bare his previously undisclosed medical history in an hour-long interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, admitting the “food noise” is gone, with daily exercise and the injections fueling weight loss he didn’t think was possible.

From their current home at the former Greeley school in downtown Peoria to planning for their newest endeavor on Peoria's South Side, Nikki and Jonathan Romain continue their impact on the youth of Peoria through their nonprofit ART INC.  In the midst of expansion and rebranding what programs and opportunities they offer, they are looking to grow. Thanks in part to some funding from the state of Illinois, the Romains are planning to further their impact with the addition of what they call a creative maker space on Peoria's South Side. Co-founder Nikki Romain says the journey has been eye opening but rewarding.

A newly created economic incentive area aims to spark redevelopment along Peoria’s West Main Street corridor. Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich explains how it'll work and why it's happening.

WCBU's Joe Deacon talks to Bradley University officials about the new flag football team, one of five women's premier club sports at the Peoria campus.

Fulton Sheen, an El Paso native who grew up in Peoria, is slated to be beatified at a Mass in St. Louis on Sept. 24. Louis Tylka, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, says its the next step in a process that dates back over two decades -- a process he hopes will lead to Sainthood for Sheen. WCBU's Rich Draeger reports.

Mayor Tracy Welch wants to see the women's prison site remediated, unlike what happened two decades ago at the 100-acre Lincoln Developmental Center site. It's part of the City of Lincoln's multi-pronged strategy boosting economic development in the Logan County seat.

Illinois has already experienced a record-breaking number of tornadoes in 2026, but this year even thunderstorms are proving to be dangerous.

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood spoke to WCBU during a stop in Peoria to announce federal appropriation money for an industrial park in the city. He gave his thoughts on current events including the federal deficit, mail-in voting and data centers.

Several volunteers and local history buffs gathered around David Strother’s 1954 headstone to find out for certain if he and his family lay underneath.

Since Aug.1, the Women’s Pro Baseball League has been playing its inaugural season in Springfield. It’s the fifth league of its kind in U.S. history. Its players hope there is no need for a sixth.

The National Weather Service in Lincoln opened its doors to the public on Saturday for the first time in 19 years, and wants to be more accessible in the future.

Gov. JB Pritzker said he doesn't want to see Central Illinois farmland given up for data centers. He said the state should be pumping the brakes on the industry rather than rolling out the red carpet for it.  

Speaking in Central Illinois, Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey emphasized that despite his loss to incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker four years ago, he thinks Illinois residents are ready for change wherever they live. Jim Stahly reports.

A new pulpy crime thriller audio drama series by a local writer premieres this Friday. The show is political, historical but ultimately an intimate story told on a big scale. WCBU correspondent Tim Rosenberger reports.

A Pekin pastor is calling for less automated moderation of internet content and for organizations to back up their history after the church's YouTube channel was deleted without warning in June.

Peoria Mayor Rita Ali remains steadfast in her belief that the planned Phoenix Manor permanent supportive housing development on the South Side ultimately will benefit the neighborhood.

U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen is questioning some of the latest actions of President Donald Trump in the public and behind closed airplane doors.

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and Republican challenger Darren Bailey sounded off on issues important to farmers Monday during a visit to McLean County. The Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable [IALR] hosted an agricultural forum at Funk Farms Trust in Shirley. Pritzker and Bailey talked about issues facing farmers, in addition to more general topics pertinent to the race for governor.

Fall classes at Illinois Central College begin next week, and new president Jamonica Rolle says it’s a moment she's been waiting for since starting her position in July. In an extended interview, Rolle details what attracted her to ICC.

DeviceWise, a program that helps hospital staff prepare patients with medical implants for surgery, has been in development for more than eight years. It's reduced cancellations in Peoria by 10%.

With the November general election approaching, several Peoria organizations are coming together for a push to get more people involved in the process, particularly on the city's South Side. “The initial thing is to get them registered, then educate them and then hopefully spur participation,” said the Rev. Marvin Hightower, president of NAACP Peoria, ahead of Saturday’s Voting Rights Day of Action on the lawn of the Peoria Public Library’s Lincoln Branch.

Caterpillar is making a $10 million workforce development pledge to boost manufacturing careers in Illinois, as part of a broader five-year, $100 million “Building the Future Workforce Initiative” global commitment the company launched in 2025.

A Cincinnati-based Americana duo which used to call Bloomington-Normal home is returning to its stomping grounds, playing a trio of shows in Central Illinois next week. Stone & Snow's upcoming appearance in Peoria Heights is on the heels of an unexpected invitation to perform at the Great American State Fair.

In the past, Peoria built things that could only have been built here — Victorian mansions on the bluffs, a sandstone city hall once voted the best in the country, a hillside of mid-century modern homes designed by local architects. But the buildings going up in the Peoria area lately tend to look the same — flat-roofed blocks of brick, metal panel, and glass — the kind of efficient, from-nowhere construction spreading across every mid-sized American city. It wasn't always like this.

Eric Sorensen is the only meteorologist serving in Congress. The former television weatherman is looking to use that experience to help shape federal policy to help keep Americans safe from weather disasters. Sorensen found a Republican colleague, U.S. Rep. Mike Flood of Nebraska — another former broadcaster — to help form the Weather Enterprise Caucus.

Immigration enforcement is ramping up again in Illinois. The Illinois Head Start Association recently released a report sharing anonymous community stories about how Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, activity has affected children at Head Start centers. IPR's Peter Medlin sat down with Illinois Head Start Executive Director Lauri Morrison-Frichtl to discuss the report.

Silos — tower-like structures on farms that hold fermented feed for livestock — have dotted the Midwestern landscape for 150 years. But they’re threatened by development and old age. One “silo hunter” in northern Illinois has been tracking down silos her grandfather built before they disappear.

On this week’s episode of Out and About, Mae Gilliland of ArtsPartners of Central Illinois talks with Cory Boulton, Coordinator of Music Education and Director of Choral Activities at Bradley University, about The Lost Birds, an upcoming performance by the Gratus Choral Ensemble.

The American Heart Association is looking to broaden fundraising and prevention efforts to include more of Central Illinois. Historically, the group's focus has been on Champaign and Peoria. Dr. Colleen Blackburn, vice president of operations at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, wants to change that.