WGLT Newscasts - 5:04pm 6-16-2025

Published Jun 16, 2025, 10:06 PM

This newscast aired at 5:04pm on 6-16-2025 on WGLT.

From the WGLT newsroom, I'm Ben Howell. A bill that aims to protect reproductive health care in Illinois is awaiting Governor JB Pritzker's signature. The bill approved by state lawmakers would allow doctors to prescribe mifepristone, even if the Food and Drug Administration were to ban it. Democratic sponsor Representative Dagmara Avalar says the state would then follow guidance from the world.

Health organization.

The federal government has decided to not be part of the WHO only during the Trump administration, but prior to that, whether it was a Democrat or a Republican, we have been part of the WHO. Health

and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has asked the Food and Drug Administration commissioner to review the latest data on the abortion pill.

As studies begin on the potential for 220 mile per hour passenger train service in Illinois, a look back at a previous effort shows it may take a generation to have it come to pass. Joe Zabo headed the Federal Railroad Administration during the Obama administration. Before that, he was a union guy interested in 110 mile an hour service. Zabo says.

Demand and economic analysis was crucial to bring other people to embrace the vision. It started with those of us, myself included, in the union arena, you know, meeting weekly with those in the environmental community and thinking about how do we build this out. Zabo says after decades of effort, the federal government found funding.

A volunteer advisor for the Illinois High School Association says K through 12 student athletes aren't able to make time for mental health needs. Kendrick Coates is the first mental health advisor for the IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee. He says pressure from teammates, parents, and coaches kept him from being able to ever get help when he was a student athlete in Pontiac. I feared that if my coaches knew I was going through something mental.

They were going to cut my playing time. Coats worked the past 10 years on athlete mental health as a track and field coach at Pontiac and Bloomington high schools, and Governor JB Pritzker has signed the $55 billion state budget for the next 12 months into law. The budget includes nearly $400 million in cuts to programs and operational costs for state agencies. Republicans have ridiculed the budget, saying it will set Illinois up for failure. The budget goes into effect on July 1st. I'm Ben.

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