Illinois is releasing more than 37-million-dollars to launch facilities for five hubs of the Illinois Innovation Network. The hubs are designed to help accelerate job creation and economic growth through groundbreaking education, research, and discovery. Funding will support the construction and renovation of facilities at Northeastern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the University of Illinois Springfield.
United Airlines is making a huge purchase. The Chicago-based airline announced it has placed an order for 100 Boeing 787 Dreamliners with options to purchase 100 more. That the largest widebody order by a U.S. carrier in commercial aviation history. The new widebody order is expected to replace older Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 aircraft, with all 767 aircraft removed from the United fleet by 2030.
Two people are dead following a crash involving a vehicle being chase by police in Iroquois County. State police say authorities were following a Mercedes Benz SUV Monday on US Route 45 when the driver lost control. The SUV hit a Jeep Wrangler head-on before crashing into a third vehicle. The woman driving the SUV, Krista Woltz-Hernandez, died at the scene. The driver of the Jeep was also killed. She was identified as Julie McGowan. The third driver was hospitalized.
Illinois drivers will see two increases in gas taxes starting next month and another increase after that over the summer. The state will be increasing the tax on Jan. 1 by a little over three cents per gallon. This will make Illinois the second highest gas tax state behind California. The tax for gasoline will total 42.3 cents per gallon. These prices are rising because of the Rebuild Illinois plan that was signed into law in 2019. The plan helps with infrastructure maintenance. The increases were paused in July for six months as part of the Illinois Family Relief Plan that also stopped the state’s grocery tax. The next tax increase will be in just a few weeks, on Jan. 1.
Ten years ago, December 14, 2012, a gunman walked into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut where he gunned down twenty first grade students and six educators. On this tenth anniversary Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, (D) Illinois, called for a ban on military style assault weapons. Durbin went on to say there have been 189 school shootings since Sandy Hook. Along with 3,000 children and teens dying from firearms each year.