News

By Susan Stephens

DeKalb, IL – Northern Illinois University's official report on the 2008 campus shooting is long, wide-ranging, and offers a few more clues as to why a former student would return to the university to commit murder. NIU President John Peters spoke with WNIJ's Susan Stephens about what's in the report and why it's important.

Rockford/DeKalb – Rockford's unemployment rate nearly doubles the national rate. The combined jobless rate for Winnebago and Boone Counties now stands at nearly 20-percent. Chicago-based economist, Edward Stuart, says it could take six months or longer before Rockford begins to see improvement. He says the recession has been so deep, it will take a lot for the city to pull itself out. Meanwhile eleven out of the top twelve metropolitan areas in Illinois have double-digit unemployment. In DeKalb County, the jobless rate is close to 12-percent.

By Susan Stephens & Mike Moen

DeKalb, IL – Fears of layoffs and program cuts haunt Illinois school districts in the face of the state's fiscal crisis. That's why a recent Chicago Tribune analysis of school superintendent salaries raised so many eyebrows. WNIJ's Susan Stephens has more.

By Mike Moen

DeKalb, IL – A northern Illinois lawmaker says the governor's budget plan was too short on details, and all out of order. WNIJ's, Mike Moen, has more:

By Mike Moen

DeKalb, IL – Talk to most heroin users and they will tell you it's a highly addictive and destructive drug. In part two of our series on heroin use among young adults, we hear from a recovering addict from Rockford, who went from a comfortable living, to sleeping on park benches. He sat down with WNIJ's..Mike Moen: