
Maureen Foertsch McKinney
Maureen Foertsch McKinney is the NPR Illinois News Editor and a lead editor of Illinois Issues' feature articles, working with freelance writers, and is curator of the Equity blog. Maureen joined the staff in 1998 as projects editor. Previously, she worked at three Illinois daily newspapers, most recently the suburban Chicago-based Daily Herald, where she served stints as an education reporter and copy editor. She graduated in 1985 with a bachelor's in journalism. She also has a master's degree in English from the University of Illinois at Springfield.
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The University of Illinois Springfield has elected to discontinue its contract with the state’s Department of Children and Family Services to offer simulation training for agency investigators. UIS had turned a campus house into a simulation lab.
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The report showed that a disproportionate number of survivors are Black or Latinx and/or transgender.
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A law signed Friday is expected to cut down on HIV infections among the hardest hit groups – Black, Latinx and LGBTQ individuals.
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A leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion raises the possibility that Roe V Wade will be overturned after nearly five decades. That has Illinois lawmakers, providers, legal groups and advocates strategizing about what they will do if abortion rights are no longer the law of the land. With the projection of a court sealing Roe’s fate, 26 states are expected to ban abortion, and many of them surround Illinois.
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Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a new law this summer that mandates — starting with the 2022-2023 school year — all public elementary and high schools be required to offer a unit of study on Asian American history in the state, Midwest and country.
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The Prairie State will have the most expansive ban in the nation on the sale of endangered and threatened species after a law Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed this summer takes effect in January. That’s according to the Illinois director of the Humane Society of the United States.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation Thursday that will expand access to feminine hygiene products for impoverished and homeless women and college students.
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When he was a homeless freshman at the University of Illinois Springfield, Chicagoan Prince Washington said he had to look for someone who could help find a place to stay. He eventually did in the form of the vice chancellor for student affairs, the late Clarice Ford, who helped him get a job on a campus cleaning crew so he would have housing during the summer break.
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The new law, which takes effect in January, requires pharmacists to get education that will include how to counsel patients and an assessment for screening.
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A child poverty report released Monday shows major improvement in the last decade, but for kids in many rural pockets of the state, progress was less significant.