Molly Hughes
CorrespondentMolly Hughes was a correspondent at WCBU. She left the staff in July 2026.
Molly is a journalist and media educator based in Central Illinois. She holds an M.S. in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.A. in English with a minor in political science from Worcester State University in Massachusetts.
Her reporting has appeared at CU-CitizenAccess, InvestigateMidwest and the Champaign News-Gazette across print and digital platforms.
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Architectural historian Tim Hartneck, who volunteers for the Peoria Historical Society and maintains the Central Illinois Landmarks Foundation's architectural archive, said the Caterpillar era is what put modern day Peoria on the map. -
The buildings going up now belong to a style that has spread across mid-sized cities in the country — efficient, functional and from nowhere in particular. -
The Peoria Public Schools Board spent nearly two hours Monday night hearing from 20 speakers on a proposed $624,000 contract with Elite Community Outreach — only to watch the vote collapse over whether the item had been legally posted at all. -
Friday evening, Peorians honored Brooks, a longtime resident who played for the Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs in the early 1960s and went on to coach for decades at Woodruff and Manual High Schools. -
"Our crime statistics for juveniles is significantly worse than East St. Louis," said Tom Marshall, an Elite Community Outreach board member who sits on the county's Juvenile Justice Council, describing the findings of a University of Illinois Chicago study he said was shared with the council. "They're known for being one of the worst areas in the state." -
The Peoria County Board approved an emergency $101,000 contract on Thursday to repair a drainage structure on Radnor Road that failed during June's heavy rains. -
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen criticized a Supreme Court decision that struck down limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with their candidates. -
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen said this year's defense policy bill costs too much — at the same time he hopes the legislation's funding protects military installations in Central Illinois. -
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen brought his affordable housing push to Peoria Tuesday, spotlighting a Neighborhood House effort to renovate vacant homes and sell them to working families. -
An East Peoria woman got a last-minute opportunity to take part in a piece of American history last weekend, running a leg of Relay for America's non-stop flag carry from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.
