Illinois

LGBTQA+ nonprofit newspaper opens brick-and-mortar location in Springfield

Published

2 years ago

May 7, 2024

LGBTQA+ nonprofit newspaper opens brick-and-mortar location in Springfield

The Illinois Eagle, a LGBTQA+ nonprofit online newspaper, has opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Springfield.

Editor and publisher of the Illinois Eagle Tom Wray said it was time to expand the news organization to its own solid location and stop cluttering his living space with the news.

“Literally it was the past few years in the backroom of my house,” Wray said. “Either the house I rented, or the house I own now. It’s getting to the point I simply don’t have the room in my house anymore. I also needed the separation of working from my home; I already have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and have to work at concentrating.”The new location for the online newspaper is the historic 1133 W. Governor St. which was previously the House + Garden reSource gallery home decor until owner Greg Pierceall relocated to 1220 W. Governor St. last year.

The building was originally built to be Springfield’s west-side Community Bakery over 100 years ago and now houses Stella Coffee and Tea to the left of the newspaper and Junk in the Trunk vintage to its right.

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Wray is sub-leasing the building from Stella Coffee and Tea next door and still has lots of work to do but overall, the step forward for the paper is a major one.

“We haven’t had a grand opening or anything like that yet – a few friends have come in and said ‘ooh I love this look’ (in regards to the walls),” Wray said. “It’s literally patchy spackle and bare walls. They say it’s got a nice kind of vibe but I don’t want that vibe.”

Wray, 49, has over 31 years of journalism experience in Indiana and Illinois; he went to Franklin college Indiana, graduating with a bachelors of journalism and theater in 1995.

After graduating from college, Wray worked at a newspaper in Kokomo where the Ryan White case took place. White was a 13-year-old boy who was diagnosed with AIDS after a blood transfusion in 1984 and faced AIDS-related discrimination from his community. Congress passed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act in August 1990 after his death.

“When you’re a gay man in Indiana in the ‘90s and working in Kokomo … I had to actually interview the radio host who was one of the people who was (vocal against White) the most,” Wray said. “Some of the staff knew I was gay, I never told the editor – he found out. Then started to be a pattern of being … pushed out. I went from having a section to having a page and a half.”

According to Wray, it got to a point where he took the first job he could and moved to Chicago and fell in love with Illinois. After 23 years in the windy city where he started the Illinois Eagle, Wray needed a change of pace and decided to move to Springfield during the pandemic, as an accepting city he could fall in love with all over again.

To fund the newsrooms, Wray is applying for national grants like Press Forward, which strengthens communities by reinvigorating locally owned news outlets through donors.

A grand opening is scheduled to take place during Springfield’s PrideFest later this month.

Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for the State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted

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Illinois

1 killed, multiple displaced after Glenwood, Illinois, condo fire, officials say

Published

2 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

1 killed, multiple displaced after Glenwood, Illinois, condo fire, officials say

December 13, 2025 / 11:02 PM CST
/ CBS Chicago

One person is dead after a fire inside a condo complex in south suburban Glenwood on Saturday evening.

It happened around 5 p.m. in the 900 block of 194th Street.

Glenwood fire officials said that crews responded to a second-floor unit inside the three-story building that was engulfed with flames.

It was confirmed that one person died in the fire. Their identity was not released.

Neighbors in adjoining condos were displaced. The Red Cross was working to provide further assistance to those affected.

Glenwood fire said they are working with the state fire marshal to investigate what led up to the blaze.

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Illinois

2025 FCS football championship: Bracket, schedule, scores

Published

14 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

2025 FCS football championship: Bracket, schedule, scores

The 2025-26 FCS playoffs consist of a 24-team bracket with play starting on Saturday, Nov. 29 and concluding on Monday, Jan. 5. The top 16 teams seeded and the top eight seeds receive automatic byes to the second round, while the rest of the 24-team field (the remaining 16 teams) play in the first round.

Here’s everything you need to know for the Division I Football Championship postseason.

FCS championship bracket

Click or tap here to view the bracket

FCS championship schedule

All times Eastern

Quarterfinals

Friday, December 12
Saturday, December 13

Semifinals

Saturday, December 20
- Semifinal 1 | 4 p.m. ET | ABC
- Semifinal 2 | 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN2

National Championship

FCS championship rounds, dates

Selection show: 12 p.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 23 on ESPNU
First round: Saturday, Nov. 29
Second round: Saturday, Dec. 6
Quarterfinals: Friday, Dec. 12 through Saturday, Dec. 13
Semifinals: Saturday, Dec. 20
National championship: Monday, Jan. 5 on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET

FCS selections

The bracket selections for the 2025-26 FCS Championship was on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. The bracket was be revealed via a selection show on ESPNU at 12 p.m. ET and a selections release.

Eleven conferences (or conference partnerships/alliances) earn automatic bids to the playoffs. The FCS Championship Committee selects the remaining 13 at-large bids.

AUTOMATIC BIDS: Click or tap here to see all 11 of the clinched auto-bids

FCS championship history

North Dakota Dakota State is the reigning national champion, winning its 10 title in 2024 with a 35-32 win over Montana State. Here’s every FCS champion and runner-up from the past decade:

Year	Champion	Coach	Score	Runner-Up	Site
2024	North Dakota State	Tim Polasek	35-32	Montana State	Frisco, Texas
2023	South Dakota State	Jimmy Rogers	23-3	Montana	Frisco, Texas
2022	South Dakota State	John Stiegelmeier	45-21	North Dakota State	Frisco, Texas
2021	North Dakota State	Matt Entz	38-10	Montana State	Frisco, Texas
2020	Sam Houston	K.C. Keeler	23-21	South Dakota State	Frisco, Texas
2019	North Dakota State	Matt Entz	28-20	James Madison	Frisco, Texas
2018	North Dakota State	Chris Klieman	38-24	Eastern Washington	Frisco, Texas
2017	North Dakota State	Chris Klieman	17-13	James Madison	Frisco, Texas
2016	James Madison	Mike Houston	28-14	Youngstown State	Frisco, Texas
2015	North Dakota State	Chris Klieman	37-10	Jacksonville State	Frisco, Texas

Click here for a full list of every champion since 1978.

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Illinois

Another Winter Storm Targets Central Illinois

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Another Winter Storm Targets Central Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS) — After a brief lull in the weather on Friday, now another winter storm is setting its sights on central Illinois. Come Saturday, our next round of Winter is set to arrive. A new weather maker sweeps across the Upper Midwest, causing more snow to develop by mid-morning on Saturday. A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued from 7AM Saturday through 8 PM Saturday evening. The snow will pick up intensity by late-morning and last through the afternoon into the early evening hours before ending. This new weather system will follow a path very similar to the previous storm system and spread a swath of moderate to locally heavy snow. Before the snow wraps up Saturday evening, expect another 2″-4″ for much of central Illinois, with afternoon high temperatures bitterly cold in the mid-teens.

But the worst blast of cold air comes in Saturday evening into Sunday. Frigid Arctic air surges down from Canada causing temperatures to really tumble, driving in the coldest weather we’ve had in a long time and certainly the coldest so far this season. A Cold Weather Advisory is issued from 8 PM Saturday through Noon on Sunday. Sunday morning will be dangerously cold with wind chills around 20 to 25 BELOW ZERO. With wind chills this extreme, it doesn’t take long to suffer from frostbite or hypothermia. Please stay inside to keep warm, but if you do need to venture out, limit the time you spend outdoors, and make sure to cover up all exposed skin by wearing a hat, scarf, and gloves. Sunday afternoon features lots of sunshine, but despite the sunshine, temperatures will be brutally cold and frigid with high temperatures stuck in the low single numbers while wind chills remain well below zero.

Expect more extremely chilly weather on Monday with wind chills still ranging from 5 to 15 BELOW ZERO in the morning and afternoon highs only reaching into the 20s. Then temperatures will finally start to warm up, and we should climb out of the deep freeze with highs in the mid to upper 30s on Tuesday.

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