Civil Rights

The Peoria NAACP and Illinois State Police District 8 have adopted a set of shared principles aimed at improving the relationship between local law enforcement and the Black community.

A coalition of Peoria community groups requesting the disciplinary records of several police officers involved in fatal incidents, say they're not satisfied with the statement released Wednesday night by Chief Loren Marion III and the police union.

Illinois landlords are not allowed to kick out tenants during the government-mandated shelter in place period. But that's not stopping some from trying.

As bars and clubs shut down amid COVID-19, some displaced employees are looking to sex work to supplement their income.

Peoria's homeless shelters are staying open amid COVID-19 related closures, but they face some challenges in finding the space and resources to accommodate the need.

The keynote speaker at Peoria's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Luncheon made voting rights the main theme of his address.

The Illinois Department of Corrections has revised its publication review policy to include a centralized appeal process for incarcerated people who feel they’ve been unfairly denied access to certain reading materials.

Four swastikas were found on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus in the last two weeks. The hate symbols were found drawn or carved in two different residence halls, a library and a bathroom stall in the campus’ foreign languages building.

Nearly 90 percent of the children living in concentrated poverty in Illinois are nonwhite, according to a recent report by a child advocacy group.

The Illinois Department of Corrections will implement a new publication review policy in October. The change comes after staff at the Danville Correctional Center removed more than 200 books from a college-in-prison program’s library at the facility earlier this year.

A Rockford woman has filed a federal lawsuit against the Illinois Secretary of State. The action is done in partnership with a Chicago organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.

Officials at the University of Illinois are investigating a report of a noose found in an elevator at Allen Hall, a student dorm in Urbana.

A recent report illustrates just how much harder it is for people who aren’t white to get small-business loans.

A package of bills signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker is aimed at helping newly-released Illinois prisoners find their way back into the democratic process.

Illinois is joining a chorus of states condemning a Trump administration proposal to rollback protections for transgender people under the Affordable Care Act.

Banks in Illinois are more likely to lend to white-owned small businesses as opposed to their minority counterparts — to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s according to a report released Tuesday by the Woodstock Institute, a social justice and research think tank.

The American Civil Liberties Union sent letters to eight Illinois municipalities last week urging them to repeal their panhandling bans. The nonprofit organization warned of legal action if community officials don't heed their warning.

Hundreds of immigrant children who originally came to the southern border are sick, with illnesses like fever, strep throat, and even tuberculosis. Now, they’re being sent alone to Illinois shelters.

White extremist propaganda surged by almost 60 percent on Midwestern college campuses last year. That’s according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League.

Peoria native and feminist icon Betty Friedan received a tribute across the street from her childhood home.

An Illinois high school student and her father are suing a school district and several administrators alleging her civil rights were violated when she showed support for gun rights during an anti-school violence walkout.

A 2020 jury trial date has been set for a transgender inmate suing Illinois Department of Corrections officials for alleged abuses.

A federal judge has ordered the city of Springfield to pay more than $330,000 to civil rights attorneys who represented two panhandlers in the legal fight over anti-panhandling laws in the city.

Springfield City Council members have unanimously approved a resolution affirming the state capital city's commitment to civil rights and opposition to racism.