WCBU Newscasts - 7:04am 8-13-2026

From the WCBU newsroom, I'm Rich Drager. The Bury City Council has given its initial approval for a $29 million permanent supportive housing complex for homeless families on the city's south side. Mayor Rita Ali says the 48-unit Phoenix Manor development at the site of the former Harrison School is a key step toward revitalizing the area. We have to repopulate this area in order to sustain grocery stores, retail stores, pharmacies. We have to have the population, which means housing comes first. The council voted 8-2 for a rezoning and special use allow construction. First District Council member Denise Jackson, a vocal critic of the project, was joined by John Kelly in voting no. Any future data center that may be built in Tazwell County may only be allowed in areas owned as industrial. That's the key takeaway from the Land Use Committee's first discussion around a proposed data center ordinance. Committee members received a first draft just before the start of this week's meeting, and that draft allowed data centers in an agricultural area. Committee Chair Russ Crawford recommend removing that allowance, and committee members agreed. The county has not received any applications for a data center. A suburban Chicago lawmakers calling for stricter oversight in criminal charges after 57 decomposing bodies were discovered at a Southside funeral home. State rep Diane Blair Sherlock says she wants to introduce legislation to clamp down on the funeral home industry. The Villa Park Democrat wants quarterly inspections of funeral homes and for bad actors to serve prison time for mishandling remains. New Illinois public buildings will soon have to install adult changing stations and bathrooms. Sponsored Democratic State Representative Amy Breel of Ottawa says the new law is aimed at providing people with disabilities who can't go to the bathroom alone, a place to be changed by their caregivers. People came forward with stories about having to change their daughters on a bathroom floor or their sons or in the back of a SUV. and all of those things are just unacceptable. Educational buildings and athletic stadiums will be. The fatal shooting of a teenager at a protest in Seattle has gone unsolved for six years. This is open in your face. How are there no answers? Our investigation has uncovered new evidence and witnesses who say they've never talked to police. Did police ever call you? Not once. Listen to We Keep Us Safe, a new true crime series on the Embedded podcast from NPR.