Terri Hemmert To Receive Doctorate From Elmhurst College

The Blackhawks season is over. They lost to the Predators, 4-1, and were swept out of the first round NHL playoffs for the first time since 1993. The Bulls will try to press their playoff advantage over the top-seeded Celtics tonight at the United Center ... Another sign that the Illinois budget impasse is screwing up Illinois' public universities: Standard and Poor's has downgraded the credit ratings for six schools including the U of I, and put them all on "negative watch" ... President Trump plans to sign three executive orders that may lead to looser regulations on financial firms. The IRS is about to start using private debt collectors to track down overdue tax payments. The New York Times reports consumer watchdogs are concerned they'll target the most vulnerable taxpayers, and open them up to criminal copycats ... The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on police officers in Paris. It comes just before Sunday's presidential election ... The state of Arkansas has executed a convicted murderer -- the first allowed by courts before the state's lethal injection drugs expire at the end of the month ... Cloudy and cooler today, with high temperatures in the low-50s and cooler by the lake.

"The division on the whole may be better than we thought."

On this April 20th -- 4/20 -- people backing legalized marijuana use are planning smoke-ins around the country. (There are a number of stories about why 4/20 is a holiday for weed enthusiasts. Ask a friend.) In Washington, DC, demonstrators on Capitol Hill are reportedly going to try to hand out free joints to Congressmembers. Illinois lawmakers heard testimony on a proposal to legalize it here ...A Cook County judge will rule next week on a Chicago Public Schools funding lawsuit against the State of Illinois ... Governor Rauner is catching heat from reproductive rights advocates. He ran as a pro-choice candidate three years ago but is now promising to veto a measure that would keep abortion legal in Illinois if the Supreme Court overturns Roe-v-Wade. Chicago's Cardinal Cupich praised Rauner's veto plan ... Two more courts have stayed two more executions in Arkansas ... Secretary of State Tillerson says the Trump administration is conducting a thorough review of the deal to restrict Iran's nuclear program ... Russia is shutting down a UN Security Council condemnation of North Korea's latest missile test ... CBS News reports the CIA and FBI are investigating what may be the worst breach in CIA history. They're looking for an insider who leaked information on tools used to spy on smartphones and tvs to Wikileaks ... The Cubs came back to beat the Brewers ... the White Sox lost in New York ... and it's do or die tonight for the Blackhawks in Nashville ... There's a chance of rain this morning. Otherwise, it'll be breezy and near 70 degrees.

Prison officials in Massachusetts say the former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez has committed suicide in their custody. Hernandez was serving a life sentence for a 2013 murder. The Patriots are due at the White House today to celebrate their Super Bowl victory ... The state of Illinois' budget impasse is going on 22 months, and now it's downgrading the credit of at least one public university. Moody's has downgraded the rating for Northeastern Illinois in Chicago, and warns the rest that downgrades might be coming ... Those US warships President Trump said were heading for the Korean peninsula, weren't. Pentagon officials acknowledge miscommunications; the USS Carl Vinson was bound for joint exercises with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean ... Democrat Jon Ossof has taken a historically conservative Georgia congressional special election to a runoff ... Police in Fresno, California, say a gunman was targeting white people when he killed three men at random. The Ohio man who posted video of his murder of an elderly man on Facebook was spotted by police yesterday and killed himself ... The Bulls, Cubs and White Sox all won. The Bulls are coming home with a 2-0 lead in the playoffs against the top-seeded Celtics ... There's a good chance of showers and thunderstorms today, with high temperatures in the low-60s before they drop to the 40s later this afternoon.