Dr. Richard Gilman-Opalsky is a professor of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield. He sat down with Community Voices to discuss his career and provided insight into what we can learn from riots. He also shared his experience presenting at the TEDx presentation held at the UIS campus and his love of jazz music.

This interview aired on WUIS on February 18, 2022.

No. 20 the University of Illinois Springfield baseball team hosted Saginaw Valley State in the Prairie Stars home opener Saturday.

UIS scored 14 runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Bobby Barnard led the team with four hits. Brandon Bannon recorded four RBI.

This story aired on WICS Newschannel 20 on February 26, 2022.

The University of Illinois Springfield women's basketball team won its first Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament game Monday night, beating Missouri S&T 60-52 at the TRAC.

The Prairie Stars advance to the GLVC Tournament Quarterfinals in Edwardsville, Ill. on Friday. The Stars will face Missouri-St. Louis.

This story aired on WICS Newschannel 20 on February 28, 2022.

Watch the story online.

A University of Illinois Springfield men's tennis player is 5,000 miles from home.

Nikita Revin is from Kyiv, Ukraine, the center of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

He tells us what life is like for his family and friends stuck in a country now unrecognizable.

"When I hear news about missiles in my home city, I was really in shock about it," Revin said. "I was like 'my family is there,' so I don't know what to do, to be honest."

The University of Illinois Springfield School of Education and Springfield School District 186 have come together to support the new Diverse Workforce Pipeline Program.

The program aims to increase the number of diverse teachers throughout District 186 classrooms and hopes to have at least 24 paraprofessionals enrolled in the pipeline at UIS over the next two years.