The following story was reported by the Illinois Times on Feb. 20, 2025.
"When students come out of PAR, they've just come off of covering the Illinois General Assembly and state government, which is one of the more high-profile beats in the state," said Jason Piscia, director of PAR. "They are keeping track of what the governor and the legislature are doing, right in the middle of the action in the Capitol. When those students go into another newsroom, they're able to hit the ground running, pick up coverage of a city hall or a county board, and they're ready to cover that on day one without much hand-holding."