The Illinois Innocence Project (IIP) at the University of Illinois Springfield is pleased to announce its client Jennifer McMullan has been released after more than 19 years of wrongful imprisonment for a murder she did not commit. At a court hearing on Wednesday, June 16,at the McHenry County Courthouse, the State vacated McMullan’s murder conviction and sentence, and presented a plea agreement that would release McMullan that day with her sentence considered “time served.”

When Sangamon Auditorium first opened its doors on Feb. 21, 1981, with Hal Holbrook’s performance of “Mark Twain Tonight,” it became a valuable arts resource for the surrounding area.

Hometown: Gabon, Central AfricaMajor: Public AdministrationFuture Plans: Work as a government advisor and earn a master’s degree

When John Hanlon started his career as a lawyer in 1983, he knew of only one case where an innocent person had been cleared of a crime: Sam Shepphard, the Ohio physician exonerated in 1966 of killing his wife.

The University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Hub, the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Community Health Roundtable will host a free public webinar titled “The Lasting Effects of COVID-19 on Patients, the Health Care System and the World” via Zoom at noon Friday.