Sangamon Sun

The Illinois State Museum is set to collect oral histories of Route 66, also known as the "Mother Road," in anticipation of its centennial in 2026. The museum seeks individuals who interacted with the iconic highway before its decommissioning in 1985. Route 66, which once connected Chicago and Los Angeles, is now marked as a "Historic Route" in Illinois. Various state and local installations celebrate the historic roadway.

Potential storytellers are encouraged to contact the museum via email. Volunteers may be interviewed and video-recorded, with their stories potentially posted online. As the starting point for westward-bound Route 66, Illinois aims to highlight its historical significance.

In higher education news, Forbes has recognized the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) as an "AI powerhouse." The recognition comes amid ongoing developments in artificial intelligence engineering at UIUC, supported by notable alumni such as Thomas Siebel, founder and CEO of C3.ai, Inc. Siebel's $50 million donation has led to the establishment of the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science at UIUC. The school maintains affiliations with institutions like the University of California/Berkeley and corporations including Microsoft and IBM.

Starting spring 2025, Illinois high school students will take the ACT exam instead of the SAT for their annual state assessments. The Illinois State Board of Education announced this change recently. Both exams measure proficiency in core subjects like English language arts and math and are commonly used for college admissions and scholarship applications. These tests also fulfill federal mandates under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Finally, a $334 million federal grant has been announced for Belvidere Assembly Plant in Boone County. Originally opened by Chrysler Corporation in 1965, the plant was indefinitely closed by Stellantis in December 2022 but plans to reopen it were revealed in November 2023. The facility will focus on assembling electric-powered Ram pickup trucks under support from both state aid through the REV-IL Act and federal financing explicitly tied to electric vehicle manufacturing.