Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, as the first Category 4 storm in recorded history to reach shore in the northeast Gulf Coast. News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian spoke with Illinois atmospheric sciences professor Deanna Hence about the storm’s size, strength and path, and the impact of global climate change on future hurricanes. 

Changes to the age for required minimum distributions from retirement accounts could be made after the 2018 mid-term elections, said Richard L. Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on tax policy and retirement issues, and the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois.

Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, the director of the Office of Community College Research and Leadership at the University of Illinois, discusses initiatives that are making college degrees attainable for more students.

A U. of I. political historian looks back 50 years at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Professor Isabel Molina-Guzman’s new book examines the role of Latinos in TV sitcoms, as well as the changing form of the genre in a “post-racial” television era.

Scientists recently announced the discovery of a subatomic particle that made its way to Earth from an event that occurred 3.7 billion light-years away. Sensors buried within Antarctic ice detected the ghostly cosmic particle, called a neutrino, and traced its origin to a rapidly spinning galactic nucleus known as a blazar. Physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian spoke with physics professor Liang Yang about the significance of the discovery.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has been the court’s “pivot point” between its liberal and conservative elements since Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement in 2006, said Vikram Amar, dean of the University of Illinois College of Law and the Iwan Foundation Professor of Law.

Leslie K. Morrow, the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center, discusses the impact that a proposed law could have on the curricula and students in Illinois public schools.

The Supreme Court “punted” this week on the issue of partisan gerrymandering, but left the door open to future action. An Illinois professor hopes her research can be part of the solution.

University of Illinois Extension educator Kathy Sweedler, whose focus area is consumer economics, spoke recently with News Bureau education editor Sharita Forrest about what teens can gain from summer jobs.