Emily Hays

Reporter

About Emily

             Emily Hays started at WILL in October 2021 after three-plus years in local newsrooms in Virginia and Connecticut. She has won state awards for her housing coverage at Charlottesville Tomorrow and her education reporting at the New Haven Independent. Emily graduated from Yale University where she majored in History and South Asian Studies.

A student holds a world map with colorful dots marking where students come from. Students add dots as they walk by, in mid-August 2025.

International student enrollment increases at University of Illinois despite Trump policies

September 10, 2025 No Comments

The System announced Wednesday that international student enrollment increased 5.9% across the Springfield, Urbana-Champaign and Chicago universities.

A white man in a tan coat walks in a yellow school hallway.

Champaign teachers secure more than 15 percent raise over three years in new contract

September 9, 2025 No Comments

This year, the union and school district reached an agreement without any strike threats.

A ninth grader stands outside the Cerro Gordo Junior/Senior High School building in rural Piatt County.

Central Illinois students win state poetry prize, as host organization grapples with federal funding cuts

September 5, 2025 No Comments

Two students in rural Piatt County and one student in Champaign won a youth poetry prize hosted by Illinois Humanities.

‘KPop Demon Hunters’ lead actress Arden Cho talks about her days at the University of Illinois

September 4, 2025 No Comments

A University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana graduate stars in Netflix’s most popular original movie.

Rep. Robin Kelly (IL-2) sits with Ed Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy at ACLU of Illinois, in the auditorium of Pontiac Township High School in Pontiac, Ill. on April 16. The two took audience questions about tarriffs, DOGE, MEDICARE, MEDICAID, and the Trump Administration.

Illinois ACLU weighs in on Trump plans to send troops into Chicago, exclude certain immigrants from Head Start

August 26, 2025 No Comments

If President Trump sends the national guard into Chicago, the ACLU of Illinois would help release detained people and sue over excessive force.

Chancellor Charles Isbell responds to interview questions in an armchair in his office. He is wearing tweed orange suit jacket with a blue button up underneath.

As University of Illinois classes start, Champaign-Urbana chancellor talks about federal funding cuts and his new office decor

August 25, 2025 No Comments

Charles Isbell is still getting to know the community, but he’s also preparing for possible attacks from the federal government.