The Illinois Press Foundation is ready to help news organizations through the process. 
They’ve provided this information: 

The application process for local journalism tax credits from the State of Illinois in 2026 is scheduled to open on Sunday, Feb. 1. 

Through a grant from The Joyce Foundation, the Illinois Press Foundation continues to coordinate programming and access to help your news organization through this process – from the application to claiming the tax credit. 

Because these credits are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, we urge news organizations to apply as quickly as possible. If you have any questions throughout your application process, the programming made possible through The Joyce Foundation gives you free access to an accountant and attorney, both of whom were very helpful to many of you during the 2025 processes. They are: 

• Larry Johnson, senior manager at accounting services firm Sikich in Springfield. He can be reached at Larry.Johnson@sikich.com. 

• Brendan Healey, media law attorney at Baron Harris Healey in Chicago. He can be reached at bhealey@bhhlawfirm.com. 

You also can reach out to me at jrogers@illinoispress.org with any questions you might have. 

In preparation for the Feb. 1 application process opening, Larry and Brendan have compiled a list of helpful tips. Those are listed below, followed by some additional information and FAQs that were put together by our partners at Rebuild Local News. I will be sending regular reminders over the next few weeks, because we want to see all credits claimed this year. (While all $15,000 credits for retained journalists were claimed in 2025, not all $10,000 credits for new hires were claimed.) 

Eligibility 

• You must have at least one employee (even if you are the employee) 

• Print, digital, and broadcast (radio and television) are all eligible. 

• For-profits and non-profits are eligible. 

• Public companies and non-public companies are eligible. 

• Companies based in Illinois and companies that are not based in Illinois are eligible. 

• You get money based on “qualified journalists.” A qualified journalist is not required to live in Illinois but must live within 50 miles of her coverage area and cover local Illinois news. 

• Make sure you meet the publication frequency (this can be difficult for digital publications, which are required to publish at least one community-oriented piece per week for the prior 12 months) 

• Another tricky criterion for digital-only publications is that 33% of your audience must be in Illinois. 

• If you’re a non-profit, you can qualify, but you must state in your IRS filings that your mission is the coverage of state or local news. That does not have to be your only mission, but it must be part of it. 

• The new journalist credit is based on a net increase in qualified journalists from January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026. If you employed three qualified journalists on January 1, 2025, and have four as of January 1, 2026, you qualify for one new journalist credit. 

Timetable 

• Get your application in on February 1 or as close to February 1 as possible. 

• Use the most current set of internal financial statements when preparing the application. 

• The credit shall be applied to the first reporting period after the credit certificate is issued.  If the amount of credit exceeds the liability for the reporting period, the excess credit shall be refunded to the taxpayer 

Materials & Information 

Have the following information and materials ready for the application 

• Beneficial ownership information 

• Qualified journalist information 

• Gross receipts for the prior taxable year as reflected in cash flow statement. These are not required to be audited. 

• Revenue earned for the previous taxable year as reflected in income statement. These are not required to be audited. 

• Total payments received from PACs, Section 527 entities, and 501(c)(3) and 501(c)6) organizations (if any) 

• Payments for political advertising in lowest unit windows (for broadcast entities) 

• Cash flow statement 

• Image of publicly posted beneficial ownership disclosure or list of board of directors 

You may also need the following: 

• IRS Form 990 (for non-profits) 

• USPS periodical permit (for print publications) 

• Images of local news stories 

• Analytics sufficient to meet 33% Illinois digital viewers (for digital-only publications) 

Also, here are two spreadsheets that were required to be completed by 2025 applicants. These may also be helpful as you prepare for this year’s process: 

Beneficial Ownership Form 

Qualified Journalist Form 

Important reminder: Read the frequently asked questions on the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity website before starting the application. 

Also, as was mentioned previously, here is information that was compiled and shared by Rebuild Local News that you should find helpful: 

Here’s what you need to know: 

• Eligibility: For-profit or nonprofit local news outlets producing original journalism and employing W-2 newsroom staff 

• Credits available: 

• $15,000 per retained journalist 

• $10,000 per net new journalist hired (Jan. 1, 2025 – Jan. 1, 2026) 

• Up to $150,000 per newsroom; $250,000 cap for chains 

• Why timing matters: Funding is capped statewide and awarded first-come, first-served 

• Applications open: February 1, 2026 

To help you prepare, we’ve put together a complete, easy-to-use resource package, including: 

• An eligibility checklist 

• A tax credit calculator 

• A step-by-step application guide 

• Two completed application examples 

Visit our website to learn more and get a head start.

It’s the time of year to make New Year’s resolutions. Every December, I resolve to read more books, bite my nails less, exercise daily and skip the fast-food drive-through when I’m hungry. Unfortunately, I fail at most of these goals before January ends. The allure of the next streaming series, the nervousness before my next class lecture, the fatigue after a long day and my growling stomach inevitably pull me back to old habits.

Over the past two months as INBA president, I’ve thought a lot about the goals and objectives of this organization. Journalism is facing many challenges that demand resilience and creativity. My hope for 2026 is to find additional ways to support journalists – both professional and students – in their everyday work. So here goes: my New Year’s resolutions for the INBA.

Expand the reach of our professional development: If you’ve ever been to a full-weekend INBA convention, you know the sessions are a great way to learn more about covering trending topics and using new technology to enhance our reporting. But in recent years it’s been a challenge to get most members to attend in-person educational sessions. I hope we can take our teaching online to gradually create a library of on-demand content, perhaps in the form of a podcast or video series, that connects our members with digestible bits of useful information they can apply to their jobs.

Increase INBA membership: Our numbers have been declining in recent years. In the fall, we were at 128, a four-year low mark after hovering in the 150s to 170s range during most of that time. See this chart for more details.  With the help of our board and the rest of our members, I’d like to see us launch a recruiting campaign to encourage more journalists, especially those from professional TV and student broadcasting, to join us.

Plan a great awards celebration: Mark Saturday, April 18, 2026, on your calendar now. We’re debuting a new event: the INBA Best of Broadcast Awards. We’re bringing all of our awards into one big night of celebration. We will honor the winners of the professional Crystal Mic Awards, the student SINBA Awards, our college scholarship recipients and Illinoisan of the Year at an evening dinner event in Champaign.

Advocate more publicly for journalism and the right to know: You don’t need me to tell you journalism and First Amendment rights face immense challenges right now. Many of you live it every day. Cuts to public broadcasting funding, physical and verbal attacks on journalists, the lack of respect in the marketplace for solid, factual, hard-hitting reporting, and government efforts to prevent reporters from getting information the public is entitled to – it’s all incredibly disheartening. As president, I will continue to speak out on these issues, especially when they affect journalists right here in Illinois. Journalists play a vital role in bringing accountability, reason, and understanding to the chaotic environment around us. Efforts to block reporters from doing that threaten the foundations of democracy and must be called out.

They say New Year’s resolutions are more likely to stick if you write them down. So there they are. I hope we can work on this list together and have an immensely better outcome than I do with my inability to tear myself away from Netflix and an order of fries.

Happy New Year — and thank you for all you do.

  Sutker has spent most of his career a 5 hour and 30 minute Amtrak ride away from SIU, in Chicago.  After short stints at WSIL and CNN, from 1989 to 2025 he was at FOX32, as an editor, producer and eventually Chief Photographer. Assignments have taken him from Washington to Haiti to Rome, and he’s covered riots, mass shootings and earthquakes.  He was there, with a camera, when Barack Obama won the presidency, and when the Cubs won the World Series. 

   Every experience has prepared him for this new role. “Throughout my career I’ve always taken great pride in mentoring young journalists who were new to the market or new to the industry.  I’ve made a career of that.”   
 In his first semester, he’s been teaching Writing Across Platforms, and a History of Media course. In Spring he’ll add Sports Reporting and Multimedia News Production. 

He’s also working on breathing life back into the River Region newsroom, which was hit hard by COVID and some university issues. “Over the past couple years the school has been restructuring. We’re no longer part of the Radio-TV program (now Radio, Television and Digital Media).  We’re now in Journalism and Advertising (SOJA).” 

  He says the changes allow convergence and collaboration, with the Daily Egyptian,  Saluki SportsView, and the Ad Lab. 

  “We’re hoping to launch a newscast in late January/early February. We’ve used this semester to get to meet the students who are interested. We meet once a week.  We practice interviewing, writing, reporting, anchoring, all while stressing that to have success as a journalist, you need to have an ethical foundation, professionalism, and to be a compassionate human being.” 

  Sutker gives credit to the support of his School Director, Jan Thompson. He also speaks glowingly of his instructors in the mid-80s: especially Richard Hildreth, who passed away in 2009, and longtime INBA member Ken Keller, who retired in 2000, but is still alive and well and living in Bloomington.  Sutker calls Keller an icon, and says he owes a great deal to him. They still stay in touch, and Keller’s number was one of the first he called when he landed this new job.  Sutker also remembers going to INBA conventions as a student. 

  The new lecturer ends this semester with the first three members of his new student leadership team in place: News Director, Executive Producer and Operations Manager.  The objective is for the news operation to be completely student-run, with Sutker functioning as an advisor. 

  “Our goal is to give our students a great education in broadcast journalism, and simultaneously provide trustworthy local, campus news.” 
 But as much as he’s giving to the students and the university, he’s receiving something as well. “I’ve envisioned having the opportunity to do something like this for a very long time.  It’s almost a dream come true.” 

Name, employer, title: Christine Hatfield, Illinois Public Media in Urbana, Producer of “The 21st Show”

Education: Bachelor’s in News (Journalism/TCOM dual major) at Ball State University ’20, Master’s in Public Affairs Reporting at UIS ’21

Previous journalism-related jobs: Second Century news fellowship at Wisconsin Public Radio in Milwaukee (2021-22), reporting for WGLT and WCBU while in PAR (2021), student reporting at Indiana Public Radio in Muncie, IN (2018-20), internship at WNIJ (2019)

Favorite thing about your job: Getting to really dive deep into these stories and conversations that make a difference in the lives of Illinoisans. There’s a place for short-form news, of course, but there’s something to be said for being able to slow down and talk about something for a full hour if it’s needed!

A favorite story you’ve covered recently: Education’s always a hot topic, and our show’s no exception. I put together a full hour on school start times in Illinois. We talked to doctors who think schools should start later, and then we opened up a dialogue with educators across the state on why these start times are what they are, and why they think they should or shouldn’t change. It was a nuanced discussion, and everyone engaged so thoughtfully with each other’s points, even when there were differences in opinion. That’s really the essence of what we try to do: give people the opportunity to engage with each other’s perspectives (not just guests, but also the people who call in!) and hopefully come away having learned something.

Favorite activity outside of work: As past president Jenna would attest to, I’m an avid board gamer! There’s something to be said for sitting down with a bunch of friends and enjoying a fun game together. My absolute favorite would have to be “Sushi Go Party!”

Why you’re a member of INBA: In this time of continued change and evolution in the world of news, I think it’s so important that those of us in this field are able to stick together, work as a community to improve what we do (and how we do it!), and build a better future for journalism.

INBA’s Crystal Mic Awards will be presented to Small and Large Market Radio and Television professionals, for the great work they’ve been doing during some very challenging times.

Students who are wrapping up the academic year will be honored with SINBA Awards for Radio and Television, and INBA Scholarships, given in memory of some of our earlier members.

Of course the evening will start with time for cocktails and networking, and we’ll continue those interactions during dinner. We’re excited to bring students and professionals together in one celebration.

A year ago, Steve Scott returned to a familiar place, near where he grew up in California.

This fall he also stepped back into a familiar role, as PA announcer for an NBA team: the Golden State Warriors. 

“It’s been fun,” Steve said. “I think I may have forgotten how much fun it is.” 

Steve started behind the mic for the Chicago Bulls, first as the backup, then full-time from 2002-2006.  This was during the time he was News Director and anchor at WLS radio. 

It’s also when he was elected 3 times as president of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.

“At that time we were fighting hard to get cameras in the courts. It was a battle and it was eventually won after I left to go to New York.  I’m proud to be even a small part of making that happen.” 

Steve and his wife Jeanne moved to New York in 2006, when he was hired as an anchor for WCBS radio.  He became involved with the New York Press Club, again serving three terms as president.  In his “free” time, he handled Public Address for the New York Knicks. 

WCBS went off the air in 2024, sending Steve back into the job market.  The Scotts made a cross-country move for his new role at KCBS in San Francisco.  Steve had grown up in Stockton and had attended San Jose State University.  Fun story about that: he didn’t graduate as a younger man, taking a full-time radio job instead, but was able to earn his last credits starting in 2019.  His graduation ceremony in 2020 was cancelled by COVID, but he still counts earning his diploma as one of his proudest accomplishments. 

A chance meeting at the radio station led to his third NBA gig.

“I was coming out of the kitchen, and the Warriors PR staff just happened to be walking by. I was introduced, and the Senior VP comes over and says you know we’re looking for a PA Announcer.”   

Since October, he’s been in what he calls “the best seat in the house” in the Chase Center, where much feels familiar.  

“What is kind of weird is the head coach is Steve Kerr, and I announced him when he was with the Bulls, as a player.”  

The Warriors’ General Manager is Mike Dunleavy, Jr., whom Scott also announced in his playing days. And a current Warriors player is Gary Payton II, whose dad Gary Payton Sr., was on the court in the earlier years of Scott’s announcing career. 

Scott says he wasn’t necessarily looking to do PA again, but with five regular season home games behind him, he’s feeling good.  Now he’s checking the schedule to see if he can make a trip back for the INBA’s Spring Awards on April 18. 

His memories of INBA are of being around similar people who can understand the ups and downs of the business.

“Whether they work in Chicago or Carbondale, or any town in between, we were all in it together.”  

A Peoria broadcasting legend has ended his career after 50 years. Chuck Collins retired mid-October as Chief Meteorologist at 25 News, where he’d been on the air since 2009. He had also worked “across the river” at WMBD-TV in Peoria for 23 years prior. Before becoming a forecaster and then a meteorologist, he was a news reporter and anchor down the hall with WMBD radio in Peoria. But broadcasting started even earlier than that for Collins. His first job was at a small radio station in Sullivan, Illinois, in the summer of 1976.

He’s been an INBA member for many years, and has participated in convention programming several times.

Collins was celebrated with a reception on his last day at 25 News, with News Director Leon Hendricks presenting him a proclamation, and his family and many former co-workers attending the reception. Chuck is known for his enthusiasm for all things weather, his devotion to his family, and his love of Bond, James Bond.