Business

Thousands of WNIJ listeners lost contact with their NPR programming this morning, when a severe thunderstorm cut the power to Northern Public Radio's transmitter in Lindenwood, Ill. The outage also affected listeners to WNIJ's sister station, Classical WNIU.

Statewide home sales in June surged 18 percent over previous year levels to 13,111 single-family homes and condominiums. This was the best June performance since 2010, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors.

The statewide median price in June was $155,000, up 3.3 percent from June 2011, the fourth straight month of median price increases in Illinois. The median price -- where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less – has risen $32,650 since January.