Group raises funds to help laid-off Eastern Illinois workers

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - A fund set up to help Eastern Illinois University employees who lost jobs due to the state's budget stalemate is taking applications from potential recipients.

According to the Mattoon Journal-Gazette (http://bit.ly/1Pl3I43 ), the group called Support EIU Employees has raised more than $12,000.

The group is taking applications from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays in the upstairs lounge in the County Market grocery store in Charleston. Eastern Illinois is located in Charleston, about 50 miles south of Champaign.

More than 400 Eastern Illinois employees have lost jobs because the school has received only limited state funding this school year.

Illinois has no budget for the fiscal year that began in July 2015, as Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrats who control the General Assembly disagree over how to address shortfalls in state funds.

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Information from: Mattoon Journal-Gazette, http://www.jg-tc.com