CHICAGO – The University of Illinois System will honor former President Barack Obama with the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government to recognize public officials who promote the highest standards of public service.
Obama is expected to speak around 12 p.m. EST - you can watch live here on ClickOnDetroit.com.
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Obama to return to political spotlight
President Barack Obama will step back into the political fray Friday, delivering a speech that will preview his 2018 midterm election message and provide his most pointed rebuke to date of President Donald Trump.
The speech at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign comes ahead of Obama's first campaign events of the midterms: a rally for a handful of Democratic congressional candidates in California on Saturday and an event for Richard Cordray, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Ohio, next Thursday.
Obama is also planning campaign trips to Pennsylvania in September, an Obama official said, as well as a New York fundraiser for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, an organization led by former Attorney General Eric Holder, Obama's longtime friend.
Obama's office announced his first round of endorsements earlier this year and the official said his second round will be released in coming weeks.
Obama's speech in the university's 1,300-person auditorium has seen sizable interest from the school's student body, according to university spokesman Jon Davis, who said they had received around 22,000 requests for tickets.
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