The University of Illinois is spending millions to part ways with its athletic director.

The university announced its firing Mike Thomas, not because he did anything wrong, but because his presence is a distraction.

U of I is paying $2.5 million to buy out Thomas’s contract, that’s money that comes from the athletic fund, which includes ticket sales, media rights and other sources – not state money.

The university’s been accused of mistreating players in the football and women’s basketball programs, the latter of which drew a lawsuit also alleging racial bias. Chancellor Barbara Wilson says a campus-led investigation found no wrong doing on Mike Thomas’s part.

In other State news:

Call it a drone. Call it a UAV. Call it what you want; it’s here to stay.

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is incorporating them into the agricultural curriculum.

The people who sell the UAV to farmers say, if you have a GPS on your tractor, you need one of these, too. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International says 80 percent of the drones’ commercial market will eventually be agricultural.