The Illinois-born author of books like “Fahrenheit 451” may have a new museum dedicated to his work built in his hometown.

Author Ray Bradbury went to Waukegan’s Carnegie Library as a child, but that building has sat vacant for nearly 50 years despite multiple plans to reuse it. The newest effort aims to raise $10 million to use the library to house what will be called the Bradbury Carnegie Center.

John Harris sits on the board of directors for the project, and thinks fundraising efforts will be successful based on admiration for Bradbury’s work.

Harris estimates the whole process will take between three to five years. The first steps will be raising seed funding, followed by going public with design proposals early next year.

The current concepts for the museum, according to Harris, include restoring the children’s reading room which Bradbury frequented, and creating a “thoroughly modern, contemporary, engaging experience,” comparing it to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.

And in other State news:

Add Senator Dick Durbin’s name to those who are happy the federal “No Child Left Behind” law is being left behind.

Durbin says like teachers, he’s glad the new Every Student Succeeds Act doesn’t focus on school districts that don’t do well on standardized tests.  But Durbin says that doesn’t mean districts aren’t kept accountable. He said it includes federally-required intervention when schools or students are not performing, instead of federally-prescribed intervention.

Durbin says the new law also requires school districts to provide data on how many of their students are enrolling in college, saying that’s an important benchmark for success.