-
Most people know about the letter a little girl wrote to the New York Sun newspaper in 1897 asking whether Santa Claus is real. It prompted the famous response, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Bloomington-Normal children encountered their own slightly more intrepid version of that idea a couple decades later.
-
The words of a World War II prisoner of war from Normal show a grim situation filled with privation, guard brutality, and occasional diversions. This comes from Robert S. Hall’s wartime journal, recently donated to the McLean County Museum of History.
-
The Peoria-based roots pop band Way Down Wanderers brings its 10th anniversary tour to Bloomington's Castle Theatre on Dec. 16. In the last decade, the group has put out three albums and a couple EPs, hit nearly every state in the U.S. and played in Canada and the U.K.
-
Art collectors in central Illinois have a rare opportunity. The agriculture business Growmark is selling off its art collection. Appraisers valued the more than 60 works at more than $90,000.
-
The Major League Baseball playoffs are once again making October a special time. But baseball was not always here to root for and entertain us.
-
In transferring the scary movie 'Carrie' to the stage, as a musical, there are some challenges. Like that one scene near the end when, in a horribly cruel prank, Carrie White gets splattered with pig blood at a high school homecoming.
-
For more than a year, the City of Bloomington has been looking into a new streetscape plan. It's a potential $30 million "generational" project that would replace aging under-and-above-ground infrastructure. Staff have said the effort is about far more than beautification.
-
It's cliche but children are the future. Bloomington resident Clara Louise Kessler passionately lived that.
-
As the fall sports season takes off at Illinois State University, mascot Reggie Redbird is everywhere, making community appearances, sharing the cheering duties at games in multiple sports. It's a lot. There are, in fact, multiple Reggies. It wasn't always that way.
-
The Illinois State University Horticulture Center is literally going back to "native roots" for this year's Autumnal Festival. The center is honoring the connection to indigenous plants as part of the annual fundraiser for the center on Saturday and Sunday.