Charlie Schlenker

Learn how a central Illinois meteor crater two and a half miles wide came out of a big bump in outer space. Charles Monson is with the State Geological Survey. Plus, the McLean County Board Finance Committee gets a legal opinion on who sets financial accounting policy the board or the county auditor. Dame Judy Dench talks Shakespeare and Lady Macbeth. And a bit of Hogwarts is happening at a Bloomington elementary school.

One of Rivian's new investors hopes to help the company with more than just money. Cox Automotive mobility group president Joe George talks about the give and take of the company's 350 million dollar stake in Rivian. Plus, Eric Stock reports Bloomington police are seeing the same increases reported nationally in on line child sexual violence crimes. Many Minor League baseball teams are taking a hit as Major League teams drop affiliations. Hear about some of them in Illinois. A remembrance for a long time central Illinois broadcaster who has passed on. And the Mayor of Normal stops by.

The 1973 farm bill promoted soybeans and removed habitat for pheasants. This still hurts hunting. Jared Duquette of the Department of Natural resources talks hunting on the first day of deer season. Plus, Laura Kennedy previews the new season of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival.

The head of the McLean County Republican Party says the GOP is responding to the Democratic Party surge in candidates for next year's election. Connie Beard says she doesn't think efforts to flip McLean County blue will work. Plus, Eric Stock looks at a retirement community that started the evolution of the industry in Bloomington Normal into it's present day appearance. We'll update you on how the county is using sales tax money to bolster mental health and other behavioral health programs. The Cynthia Baker trial is headed to a jury.

The Illinois General Assembly has wrapped up work for the fall veto session. We bring you a special analysis of that. It's Illinois Lawmakers, produced by the Illinois Public Broadcasting Council. The session began with low expectations that not much would happen. But, it turned out to be an interesting period with everything from the corruption investigation to attempts to move Chicago casino legislation. The big news is that Governor Pritzker achieved one of his top priorities, consolidating the state's municipal fire and police pension funds.

The Bloomington Planning Commission recommends the city council allow cannabis cafe's in town. Eric Stock reports. Black Lives Matter Bloomington Normal sees recreational marijuana business location as a matter of drug war reparation. Plus, Laura Kennedy tips her hat to a new group in town...Nomad Theater. Their first production happens this weekend. The falling leaves drift by my 'snow filled' window and into our gardening podcast Grow. And Jon Norton traces the musical line from vaudeville to jazz to funk with performer Michael Mwenso.

Hear how imprisoned mom Ann Simmons found out about her daughters death. Ryan Denham and Edith Brady Lunny report on the case of eight year-old Rica Rountree. Plus, the group Stand Up for Social Justice has been demonstrating every month for the last three years in Bloomington-Normal. Eric Stock talks to them about protest as lifestyle and the difference they hope to make. The Illinois Politics Roundtable dives into ethics reform measures that might advance. And we'll have a report on electric car range anxiety and a move to address it along a major U.S. interstate.

It's a show full of heroes, fictional and real. An art installation offers a wish for peace as it honors Americans who have fallen in combat. Army Veteran Bob Carney and other tell Laura Kennedy about the healing cranes of Heartland Community College. Eric Stock talks to Veterans about how they reintegrate into civilian society and the reception they get nowadays. The Illinois Symphony Orchestra plans a concert full of Super-heroes with a salute to veterans. And Darnysha Mitchell tells about heroes of a different sort; those with autism and those who teach them.

When a Bloomington resident began an abolitionist society before the civil war it did not sit well with community leaders. Susan Hartzold is the curator of a new exhibit at the McLean County Museum of History on times of conflict. She talks with WGLT. Plus, Children's Home and Aid beefs up its Adopt a Family program for the holiday season. Mary Cullen reports on heroes of habitat for humanity, And its a noteworthy anniversary for world famous explorer John Wesley Powell with a Bloomington Normal Connection. The ISU Horticulture center observes it.

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal will be just fine in today's changing media landscape. But no one is talking about the small towns. Emmy winning journalist Soledad O Brien talks with Eric Stock. Plus Normal Town Council member Karyn Smith takes exception to the conventional wisdom on calculating public benefit and outside investment in Uptown Normal. And WGLT Correspondent Breanna Grow tackles artificial intelligence and its potential to transform the future.

Every time our nation goes into a period of torturing opponents, it seems like an extraordinary need. Historian Fitzhugh Brundage talks with Charlie Schlenker about the American tradition of torture. Plus, community college enrollment fell again this year. Ryan Denham talks with the director of the Illinois Community College Board. And Laura Kennedy brings us a story of hedonism, apathy, and totalitarianism that still has legs, Cabaret.