Charlie Schlenker

An LGBTQI+ poet and scholar looks to indigenous people in North America for broader gender definitions that can help modern society as the current culture struggles over accepting multiple identities. Qwo Li Driskill of Oregon State University is the featured speaker at Illinois State University's 24th annual Women's and Gender Studies Symposium. Driskill says the term two-spirited or two spirit includes different gender identities and terms amid native peoples in North America and how they functioned in those societies.

High school youth activists in the Twin Cities are focusing this year on reducing local gun violence.

Last year, the group responded to the Parkland, Fla. shooting by speaking and marching on legislative issues.

Normal West Junior Gavin Cunningham said this year they want to look at the causes of gun violence among young people including having healthy social outlets.

Growing up in Springfield, African-American violinist Clayton Penrose-Whitmore was one of few people of color around him playing classical music. Penrose-Whitmore has gone on to a career in music, winning prizes in the Sphinx competition and performing with noted groups such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Debate over gasoline tax increases to fund road repairs in Bloomington and Normal is more complex than the question of keeping the amount the same in both cities.

The Unit 5 school board that will be elected this spring will face some unpleasant policy choices.

ISU President Larry Dietz said campus leaders will meet soon with McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael about improving election service for the April municipal contests.

GLT's Charlie Schlenker talks to Dave Bentlin from the Prairie Pride Coalition, a Bloomington-Normal LGBTQ advocacy organization, about this week's United Methodist Church decision on same-sex marriage and gay and lesbian clergy. Listen to the full interview below.

CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said those who oppose President Trump should not count on a special prosecutor's report or Congress to get rid of the president.

Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner said he’s no fan of video gambling but may still veto the city’s newly extended moratorium on new machines.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is proposing raising more than $1 billion in state revenue by legalizing recreational marijuana and sports betting.

Poetry comes out in all of us from time to time. And its subjects come from both heart and history.

It is a cruel irony that the first Christian church in what is now the country of Ghana is built in a coastal fort directly over the holding pens for the slave trade.

The Town of Normal is considering an electric scooter program.

The mayor of Normal said Tuesday that increased town incentives for the Trail East project in Uptown are worth the money.

If the Town of Normal has to move a brick wall containing a mural in Uptown, it might charge the former tenants of an art co-op for the cost of the move.

In spite of community worries over the number and average pay of State Farm employees in Bloomington-Normal, the company said the number of jobs is closing the year steady.

Many people will be flying for the holidays. Here's a story about airplanes, the way they used to be, taken from a recent Next To Normal Story Slam held at the McLean County Arts Center and produced by Devon Lovell.

Kathy Davis is a former flight attendant. She's writing a book about her 35 year career called "Coffee, Tea, or Peas."

The mayor of Normal acknowledges the development of new State Farm hubs across the south and west has changed the distribution of talent in the community.

Nine people have died in Bloomington-Normal in gun violence this year. More than that tally have survived bullet wounds.

UPDATED 1:15 p.m. | Leaders of a leading local gay rights organization say concerns about the Salvation Army’s historic stance on LGBTQI+ issues shouldn’t stop Bloomington-Normal residents from contributing to the local chapter or prevent someone from seeking assistance.