Courtney Conroy
InternCourtney Conroy is a student intern who hosts All Things Considered and Highway 309. She joined the station in 2024.
Courtney is a junior at Illinois State University, who grew up in the Chicagoland area. She double majors in journalism and mass media: business, promotions, and sales under a full ride scholarship. She hopes to continue working in the public media sector post graduation.
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Executive Director Holly Wayland-Hall said the clinic's mission is charity-based, providing health services to people who are uninsured, or have recently lost coverage through Medicaid. She said 99% of the clinic's patients have no insurance. -
Leadership at YWCA McLean County is pitching government bodies for financial help to address the area's childcare crisis. President and CEO Liz German said there are significant gaps in the state subsidy for childcare — and change is not coming fast enough. -
Gov. JB Pritzker said he doesn't want to see McLean County farmland given up for data centers. He said the state should be pumping the brakes on the industry rather than rolling out the red carpet for it. -
The new, voluntary Blue Envelope Program is now part of the Normal Police Department's operations. It's used to improve interactions — usually traffic stops — with people who have autism, cognitive delays, communication differences or other neurodivergent conditions. -
![Brightpoint, a statewide nonprofit serving 37,000 children in Central Illinois, operates Scott Child & Family Center in Bloomington [pictured], plus a crisis nursery for short term respite care.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bf219eb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1070+0+185/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F85%2Ffd%2Fa1954f15486fbbb6e680f1ba3f4a%2F06ee7c4f-47be-4090-bf7a-adbd6029746b.jpeg)
Two childcare providers described an industry where good intentions run into real financial and bureaucratic walls. At least for now, some left standing in McLean County seem more interested in propping each other up than fighting over what's left. -
Plus, stars from Broadway's Wicked, a Gershwin tribute and a Shakespeare-inspired overture. -
The Penguin Project of McLean County is launching Penguin Players, a new community theater program designed for performers with disabilities who are 22 years and older. The chapter's existing theater program, which modifies full-scale musicals for the stage, serves performers ages 10 to 24. -
A Cincinnati-based Americana duo which once called Bloomington-Normal home is returning to play in the Twin Cities next month — in a venue they helped launch that's been on hiatus since the COVID-19 pandemic. -
Violations can escalate from a citation to a ban from the area to arrest. The ordinance states people will be given a chance to comply first and specifies it isn't meant to deny anyone access to public space "solely because the person is homeless." -
According to one study, Illinois is losing $6.2 billion a year from people exiting the workforce due to childcare challenges. Experts say a new statewide department dedicated to early childhood is unlikely to provide immediate relief.
![Brightpoint, a statewide nonprofit serving 37,000 children in Central Illinois, operates Scott Child & Family Center in Bloomington [pictured], plus a crisis nursery for short term respite care.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2b61cfd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1070+0+185/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F85%2Ffd%2Fa1954f15486fbbb6e680f1ba3f4a%2F06ee7c4f-47be-4090-bf7a-adbd6029746b.jpeg)
