Jamie Hand
ReporterJamie Hand is an Economy & Business Reporter at WGLT. She joined the station in 2026. You can reach Jamie at jlgrite@ilstu.edu and 309-438-4648.
Jamie is the owner of Emerald and Amethyst Books in Lexington. She spent 16 years in corporate insurance roles prior to opening her own business. She earned a master’s degree in management from the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, and has taught business at Heartland Community College.
Jamie is an ISU alum and worked as a reporter at the Danville Commercial-News during college. She is thrilled to return to journalism with WGLT.
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State Farm joins other well-known companies such as Lockheed Martin, Pacific Gas and Electric [PG&E], Salesforce and Wells Fargo as investors in Emberpoint, which refers to the group as "a cross-industry coalition" designed to aid first responders with wildfire responses. -
WGLT spoke to human resources leaders at OSF HealthCare and the Town of Normal to get a peek behind the scenes where employers make decisions related to healthcare coverage. -
A proposal updating the current restrictions on certain home-based businesses was met with strong public backlash. The Town of Normal is now seeking feedback at an open house this month. -
Puneet Leekha of Chestnut Health Systems said upcoming changes will cause people who qualify for Medicaid to lose coverage, simply because they can't keep up with the paperwork requirements. Following his midterm election win, Gov. JB Pritzker is calling on the next Congress "to deliver urgent relief to Illinoisans." -
Overall, 52.7% of registered voters in McLean County [including Bloomington] turned out to vote in this year's election. That's a decrease from 2022's midterm election [56.8%] and the lowest turnout since 2014 [49.2%]. -
WGLT spoke to four McLean County content creators about how much work they put in, and how much money they get out of it. -
A new federal law goes into effect soon, which will reclassify any consumable or topical product with more than 0.4 mg of total THC as a cannabis product — not a hemp product. This means restaurants and liquor stores will no longer be able to sell THC drinks, and consumers will have to go to a dispensary to get them. -
Rivian began producing the R2 model in June and sales are exceeding expectations. CEO RJ Scaringe said Rivian is "laying the foundations for a future that we believe will be fully electric, autonomous and AI defined." -
An economics professor at Illinois State University examines the impacts of tariffs, wars, inflation and AI on the labor market in McLean County. -
Independently-owned Jasper's Java, national chain Dutch Bros, and an app created by a Bloomington entrepreneur all have one thing in common: It's the human touch that keeps people coming back.
