Lauren Warnecke
Deputy News DirectorLauren Warnecke is the Deputy News Director at WGLT. She joined the station as a correspondent in 2020 with a focus on arts and culture and became a full-time staff member in 2023. She became Deputy News Director in 2025.
You can reach Lauren at lewarne@ilstu.edu and 309-438-7869.
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Oltmanns will replace Rhys Lovell, who stepped down after over a decade in the position. -
Wheelz brings skating back to the area for the first time in three years, with an inaugural all-day event Sunday in Bloomington. After Skate N Place closed in 2023, the closest permanent rink is nearly an hour away. -
Midwest Punk Fest organizer Jeremy Plue is reviving the regional festival after a four-year hiatus. He's also the "chief creative juggernaut" at Meltdown Creative Works and saw an opportunity to bring the festival back in the burgeoning venue. -
The 13-year-old was a passenger in a SUV that crashed on U.S. Route 136 under the Interstate 55 underpass. He died at the hospital early Monday morning. -
Kevin Lower has announced he'll compete for an open seat, hoping to represent south Bloomington on the county board. Lower previously served on Bloomington City Council, and unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2017. -
Kim Holman-Short's long career in public housing, including 37 years at the Bloomington Housing Authority, is being honored by renaming an apartment complex south of Downtown Bloomington. -
The school district requested a change of venue to a federal court in Peoria. Angela Sutton claims administrators repeatedly ignored concerns about her transgender child being bullied at school. -
A bill introduced in the Illinois legislature would allow teachers to challenge notices of remedy, actions that go against school policy but can be fixed. Opponents have raised concern that this could erase documentation of patterns of abuse by teachers. -
“The fans stay excited, we stay excited and we keep making records," Phil Lewis from L.A. Guns told WGLT. They play alongside Cinderella's Tom Keifer on May 28 at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. -
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, a Democrat who represents parts of Bloomington-Normal and Peoria, wants to stop pharmaceutical companies from gaming an FDA loophole he says is keeping generics from reaching the market.
