Illinois

Statewide: Students Brace For An Uncertain Year

NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS | By Sean Crawford

Published August 20, 2020 at 5:12 PM CDT

More schools are planning to start fall classes remotely. We'll find out what might be different from the spring when there was an abrupt shift to online learning.

The college experience this year won't be what many students expected. We'll talk with some incoming freshmen.

And we remember former Illinois Governor James R. Thompson.

That and more on this episode of Statewide.

Our lineup this week:

* Dave McKinney with WBEZ looks back at the career of former governor James Thompson, who died this month at the age of 84.

* Sean Crawford talks with Charlie Wheeler, an emeritus professor who spent more than two decades covering the Illinois legislature, including all of the time Thompson was governor.

* Illinois Newsroom's Christine Herman interviews University of Illinois chemist Paul Hergenrother who helped create a new saliva-based test for COVID-19. The university received emergency use authorization from the FDA this week.

* WBEZ's Kate McGee talks with freshmen in the University of Illinois system about how they're feeling as classes get ready to begin.

* Peter Medlin of WNIJ finds out how online learning could be different this fall compared to the spring.

* Chase Cavanaugh with WNIJ reports on the difficulties local governments face collecting taxes during a pandemic.

* Maureen McKinney speaks with a Springfield man, Nabih Elhajj, about a tragedy that impacted his family.

* Rich Egger of TriStates Public Radio has an update on a bust of Carl Sandburg.

* Tim Shelley with WCBU explains how some in Peoria see the invasive Asian Carp as a potential solution for food insecurity.Statewide for the week of August 21, 2020

Listen to Statewide across Illinois in:

Bloomington/Normal – WGLT 89.1 (Fridays 11 a.m. - Noon, Sundays 6-7 a.m.)
Carbondale – WSIU 91.9 (Fridays 2-3 p.m. and Sundays 6-7 a.m.)
Mount Vernon - WVSI 88.9 (Fridays 2-3 p.m. and Sundays 6-7 a.m.)
Olney - WUSI 90.3 (Fridays 2-3 p.m. and Sundays 6-7 a.m.)
Rockford/DeKalb – WNIJ 89.5 (Saturdays 6-7 a.m., Sundays 2-3 p.m.)
Springfield/Decatur - WUIS 91.9 (Fridays 11 a.m. - Noon, 11 p.m. - Midnight, Saturdays 9-10 a.m.)
Peoria – WCBU 89.9 (Fridays 11a.m. -12 noon, Sundays 6-7 a.m.)
Pittsfield - WIPA 89.3 (Fridays 11 a.m. - Noon, 11 p.m. - Midnight, Saturdays 9-10 a.m.)
Quad Cities - WVIK HD2 (Sundays 11 a.m. - 12 noon)
Urbana/Champaign – WILL 580 (Fridays 11 a.m. - Noon, 7-8 p.m.)