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WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. You'll hear about some good news related to COVID-19 in McLean County. Plus, the co-owners of Fort Jesse Cafe in Normal talk about how COVID has changed their industry.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. You'll hear about the groundbreaking at Ferrero's expanding facility in Bloomington. Plus, an ISU professor takes a look at the Jelani Day case.

A Normal Town Council member says she would like to use some of the town's share of federal pandemic relief money to lower fares for people with disabilities who use Connect Transit. And Karyn Smith says relief for those behind on water and sewer payments might also make her priority list. A Bloomington Normal cybersecurity expert says the pandemic and social upheaval has made people more vulnerable to attempts to compromise their computers because it puts noise in the system and people respond to phishing attempts without thinking. He says cybercriminals also often target people who work from home. Plus, a central Illinois author answers the question What's in a NICK-name. A college mascot nickname.

Authorities break their silence in the Jelani Day case to debunk some rumors flying around social media.

David Lane studies tattoos. And the ISU professor has a new book on how this apprentice-based art form builds consistency and tradition in its practices. The very popular industry has some interesting quirks. Hear about the sociology of tattooists and their values. Bloomington and Normal Police Departments have significant vacancies in the ranks and its not just them. It's a state and national issue. Normal PD has 11 vacancies. Last year there were three. Many Americans have no knowledge of the richness and variety of the many Latino cultures. It's Latin X and Hispanic Heritage Month.

The twin towers of the World Trade Center fell twenty years ago. Teachers in classrooms that day managed their own grief and their students'. Some couldn't be there in the moment for their own children. Others say they regret letting it play on tv in classrooms. For some 9-11 is history, for others it is still as raw as if it happened yesterday. Hear Bloomington Normal residents recall where they were that day. Some believe 9-11 had a lasting effect on civil liberties. Young adults who were not yet born during 9-11 say they too feel trauma. Hear an hour long reflection on 9-11 from people in central Illinois.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. You'll hear about McLean County's corn crop looking really good this fall. Plus, an update on ISU's new Multicultural Center.

The sounds of great music will once again bounce around Uptown Normal as Make Music Normal returns after a one-year COVID hiatus.

Most of the critical care COVID-19 patients in McLean County hospitals are younger and sicker than earlier, though none are kids. Yes, they are largely unvaccinated. And ISU's new multicultural center is open for business. Hear how it's increasing diversity and cultural awareness on campus. It takes a lot to get 11 murder trials through McLean County in a year even in the best of times, these aren't. And the history and contemporary culture of Native Americans doesn't receive the attention it deserves. Illinois researcher Pam Silas previews her presentation this week at the McLean County Museum of History.

Many unions have had trouble getting and keeping members. The Laborers union in central Illinois is not one of them with a record high membership of 500,000 people. There is a shortage of young women in technical fields that State Farm wants to help fill. If Samsung locates its electric vehicle battery plant in Normal it will need water to make precursors to make lithium oxides and as the solvent to make graphite electrodes. Hear what else goes into that industrial process. And an ISU graduate fulfils a family legacy disrupted by 1920s racial discrimination.