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Former U.S. Senator and two time candidate for Governor Adlai Stevenson II has died at age 90. Listen to archival sound of Stevenson reading the words of his father, another member of the Bloomington founded political dynasty. A half century ago the New School started in Bloomington as an alternative education model. Fifty years on the Mulberry School still teaches children how to learn instead of what they should learn. Emory knows what it means to be an unwanted child. Easton says the book came screaming out of her cortex as an effort to get it out and stop blackening her soul. Hear about the healing power of writing. And the Mayor of Normal drops by.

On today’s episode, a reporter turned state Senator explains why he pushed for creation of a task force to study local journalism. Plus, Jon Norton reflects on how music changed in the first hours after the 9/11 attacks. And a preview of the new Backyard Tire Fire album.

Two Central Illinois conductors on the Underground Railroad in Tazewell County were charged with violating fugitive slave laws. Abraham Lincoln was their lawyer. Celebrate the underground railroad in McLean and Tazewell Counties. Congressmen Darin LaHood and Rodney Davis call for the ouster of two top national security officials saying those officials ignored intelligence predicting the Taliban would roll over the Afghan government. A national labor leader from McLean County calls for solidarity - against the pandemic. Plus, the Make Music Normal festival returns with precautions.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. You'll hear about what to expect with vaccine hesitancy among children and their caregivers. Plus, an interview with LaSalle County coroner related to the Jelani Day case.

Even though the body of ISU graduate student Jelani Day's body was in the Illinois River a long time, the coroner says some information about Day was not lost. Bloomington musician Brett Conlin shares his new album. There are lots of warning signs of domestic violence, a crime of control. Jealousy is one. Insults another. Countering Domestic Violence in Bloomington highlights domestic violence awareness month. Halloween is coming and for millennia people have looked to the night sky as the seasons turn. The director of the ISU planetarium tells you what to look for this time of year

ISU professor Intan Suwandi says disruptions in the supply chain began with the first signs of the pandemic

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. You'll hear about why the FBI might not be too eager to fully take over the Jelani Day investigation. Plus, an interview with Normal City Manager Pam Reece.

Congressman Darin LaHood says he'll focus on the economy in his next run for office in a district that has about half the places he has represented before. And even though he's in a very safe Republican District he's not too keen on how Democrats drew the boundaries. Universal pre-k might still make it into President Biden's infrastructure bill as it continues under negotiation. Find out what early childhood experts think of the notion. The exhaustive McLean County Board redistricting process is winding down and one of the work group heads says the words Democrat and Republican were never mentioned. Eight meetings and hearings might be just enough to do the job, But, can you really ever take politics out of the equation?

A new history of McLean County is coming. It's the first such comprehensive book in more than a hundred years. And it's the first to situate central Illinois residents amid broader global and national moments (other than the civil war). The history of Mclean County is more than just Abe Lincoln, Beer Nuts, and State Farm. There's this massacre of native Americans too which happened in 1730 when two French fur trading companies got into a competition and used different native tribes as proxies. Plus Historian Greg Koos chronicles labor, suffrage, and immigration in his new book Freedom, Land, And Community: a History of McLean County 1730-1900.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. You'll hear the latest on what it will take to get children vaccinated against COVID-19. Plus, an interview with an ISU professor about the health of our food systems.