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Blues artist Brandon Santini says he gets side eye from some traditionalist blues people when he plays contemporary blues. Santini chats before his outdoor Bloomington concert. Plus, learn about the patent medicine business in a new episode of our feature McHistory. Dozens of collages have given a Bloomington-Normal artist the interior space to stave off the social deprivation of the pandemic. And Tim Shelley reports on a rare thing: a truly open seat election for Congress in Illinois.

District 87 Superintendent Barry Reilly says he's pleased with the response to vaccinations. Reilly says 93% of District 87 teachers are now vaccinated. Plus, supply chain problems are slowing the pace of new home construction in central Illinois. After a big broil, the McLean County Board stays with 10 board districts and two members per district ... the hard part of the re-map comes next. And Illinois State University will announce its 20th president on Friday, though not too many people have been introduced so far.

Olympia schools hasn't pushed for teacher vaccination, but if schools can't get high teacher vaccination numbers, it's hard to plan for the fall. Plus, District 87 joins the crowd of school districts who want to grow their own diverse teachers. Big hiring at Rivian means big demand for houses and a tussle over whether to build at the margins or infill. The mayor of Normal drops by.

A Republican McLean County Board member is calling shenanigans on his own party about redistricting. Josh Barnett says a plan he believes was long in the works to cut the number of districts is supposed to suppress rising Democratic representation on the board. State Democratic and Republican Senate leaders don't have a whole lot of specifics to suggest how to get out of the big budget deficit. Hear about cuts and the possibility of a sales tax on services. And if you're getting married, you should book a hall fast as pandemic restrictions ease. There's a lot of pent-up demand.

At first blush, a pandemic doesn’t sound like a great time to open a gallery. But if there is such a thing as a silver lining when it comes to COVID-19,…

Cars connect to phones all the time now and Normal City Manager Pam Reece says that has implications, having emergency vehicles talk to traffic signals, for instance. Hear how Normal plans to be a smart city. Plus Dewitt County has a new wind farm under construction. There's more about that and the wind power industry. And in past decades McLean County Board redistricting has been a quiet exercise controlled by the dominant Republican party. This year there are enough Democrats on the board to make it a very noisy process indeed.

Bloomington Normal is in the hunt for a massive economic development project...a billion dollar electric battery factory on the west side of Normal. It could bring 32-hundred jobs to the twin cities. There have been rumors for a couple years about what extra business Rivian might bring to Bloomington Normal. Last week there was a hint the community is in the running for a big get. Then today Dick Durbin named the prospect, Samsung. Hear reaction from Bloomington Normal Mayors, economic development and transportation leaders, and a state lawmaker for the community.

Some residents of Bloomington say they feel betrayed by the city in their flooded hour of need. A Bloomington Council member wants the city to offer money to help. And a lawyer says some of his clients may sue over sewage. Being an ER nurse during a pandemic is really really stressful, but they say they take a breath and get their game face on. ER nurses say they'd love to answer questions for those who are vaccine hesitant, but rarely get the chance. And craft beer and jazz is a nice combination. It's happening in Uptown Normal this weekend.

Last year, “Green Book” hit the big screen and shocked the world with an accurate depiction of what life was like for African Americans in the U.S. before…

After a year in limbo the idea of a multisport complex in Bloomington-Normal is coming back to the front burner.Normal City Manager Pam Reece said she…