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State money will flow to Bloomington Normal healthcare providers to lower barriers to care for people on Medicaid and other underserved populations. Chestnut Health Systems says it's fund electronic monitoring, a dental clinic, telehealth, and other services. It is possible to build unity even in a fractured society. Hear from a Bloomington Normal NAACP speaker. Olivia Haerr started a bass fishing team at University High School in Normal to help take her to her 'happy place.' It took her three years to get the Athletic Department on board. Finding faculty coaches was the easy part. A lot of them fish already. And Grand opera comes to a garden and a theater in Bloomington Normal.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021. You'll hear about a new partnership between OSF HealthCare and Chestnut Health Systems. Plus, a preview of the NAACP Freedom Fund speaker.

Relief efforts for Haitian earthquake victims are still going strong, but for a Bloomington man and the charity he founded it's just continuing more than a decade of that work. Central Illinois jazz musician Yoseff Henry says it all started when he and his brothers started singing as kids while doing the dishes and their dad grabbed a cassette recorder. It used to be you could get from Peoria to Bloomington and back without driving yourself. A look back at the light rail system known as the interurban. People at a job fair in Bloomington are countering one conservative narrative that they soaked the government for pandemic jobless benefits. They say they've been trying to get a job all along. Others say they still fear COVID.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. You'll hear about the search for missing ISU graduate student Jelani Day. Plus, a preview of a new filmed adaption of an opera.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. You'll hear about Bloomington-Normal auto repair shops being extra busy these days. Plus, a central Illinois judge puts a call out for help with pro bono cases.

A prominent African American Church in Bloomington Normal installs new leadership this weekend. Timothy Mark Harris shares his vision for social change through the legacy and continued strength of the 165 year old Mount Pisgah Baptist Church. Connect Transit doesn't have the bus drivers it needs. Service cuts are coming. Strolling amid Bloomington tombstones is an entertaining and educational pastime through the Mclean County Museum of History Cemetery walk. And a central Illinois man writes a book about the richness of life found through caregiving for a brother with disabilities.

Some members of the Bloomington City Council want to offer direct aid to those hit by the June flooding and sewage backups. Hear about the reasons for and against the idea that are separate from from whether it's legal to do that. The town of Normal says it won't rush to have a dialog over true vaccine mandates for staff. But it is testing unvaccinated firefighters for the Coronavirus. And an independent observer says video shows Normal Police Officers coordinated well during a recent shooting incident.

Before the first Rivian electric pickup truck made for sale rolled off the line at the plant in Normal, company CEO RJ Scaringe spoke to the workers who made it happen. A Latino artist speaking in Normal lets the bureaucratic limbo of the immigration system come out in his works. Central Illinois' largest brewery has a gold medal performance. Destihl wins in the very competitive category of Hazy IPA at the Great American Beer Festival. Running for public office in Bloomington Normal hasn't always been a civilized affair. Once a state house race included an attempted whipping, stabbing, and shooting. He missed. It's the next episode of our feature McHistory.

The Bloomington City Council is close to signing off on a plan to reduce the likelihood of future floods like the June deluge that hurt thousands of homeowners. A 50-minute recording of a wind chime is the center of a new album from a Bloomington Normal musician. Big development projects are always complicated heavy lifts. And a five year effort in Uptown Normal with Bush Construction is now over, for a while. The developer exits saying the time is not right. Normal City Manager Pam Reece says she's optimistic a four or five story mixed use building will eventually happen.