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WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. You'll hear the latest on the coronavirus in local schools. Plus, Jon Norton reflects on how music changed after the Twin Towers fell.

Backyard Tire Fire's new album drops Friday. They perform at the Black Dirt Music Festival in Bloomington on Saturday. Wilco headlines the fest.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. You'll hear the voices of a new 9/11 exhibit opening at the Normal Public Library. Plus, a Datebook preview of a Community Players Theatre play.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021. You'll hear about the start of commercial production at Rivian. Plus, an interview with Unit 5's superintendent.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. You'll hear about the rise in COVID cases among school-aged children in McLean County. Plus, learn about Destihl's newly award-winning beer.

It's a big day for Rivian. The electric vehicle maker has produced its first truck at the assembly facility in Normal actually made for sale to a customer. And with plant employment climbing, the impact to the economy is rising too. The Unit 5 School District has had a bump in COVID cases and quarantines...in particular at Parkside Junior High. The Superintendent says a lot of those exposures happened outside school. Wet weather and warm nights early in the summer left central Illinois corn farmers fighting fungus this year. Now it's too dry. Hear about the impact on the harvest.

Questions swirl around the shootings of six people in Normal. Three dead. Three seriously hurt. McLean County Mom's Demand Action for Gun Sense says even if you know none of those involved, such horrific incidents create collective community trauma. Some court cases seem like they will never end. Three decades-old murder cases from McLean County are returning to the courtroom this year. The pandemic has brought a lot of consideration about work and life and some people are making changes. There's an increase in the number of central Illinois carpenters apprentices. And find out what tomorrow's roads will look like.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. You'll hear about McLean County's corn crop looking really good this fall. Plus, anti-gun violence advocates talk about Monday's shootings in Normal.

Environmental Advocates tout equity provisions of the new energy policy bill that is supposed to help Illinois move to renewable energy. Reverend Tony Pierce of Illinois People's Action is a longtime advocate for fairness in the green-energy economy. The first black principal of Hammitt School in Normal talks about the importance of having an educator who looks like the students. Workforce educators say central Illinois needs more employees in the cannabis economy. And when the nurse giving you a shot tell you relax and this won't hurt a bit, they're not kidding. Fear of needles may be contributing to vaccine hesitancy.