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Interest rates are up significantly, and as homebuilders look at the approaching spring construction season, they will be faced with choices on how to finance construction and how long they think they'll have to wait before they can sell a new housing unit.Normal City Manager Pam Reece says the rate increases have slowed the construction market. But in this interview with Charlie Schlenker, Reece says the hikes have not stopped construction plans. Listen to the full interview above.

WGLT's the Leadoff is everything you need to know for Tuesday, February 22. Bloomington mayor Mboka Mwilambwe weighs-in on a proposed commission that would study gun violence in the city, plus a University High School student wants your pandemic-era memories for a 20-year time capsule that's going into storage on Wednesday. Also, electric vehicle automaker Rivian isn't exactly feeling a warm reception for its planned second manufacturing plant south of Atlanta and the state's new inspector general is a Peoria native who says he's interested in learning the scope of his authority to "root out corruption."

Nationally ranked disc golfers come to central Illinois for a big tourney. For the record, fon't call it frisbee golf or even worse FROLF. The Illinois Arts Station is close to opening its new home in Normal. At certain long term care facilities in Bloomington Normal less than a quarter of the staff have taken the Coronavirus vaccine. Dive into why that is. Plus, a big long term care facility operator backtracks on its requirement that staff get vaccinated. Heritage Health would love it if the government took the question of mandates out of company hands.

A new pilot program with ISU students helping people expunge their criminal records surprisingly doesn't deal with a lot of cannabis cases. Tom McClure tells you about giving people a second chance. Plus, State Senator Jason Barickman unpacks why a massive energy policy proposal is such a tough thing to pass in Springfield. Backyard chickens can help your urban garden...yet they're not that popular with the neighbors. Hear more on WGLT's Grow. And the Coalescence Theatre Project hopes to use one particular queer story to give voice to underrepresented groups within the community.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Tuesday, May 17, 2022. At a time when democracy feels very much at risk, an Illinois political scientist says youth civic engagement is a bright spot. Former Chicago alderman and political science professor at the University of Illinois Chicago Dick Simpson says as the January 6th insurrection demonstrated, democracy isn't in great shape. But he says there's hope to restore it... if we're willing to put in the work. Plus, there's a new graduation requirement for Illinois State University students: at least one course focused on inclusion, diversity and equity in the U.S.

Bloomington City Manager Tim Gleason says he's excited about creating incentives to rehab houses. Gleason says some areas of town fit perfectly with people who want to live near the city core and who don't want to live in a three hundred thousand dollar house. The Illinois Stewardship Alliance dreams of a day Illinois can feed itself...Right now Illinois imports more than 90-percent of its food. And...is Normal still in the running for that new Samsung battery plant? Big changes in the EV industry complicate the answer.

Some of the new jobs in Bloomington Normal have come at the expense of other companies - and some employers simply can't find the workers they need. A Bloomington Normal labor management expert says the Great Resignation also plays a part in the net job loss in the twin cities last year. The U.S. Attorney for the central district of Illinois says only a small number of people are responsible for most gun violence...If not, there's always incarceration. And a Bloomington woman who got a kidney transplant tells African Americans during Black History month....Blacks are three times as likely as others to have kidney disease.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Monday, Jan. 31. An ISU professor weighs-in on why the Bloomington-Normal area was the only metro area in the state to see a new jobs loss in the past year and the Missouri Valley Conference Commissioner says the conference that ISU plays in might not done growing any time soon. Plus, ahead of a documentary screening on Tuesday, Charlie Schlenker speaks with Dane Myers, the Assistant Director of the Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development at ISU about why the Peace Corps is still more relevant than ever, 60 years after its founding.

It has been a long time since the Illinois Secretary of State's race was an opportunity, but incumbent Jesse White is calling it a day. Bloomington State Representative Dan Brady says he'll try for the office that oversees driver's licenses. 'Go eat a bug' is more than a playground taunt. In many parts of the world it's good advice. A central Illinois author has a new book about edible insects. Hear about Heartland Theater's latest production, “Human Terrain. And it's the season for charitable donations. Not for profits want to make them stretch.

Go inside the Rivian plant, where HOW they're building vehicles is just as interesting as what they're building. Rivian's manufacturing chief Erik Fields says it's like Google and Toyota had a baby. Hear how Rivian is balancing three vehicles, thousands of employees, and millions of battery cells. Plus, WGLT's Ryan Denham takes a test drive of the new R1T pickup truck. There's a strategy to reduce nitrate and phosphorous runoff into Illinois rivers that helps poison the Gulf of Mexico. The plan is going the wrong way based on the latest report. Yet there is hope for change in the ag community. And what's up with all the rain?