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An escaped slave with a central Illinois connection grabbed the colors from a falling comrade and charged the cannons in a Civil War battle. Hear how Andy Jackson Smith won the Medal of Honor more than a century after his bravery. Sen. Dick Durbin comes to Normal to push for electric vehicle infrastructure as part of the Democratic party effort to build support for the Biden jobs and infrastructure bill. And the Illinois House Speaker and Republican leader talk about the state budget.

It's the fifth anniversary of Rivian in Bloomington Normal. From a vacant Mitsubishi plant headed for scrap Rivian has built a $3 billion modern auto plant making trucks, SUV's and cargo delivery vans for the future electric vehicle marketplace. Six years ago Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe came to town and saw something special, a forward looking community. Rivian and Bloomington Normal are helping each other and the company has raised and spent billions to get to the marketplace and embrace a future together.

Among its questions, the committee is probing any conversations Kevin McCarthy had with former President Donald Trump on the day of the Capitol attack.

McLean County farmers and landowners have been sent over $68 million in USDA trade relief payments so far—and one ag industry watcher says more may be on…

The pair led the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6 , 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Heartland Theatre Company is centering the voices of people of color. It's diverse storytelling out of the box. Plus, the national conversation about paying for healthcare and what kind to pay for continues. Check in with a Bloomington-Normal health executive about how that's going. A community can get a lot of insight by seeing itself reflected in the eyes of an outsider. Eleanor Roosevelt was one such outsider for Bloomington-Normal in 1937. Hear more in our latest episode of the WGLT series McHistory. And the new EP from soul-folk trio 'Sarah & the Underground' released on Father's Day was originally a gift for family.

Just because people CAN go out for arts events after they are vaccinated might not mean they WILL. The notion of accessibility is shifting for arts patrons who worry about breakthrough infections or a need for boosters. Plus, retiring ISU President Larry Dietz joins us for a goodbye interview. Metronet has closed the digital divide in Bloomington Normal a bit and built out its urban infrastructure. Bedroom communities are next. The Mayor of Normal says the long discussed underpass project in Uptown will likely finally appear in next year's town budget.

A survey of attitudes toward police in the city of Bloomington came back with a lot of skewed data, but the comments were worth reading. Not In Our Town Co-Chair Mike Matejka unpacks the useful parts of the survey. Plus, County Administrator Camille Rodriguez shares perspectives on her time in McLean County as she prepares to leave for Colorado. Governor JB Pritzker talks about energy policy and compromise. Everyone gets a little something in a proposed energy bill; environmentalists, nuclear utilities and even coal burning plants. And hear from a Bluegrass Band doing more than the old Bill Monroe stuff in central Illinois.

Normal Council member Karyn Smith says allegations against the city manager aren't about ethics, they're about gender bias. Six council members chastise the seventh, Stan Nord. Plus, the insurance industry workforce is about to become scarce. A lot of retirements coming up in the next few years. District 87 teachers say a pr campaign to score political points by protesting black history curriculum is way off base. And McLean County's legal community and housing advocates have a new plan lessen a spike in evictions once the statewide moratorium goes away in August.

Adults berated and talked over Not In Our Schools leader Yvin Chin at a recent Bloomington school board meeting. The issue of Black History education has become heated in Bloomington Normal. Plus, a man who helped free 18 innocent people from Illinois prisons is retiring. John Hanlon talks about justice, injustice, and truth. The Illinois State University Athletics Director has been watching state lawmakers change gambling rules and gauges the impact on collegiate athletics. And Heartland Community College President Keith Cornille says the college is moving to address an underdeveloped area of the workforce, agriculture.