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Frank Catalano got his big music break at age 18 and but for his mom it could have happened earlier. She didn't much care for smoky bars and hanging out till the wee hours of the morning. Catalano appears with Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain this Saturday in Bloomington. Plus, 'Ridin' on the City of New Orleans' and the rest of the Amtrak service in Illinois including through Bloomington Normal will get a little easier as the pandemic ebbs. Unit 5 Superintendent Kristen Weikle says child mental health efforts may get some of the millions in federal pandemic relief money coming to the district. And after protests of new curriculum guidelines by district 87 parents who want their kids in the arts, Bloomington schools are making adjustments.

The Bloomington Normal tourism picture is getting better, but better is a relative term. Yet, major events and meetings are going back on fall calendars. Hear from the McLean County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Plus, crypto currencies and digital art based on blockchain technology are moving into the mainstream. They even had a Saturday night Live Skit, and they're also being developed in central Illinois. Digital artists make NFTs. Illinois Wesleyan University has won back to back national golf championships, yet two years apart.

New housing starts in Normal are mostly happening near the edges of town. Plus, they'll be singing 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame' at the Corn Crib in Normal this summer. Central Illinois scholars and artists consider the pros and cons of crypto-currency. Finally, the cost of child care is growing, but workers in that sector aren't seeing much of that.

A social club that was dormant for decades has reborn in McLean County. Kathleen Lorenz and Vicky Varney explain how the Lincoln Club aims to reduce political polarization. The McLean County Health Department and Illinois State University partner on a new program to train people to respond to a mental health crisis. More new restaurants are coming to Bloomington-Normal and the eateries already here are busy again. Plus, Champaign-based singer songwriter John Aulabaugh overcomes numerous health issues to make a new album.

Some authors published decades ago in a ground breaking ISU based journal of Black Literature are still working today. Hear about Obsidian Literature & Arts. So, you spend a lot of time and effort making your garden look faaaan-tast-ic and get nothing else out of it. Now, you can do that AND grow something you can eat. The pandemic brought fear, uncertainty, stress, boredom, and, it turns out, artistic fuel for a new twin cities exhibit by Susan Emmerson and Lisa Walcott. Finally, hear a hip hop song collaboration between Bloomington and Chicago grassroots art schools.

Nursing homes suffered financially during the pandemic as families avoided putting residents there. Perhaps a quarter of long term care facilities won't make it through the next year. The McLean County Nursing Home might have taken less of a hit than most. Bloomington Normal landlords say a lot of tenants haven't paid rent in a long time. They say they don't want to evict anyone, but will do what they have to. And the Mayor of Normal sayeth the state legislature giveth and the state legislature taketh away. A transfer of firefighters and police from tier two to tier one pension plans wipes out previous efficiencies.

Marvel returns to the multiplex this weekend with the release of the long-awaited "Black Widow," starring Scarlett Johansson. The Psych Geeks are here to dissect it.

A Bloomington attorney and Lincoln scholar has given a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote to a Peoria Attorney, to the Lincoln Library and Presidential Museum in Springfield. It's a window into the mind of Lincoln as a politician and person in transition. Hear a reckoning of the costs of COVID in the things you can't do: lost health and lost opportunity from the pandemic in McLean County. Gardening is good for the body, mind and soul. Sarah Davis sure thought so. The WGLT Datebook takes you on the Glorious Garden Walk at the David Davis Mansion. Hear about the delicious and the dangerous poke sallet. It's tasty but sometimes toxic.

Connect Transit gave more than a million rides during the pandemic. The head of the board for Bloomington Normal's bus system says that alone makes the case transit is a community must have as ridership rises again. Plus, progress to rework the Pantagraph building into a transfer center.Racial violence. Family trauma. The price of security. It's pretty heady stuff for a comic book movie. Scott Jordan is one-half of WGLT's Psych Geeks team -- dissecting the release of Marvel's "Black Widow" and its place in the always changing popular culture. Blues Traveler plays the Corn Crib. Jon Norton has the interview about the group's early dreams and new realities.

WGLT's The Leadoff is everything you need to know for Friday, May 20. Eric Stock reports on how two candidates running for a judgeship that includes McLean County view the end of cash bail, which is set to take effect in Illinois next year. Plus, one of the owners of The Garlic Press in Uptown talks about getting a shout-out from American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.