This Urbana native has limitless talents and titles. She can sing, play multiple instruments, landscape, build outbuildings, nurse and has made a business out of being a chandler. AKA a candlemaker! Kayla did it all until she couldn't anymore.

 Listen as this member of three local bands talks about how a personal need turned into a thriving business, Fire Doll Studios, why her "interesting" childhood led to a few bad habits and why she graduated high school with a different class than her own. For over a year now Kayla has lived a sober life after finding herself on the floor of her downtown business sick and tired and ready for a change. She describes the months, nights and days that led to this pivotal change and how her future is looking bright. 

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

My husband and defensive driving expert, Andrew Harrington, and I travel with our two little ones overnight (and well into the next day) from Illinois to Florida. While making our own memories, we reflect on the road trips of our own childhood.

 Listen as two townies hit the dusty trail already behind schedule and with bad moods setting in. Vomit, coffee-cup pees and an expensive meet-and-greet with a Georgia police officer are all documented periodically during the course of this long trip where my husband refuses to let me drive and verbalizes his resentment for his sleeping passengers. This one is packed with relatable and cringey moments from the road.

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

This spirited townie has an intuitive nature. She senses, sees and feels what a typical passerby may not. From local haunted houses, to premonitions regarding someone's future to guiding the lost through a potential minefield, Deb has a way with interpreting someone's thoughts and feelings.

 Listen as this former flower child, costume designer, creative and current intuitive talks about the resurgence in popularity of mystical practices like crystals, saging and reading tarot and the difference in psychics, mediums and her title of intuitive. Finally Deb sees something from my own life that rings true and zeros in on my aversion to risk by reading my cards! Cue the goosebumps. 

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

This Naperville transplant has a voice that likely everyone in the Champaign-Urbana area has heard. From WDWS to the University Of Illinois sports announcements, Scott is there covering games wherever he is needed for the love of sports, for the love of transmitting information and for the love of a dream that he will never let die.

 Listen as this broadcaster talks about pivoting from engineering and music to broadcast journalism, how being the one answering the personal questions is a lot harder than asking them, reflecting on your own life after a tragedy and ultimately having to decide what's most important: dreams vs. reality and passion vs. contentment. Scott talks about the relatable anxiety that comes with having to say "no" to an opportunity that could lead to the next big thing. Little League shenanigans and drama round out the conversation with the hopes of a quiet spring season.

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

In the fall of 2008 I went to Amy Armstrong's house as green as her front lawn. She was one of my first interviews as a big girl, full-time journalist. I was there to talk to Amy about her toddler, Larkin, and Amy's advocacy initiative, Larkin's Place at the Stephens Family YMCA. Fifteen years later, Amy and I talk about the next phase of Larkin's life and how Amy and her husband have to prepare to legally take control of Larkin before the age of 18 hits.

  Listen as this momologist and long-time resident explains the list of Larkin's diagnosis and why Down Syndrome is the least of their concerns-the hidden disabilities being the most worrisome. Infantile spasms, Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, epilepsy, Celiac disease and Autism occupy the family's mental space and sometimes makes them feel alone. Comparison being the thief of joy doesn't mean you don't notice what your daughter will never get to do or experience, even if she doesn't notice herself.

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

One well-known townie and one transplant fall in love and move overseas to continue his dream of playing basketball for a living. A traumatic birth to twins and a need for familial support brought the couple back to the states TWICE to start a more pedestrian life filled with familial support and two more baby boys.

 Listen (literally, as two littles were at the recording) to how this thoughtful mom and dad function as a family of six. Moving through life with a team mentality and a lens of "us," this unit uses their own personality traits to help fill in the gaps in what the other may lack, manage sibling rivalry and view "more kids" as more love, more gifts, more personalities, more joy over less time, less money and less resources. Trent and Theresa are a match made in wisdom and respect. Not perfection. Messes are still made, accidents still happen and meltdowns still occur. However, this interview shows how the mutual understanding and appreciation of one other can veil the day-to-day grind that parenting and life's stress can create.  

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

Fellow townie, Central Maroon and thoughtful, "I need to sleep on it," personality, Devin Lietz, talks about her no-second-guesses needed road to adoption. The road, however, had a few false starts. 

 Listen as this former social worker details her process and decision to adopt rather than pursue other interventions. Devin always had adoption in the back of her mind as she married and then started "trying" to get pregnant. A miscarriage led her and her husband to believe getting pregnant may be more complicated than expected. Adoption was their next step to finding baby Jane, her biological mom and some other potential bio moms that never came to fruition-startlingly common, Devin explains. Devin's love and adoration for her now toddler fills this episode as she only sees Jane as nothing else than her precious baby girl.

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

University of Illinois student athletes, Jer'Zhan Newton (St. Petersburg) and Keith Randolph Jr. (Belleville) are powerhouses on the defensive line this year. This dynamic duo was even given the moniker the "Law Firm" by their fearless leader Bret Bielema for their exceptional teamwork.

 Listen as these two friends, roommates and teammates tease each other while expressing what the true life of a student athlete looks like. Their different personalities show through as they discuss the pressures, time constraints, fear of injury and tough transitions through coaching changes. Most importantly, Newton & Randolph talk about their future in football: The ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, declaring for the NFL and/or returning to college for the Fighting Illini. These two athletes were engaged, enjoyable, respectful and hilariously unfiltered. In the next few weeks many decisions will be made and one BIG game will be played, one thing is for certain, any team is lucky to have them. 

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

Rantoul resident turned Urbana homeowner tells tales that the best fiction writer could not put into words. Tony's childhood debauchery quickly goes from juvenile to criminal spanning coast-to-coast.

 Listen to Tony discuss his wrap sheet starting in early adolescence with a legitimate wildfire. This spark began a snowball effect of moves, booze, drugs, arrests and a baby girl. After too much being sick and tired of being sick and tired, Tony resorts to homelessness to rehab himself and clean up his act. Tony talks passionately about helping improve the growing homeless population in our own community. He also talks tearfully about pursuing a reunion with his now adult daughter and how that relationship grows today. 

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

Former Centennial Charger explains how a recession landed her in a position that is never boring, mostly stressful and always comes with a long line of upset customers. This boy mom to two little ones impresses with legalese and consistent compassion for her clients as a local public defender.

 Listen to Lindsey talk candidly about how much she makes, theft versus burglary, defending a former classmate, finding the good in even the most wanted, how poverty and how someone grew up should plays a part in someone's case, getting called fat behind plate glass, the difference between innocence and finding someone not guilty and running into a pissed off client at a pizza place!

I am adding video podcasting to my repertoire of mediums. During this transition, I have banked a batch of episodes in the new studio. The infrastructure and powers that be aren't quite ready. If you want to listen to the audio version as normal, NOTHING will change for you. However, if you want to WATCH the full-length podcast, that option will now be available. In the meantime, stay with me and listen to these still relevant recordings of the HyperLocal(s) Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.