What are the Top 10 Best Books of 2020 according to the book editors at Amazon.com? The list was released this week and on the Noon Hour show on WKEI we caught up Amazon's lead book editor, Sarah Gelman to talk about the Top 10 Books of 2020, some notable titles just outside the top 10 and having the best job in the world, reading books for a living and ranking them.

Pastor Jim Reynolds with OSF Grief Counseling the OSF Hospice joined WKEI on People to People on Wednesday to discuss grief and the holidays. Pastor Jim brought with him the Grievers Holiday Bill of Rights, a list of RIghts reserved for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one during the holidays. We go through some of these rights and cover many of the ways in which grieving occurs during the holidays, outside the holidays, any time and how there is no one way for people to grieve for the loss of a loved one.

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R & B Superstar Macy Gray was our guest on the Noon Hour on WKEi. Macy has recently formed a non-profit that offers financial and other kinds of support to families who have lost someone to police brutality. The MyGood Foundation was formed specifically to help pay for the burial fees and provide counseling services and financial aid to families devastated in the wake of police brutality incident. Much can be lost as people debate what can be done about incidents of police brutality and often lost in that debate are the needs of the families who've lost a loved one. That's what the MyGood Foundation was created for, to make sure the families are not forgotten. We also talked music, of course, with Macy having a new record coming in February and the long lasting legacy of her biggest hit, the Grammy winning "I Try."

RaeAnn Tucker from the Henry and Stark County Health Department joined WKEI on People to People on Tuesday to discuss the latest local news regarding COVID-19. The news is not improving. The rolling infection rate in both Henry and Stark County is over 17% as this weekend. And, now with Thanksgiving over, the likely expectation is we will see another spike in cases and how big that spike is will go a long way toward how Henry County looks while we wait for the COVID-19 vaccine to be approved and distributed. Currently, there is no definitive timeline for when the Vaccine will be ready to go out.

Kewanee Mayor Gary Moore joined WKEI on Tuned In to follow up on Monday's Kewanee City Council Meeting. Mayor Moore talked about Wood Boilers and the discussion about allowing for wood boilers in the City of Kewanee from Monday night's meeting. The City of Kewanee will be permitting and regulating Wood Burners but they will not require a Special Use permit for the burners. A final ordinance should be up at the next Kewanee City Council Meeting. Also discussed during last night's Kewanee City Council Meeting was escalated bidding when it comes to bidding on City owned property. Mayor Moore feels escalated bidding is fair and legal but the rest of council, aside from the absent Chris Colomer, appeared to oppose escalated bidding. And finally, we addressed the coming retirement of Kewanee City Engineer Scott Hinton and whether or not the City of Kewanee should continue to have a full time City Engineer.

There is a growing crisis in the field of Behavioral Health and it is due to the continuing strain of COVID-19. More and more people need help from Behavioral Health specialists and fewer Behavioral Health Specialists than ever before are available. That said, new advances in technology are helping to bring health professionals and patients together in new ways, but the crisis still looms. With COVID-19 on everyone's mind and more people feeling cut off from the world, the need for more behavioral health continues to grow. We talked to Luke Raymond, Director of Behavioral Health at OSF Healthcare about what OSF Healthcare is doing to meet the needs of a growing number of patients.

Eddie Tolliver from the Kewanee Salvation Army joined WKEI on Monday, one day ahead of Giving Tuesday, the day many set aside to make a charitable donation whether in person or online. Eddie tells WKEI that the Salvation Army's plan for Giving Tuesday involves a partnership with Thrivent Financial which has the company matching every $2.00 donated with a dollar from Thrivent. On top of that matching donation, Thrivent and the Salvation Army will celebrate the day with a virtual concert by famed Christian pop star, Michael W Smith. You can see the concert via the link on the Kewanee Salvation Army Facebook page. Eddie also reminds everyone that the Red Kettle campaign is underway and bell ringers are needed to help fill the kettles in 2020.

Dr Hayley Ralph from OSF Saint Luke Medical Center talked with WKEI for our Noon hour program. In the interview, we talked about the safety and benefits of exercising during pregnancy. Young mothers have many questions when they first become pregnant, the main question being the best ways to assure their baby is safe and healthy. This can lead to the notion that vigorous activity such as exercise might be harmful to the baby. This is not the case. In fact, mother's and baby's can benefit from Mom getting plenty of exercise and eating healthy.