Regional Media Podcast Network

It's FFA Week and Wethersfield has been celebrating all week long. Today, Kaylen Johnson and Bella Shipley from our Wethersfield Third Grade Class gave us The Good News about FFA Week.

Wednesday was National Walk Your Dog Day and Kewanee third grader Gracelyn joined Wake Up Tri-Counties with The Good News about taking your dog for a walk.

On Thursday, Wake Up Tri-Counties was joined by one of the stars of Chicago Med, Jessy Schram. Jessy plays Dr. Hannah Asher on the popular Chicago based series, part of a block of Chicago based shows that have proven to be wildly popular on NBC and the streaming service, Peacock. In our interview, Jessy talks about landing the role of Dr. Hannah Asher, the challenge of playing a former drug addict and current OBGYN, and the remarkable success of Chicago Med and the entire Chicago based expanded universe of NBC dramas.

Mary Lou Ketridge-Griffith passed away in December of 2023. This was more than 50 years after she'd left Kewanee, Illinois where she'd gained local notoriety from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, first as a member of the Kewanee Ballhawks Women's Baseball team, and then working as a reporter for the Kewanee Star Courier. It was while at the Star Courier that Mary Lou met and fell in love with her first, and much older, husband, the Star Courier editor in chief, Chris Ketridge. The pair were married in 1950 and remained married until Chris passed away in 1976. By this time, Mary Lou and Chris had moved to Coral Gables, Florida where they helped found the community and became an integral part of this newly developing city. But, Mary Lou never forgot her time in Kewanee. She and Chris would return to Kewanee regularly. One of Mary Lou's great loves was the Kewanee Park District. She loved golf and became a champion at Midland Country Club and Kewanee Public Golf Course. Her love of the Parks and the Golf Course kept Mary Lou in touch with Kewanee for years. During that time, she and her second husband, Carl Griffith, became friends with Kewanee Parks Director Brian Johnson who, in 2007, honored Mary Lou with the Child's Best Friend Award. Even though she lived in Florida, Mary Lou would call Brian Johnson and if kids needed their sports registrations covered, Mary Lou would pay the fees, no questions asked, no child denied. Her and Carl's generous gifts made it possible that children she never knew or even met, would still have the chance to play in the various parks leagues. Brian Johnson joined Sean and Dave Clarke to remember the generous and unique life of Mary Lou Griffith on this edition of Kewanee Back When.

Governor Pritzker outlined his plan for a $52.7 billion budget for Illinois, the largest spending proposal in state history. His plan includes more than $1 billion in new taxes and other budget gimmicks and does not reflect the overall priorities of Illinois taxpayers

With 35,692 undocumented migrants in the city of Chicago, Pritzker is also asking the state to spend at least $342 million on their care – just under half of which will likely come from this year’s budget, and just more than half from next year’s.

Stephanie Waller, a registered nurse from CGH Digestive Health Services and Nurse Whitney Phillips were with us, to talk about what CGH Digestive Health Services does as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month approaches.

The Kewanee Boilermakers season came to an end on Wednesday night in a playoff loss to the Sherrard Tigers. Despite a heart filled performance from star Brady Clark, who scored 23 points in the losing effort, Kewanee fell short 55 to 45. After the game, Coach Matt Clark was not able to join us for the postgame podcast but the voice of Kewanee Basketball Russ Hughes and his partner Jeremy Peart spoke about the Coach, this remarkable season, and the various highlights that made this season special.