Karen Lewis took on the powerful as Chicago Teachers Union president. She is credited with galvanizing the labor movement in the city and across the country. Lewis died this week from cancer. We'll remember her life and career.

With the pandemic forcing certain businesses to close, the State of Illinois saw a drop in sales taxes, a key revenue generator. But a new study from the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs shows other spending and federal aid helped make up some of the difference. We'll get a status update on Illinois' budget.

This past week marked the anniversary of the initial COVID-19 diagnosis in the state. The patient was in the Chicago area.

The heartbreaking story of Yingying Zhang is told in an award winning documentary. It gives an intimate look at the University of Illinois student who was kidnapped and murdered in 2017.

The news hit like an earthquake in state government this week. Michael Madigan, who was first elected Illinois House Speaker in 1983, stepped aside when it became clear he couldn't obtain the needed votes from his own Democratic members. We look back at what happened and reflect on Madigan's career. Remote learning has been a bumpy experiment for many teachers, students and parents. We detail some of the problems it has exposed and some lighter moments from online schooling. And, now that it's

Reporting on gun violence in Chicago primarily focuses only on those killed. But shooting survivors often struggle to come to terms with what happened. In some cases, it takes years to overcome the trauma. Others never get past it. A shooting survivor shares his story. Illinois was struggling to attract and keep teachers prior to last year. The pandemic has made things worse. We'll hear some possible solutions. And a journalist who covered the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention shares his

It has been a year since Illinois legalized recreational adult use cannabis. And despite the pandemic, marijuana sales beat expectations. We'll hear from a reporter who covers the industry about where it goes from here. We'll also learn about a mental health crisis clinic in central Illinois. That and more on this episode of Statewide.

There is a lot of incivility in the public sphere and that includes comments about politicians. While their decisions are fair game for critiques, often it gets more personal. That includes attacks on their appearance. Take Gov. J.B. Pritzker for example. Some have used derogatory terms to poke fun at his weight. A newspaper columnist says it's no laughing matter. We also recall the violent and bloody era of prohibition-era gangsters in southern Illinois. That and more on this week's Statewide.

On this episode of Statewide, the Bergner's chain liquidated in 2018, the final chapter in a retail history that dated back to the 1800s. For some communities, Bergner's was a an anchor store in a shopping mall. In Peoria, where it all began, the name meant a lot more. We'll talk with a Peoria journalist about Bergner's -- from its start through its heyday -- and how it all ended. We'll also recall the holiday shopping traditions at the former Marshall Field's in Chicago. And we'll look back on

It was a foggy, rainy night December 13, 1977. The University of Evansville's men's basketball team boarded a planed, heading for an away game. But soon after takeoff, the plane crashed killing all 29 people aboard. We'll hear from those on the scene and a documentary about that tragic event. We'll also listen to a nurse, who explains the difficulty of doing her job in a pandemic. And Amanda Knox, who was exonerated after her wrongful conviction in a high profile murder case, talks with us about