WGLT's Sound Ideas - Full Episodes

The twin towers of the World Trade Center fell twenty years ago. Teachers in classrooms that day managed their own grief and their students'. Some couldn't be there in the moment for their own children. Others say they regret letting it play on tv in classrooms. For some 9-11 is history, for others it is still as raw as if it happened yesterday. Hear Bloomington Normal residents recall where they were that day. Some believe 9-11 had a lasting effect on civil liberties. Young adults who were not yet born during 9-11 say they too feel trauma. Hear an hour long reflection on 9-11 from people in central Illinois.

On today’s episode, a reporter turned state Senator explains why he pushed for creation of a task force to study local journalism. Plus, Jon Norton reflects on how music changed in the first hours after the 9/11 attacks. And a preview of the new Backyard Tire Fire album.

Former U.S. Senator and two time candidate for Governor Adlai Stevenson II has died at age 90. Listen to archival sound of Stevenson reading the words of his father, another member of the Bloomington founded political dynasty. A half century ago the New School started in Bloomington as an alternative education model. Fifty years on the Mulberry School still teaches children how to learn instead of what they should learn. Emory knows what it means to be an unwanted child. Easton says the book came screaming out of her cortex as an effort to get it out and stop blackening her soul. Hear about the healing power of writing. And the Mayor of Normal drops by.

Many unions have had trouble getting and keeping members. The Laborers union in central Illinois is not one of them with a record high membership of 500,000 people. There is a shortage of young women in technical fields that State Farm wants to help fill. If Samsung locates its electric vehicle battery plant in Normal it will need water to make precursors to make lithium oxides and as the solvent to make graphite electrodes. Hear what else goes into that industrial process. And an ISU graduate fulfils a family legacy disrupted by 1920s racial discrimination.

Two Central Illinois conductors on the Underground Railroad in Tazewell County were charged with violating fugitive slave laws. Abraham Lincoln was their lawyer. Celebrate the underground railroad in McLean and Tazewell Counties. Congressmen Darin LaHood and Rodney Davis call for the ouster of two top national security officials saying those officials ignored intelligence predicting the Taliban would roll over the Afghan government. A national labor leader from McLean County calls for solidarity - against the pandemic. Plus, the Make Music Normal festival returns with precautions.

Linda Hatfield says her grandmother never ever gave up on bringing missing World War II casualty Clarence Brotherton home to Gibson City. She refused to put up a marker because she didn't want him to think she had given up on him. 77 years later Brotherton's body has come back to central Illinois. A new music venue comes to downtown Bloomington. A big chain restaurant opens soon on the east side of town. And there's a new brew pub coming to Lexington, Illinois. The Normal Public Library is collecting remembrances and recollections of 9-11 as the 20th anniversary of those attacks approaches. And taking down a big central Illinois bridge all at one go is almost as interesting as engineering exercise as building one.

McLean County child abuse reports dropped during the pandemic, but abuse thrives in isolation and now with kids back to school, child advocates expect the numbers to rise. Illinois State University enrollment slid for the second year in a row. That's in spite of a slight increase in the size of the freshman class. University leaders say that's not too bad, considering everything else going on. Bloomington state Senator Jason Barickman criticizes Democratic Party redistricting moves. Plus, the Illinois High School Association adds an e-sports tournament.

Questions swirl around the shootings of six people in Normal. Three dead. Three seriously hurt. McLean County Mom's Demand Action for Gun Sense says even if you know none of those involved, such horrific incidents create collective community trauma. Some court cases seem like they will never end. Three decades-old murder cases from McLean County are returning to the courtroom this year. The pandemic has brought a lot of consideration about work and life and some people are making changes. There's an increase in the number of central Illinois carpenters apprentices. And find out what tomorrow's roads will look like.

Most of the critical care COVID-19 patients in McLean County hospitals are younger and sicker than earlier, though none are kids. Yes, they are largely unvaccinated. And ISU's new multicultural center is open for business. Hear how it's increasing diversity and cultural awareness on campus. It takes a lot to get 11 murder trials through McLean County in a year even in the best of times, these aren't. And the history and contemporary culture of Native Americans doesn't receive the attention it deserves. Illinois researcher Pam Silas previews her presentation this week at the McLean County Museum of History.

On today's episode, you'll hear about new data (analyzed by the ACLU) about how often Black drivers get pulled over in Bloomington-Normal. Plus, Normal City Manager Pam Reece talks about building out infrastructure on the town's western edge. And you'll get a preview of the Sweet Corn Circus coming to Uptown Normal this weekend.