WGLT's Sound Ideas - Full Episodes

Nursing homes suffered financially during the pandemic as families avoided putting residents there. Perhaps a quarter of long term care facilities won't make it through the next year. The McLean County Nursing Home might have taken less of a hit than most. Bloomington Normal landlords say a lot of tenants haven't paid rent in a long time. They say they don't want to evict anyone, but will do what they have to. And the Mayor of Normal sayeth the state legislature giveth and the state legislature taketh away. A transfer of firefighters and police from tier two to tier one pension plans wipes out previous efficiencies.

A Bloomington attorney and Lincoln scholar has given a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote to a Peoria Attorney, to the Lincoln Library and Presidential Museum in Springfield. It's a window into the mind of Lincoln as a politician and person in transition. Hear a reckoning of the costs of COVID in the things you can't do: lost health and lost opportunity from the pandemic in McLean County. Gardening is good for the body, mind and soul. Sarah Davis sure thought so. The WGLT Datebook takes you on the Glorious Garden Walk at the David Davis Mansion. Hear about the delicious and the dangerous poke sallet. It's tasty but sometimes toxic.

Connect Transit gave more than a million rides during the pandemic. The head of the board for Bloomington Normal's bus system says that alone makes the case transit is a community must have as ridership rises again. Plus, progress to rework the Pantagraph building into a transfer center.Racial violence. Family trauma. The price of security. It's pretty heady stuff for a comic book movie. Scott Jordan is one-half of WGLT's Psych Geeks team -- dissecting the release of Marvel's "Black Widow" and its place in the always changing popular culture. Blues Traveler plays the Corn Crib. Jon Norton has the interview about the group's early dreams and new realities.

On today's episode, the owner of a McLean County farm tallies up the damage after last month's historic rain. A pro-EV group makes the case of battery-powered buses and semis. And a new installment of our McHistory series.

On today's episode of Sound Ideas, you'll hear about Heartland Community College's first electric vehicle training program. A leading cybersecurity expert in Illinois talks about what resources will be necessary to protect the country's information infrastructure. Plus, a new installment of Beyond Sports.

Some authors published decades ago in a ground breaking ISU based journal of Black Literature are still working today. Hear about Obsidian Literature & Arts. So, you spend a lot of time and effort making your garden look faaaan-tast-ic and get nothing else out of it. Now, you can do that AND grow something you can eat. The pandemic brought fear, uncertainty, stress, boredom, and, it turns out, artistic fuel for a new twin cities exhibit by Susan Emmerson and Lisa Walcott. Finally, hear a hip hop song collaboration between Bloomington and Chicago grassroots art schools.

ISU's new President says student athletes should not have to go to the food bank. She supports a supreme court ruling allowing athletes to earn from their status. On her first day on the job, WGLT devotes all of Sound Ideas to an interview with ISU's 20th President and first female top executive, Terri Goss Kinzy. The issues we cover include: how ISU can resist the nationwide trend of declining enrollment caused by drops in the number of high school graduates, state funding or the lack thereof, whether society views higher education as a public good any longer, and whether to mandate student Coronavirus vaccinations.

The city of Bloomington has some unpleasant choices ahead. The city council has five options to close a million dollar deficit but is a long way from clarity. Many of the lawmakers in Springfield weren't even born the last time there was a House Speaker NOT named Mike Madigan. Hear an assessment of the new House and Senate leadership performance in the spring session. State Senator Jason Barickman blames the Governor for an evictions moratorium that may cause a spike in evictions when it goes away in late summer. Barickman says the courts should have been trusted to deal with the issue during the pandemic. And Bloomington Normal's largest COVID testing site is closing. Find out who will pick up the load.

Nearly half the federal money for Bloomington Normal pandemic rent help has yet to go out. The reasons are a mixed bag. More than a thousand buildings in Bloomington have water damage. An expert in restoration tells you how rare that is and what can be done about it, even the nasty smelly, sometimes dangerous sewer backups. The city of Bloomington Public Works Director lays out why sewer backups are happening during heavy rain events.

Past expansions at State Farm and Mitsubishi offer an example for Bloomington-Normal as Rivian accelerates. Those include good things like increases in municipal revenue from sales taxes and opportunities to enhance cultural offerings in the twin cities, but also challenges such as prolonged workforce shortages, and pressure on schools. Hear about the challenges sudden job growth can bring to a community. Plus, the ten inches of rain that fell on parts of McLean County over the weekend were much worse than a once in a century. The State Water Survey tells you how rare this kind of event is. U.S. Representative Rodney Davis evades a question on how seriously he's thinking about running for Governor. You can, though, hear Davis's take on the big infrastructure deal.