The 217 Today Podcast

217 Today: Monday, Nov. 22, 2021

Brian Moline and Farrah Anderson
 
Cars drive on South Lincoln Avenue on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, in O’Fallon, Illinois. One of the largest growing cities in the Metro-East’s representation will be split up from the state to congressional level through what some have criticized as partisan gerrymandering. The street now splits up the IL-12 and IL-13 congressional districts.

Cars drive on South Lincoln Avenue on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, in O’Fallon, Illinois. One of the largest growing cities in the Metro-East’s representation will be split up from the state to congressional level through what some have criticized as partisan gerrymandering. The street now splits up the IL-12 and IL-13 congressional districts. Brian Munoz/St. Louis Public Radio

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Monday, Nov. 22, 2021

Today's headlines:

  • Democrats in the U.S. Senate are trying for an end-of-year deadline to pass the so called “Build Back Better” bill in that chamber. Among disagreements over the size and scope of the $1.75 trillion social spending package is whether to repeal a Trump-era tax policy. 

  • Most things on Thanksgiving shopping lists will cost more this year-- including turkey.

  • A new exhibit in Urbana honors the fortieth anniversary of the first documented case of AIDS. The Spurlock Museum’s “Sewn in Memory” exhibit features nineteen fabric quilt panels with names of people who died of AIDS and have ties to Central Illinois.

In today's deep dive, we’ll head to O’Fallon in southwestern Illinois to see how the new congressional maps for the state are splitting this community in half.

217 Today is produced by Farrah Anderson. Reporting today contributed by Hannah Meisel, Dana Cronin, Haley Bickelhaupt and Eric Schmid.