The 217 Today Podcast

217 Today: Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Brian Moline and Carolina Garibay
 
Shelia Muhammad, center, with her daughter Nicole Galloway and son Hakim Muhammad.

Shelia Muhammad, center, with her daughter Nicole Galloway and son Hakim Muhammad. Provided by Sheila Muhammad

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Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Today's headlines:

  • A Northwestern University expert is working with Illinois teachers to make them clear on core aspects of media literacy. That's ahead of a new law that takes effect next year.

  • Students and teachers in Illinois are heading back to the classroom beginning this week. A top teachers union has signaled it might be open to a COVID vaccine mandate for its members.

  • A special Champaign County Board committee has until November to come up with a plan to resolve the county’s jail issues. County board members voted unanimously Tuesday night to create the committee.

  • Fifty-seven percent of the county’s vaccine eligible population and just over 50% of the total population is vaccinated against COVID-19, which is about a one percentage point increase over the past two weeks. The state has an overall vaccination rate of 52%.

In today's deep dive, in the third and final part of our series on how HIV has affected Black women, we hear from a woman who’s lived with the virus for more than 30 years.

Reporting today contributed by Maureen McKinney, Hannah Meisel, Jim Meadows and Darian Benson.