To the disappointment of music fans, artists and organizers have had to pull the plug on concerts and festivals this season. We wanted to offer some summer music recommendations from artists both here in central Illinois and around the world. 

For many of us during the pandemic, we’ve gotten to know the four walls of the various rooms in our home better than ever before. The 21st speaks to an author and journalist who explores the many indoor environments, both private and public spaces — from operating rooms to prisons.

The 21st is joined by Mayra Ramirez, the first known COVID-19 patient in the U.S. to receive a double-lung transplant, to talk more about her experience with the virus and in the hospital. 

Like many other institutions in 2020, America’s newsrooms are facing a reckoning for a lack of diversity in newsrooms. The 21st is joined by four journalists to address aggressions against journalists of color, proposals for true changes for more inclusive newsrooms and how news consumers can question the newsrooms they trust.

The 21st speaks to Coree Woltering, an Illinois-based ultra-marathoner, who recently set a new record for the 1,147 mile Ice Age Trail, completing it in 21 days, 13 hours and 35 minutes.

Over the course of the last few months, the movement for racial justice has reignited the call for racially insensitive mascots and team names to be replaced. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign retired their race-based mascot 13 years ago, yet the depiction continues to endure, with some even calling for the mascot to be restored. 

Summer is a time for road trips — but COVID-19 is limiting options. The 21st explores safe getaways in a time of a pandemic.

In light of the racial justice movements in Illinois, statues honoring Confederate figures like Jefferson Davis, are coming down around the South — either by protestors or local governments. Here in the Midwest, some student groups at the University of Wisconsin in Madison are also calling for the removal of an Abraham Lincoln statue.

As we begin the month of August, the 21st speaks to two reporters from Illinois to check-in with some under reported communities about the effects of COVID-19 and how they’re reacting to back to school plans.

In the late 1990s, a photographer named Chris Strong stood in front of a house on the sidewalk of West High Street in Urbana, Illinois and snapped a peculiar photograph of a white-framed house. The 21st talked with three guests to learn more about the house and the significance it holds to certain alternative music fans around the world.

While loneliness is a more intangible health issue, its effects are major. The 21st speaks to mental health experts to discuss how lonliness has gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic and how you can deal with its effects.

Peoria County is one of a handful around Illinois that are on “warning level” for coronavirus disease. Meanwhile, in Washington, members of Congress are debating whether to pass another COVID-19 economic relief package. The 21st checks in with US Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Peoria) to talk about the relief bill and rising cases in the 18th congressional district.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will have a massive saliva testing program for COVID-19 in place when students return this fall. But some say it will not be enough to stem a rise in infections.