WILL-AM

The 21st Show

There's a long-running fight over whether the fluoride in our drinking water is good for us. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called it “an industrial waste” and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has fast-tracked a review of the chemical’s safety for drinking water. And Florida and Utah aren’t waiting — they’ve already banned it from water supplies.

Meanwhile, the American Dental Association is sticking by its recommendation in favor of fluoridated water — and worth noting 98 percent of Illinois residents have that.

We’re not going to settle that debate in the next 15 minutes of the show — and that’s fine, because my next guest wants to move the conversation somewhere else.

Her question is not whether fluoride is safe. Her question is: If Illinois was to take fluoride out of the water supply, is the state ready for what comes next?

Dr. Helen Lee is a pediatric anesthesiologist at the University of Illinois Chicago. And she’s the author of a new policy brief from the Institute of Government and Public Affairs — the University of Illinois System’s in-house think tank.

The 21st Show

Illinois aid-in-dying law is set to take effect in September. It’s meant to give terminally ill patients a medical way to end their lives. But opponents call it “assisted suicide,” and they’ve joined with disability advocates trying to block the law in court. We’ll hear from people on both sides of that debate.

The 21st Show

It’s been a wild couple weeks for severe weather in Illinois. We’ll talk with reporters who’ve covered the aftermath of storms in Effingham and Charleston. We’ll also hear from an organization that’s been scrambling to place dozens of dogs and cats with foster homes after a tornado tore the roof off an animal shelter in Springfield.

Then, the bigger picture with a group of climate scientists. Illinois has had a record number of tornadoes this year, and the figure is still growing. They'll talk about what's behind that, and whether it's our new normal.
 

The 21st Show

Illinois-natives Rafael and Whitney are a husband and wife duo known for their soul and R&B vocals and music. They will be performing at this year's Juneteenth festival at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana, Illinois. 

The 21st Show

As Juneteenth approaches, the debate continues about whether descendants of enslaved Black Americans should receive reparations. In 2022, the city of Evanston, near Chicago, made history as the first U.S. city to implement a publicly funded reparations program for Black Americans. But should the relief go even further... perhaps, statewide?

The 21st Show

High school classes can be hard — and so are the first couple years of college. A group of teenagers in southern Illinois did both at the same time —  and simultaneously earned high school diplomas and associate’s degrees.

The 21st Show

The U.S. and Iran say they've reached a deal to end nearly four months of war — a war the president said was meant to end Iran's nuclear program, gut its missiles, cut off its proxies, and topple its government.

"None of those have been achieved,” says Rachel Bronson, who closely follows the region from her base at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

“I think we’re in a much worse situation, and now we’re just trying to figure out how to stanch that bleeding and to figure out what this next stage looks like.”

The 21st Show

Ever wondered about Illinois' bat population? Or perhaps you recently dealt with trying to get a bat out of your home?

The 21st Show took the opportunity to catch up on the state of bat populations across the 21st state, and how you can safely get rid of one that might find comfort in your home and when to respond to health-related concerns following exposure to bats. 

The 21st Show

For most of American history, when a Justice Department lawyer stood up in court and told a judge something, the judge took it as true. There's even a name for this — it’s called "presumption of regularity," the idea that government officials are doing their jobs honestly and in good faith.

That assumption is now under strain. A growing number of federal judges — appointed by presidents of both parties — have indicated they are no longer willing to give the benefit of the doubt to lawyers from the Trump administration. And one of the clearest examples of this is coming out of Illinois.

It's the case of the so-called “Broadview Six” — immigration protesters arrested outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility last fall. A rare federal felony case against them collapsed this spring after a judge found what she described as serious misconduct in front of a grand jury.

We spoke with Jason Meisner, who covers federal courts for the Chicago Tribune, to walk us through what's happened. 

The 21st Show

The 2026 Warrior Games are currently underway in San Antonio, Texas. First started in 2010, the Warrior Games are designed to bring together wounded, ill or injured service members from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and Special Operations Command.

This year, there are nearly 200 people competing in 12 adaptive sports. Among them are Navy Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class Thomas Trosper, a native of Georgetown, Illinois; and retired Navy Aircrew Survival Equipmentman 1st Class James Shoemaker of Effingham, Illinois.

Trosper will be competing in archery, cycling, field, swimming and wheelchair basketball. Shoemaker is competing in archery, sitting volleyball, swimming and track.