WILL-AM

The 21st Show

Illinois has strengthened its protections for LGBTQ people in recent years. But just across the border, the picture looks different: Iowa has stripped gender identity from its civil rights law, Missouri's Supreme Court has upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and Indiana's governor has declared June "Nuclear Family Month." All of it comes as a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows states to exclude transgender women and girls from female sports teams — and as national polling shows support for LGBTQ rights slipping from its peak.

We talk with LGBTQ advocates from across the region — in the Quad Cities, St. Louis, and Evansville, Indiana — about what's changed, how their communities are adapting, and what Pride means as the political climate shifts.

The 21st Show

As the United States marks its 250th birthday, the celebration has split into two: America250, the bipartisan effort Congress created in 2016, and Freedom 250, established by executive order from President Trump. The overlap has caused confusion — and some musicians backed out of the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., saying they weren't told about its ties to the Trump administration.

Several states, including Illinois, declined to participate. But the 21st state will be represented after all — by the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Brian Mackey talks with museum president and CEO John Morris about how a downstate institution ended up filling in for Illinois, what visitors to its exhibit will see, and what it's like navigating a politically charged event. The Illinois exhibit is open through July 10 in Washington, D.C.

News Local/State

Meteorologist Ed Kieser is teaming up with Andrew Pritchard to provide forecasts and breaking weather information. He was Illinois Public Media's fulltime meteorologist from 1987 until 2010.

The 21st Show

Gambling in Illinois used to mean a trip to a riverboat, a racetrack, or the lottery counter. Now it's in restaurants and gas stations — and on the phone in your pocket. Illinoisans lost more than $7.7 billion gambling last year, and a third of that money flows to state government.

But a recent investigation — "Addicted to gambling in Illinois," a joint project of the Illinois Answers Project and Capitol News Illinois — found the state invests relatively little in helping the hundreds of thousands of residents estimated to have a gambling problem.

Brian Mackey talks with reporters Casey Toner and Maggie Dougherty about what they found, from a Metropolis gas station that's taken in more than $223 million to the gap between gambling revenue and treatment funding. They're joined by Jimmy M., who has been in recovery from compulsive gambling for more than a decade and hosts the podcast Gambling Recovery: Take Back Your Life.

If you or someone you know is struggling, Illinois' helpline is 1-800-GAMBLER.

Weather Realness

The Trump administration's proposal changes how scientific research is funded. We learn how this could affect the future of science and the public.

Weather Realness

The midwest can’t seem to take a break from severe weather. In June, tornadoes and thunderstorms left a trail of damage in Illinois.

The 21st Show

Many of us were taught Mary Lincoln was a spendthrift, a little crazy, and a drag on her husband’s greatness. We’ll challenge all that with journalist Lois Romano, who’s written a new biography of Abraham Lincoln's wife.

“I think once a narrative is formed, it’s really hard to shake it,” Romano told The 21st Show. “And her narrative was written 150 years ago, and it was written by men who just couldn’t stand her. And they projected onto her things that just weren’t there.”

The book is called “An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln.”
 

The 21st Show

Technology developed by Illinois engineering professor Bill King has been incorporated into the cleats worn by soccer players at this year’s World Cup. We'll talk with him about what it is, how it was developed, and how the same tech has also made its way into colon cancer surgery and automobile tires.

The 21st Show

Schools in Illinois discipline Black students at much higher rates than their white peers. Public radio education reporters Emily Hays and Peter Medlin dug into the data for two schools with the most extreme disparities: Kennedy Middle School in Rockford and Lanphier High School in Springfield.

We'll talk about what they found, hear some of the stories behind the numbers, and learn about schools that are doing things differently.

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.