WILL-AM

The 21st Show

Route 66, America’s most famous highway is turning 100 this year, and Illinois is bound up in more than 300 miles of its stories. To kick off our week-long series and begin our statewide journey, the 21st Show traveled to the start of Route 66, in the heart of downtown Chicago.

Weather Realness

How did Canada’s wildfire smoke travel hundreds of miles to Illinois and is climate change making things worse? We learn the meteorological side of wildfire smoke and what this means for Illinois.

Weather Realness

We talk about flooding in central Illinois and why Illinois keeps getting hit with heavy rainfall. 

The 21st Show

Nearly 3,000 Americans were killed on the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. Twenty-five years later, Illinoisans share stories of where they were and how the events of that day affected them.

The 21st Show

Tristan Ahtone is a member of the Kiowa Tribe and editor-at-large at Grist. His award-winning investigation, “Land-Grab Universities,” revealed how the 1862 Morrill Act turned nearly 11 million acres of Indigenous land into seed money for land-grant universities — including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The 21st Show

Many pregnancies end not with birth, but with loss and that can leave a lasting mark on the people who experience it. A new book takes a deep dive into this. 

The 21st Show

Economist and sociologist Juliet Schor has spent years documenting how Americans are overworked — but her latest research suggests a solution: shaving one day off the workweek, with no drop in pay or (in many cases) productivity. She outlines these findings in a book, “Four Days a Week: The Life-Changing Solution for Reducing Employee Stress, Improving Well-Being, and Working Smarter.” 

The 21st Show

An Illinois-based journalist is searching for President Barack Obama's controversial tan suit after it was given away.

The 21st Show

What does downstate Illinois have to offer to visitors? 

The 21st Show

Niala Boodhoo has more than two decades of experience in journalism — including, as the founding host and executive producer of the 21st Show.  She is launching a podcast in which she's interviewing religious scholars and looking at modern day issues from a spiritual point of view.