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Portrait: Marvin Joseph via NPR

The 21st Show

Investigative reporter Cheryl Whitlow Thompson on growing up in Illinois, journalism today, and the lost Tuskegee Airmen

Born and raised in Chicago, Cheryl Whitlow Thompson’s career in journalism goes back more than four decades — from her days as a student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to hard-hitting investigative work at the Washington Post and NPR.

Thompson is also the daughter of one of the Tuskegee Airmen, William E. Whitlow Jr. Her forthcoming book, Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen, tells the stories of Tuskegee pilots who were killed in action.

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a collage including a picture of a black woman with dark brown hair wearing a dress with an interlocking red and navy pattern; and the cover of

The 21st Show

Why do scams work? An Illinois accountant explains

Fraud is all around us, from pyramid schemes to spam phone calls. Illinois-based forensic accountant Kelly Richmond Pope writes about why people do it — and how we can better protect ourselves — in her book “Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories and Secrets from the Trillion Dollar Fraud Industry.”

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the US constitution is written on dark brown paper in elaborate script; the inset photo features a white woman with brown hair and wearing a black top; she's looking to her right and her lips are pursed; on a TV monitor in the background — out of focus — you can see a senator holding up a piece of paper, presumably asking a question or making a point during Shogan's confirmation hearing
U.S. Constitution: Mark Schiefelbein/AP — Colleen Shogan (inset): Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

The 21st Show

Former Archivist of the U.S. Colleen Shogan on preserving historic documents, facing public pressure, and being fired by President Trump

Colleen Shogan was the 11th Archivist of the United States — the head of the National Archives and Records Administration. The agency is responsible for safeguarding America's founding documents, other important government records, and running many of the presidential libraries across the country.

Shogan was appointed by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate. But while the job is traditionally seen as non-partisan and previous archivists have spanned administrations, President Donald Trump fired Shogan soon after taking office. We'll talk about that and more.

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