August 4 Illinois History Minute

It’s August 4th. And Barack Obama was born on this day in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was two years out of college when he first came to Illinois in 1985.

Obama worked three years in Chicago with a faith-based group, left for law school, then returned to Chicago to teach and practice law, marry and raise a family, and launch a career in politics that would take him to the White House.

On this day in 2003, Governor Rod Blagojevich signed a bill to make popcorn Illinois’ official state snack food. About 12 percent of the popcorn sold in the USA is grown in Illinois, the majority of it in Mason County.