Illinois Public Media News

An assistant public defender from Cook County gives her perspective on the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Kentanji Brown Jackson.

Conflict over clear-cutting timber in the Shawnee National Forecast in the 1990s is the subject of a documentary being shown at festivals around the country. We were joined by environmental educators and one of the documentary's makers.

‘Motive,’ an investigative podcast from Chicago NPR station WBEZ, explores blindspots in the prison system — metaphorical, and literal — where correctional officers can and do behave as though no one is watching. The 21st was joined by criminal justice reporter Shannon Heffernan, the podcast's host, to discuss what she's found is happening inside big prisons in small Illinois towns. 

Many are trying to reconcile their own feelings of frustration at pandemic restrictions with the desire to protect those who are still vulnerable to the virus.

Two reporters discussed the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and the end of Illinois' legislative session.