Illinois Public Media News

Russia’s war against Ukraine continues unabated. We talked with an Illinois journalist who is on the ground in Lviv, Ukraine.

Can anyone get their photo or design on an official US Postal Service stamp? We were joined by the director of Stamp Services at USPS Headquarters and an Illinois resident who took a picture that will be featured on the upcoming "Mighty Mississippi" USPS stamp series.

From school and work pressures to the distractions and anxiety that come with having access to social media and everything else on their phones, it can be hard to get sleep as a teenager. In a survey a few years back, 58% more teenagers were “severely sleep deprived” than in 1991.The 21st was joined by two psychotherapists who wrote a book on this sleepless generation and what can be done to help.

Rev. Kalie Hargrove was a distance learner at Lincoln Christian University until the school found out she was transgender. She withdrew under pressure and is now part of a lawsuit testing the limits of anti-discrimination laws as they apply to religious institutions. She and a member of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project joined us to talk about her case and how the freedom of religion and anti-discrimination laws intersect and conflict.

In order to get a better understanding of where the conflict in Ukraine stands today and where it came from, we talked with someone who had deep experience in the region: Former ambassador, State Department official, and Russia expert Ian Kelly. He’s currently ambassador-in-residence at Northwestern University.