Illinois Public Media News

Why do we think the wife of Abraham Lincoln was crazy? Some historians are saying that maybe it’s time for a reprisal of the way talk about her. One such historian joined us to talk about her findings. This segment originally aired December 8, 2021. 

There's a lot happening in Illinois politics. To talk about criminal justice reform, public health, last week's budget address, and more, we were joined by State Representative Sonya Harper, joint chair of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus.

Last month, there was a notice that the Illinois Department of Labor had adopted emergency rules regulating trampoline courts. To talk more about what these new rules will entail, we were joined by the chief ride inspector at IDOL.

Because of the "felony murder rule," hundreds of people in Illinois prisons are thought to be serving life sentences for murder even though they didn’t kill anyone, according to a recent analysis from the nonprofit news outlet Injustice Watch. The 21st was joined by someone affected by the rule, as well as two reporters following the story and the co-director of the Center for Wrongful Convictions.

The Born Again Labor Museum in Carbondale features art focused on worker’s rights, and it’s also a community event space for local labor rights organizations — which have seen a renewed interest in recent years as the pandemic highlights the plight of many essential workers across our economy. To tell us more about the history of labor organizing in Southern Illinois and about the Born Again Labor Museum, we were joined by the museum's co-founders.