Illinois Public Media News

In 2022, the certified professional midwife profession will become an officially licensed occupation in Illinois. We talked with two women who are glad for the legislative change but say it needs to go further.

The United States is currently one of only six counties without a national paid leave policy. To talk about the current state of paid family leave in Illinois, The 21st was joined by a professor of labor and employment relations and someone who's been working to expand access to paid leave in Illinois.

Ten people were killed, and 300 were injured at rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival when a crowd surge occurred near the stage during the performance. The investigation into exactly what caused the deadly crush of people is still ongoing, but experts are weighing in now about what may have gone wrong, and how to prevent these types of tragedies in the future. The 21st was joined by a venue manager and a crowd safety expert.

Since Afghanistan collapsed into Taliban control in August as the world looked on, some 70,000 Afghans were evacuated into the United States.  Almost 850 of those have come here to Illinois, with that number possibly expanding to 3000. According to a recent ProPublica investigative piece, chaos has erupted in the Chicago shelters housing many of the children who came to Illinois. The children are suffering from the traumas of a hasty evacuation, of war, and of separation from their families. We spoke to the reporter behind that story.

Bach to Black is a new project from a University of Illinois professor and pianist that pairs Johann Sebastian Bach's music with works written by Black composers. It's designed to bridge divides in the music community and increase diversity and inclusion in classical music. This segment originally aired on October 21, 2021.