Illinois Public Media News

On this encore edition of The 21st: Steve James tells us about his ten-part documentary series 'America to Me,' which explores race, education and high school through the lens of a handful of students at Oak Park and River Forest High School. But first, two of this year's MacArthur “genius grant” winners were from Illinois. We revisit our conversation with the MacAurthur fellows about the Foundation and their work. 

State lawmakers approved hundreds of changes that are now Illinois law.

With the new year comes new changes to the way Illinois restaurants are graded after food safety inspections. Instead of receiving a numerical score, all food establishments will being assigned a color: red, yellow, or green.

Statistics show that only about one-third of sexual assaults get reported to authorities. But a new Illinois law removes some of the barriers that could prevent rape victims from coming forward.

On this encore edition of The 21st: How can all the cows we raise for meat help, rather than hurt, our environment? Plus, we revisit our conversation with Gary Riley Mills about how to use communication for success. Also, we talk with Loyola Chicago's Omer Mozaffar about his consulting on the Amazon Prime series Jack Ryan.