Part 2: Most of the radium-tainted earth from decades-old manufacturing in Ottawa has been removed, but one major site still needs cleanup.

Part 1: Radium poisoning took the lives of perhaps thousands of female factory workers, many in Ottawa, Illinois, in the last century.

This year is the centennial of America’s entry into World War I. Most stories about the war focus on the fighting overseas, but there was another struggle taking place. An American icon from Illinois helped lead that battle and, for a time, paid for it with her reputation. 

Gov. Bruce Rauner used his executive authority Tuesday to create an office and a 51-member commission to make plans for celebrating Illinois' Bicentennial in 2018.

After video of a white Chicago police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times was released to the public, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel became the focus of intense backlash. He responded by firing Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. In many ways this was history repeating in a city that has had twice as many police chiefs than it’s had mayors in the past six decades — and more than its share of police scandals.