Cheryl Whitlow Thompson shares her career from earning degrees at the University of Illinois to working at the News Gazette to award-winning journalism at The Washington Post and now, NPR.

A state hotline was meant to help kids in crisis but for many young people it was a line to nowhere.

A state hotline was meant to help kids in crisis but for many young people it was a line to nowhere.

An investigative report shed light on deadly conditions within a special unit of the prison in Thomson, Illinois, and last week, the announcement came that the unit would close. The 21st was joined by one of the reporters who's been following the story.

Illinois native and investigative journalist Eli Murray won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting on severe lead poisoning among hundreds of workers in Florida.