Each Friday, we end the week with a statewide news roundup. We checked in Northern Illinois and the Metro East regions.

As part of our Friday shows, we're ending the week with an Illinois news roundup. Today: news from northern and southern Illinois.

In order to make way for an expansion of the Rockford Airport, last week, a bulldozer plowed its way through part of Bell Bowl Prairie in Rockford. The 21st was joined by two environmental advocates and a journalist who has been following the story.

Security camera footage shows a school resource officer bodyslamming a Rockford student, slamming his head into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

By 2020, Rockford was on the verge of ending homelessness entirely, but then, the pandemic hit, amplifying existing housing needs and economic pressures and causing the city to have to adapt and continue its fight. The 21st was joined by the city's mayor and housing advocates to talk about what Rockford has done and what other cities can do to combat homelessness.