WILL-TV, in collaboration with PBS KIDS, presents our first annual Early Childhood Champions Awards! Nominate a talented champion who works with young children in central Illinois by April 9, 2021.

On today's 21st, we talk about how gun permit applications are up 500 percent this year, we have a conversation with teachers and nurses about starting the school year, and we talk about food insecurity during the pandemic.

Prosecutors and police officers have been sending too much DNA to the Illinois State Police crime lab. People are waiting in jail as a result of the massive backlog. Plus, schools across Illinois badly need more teachers. One statewide program has been trying to recruit more of them, as early as high school. Also, earlier this year a prison in Danville removed 200 books from an education program library. But now, after public pressure, the books are back in the prison. And after more than a century, the Chicago Defender will no longer be available in print. 

On the 21st: We talked with gun training instructors and owners about the recent wave of teachers acquiring concealed carry permits in the wake of shooting incidents in recent years. Plus, Illinois infrastructure, and what lies down the road for future construction and maintenence. And, a recent study shows that lesbian, bisexual and questioning women are at a higher risk for diabetes and obesity later in life. Then, we discussed what one Illinois library is doing to eliminate the fines associated with forgetting to return your book, and how this came to be.

Last month, about a dozen people gathered in the basement of a church in Champaign, Ill. to learn how traumatic experiences affect the lives of children and young adults, and what they can do to mitigate its effects.