WGLT's Sound Ideas

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On today's episode, as students pack up and head to college, international students are feeling anxious. Plus, a familiar face in the McLean County Sheriff's Office vies for the top job in next year's election. And a 1977 time capsule found at Bloomington Public Library inspired a 2025 edition. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

McLean County Sheriff's Lt. Jon Albee is looking to replace retiring sheriff Matt Lane next year. In this interview with WGLT's Eric Stock, Albee said his role as lieutenant in multiple divisions has prepared his to lead the department. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bloomington Public Library is now home to a time capsule which was put behind glass Friday afternoon. It will be opened in 2050. The time capsule holds several items significant to the past decade and to Bloomington-Normal. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen spoke against patient loss of Medicaid coverage during a tour of an OSF HealthCare facility in Peoria. Sorensen, D-Moline, toured the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit [NICU] at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria on Thursday. He discussed the local impact coming from cuts to Medicaid included in the GOP's massive tax cut and spending plan signed by President Trump in July. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Visual artist David Wilson is alive and exhibiting. That’s what he called a collection of collages on display now at Bloomington Public Library. Alive and Exhibiting is part of a gallery series installed on the library’s second floor, outside the renovated facility’s community rooms. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A charity run from Bloomington-Normal to Peoria turns 40 this year, supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and its affiliate clinics across the country—the first of which opened in Peoria in 1972. Founded in 1985, the St. Jude Bloomington-Normal to Peoria Run was the first of more than 30 fundraisers convening in Peoria by foot. Runners participating in St. Jude's original charity run left Memphis on Tuesday. In addition to the inaugural satellite route from Bloomington-Normal to Peoria, runners start from Canton, Chillicothe, Dunlap, LaSalle/Peru and Washington, among many others. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Those inside the renewable energy sector find themselves at a crossroads as the GOP's massive tax cut and spending bill will sunset tax credits and incentives from the industry. Those groups now face the difficult decision of how to handle environmental projects which are usually years in the making. The Illinois Environmental Council [IEC] is a nonprofit organization working to make sure environmental and climate communities are heard in public policy and legislative affairs. IEC published its own analysis of the bill, claiming it would set back environmental progress, jobs and initiatives across Illinois. The organization is worried how the law will affect the wallets and livelihoods of Illinoisans. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Connect Go, the new on-demand public transportation service in McLean County, is looking to expand service to meet what managers see as growing demand. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A senior at Normal Community High School learned about federal policymaking in a mock Senate this month in Washington, D.C. Girls Nation, a program presented by the American Legion Auxiliary, sends 102 high schoolers, two from each state, to Washington to act as senators. These students pass legislation, run for other forms of leadership and meet leaders from their state during their time in D.C. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood also called for more transparency from the Trump administration in the case of the late sex trafficker and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. The Epstein case and stalled release of information from it has drawn bipartisan reaction against the Trump administration. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Normal’s 2025 Citizen of the Year is a former town council member and retired Illinois Farm Bureau lobbyist, who’s using his own diagnosis to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease. "I don’t know that I deserve this. But, it’s an honor to be standing in front of you this evening and to receive the award," said Adam Nielsen, who was surprised with the recognition at a town appreciation event Tuesday at Illinois State University. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump signed his "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" [OBBBA] into law on July 4. The massive tax and spending legislation aims to provide big tax relief to businesses and workers. Notable changes on tax codes listed in the law include a permanent extension of tax rates enacted during the first Trump administration, an increase in the standard deduction, and an increase to state and local tax deduction allowances. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strong Towns BloNo will host a film screening this week about how the decline in social capital is eroding American communities. The 2023 documentary Join or Die is based on Harvard University professor Robert Putnam’s landmark research connecting distrust and civil unrest with plummeting enrollment in clubs and other civic organizations—captured in his best-selling book Bowling Alone, published in 2000 as a follow-up to an essay first written in 1995. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Bloomington City Council has now approved an audit and a pause on giving city sales tax money to McLean County government for jail bond debt, criminal justice technology, and mental health services. The Town of Normal has also done so. The County Board has not ratified those changes to the three-way intergovernmental agreement. It takes all three to make the changes. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For generations, America has been thought of as the land of opportunity, a place where anyone who worked and studied hard could grow up to achieve any goal they set for themselves. That idea has had especially strong roots in Illinois, the “Land of Lincoln,” where a young man born in a log cabin on America’s frontier rose from rail-splitter to self-taught lawyer and president of the United States. But a new study suggests that the American dream is still more elusive for some people in Illinois than for others, and that the pathway up the economic ladder is not easily scaled. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The McLean County Sheriff's Office plans to get specialized training to investigate human trafficking cases. It's part of a regional task force pilot project with Illinois State Police and Decatur Police. McLean County Sheriff Matt Lane said the department will assign one detective, as needed, to investigate trafficking cases. State Police would provide training and equipment and that officer will have statewide jurisdiction. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been nearly a month since President Trump signed the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law. With looming steep cuts to Medicaid wrapped in the sweeping piece of legislation, Bloomington-Normal health care providers are still trying to pave a path forward or even figure out what the cuts mean for them. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Research presented to the county's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council indicate young adults are a critical population in the criminal justice system. Support the show: https://donate.nprstations.org/wglt/wglt-choose-donation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.