WGLT's Sound Ideas

Consultants will present a final recommendation to the Unit 5 School Board next week on how best to balance class sizes. One Unit 5 board member who serves on the district's enrollment planning committee said there are several factors the board will consider in realigning its schools. School Board Vice President Stan Gozur noted four of the district’s schools have mobile classrooms because they are overcrowded and the district is monitoring two other buildings that are approaching capacity.

After finishing long planned renovations and restoring old programs after the pandemic, the Bloomington Public Library [BPL] shows no signs of slowing down its progress. Now, the library is undergoing a new strategic plan. Jeanne Hamilton, director of BPL, said the library is ready to start its next chapter.

You know the voices, and you know the stories. But behind every story on WGLT is a person who calls this community home just like you do. The Meet the Newsroom series pulls back the curtain to introduce you to the team that makes WGLT possible. The series continues with reporter Joe Deacon.

A new book has a chapter on McLean County's use of restorative justice. Suzanne Montoya and Kevin Jones wrote about their efforts using listening circles to connect members of the community with differing views after a police officer shot and killed George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.

A number of Chiddix Junior High parents are frustrated by what little information the Unit 5 school district has shared about two teachers who have been removed from the classroom. The veteran teachers, Andrew Miller and Brandon Knapp, are the subject of separate police investigations.

The City of Bloomington is stepping into what promises to be a thorny issue: rules about signs. City Manager Jeff Jurgens said the city hasn't revised its sign code since the 1970s.

From ramen noodles for dinner tonight to retirement further down the road, college students face financial stress at the start of their adult lives like never before. Redbird Flight Plan, formerly Redbird FLI, is Illinois State University’s solution to teaching students skills to ease financial anxiety. It’s a part of the College of Business.

The bald eagle used to be a rare sight in Illinois. Now, there are more than 3,000 that spend the winter here. IPR's Jess Savage reports.

Four airlines now fly in and out of the Central Illinois Regional Airport [CIRA]. They carried about 325,000 passengers last year. It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when the airport that served the Twin Cities had sod and gravel runways.  

There are many myths about the American west. There’s the myth of bringing order out of a savage wasteland. The myth of disordered and uncivilized native Americans. The myth of the noble Caucasian cowboy. The myth of rugged individualists who wrested a living from the earth without help from anyone else. And the myth of women without agency who deferred to men. All of these are wrong. Yet they are remarkably sticky in American cultural consciousness according to historian Megan Kate Nelson. Nelson will speak at Illinois State University on March 19. Her talk How the Real West was Lost: The Frontier Myth and the Erasure of U.S. Western History is part of history department programming sponsored by the Sage Foundation. Nelson’s new book The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier is out at the end of the month from Simon & Schuster.

March 2 - 6 is severe weather preparedness week in Illinois, just ahead of storm season for the state. March 20, the first day of Spring, marks one of the busiest seasons for weather and safety organizations. Cathy Beck is director of the McLean County Emergency Management Agency [EMA]. She understands storm season can cause panic.

A win over Missouri Valley Conference leader Belmont on Sunday helped Illinois State carry a two-game winning streak and some momentum heading into this weekend’s Missouri Valley Conference [MVC] men’s basketball tournament.

The haunting pull of memory and its potential power to destroy or shape identity come to life in the Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home, produced for the first time in Bloomington-Normal this weekend. Based on a true events from graphic novelist Alison Bechdel and the struggle to write her autobiography as she reflects on her past will be performed by the Community Players Theatre March 5-7 at the Normal Community Activity Center.

A Chiddix Junior High School teacher being investigated by police was disciplined by Unit 5 in December for “repeated unprofessional conduct in the classroom,” according to a Letter of Reprimand obtained by WGLT through a public records request.

According to federal data, more than 100,000 students are physically restrained and secluded in locked rooms annually in U.S. schools. But a Twin City scholar on criminology and psychology said that’s an undercount. Charles Bell is an associate professor of criminal justice sciences at Illinois State University. Bell focuses on school discipline; his latest research on school seclusion and restraint is captured in a new book, No Restraint.

Two Illinois lawmakers have introduced a bill that would remove the two-year foreign language requirement for high school. The requirement was signed into law in 2021 but does not go into effect until 2028. High school students will need to have completed the requirement to graduate.

Parents of students at Glenn Elementary School have taken their pleas to keep the school as it is to the Normal Town Council. Ideally, they would like to see the council release a statement of support for their cause. One of two proposed fixes for enrollment imbalance in the Unit 5 school district would move the students there to Sugar Creek Elementary, so Glenn could house the district’s transitional services program for 18 to 22-year-olds.

Last month, Carle Health named Dr. Robert Cavagnol the new president of its central region, which includes Bloomington-Normal. He replaced the retiring President Colleen Kannaday on Feb. 2. Kannaday was president of the service area for over 15 years. Although she was an amazing leader, Cavagnol said, he isn’t sure right now what substantial changes need to happen in the organization.

A new reading curriculum already used in some other McLean County school districts is coming to Unit 5. The Unit 5 School Board approved districtwide adoption of UFLI [University of Florida Literacy Institute] for K-2 classrooms during its February meeting, to begin in the 2026-27 school year. UFLI introduces well over 100 new sight words over the course of a school year between kindergarten and second grade. It provides a scripted curriculum with an evidence-based and research-based guide for how to most effectively teach reading to kids.

The City of Bloomington doesn't know what's happening to up to 3 million gallons of water per day — and it could be more during the summer. An aging treatment and distribution system is a root cause.

Dozens of people gathered Saturday afternoon to dig into the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, and how its principles fit into America’s culture today. The program, focusing on the phrase “Life and Liberty,” was at the McLean County Museum of History and is part of the Democracy Dialogues series of public discussions this year, marking the the museum’s celebration of America 250, the nationwide focus on the milestone anniversary of the Declaration's signing.

They were mummified a long time ago and only came out once or twice before getting stuck back in their sarcophagi for several thousands of years. Then the band got together in 1999. That’s what Mummy Cass told WGLT in an interview for Sound Ideas. Frontman Cass got together with Eddie Mummy around that time to create their eight-piece funk band Here Come the Mummies. They’re playing the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts on March 1.

State Farm had a good year in 2025 and is sharing some of that with policyholders in a company record dividend.

Illinois residents soon have a big choice to make: who should represent them in the U.S. Senate for the next six years? And because Illinois is such a heavily blue state — all eyes are on the Democratic primary in the race to replace longtime retiring US Senator Dick Durbin. WBEZ political reporters Mawa Iqbal and Mariah Woelfel report.

It has been about a year since the Trump administration started to ramp up open hostility toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion [DEI] in higher education. Initially, Illinois State University signed onto a letter from about 400 university presidents objecting to government overreach. Since then, a lot of institutions have quietly deemphasized DEI, dropped public rhetoric about it, and reworked grants or programs to avoid courting federal displeasure. ISU President Aondover Tarhule on Friday took a practical stance as litigation continues over a lot of federal mandates.

The Music Shoppe, a family-owned instrument sales and service center headquartered in Normal, is celebrating its 65th anniversary—a rare achievement among family businesses. For the current and previous owners, what began as a summer job became a lifelong commitment to the store. Randy Wood and Jonathon Breen both started working at the shop as teenagers, cleaning instruments and cases, before eventually taking ownership of the Music Shoppe.

Immigrants with asylum cases are increasingly missing their court hearings, leading to an increase in deportation orders. In McLean County, community members with ongoing immigrations cases said news headlines and social media posts are fueling fear and distrust in the legal immigration system.

Gamers from Illinois State University, the broader Bloomington-Normal community and elsewhere gather every Thursday night during the academic year for one reason: to play Super Smash Bros. The weekly tournaments, hosted by the Redbird Super Smash Bros. Club, are open to anyone who loves the game. On Feb. 28, the club will take things to the next level by hosting its first international tournament.

The Meet the Newsroom series pulls back the curtain to introduce you to the team that makes WGLT possible. The series continues with news director Eric Stock.

A team in the department of communication sciences and disorders at Illinois State University partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association for a yearlong collaboration including a film screening next week at the Normal Theater.

Unit 5 families have two draft options to submit feedback related to the districtwide enrollment survey. Families can review the two proposals and complete a survey until March 1. Survey responses will be used by the team at Cropper GIS, the consulting firm working with Unit 5, to help shape final recommendations presented to the Unit 5 school board next month. Cropper presented the draft options Thursday at Parkside Junior High School.

U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen heard concerns from Bloomington-Normal’s veterans during a recent stop on his Hearts for Heroes tour. The Democrat from Moline has been delivering valentines throughout his Central Illinois district.

Last year, many Bloomington-Normal residents saw their electric bills jump 40% in some cases, even after the two municipalities teamed together with other Illinois governments to negotiate a bulk rate for power. In a nod to the price shock, the electric aggregation contract negotiated with Constellation NewEnergy was for a single year. The previous contract was a three-year deal.

The Town of Normal will extend Constitution Trail on the west side of town, thanks to a $1.9 million federal grant announced by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

Nomad Theatre Company has experienced a lot of "firsts" since launching the nonprofit theater in earnest two years ago. Here's another: The site-specific troupe is producing its first full-length play. Carey Crim's Paint Night is appropriately set in an undeveloped storefront that will one day be extra classroom space for the McLean County Arts Center.

Central Illinois lawmakers supported investment into generating more energy, but have concerns about higher education funding in Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's annual budget address. Pritzker, speaking at the Capitol in Springfield on Wednesday, proposed a 1% increase for higher education funding, a tax on social media companies and a two-year pause on data center tax credits.

Four Republican candidates have thrown their hats in the ring to challenge two-term Gov. JB Pritzker in November. They face an uphill battle against a billionaire Democrat in a state that has shifted more and more blue over the past decade.

U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen said the partial government shutdown, now in its fifth day, is the only way to force Republicans to the negotiating table. By failing to fund the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] by a Feb. 13 deadline, FEMA, cybersecurity, the Coast Guard and TSA may see lapses in funding.

The College of Engineering at Illinois State University is surpassing enrollment goals and showing promise for a statewide market in need of more engineers.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson was known for his soaring oratory, but Carla Campbell-Jackson with the Bloomington-Normal NAACP remembers Jackson more for his personal touch.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, elder statesmen of opposing parties, did something Tuesday night that, nowadays, may seem unusual in politics. They agreed. The two came together at Braden Auditorium at Illinois State University for a question-and-answer session moderated by WGLT's Charlie Schlenker, in the first of a series of Democracy Dialogues. The program was the first in a series of Democracy Dialogues throughout 2026 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The director of the Central Illinois Regional Airport said 2025 was a good year for the Bloomington facility. Carl Olson said the airport had about 325,000 passengers for the year, in the same range as the last couple of years.

Several Illinois municipalities are trying to implement ranked choice voting, but confusion about Illinois election law has slowed the implementation process. Several lawmakers are trying to change that. Ranked choice voting allows people to rank candidates in the order they most want them. If no candidate gets 50%, the lowest candidate is dropped and their supporters' votes go to their second choice. This is repeated until one candidate gets over 50% of the vote.

Homebuilders put up just 58 single-family homes and duplexes in the City of Bloomington last year. That’s less than the 66 built in 2024. City records indicate the value of the new construction in 2025 was $21.2 million. That’s not going to make much of a dent in the communitywide housing deficit of thousands of units.

A director and filmmaker who grew up in Bloomington-Normal is home for a few days to give a talk about civilian peacemaking efforts in the occupied West Bank. Quinn Wilson went to the region last fall with Community Peacemaking Team [CPT], a Chicago-based organization that partners with the Mennonite Church of Normal. He'll give a free talk about his experiences at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Mennonite Church, 805 S. Cottage Ave. in Normal.

Water conservation measures by City of Bloomington residents are still voluntary for now. Mayor Dan Brady said if the levels in the reservoir fall another two feet, they might not stay optional.

Bloomington saw a slight increase in crime over 2025, but the officials numbers still tell a story of some improvements, according to the department’s head. Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington said gun-related crimes decreased from 2024.

A first-of-its-kind art exhibition on display at the Joe McCauley Gallery features works created by student veterans at Heartland Community College. The show is a culmination of the inaugural CreatiVets program at Heartland. Veterans ranging in age from their 20s to their 90s created mixed media works including painting, pottery and collage. The centerpiece of the CreatiVets show is a memorial to participant Nancy Benedict of Pontiac. Benedict died unexpectedly in a car crash last September. She served in the Marine Corps from 1975-1978, stationed in southern California.

Unit 5 may soon consider whether closing Carlock Elementary would be beneficial to the school district's efforts to correct enrollment imbalances. The potential closure of the school in northwest McLean County has been a recurring theme in preliminary meetings of an enrollment study, though a final recommendation has not yet been made. Carlock families have been showing up by the dozen to school board meeting each month to urge Unit 5 not close their school. K-12 correspondent Braden Fogerson has more on why Carlock residents say their school is worth keeping.