Page 10 - Bloomington Normal News Today

It's a tough time for long-term care facilities right now. Two of them in Springfield recently announced they are closing. Others around the nation are not in great shape. One of the Springfield nursing homes belongs to Bloomington-based Heritage Enterprises.

Reverend Jesse Jackson Junior joined a couple hundred people in a peaceful drive through demonstration and march in honor of ISU graduate student Jelani Day in Peru, Illinois. Day's death has been ruled by drowning but the chants were about justice for Jelani and no justice no peace. Unit 5 schools have been getting ready for today's federal approval of the Coronavirus vaccine for kids ages five to eleven. They'll offer vaccination clinics. And Superintendent Kristen Weikle says b...

Democratic leaders in the General Assembly released a second draft of proposed...

The new Midwestern Regional Rail Plan for the future includes hourly passenger trains through Bloomington Normal and 200 mile per hour service. One advocate for high speed rail says he's pleased the four decade investment blueprint treats the region like a transportation network instead of discrete routes. Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe says there are some misconceptions about the process for filling that Ward 6 vacancy. A conversation about representation as the October 30th deadline lo...

A Normal Town Council member says she would like to use some of the town's share of federal pandemic relief money to lower fares for people with disabilities who use Connect Transit. And Karyn Smith says relief for those behind on water and sewer payments might also make her priority list. A Bloomington Normal cybersecurity expert says the pandemic and social upheaval has made people more vulnerable to attempts to compromise their computers because it puts noise in the system and people res...

WGLT begins a new series about life work balance. 'Life's Work' today is about the restaurant industry, a business in which balance is a little like being on a tight rope. A call comes in central Illinois for retired attorneys and judges to help those who need it pro bono. The Chief Medical Officer at Carle BoMenn says doctors get really frustrated at blind rejection of the Coronavirus vaccine. COVID patients in Bloomington Normal are getting younger and sicker. And the brothers G...

Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe has a pick to fill a vacant council seat. He has a majority of council members in favor. But that's apparently not enough to move forward. The clock is ticking though and Ward six still doesn't have a voice on the council. Some of the people facing eviction hearings in Bloomington Normal say they hope landlords will work with them, but they're sheepish about it, acknowledging they put the landlords through the wringer. The Illinois eviction morato...

Wish fulfillment can be a very rewarding thing. Hear from a Bloomington Normal man who makes dreams come true. And there's a move to reconsider statewide economic development incentives used to bring Rivian to Normal and other businesses to Illinois, the EDGE tax credits. The University of Illinois saw enrollment growth this fall in most categories, but not minorities. U of I Urbana Chancellor Robert Jones says it wasn't like they didn't try. They offered admission to a historic h...

Before the first Rivian electric pickup truck made for sale rolled off the line at the plant in Normal, company CEO RJ Scaringe spoke to the workers who made it happen. A Latino artist speaking in Normal lets the bureaucratic limbo of the immigration system come out in his works. Central Illinois' largest brewery has a gold medal performance. Destihl wins in the very competitive category of Hazy IPA at the Great American Beer Festival. Running for public office in Bloomington Normal hasn&#x...

A small rural Emergency Services organization deals with staff shortages and the Bermuda Triangle of accidents on Interstate 55. Listen for the many musical influences of Miles Ahead, the Bloomington based soul/R&B quintet. A lot of people have childhood dreams of going to the Olympics. An ISU freshman wasn't one of them. Basketball player Jada Stinson says she never dreamed that would be possible, yet Stinson went to Tokyo representing Puerto Rico. And just when Bloomington Normal fitn...