The electricity rate that Bloomington, Normal and other municipalities have negotiated for the coming year is NOT the best deal for consumers, according to an advocate who has run the numbers. That's unusual. In this Sound Ideas interview with WGLT's Charlie Schlenker, Bloomington City Manager Jeff Jurgens says it's not yet clear why the municipal aggregated rate is higher than the summer rate for Ameren this particular year.

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A new pop-up called Wheelz is bringing roller skating back to Bloomington-Normal for the first time since Skate N Place closed in 2023.

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As the City of Bloomington considers how to get more water so it can grow over the next century, planners could look to the city of Joliet for an example.

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After a four-year hiatus, Midwest Punk Fest is back.
Dirty Rotten Revenge frontman Jeremy Plue launched the regional festival gathering punk and punk-adjacent bands in 2009 at a [now closed] little bar called Coconut Louie's.

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The electricity rate that Bloomington, Normal and other municipalities have negotiated for the coming year is not the best deal for consumers, according to an advocate who has run the numbers.

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Farmers have one of the highest suicide rates in the U.S. of any occupation — more than three times higher than the general population, according to the National Rural Health Association. And in rural communities, suicide rates tend to be higher than in urban areas. With prices on the rise due to factors such as tariffs and the Iran war, it’s a challenging time for many U.S. farmers. Mental health initiatives, like the Farm Family Resource Center based in southern Illinois aim to help, which is good news to Mark Hortin, a corn and soybean farmer in Champaign County.

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Illinois Wesleyan University is leaning into technology improvement and expansion as it moves toward the 2026-27 school year.

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Libraries in Illinois are subject to normalized, unfair licensing agreements to circulate e-books and other digital content. That’s according to the directors of Bloomington and Normal’s public libraries, who said the agreements lead to high costs, long waitlists and limited offerings of that content.

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