By Bryan Bloodworth A pair of highly successful high school football programs is the focus of today’s Countdown to Kickoff as we shift our focus to Heart of Illinois Conference powerhouses Tri-Valley and LeRoy. PODCAST: Listen to report here. Tri-Valley will be shooting for its ninth straight playoff berth and an opportunity to defend its…… MORE
Today we focus on a pair of Heart of Illinois Conference teams with new head coaches at Heyworth in Brian Bradshaw and at Ridgeview in Jake Kennedy in this installment of Countdown to Kickoff.… MORE
Former Illinois State men’s basketball guard DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell has signed a contract to play professionally in Denmark for the Bakken Bears, a team that competes in the Danish League and FIBA Europe Cup.… MORE
The Illinois State volleyball team has been picked to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference in a preseason poll of league coaches, while Redbird junior Jaelyn Keene was named to the league’s preseason all-conference team, the Valley announced Wednesday.… MORE
Today we visit the camps of El Paso-Gridley and Olympia high schools in this edition of Countdown to Kickoff.… MORE
In today’s installment of Countdown to Kickoff, we look in on a pair of Corn Belt Conference high school teams in Pontiac and Prairie Central.… MORE
By Bryan Bloodworth BLOOMINGTON – In today’s initial installment of Countdown to Kickoff, we’re going to lay out the game plan for the next three weeks of our preview coverage of Illinois State, Illinois Wesleyan and high schools teams in the immediate WJBC and wjbc.com listening area. The story lines are numerous starting with Illinois…… MORE
The first female coach in Frontier League history doesn’t like being told “no.”… MORE
The Frontier League finally has its first female coach in league history, and she was hired by the Normal CornBelters.… MORE
Numbers can be deceiving. Just as Illinois State football coach Brock Spack.… MORE
By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …
By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…
By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…
Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…