The WNIJ newsroom is on a mission: serve our listeners through more community-driven reporting. The goal is to strengthen reporting about northern Illinois and increase transparency in journalism by including you in the process.
So let’s talk! What questions do you have about our community? What topics matter to you and your family? Enter your questions and comments below. If we look into your question, a reporter will be in touch with you.
Meet your public radio reporters:
Yvonne Boose- Arts, Culture and Spiritual Expression I cover art, culture and spiritual expression. Do you know of any creative individuals that our listeners need to know about? Perhaps there's something going on in your church community that deserves to be highlighted. Send me an email at yboose@niu.edu to share your story ideas. | |
Maria Gardner Lara- Local policy and government I'm a corps member for Report for America. I cover local government and the growing Latino community in northern Illinois. Is there is something you feel that should be covered that isn't being reported on? Have a news tip? Send me an email at mgardner3@niu.edu. | |
Peter Medlin- Education Hi! I’m the education reporter and host of the podcast Teachers’ Lounge here at WNIJ. I cover stories from classrooms across our listening area, and interview inspirational educators. I try to find stories that aren’t covered anywhere else, whether it be schools excluding students with a lesser-known form of discipline or a middle school transforming how they teach English. Is there a school story in your community you think we should know about? Or an awesome educator who deserves a spotlight? Do you have questions for your local school board? If so, you can reach me directly at pmedlin@niu.edu. | |
Jess Savage - Environmental I am a corps member with Report for America and recently graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. I love researching your questions about nature, agriculture, and the environment here in northern Illinois. I was awarded the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Fellowship to report on landscape-scale ecological restoration in England and its effects on local farmers. I also studied ecology at the University of Vermont as an undergraduate. You can reach me directly at jsavage2@niu.edu. | |
Susan Stephens and Dan Libman- Under Rocks Podcast We're part of the Under Rocks team. Under Rocks is a community driven journalism project where listeners get to ask the big questions: who, what, when, where and why. We explore the oddities, neglected anomalies, and little-known place-makers of our Midwest region. Keep us in mind when you encounter something odd and interesting when you are out and about in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Drop us an email at rocks@niu.edu. |
Read some of the reporting that’s been made possible thanks to community input:
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Schools in Illinois suspend Black students at much higher rates than white students. One school in the south side of Chicago stands out for not doing that. Emily Hays reports in part three of a statewide, three-part series on race in school discipline. -
Schools in Illinois discipline Black students at much higher rates than white students. A Springfield high school under a consent decree to desegregate hands out more discipline violations per Black student than almost any other school in the state.Emily Hays reports on part two of a three-part, statewide series on Black student discipline disparities. -
Sherb Noble opens the world's first Dairy Queen in Joliet, Illinois, on June 22, 1940. -
Schools in Illinois suspend Black students at much higher rates than white students.In part one of a series, we take you to a Rockford middle school that is an outlier.It hands out the most discipline violations per Black student of any school in the state. WNIJ’s Peter Medlin reports… -
Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. Today's segment features Terry Slaney.
