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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Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week’s poet is Anna Jollymore. -
On a new Teachers' Lounge podcast, we talk with a Morris teacher who’s not afraid to hold his students to a standard of excellence.“I tell the kids, if you come in and you work for me, I will jump over the moon for you.”What it means to go above and beyond for kids. -
Zeno Camera joins us to play live in Studio A and tell us about their latest EP Syc-amor-e. -
Education Secretary Linda McMahon spoke at several Illinois schools on Thursday. It was part of the U.S. Department of Education’s “History Rocks! Trail to Independence” tour. She was joined by Erika Kirk during a visit to Genoa-Kingston High School. -
Two Rockford high schoolers will perform at New York City’s Carnegie Hall next week in the Honors Performance Series, a program that gives students the opportunity to perform at world-renowned venues.
