Rick Pearson , chief political reporter for the Chicago Tribune, talks about the US Senate race in Illinois, Justice Kilbride’s retention, Fair Tax Amendment, and the federal investigation into corruption involving ComEd that touches on Speaker Madigan’s political operation. Other Episodes April 25, 2024 American Democracy on the Brink? It’s Happened Before ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. Rock Island sits almost in the center of a sea of grass that once covered much of the American heartland. The story of how this tallgrass prairie became the breadbasket of the United States is a lesson in how the past can deceive as well as teach. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 The Special Edition This... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. This past winter an unusually large number of crows have come to the downstream tip of Rock Island each morning to scavenge pieces of leftover fish from the bald eagles’ previous day’s hunt. The ice is dotted with crows looking like black lumps of coal. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 The Special Edition ... Read More

Other Episodes April 25, 2024 The Rising Costs and Policy Changes: Why Arrowhead Ranch Had to Close In this episode, we delve into the closure of Arrowhead Ranch, a long-standing residential facility for troubled youth in Illinois. Dr. Luis Moreno, the executive director, provides a comprehensive... ... Read More

Other Episodes June 23, 2023 Scribble: The Finale Listen · 29:02 June... Read More

Other Episodes April 27, 2024 River Action Fish and Fire 2024 Listen · 4:00 ... Read More

On Midwest Week, the Iowa State Board of Education decides to do something it’s never done before – take control of a local school district. Other Episodes December 30, 2022 Ballot Counting Problems in Scott County On Midwest Week, some of the numbers from the November election in Scott County still don't add up, but the counting... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. It may have been the oldest hotel in North America. Unlike most hotels, it improved with age. For Upper Mississippi raftsmen and river pilots, the Green Tree Hotel at the head of the Rock Island Rapids in Le Claire, Iowa, was home away from home during the last half of the 19th century. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 The Special Edition ... Read More

Colin Woodard, author of Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood , talks about his latest book that “examines how a myth of national unity, purpose and identity was created and fought over in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.” The story is told through five individuals, some of whom are familiar but some being more obscure. He also discusses how the confrontations over American identity and nationhood continue to this day. Woodard also authored the New York Times bestselling American Nations . Other Episodes ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. It’s a tired cliché to say that life is like a road, full of bends, hills, forks and potholes. Or that we are like ships on tempest-tossed seas, sailing toward safe harbors. Or that life, as Shakespeare says, is like a stage. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 The Special Edition This is Roald Tweet... Read More