The 21st Show

Customer service is increasingly the domain of AI chatbots. What impact is this having on security and how are consumers engaging with this service?

Christian Mitchell served three terms in the Illinois House and four years as Deputy Governor. Now he’s Governor Pritzker’s running mate in the November elections.

Self-driving cars were once a vision of the future. Now, the company Waymo is hoping to put its autonomous rideshares on the streets of Illinois. A panel of experts weigh in on what's happening with self-driving cars in the state, how they work, and why some people have concerns with the technology.

Roughly 1,000 Black men were trained in Tuskegee, Alabama to serve as Army aviators in World War II. Nearly 100 were killed — and of those, 27 went missing. Most were never recovered, leaving a trail of unresolved grief that would haunt their families for decades. Their stories are the subject of a new book called “Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen" by Cheryl Whitlow Thompso...

Spring has officially begun. At Eckert’s Farm in Belleville, visitors can find an upcoming season dedicated to the colorful flower, check out the Tulip Trail and enjoy a stroll along through thousands of different pigments of tulips.

Saunas have always been around in some form, but there’s more and more sauna businesses opening up, and content creators online are sharing all sorts of health claims associated with saunas. A health expert offers some tips.

He was sentenced to five years in federal prison — but now he’s back in business and has collected more than $1.5 million from the same state agency he defrauded.

It’s the official policy of the U.S. government to work toward putting people on Mars. Debates about that usually focus on cost and national priorities. Less considered is what life on Mars would do to the people who go there. That, however, is the subject of a new book by scientist Scott Solomon. It’s called Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds. Solomon was raise...

We are talking to some of the athletes that represented Team USA in the 2026 Winter Olympics with ties to the 21st state. Speedskater Ethan Cepuran is originally from the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn. He joins the program today.

There's been a lot of focus on how the ongoing war with Iran has affected gas and oil prices, but fertilizer prices have also severely risen. A market analyst explains what this means for the agriculture industry and farmers in Illinois.

Small businesses often turn to non-bank lenders to borrow money, but hidden terms mean those businesses often have to pay back more than what they borrowed in the first place.

A political writer discusses the results of many big races across the state last night and what they mean for the general election in the fall.

There are deep divides in American politics, but one thing a lot of people agree on is their distaste for white liberals. Conservatives think they’re left-wing nut jobs, progressives think they’re corporate shills, and many people of color are suspicious that they’re at best tepid allies. All this is the subject of a new book by UIC historian Kevin M. Schultz: “Why Everyone Hates White Liberals (I...

The annual NCAA Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Basketball tournament is back. Can AI beat the odds and make a better bracket than humans?

Tomorrow is Primary Election Day in Illinois. Voters will decide who will represent the major parties in this fall’s elections, from county boards to the governor’s race. Two journalists covering local politics and the statehouse outline the keys races and candidates.

It’s been 10 years since The 21st Show first went on air, on March 14, 2016. We’ll listen back to a decade of the program and reflect on what’s happened in that time — in Illinois, in America, and around the world.

“The Onion's” news satire has become a staple of American culture. Christine Wenc's book, “Funny Because It’s True: How the Onion Created Modern American News Satire" looks at the history of the publication and how it's still relevant today.

Illinois’ Primary Election Day is less than a week away as voters decide who will represent Democrats and Republicans in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. In the second of a two-part series, we’ll bring you recaps of our interviews with the candidates.

Illinois’ Primary Election Day is one week away. In the first of a two-part series, we bring you recaps of our interviews with the candidates.

In March 1956, Thurgood Marshall visited the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. A modern-day civil rights leader and Black Studies professor reacted to Marshall's speech.

Daylight Savings Time occurs every year. How does this change affect or minds, bodies, and our sleep? Some think that we should get rid of Daylight Savings Time and others feel that there should be permanent Daylight Savings Time.

Colleen Shogan was the 11th Archivist of the United States — the head of the National Archives and Records Administration. The agency is responsible for safeguarding America's founding documents, other important government records, and running many of the presidential libraries across the country. Shogan was appointed by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate. But while the job is traditi...

Philip A. Wallach is the author of the book "Why Congress", which was released in 2023 and is still relevant today. In the book, Wallach argues that the future of American constitutional democracy depends not on better presidential candidates or more ethical judges, but on Congress getting its act together.

We spoke with an archivist for an oral history project and a longtime member of Danville's Jewish community.

The United States and Israel went to war with Iran in conjunction with Israel early Saturday morning. A panel of political and foreign affairs experts including two Iranian-Americans discuss the possibility of regime change in Iran, the legality and necessity of the military assaults, and the role of Israel in all of this.