Charlie Schlenker / WGLT
The Normal Fire Department said Tuesday the blaze that heavily damaged or destroyed 12 units at the Sugar Creek Apartments on Saturday was caused by repair work being done inside a lower-level apartment.
The fire caused the roof to collapse and caused substantial damage throughout the building. Crews spent much of Saturday afternoon battling the blaze, after spending much of the morning cleaning up a nearby train derailment.
Normal Fire Chief Mick Humer said in a news release the apartment fire spread inside the walls and void spaces and extended into the attic before the fire department arrived.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, is continuing to advocate for progress in Illinois as part of the General Assembly s LGBTQ+ caucus. Two LGBTQ+-affirming bills have been introduced this year, with more on the way.
In his first weeks in office, President Joe Biden has rolled back multiple federal policies that negatively affected LGBTQ+ people under former president Donald Trump. But in Illinois, policy advocates say there’s still more battles to be fought.
Mike Ziri is the director of public policy with Equality Illinois. He has been with the group since 2015, just after same sex marriage became legal nationwide.
Nic Gundy Photography
Bloomington singer/songwriter Brett Conlin said a three-month isolation at home with his family last spring became the fodder for his just released acoustic EP The Great Divide.
He said the songs on the five-song album spoke to a nation at a loss for words during the events of 2020.
“Definitely the songs ‘All American Reality Show’ and ‘The Great Divide.’ Those were the two big ones I wrote last spring just sitting around. I was like, ‘I feel like I need to say something, I want to put it in a real good, intelligent song form instead of just another status … or another rant,’” said Conlin, explaining “All-American” is partly a fascination with the reality show president just voted out of office.
Mark Lennihan / AP
The electric automaker Rivian already has raised billions of dollars from the likes of Amazon and Ford. Why would it want to go public?
That’s the big question from a Bloomberg report that Rivian is talking to bankers about doing an initial public offering, or IPO, as soon as September. The IPO would value Rivian at about $50 billion and perhaps more, according to Bloomberg. WGLT has not been able to independently confirm Rivian’s IPO plans; a company spokesperson declined to comment on the report.
There are upsides and downsides for a young company like Rivian going public.