815 Live

The end of June marked the end of Pride Month 202. While June is over, the LGBTQ community is still here. As we look back on Pride Month, 13 WREX wanted to talk to members of Rockford's LGBTQ community about their struggles and experiences that exist yearlong, not just in the month of June. Hear from Dr. Joel Filmore, a professor and licensed therapist; Meg Hastings, a facilitator with Rockford's DiversCity Youth Group; James Maples, drag performer and educator at Tricoci University; and 13 Meteorologist Justin Ballard in this episode of the 815Live Podcast. WARNING: this episode contains discussions on sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and drug abuse.

Nearly six months ago, the FDA approved the first COVID-19 vaccine for emergency-use authorization. A light at the end of the tunnel for millions of Americans. To understand more about this new vaccine, many turned to less-than-reliable sources to get their questions answered. Does the COVID-19 vaccine cause infertility? Can I get sick from the vaccine? How do I know it's safe? On this episode of the 815 Live podcast, Dr. James Cole from SwedishAmerican joins us to set the record straight.

The 2020 NFL Draft was a draft like no other. Set in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic, the draft looked different from years past, much like the rest of 2020. But that doesn't mean the 2021 NFL draft was without its fair share of drama and difficulties especially from our two area teams, the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers. In today's episode of 815 Live, hear from the 13 Sports Authority, Sports Reporter Sam Knox and Sports Director Derek Bayne, about their takeaways from the 2021 NFL Draft.

In the 1980s and 1990s, women accounted for less than 20 percent of TV weathercaster positions [https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/99/2/bams-d-16-0317.1.xml]; Today, that number remains largely unchanged. It's one thing to hear the data, but it's another thing to hear directly from these women. In this episode, of 815 Live, hear from the 13 Weather Team: our newest meteorologist Claudia Olech, 13 Today meteorologist Justin Ballard and Chief Meteorologist Alex Kirchner about their experiences.

For years, the violent crime rate in Rockford has steadily been going down, but 2020 was the deadliest year for crime in city history. What happened? How is the Rockford Police Department fighting back? We're digging deeper into the influx of illegal guns in our area and the new technology detectives use to track down criminals.