How Local Government Affects Your Daily Life (and ways you can influence it)

Danville Farmer's Market: Feeding VC Families & Supporting Local Farmers and Artisans, feat. Susan Franklin

Vermilion County, Illinois, is surrounded by farmland, but one in four of its children goes hungry [https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2023/overall/illinois/county/vermilion] — the highest rate of child food insecurity in the Eastern Illinois Foodbank's entire 18-county service area. About 4,100 children — 24 percent of the county's child population [https://www.eifoodbank.org/impact/challenge/map-meal-gap.html] — don't have reliable access to enough food. That number has been climbing for years. On this episode of Get With the Times, we sit down with Susan Franklin, president of the Danville Farmers Market, [https://danvillefarmersmarket.com/] to talk about what local food access actually looks like in Vermilion County and how the market is attempting to alleviate food insecurity in the VC [https://vermiliontimes.com/2025/11/01/on-fighting-food-insecurity-among-vc-residents/] while supporting local farmers and artisans and keeping VC money in the VC.Susan talks about who the market serves, some history of the Danville Farmer's Market, ways people living in poverty can get access to fresh, pesticide-free produce, and more.

A Daddy-Daughter Dance, A Celebration, and Two Families Who Refused to Wait for Help To Arrive

According to The Murder Accountability Project, Danville has had⁠ 39 homicides between 2018 and 2024⁠ [https://public.tableau.com/shared/8G8DJGQYT?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link&:embed=y], and only one of those was solved. While the family of one victim still waits for justice, they have started a foundation in their daughter's name. On this episode of Get With The Times, Kaighla sits down with two families who have spent the last year building what their community needed while fighting to be heard by the people elected to help them. Phillip and Yolanda Davis lost their daughter Aniyah to gun violence in Winter Park in June 2025. Instead of waiting for justice that hasn't come, they built the Aniyah Davis Foundation — and they're hosting a Banquet and Daddy-Daughter Dance on April 3rd in her honor. Michael and Catherine Ewing have kept Danville Rescue open for a full year through sheer determination. To mark one year of keeping the doors open, the Ewings are hosting a celebration on April 11th. Both families join Kaighla to talk about what they've learned and what they still need from their elected officials and their community. Two events. Two families worth showing up for. Links in the show notes: https://vermiliontimes.com/get-with-the-times/ [https://vermiliontimes.com/get-with-the-times/]

The System Is Not Sacred: How They Built It and How We Can Change It

Our governmental system isn't sacred; it's man-made, and it can be man-unmade and rebuilt In preparation for upcoming primaries (March) and mid-term elections (November), this season of "Get With The Times" will be all about civics: the study of the rights and duties of citizens and of how government works. In this third episode of Season 2, we examine a simple but powerful idea: government isn’t destiny — it’s design. From tribal consensus systems and monarchies to the U.S. Constitution’s checks and balances, we examine how societies throughout history have organized power, why legitimacy matters, and how American democracy was intentionally constructed to manage conflict rather than eliminate it. As midterm elections approach, we ask a deeper question: if people built this system — through social contracts, amendments, civil rights movements, and sustained civic pressure — what responsibility and power do we have to shape it now, both nationally and here in Vermilion County? For show notes, visit www.vermiliontimes.com/get-with-the-times [https://vermiliontimes.com/get-with-the-times/]

How Local Government Affects Your Daily Life (and ways you can influence it)

In preparation for upcoming primaries (March) and mid-term elections (November), this season of "Get With The Times" will be all about civics: the study of the rights and duties of citizens and of how government works. In this second episode, we discuss the multiple layers of government, starting with local government, to figure out exactly how everyday people can have a say in how their day-to-day reality plays out. Joining us for this episode are Alderman Doug Ahrens (Ward 7) and Chairman Mike Puhr (Ward 5) from Danville's City Council. They share the insights they've gained across more than two decades of participation in City government, as well as their opinions on ways things could improve. They also share stories of times when public involvement had a major hand in making changes. For show notes, visit https://vermiliontimes.com/get-with-the-times/ [https://vermiliontimes.com/get-with-the-times/]

Civics 101: Who Rules? Government, Power, and the Fight to Influence It

What is power, really? Who holds it, who’s lost it, and how do we reclaim it in our everyday lives? In this Season 2 premiere of Get with the Times, a podcast from The Vermilion Times, we break down the concept of power from the ground up. This season will be all about Civics: the study of the rights and duties of citizens and of how government works. In this first episode, we start from the bottom, exploring power — using ancient Western philosophy, Indigenous governance, modern politics, and even baboon behavior to understand how power operates, and how everyday people can start shifting its balance. From the Iroquois Confederacy to the Patriot Act, Sun Tzu to social contracts, we ask: What kind of power do we really want to have in our communities, and what will it take to claim it? In this episode: • Cooperation vs. competition in the “state of nature” • The psychology of hierarchy and sociology of leadership (with baboons!) • Ways to spot authoritarianism on the rise • What yellow journalism and corporate personhood reveal about modern control • And how small groups of united, organized people can, and do, change everything For show notes, visit https://vermiliontimes.com/get-with-the-times/ [https://vermiliontimes.com/get-with-the-times/]