What’s it like shadowing a senator? Hear from Camdyn Wood-Morris, a senior at Glenwood High School, who spent time with State Senator Doris Turner researching policy initiatives, visiting the police academy and more as part of Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton’s Girls Lead program.

State Senator Mike Halpin joins the Sound of the State to discuss efforts made within Illinois and the Higher Education Committee toward improving higher education accessibility, the importance of funding, and investments the state has made affecting future generations of students.

As the new year begins, new laws take effect across Illinois - over three hundred of them for 2024. This episode of the Sound of the State takes a look at a few of those laws, from one making Illinois the first state in the nation to prohibit the banning of books, to another that waives pet adoption fees for our nation’s heroes.