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217 Today: Why do many states want to get rid of the eastern redcedar?

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Redcedars are taking over what used to be grasslands across the Great Plains, including along this road in northwestern Oklahoma.
  • Photo: Graycen Wheeler / Harvest Public Media

December 14, 2023

Today’s headlines:

  • Governor J.B. Pritzker has declared this week dog and cat adoption week in Illinois.
  • Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office says there are no plans to pay a private security firm for construction at a now-scrapped base camp to shelter migrants.
  • The Cook County Department of Public Health says now is the perfect time to get vaccinated for COVID-19 ahead of the winter holidays.
  • Bus driver shortages continue to plague the U-S transportation industry. That includes the Mass Transit District in Champaign-Urbana.

In today’s deep dive, we’ll learn about an evergreen called the eastern redcedar that is taking increasing amounts of land throughout the Great Plains.

217 Today is produced by Stephanie Mosqueda. Reporting contributed by Katie O’Connell, Tessa Weinberg, Adora Namigadde, Piper Pascarella, Elissa Eaton and Graycen Wheeler.

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Stephanie Mosqueda

Stephanie Mosqueda is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with minors in Spanish and public relations. She is the 217 Today producer and a reporter for the Illinois Student Newsroom.