Julianna Jung, a home baker from Champaign, has been selected to compete in the Holiday Baking Championship on the Food Network.

The first episode of the show aired last Monday, months after taping. Jung was surprised how calm she seemed during the episode, because she recalls how frantic she felt on the inside.

“I was so nervous because I don’t know the ingredients that we have there, I don’t know the oven, how does it work, what are the precautions we have to take we have to take so we’re COVID-safe,” Jung said.

Google recently announced plans to hire 10,000 workers in Chicago and other cities over the next five years, with a focus on recruiting Black talent as part of the company’s racial equity commitment announced in June.

Currently, Google has more than 1,300 employees in its Chicago office, which is located in the city’s Fulton Market district. The Chicago office has been ramping up its technology team in search, hardware and cloud computing.

Do you crave apple fritters all year round? Buritt Bulloch, the owner and doughnut maker at Old Fashioned Donuts in Roseland on the South Side of Chicago, claims it’s always apple fritter season there!

Bulloch opened the shop in 1972 with his wife, and today his daughters and granddaughter work there.

The apple fritters are beloved by the neighborhood, but he didn’t start making them until about 10 or 12 years ago in an attempt to use up leftover dough.

Kanata Blanket, one of America’s leading manufacturer of premium blankets and promotional products, has announced they will move their North American and U.S. operations to Vandalia, Ill.

The new facility is planned to create 40-50 new jobs in the area in the coming year.

Vandalia and Central Illinois are hubs of automotive, agricultural and industrial manufacturing. Over 70,000 Central Illinois residents work in the industry, and thousands of others rely on the products local manufacturers make and the economic development they generate.

Harrison Ford, Robin Williams, Harold Ramis… and soft-serve ice cream?

That’s right—Dairy Queen is an Illinois native, born on North Chicago Street in Joliet. The fast food and ice cream chain turned 80 on Monday.

According to a 1991 article from the Associated Press, founder Sherwood “Sherb” Noble broke into the business after taking a dairy course at Iowa State College and managing an ice cream store in his hometown of Clemons, Iowa.