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Rich Egger's guests are author and historian John Hallwas and former Macomb Mayor Bob Anstine. They talk about the city's annual Heritage Days celebration, which takes place Thursday, June 21 - Sunday, June 24.

Heritage Days began during Anstine's administration. He thinks the first one was held in 1981.

“We were looking for an annual activity. We came up with this concept - the city city council, the Chamber of Commerce, and others - and that's when it started,” Anstine said.

Rich Egger's guest is Dr Gil Belles, who is being honored with the National Historic Preservation Medal from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

DAR's Dr Elizabeth Kaspar, Regent of the General Macomb Chapter, said Belles is only the second Illinois resident ever to receive the medal. It will be presented to him during a reception on Sunday, June 3, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm in the Community Room at Macomb City Hall.

The DAR chapter said Belles is being honored for his leadership in restoring nearly 100 cemeteries in McDonough County.

Rich Egger's guest is Dr Pedro Noguera, who is a sociologist  and teacher from New York University.  He was one of the keynote speakers at this year's Dealing With Difference Institute at Western Illinois University.

Noguera said he remains passionate about teaching because education is so heavily implicated in the problems facing society yet it's also part of the solution.

Jason Parrott’s guest is Steve Frevert, who is the Executive Director of Downtown Partners, the Chairman of Burlington’s Historic Preservation Commission, and a board member of Historic Trust.

Frevert says organizations from across the country are using the month of May to celebrate and promote historic preservation efforts.  He defines the practice as the recognition of historic assets within a community.

An example is the effort to develop a new historic district in Burlington.

Rich Egger's guests are Jan Welsch and J. Q. Adams, who are organizers of the annual Dealing With Difference Institute at Western Illinois University.

The two-day conference begins at 1:00 pm on Tuesday, May 15 with a presentation by Dr Pedro Noguera, who is one of two keynote speakers at this year's DWDI.

Noguera is the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education and a faculty member in New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Development as well as the Department of Sociology.