Statewide: The love/hate relationship with St. Louis-style pizza

Pizza takes many forms across the country. From the thin crust in New York, to Chicago's deep dish and Detroit's rectangular-shaped pan pizzas.

Then, there's St. Louis. While the city's signature pie looks similar to many others, it is unique. The main reason: the cheese.

According to the legendary Imo's Pizza franchise, which bills its offerings as the "original St. Louis-style pizza, Provel cheese is the key topping. That's a processed blend of cheddar, Swiss and provolone. Add to that the unleavened cracker crust and square cut, and you have a pizza that has become synonymous with the city.

But not everyone who tries it likes it. While there are hardcore fans of St. Louis-style pizza, many others are adamantly opposed. We hear more on this culinary divide.

Also this week:

* Rich Egger takes us to a weightlifting competition in western Illinois.

* Peter Medlin reports on challenges that make accessing child care so hard and what the state wants to do about it.

* Harvest Public Media's Xcaret Nunez reports on problems finding child care in rural areas.

* Susie An interviews the new Illinois State Superintendent about school still trying to recover from the pandemic.

* Alex Degman visits Illinois' first Black independently owned cannabis dispensary.

* Maureen McKinney talks with central Illinois farmer Heather Hampton-Knodle who is president of American Agri-women about the role of women in agriculture.