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Equity: The Longest-Serving Woman In The State Senate

Senate Republicans

  Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont has been in the state Senate longer than any other woman and is the longest-serving GOP woman lawmaker in the state. Radogno was a stay-at-home parent when she first got into politics. She says it started with a debate over a fire house in her hometown. Maureen McKinney interviewed Radogno because March is Women’s History Month.

You can also hear  her interview with Democrat Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, the longest-serving woman in the General Assembly, at wuis.org.

Maureen Foertsch McKinney is news editor and equity and justice beat reporter for NPR Illinois, where she has been on the staff since 2014 after Illinois Issues magazine’s merger with the station. She joined the magazine’s staff in 1998 as projects editor and became managing editor in 2003. Prior to coming to the University of Illinois Springfield, she was an education reporter and copy editor at three local newspapers, including the suburban Chicago Daily Herald, She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Eastern Illinois University and a master’s degree in English from UIS.