Earthquake Relief for Indonesia; Illinois Politics Update; Founder of Autonomous Stuff

On The 21st: Nearly two thousand people have died because of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia at the end of September. We’ll talk to Illinois college students who are raising money for relief efforts. Plus, with less than a month until the midterm elections we round up the meetings between Gov. Rauner and his challenger, J.B. Pritzker. And, Bobby Hambrick started an Illinois company that makes parts for autonomous cars. He says that future is right around the corner.

On Sept. 28, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit one of Indonesia’s largest islands. Shortly after, a tsunami hit the provincial capital of Palu in the central part of the country.

Both of these devastating natural disasters and their after effects have left at least two thousand people declared dead. But officials say that as many as five thousand more might still be missing. That’s in part because of mudflows that have buried hundreds of houses.

Across Illinois, Indonesian students here have been raising money to help with relief efforts back home. This may be because of the number of students with connections to the international world. At the University of Illinois, that’s 1 in 4 students that are international, many of them from Asia. Indonesian students are the fifth largest international student group on the Urbana campus.

Nay Tjatur is a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She’s vice president of Permias Chicago, an Indonesian student group. Minhaj Hassan is a spokesperson with Islamic Relief USA. He joined us on the line from from Alexandria, Virginia. 

And with us from Indonesia was Yohanes Sulaiman. He’s a lecturer in the school of government at General Achmad Yani University. 

"It's the first disaster I haven't been in #Indonesia for," explains Nay Tjatur, a sophomore at @thisisUIC who works with https://t.co/MQd1sV3pWc#IndonesiaEarthquake #indonesiatsunami

— The 21st (@21stShow) October 9, 2018

Plus-

The midterm elections are in just three weeks. Here in Illinois, voters will also be choosing our next governor. And we’re deep into the two candidates, J.B. Pritzker and Bruce Rauner, meeting on the regular. This morning, they faced off in front of the Sun-Times Editorial Board. They’ll meet again later this week in Quincy in the only televised debate downstate.

The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute has released their Fall polls which provide an interesting look at the role that President Trump and his administration may play with Illinois voters.

For more analysis, we were joined by Brian Mackey. He’s the statehouse reporter for Illinois Public Radio.

Also joining us on the line from Springfield was Mark Maxwell who’s the Capitol Bureau Chief for WCIA3.

This poll was done Monday, well after Ford and Kavanaugh testified, whereas the @PSimonInstitute poll was done before, during and after the hearing. But the Illinois electorate still skews more Democratic, so it's likely the spread remains a factor here. https://t.co/iA8bi7RPUT

— Brian Mackey (@BrianMackey) October 3, 2018

And-

When you think of automated parts, and cutting edge technology, do you think of central Illinois? Central Illinois is home to a company called Autonomous Stuff. They’re based in Morton, and they’re hoping to help lead the way as automation becomes more and more common.

We wanted to spotlight some Illinois manufacturers, especially as it’s Illinois Manufacturing Month.

The founder and CEO of Autonomous’s Stuff, Bobby Hambrick, was in Urbana last week and we had a chance to sit down with him.

"Who doesn't want to make robots for a living?" says @Bobby_Hambrick Founder and CEO of @AutonomouStuff based in Morton, IL.

"It makes a huge impact in the world...and it's a good business."

— The 21st (@21stShow) October 9, 2018