The Chicago area remains under a wind chill advisory until Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. with wind chill temperatures as cold as minus 30 degrees. Activists are calling on Chicago officials to reconsider how they protect the city’s unhoused communities from extreme cold. A new poll finds overwhelming support for public school choice in Chicago.
This Chicago winter is waffling between two extremes: unseasonably warm and bitter cold. Either way, it’s getting harder to ignore the evidence of climate change in our forecasts and extreme weather, and that can bring up any number of hard feelings. Libby Bachhuber is a licensed clinical social worker and therapist, and she wants to give people a space to process their “eco anxiety” by hosting “Climate Cafes” around town. She recently collaborated with Haven Denson, the Chicago Conservation Cor...
Illinois state lawmakers return to Springfield for the start of the legislative session. Chicago leaders have delayed its plan to move migrants out of shelters after 60 days due to the bitter cold. There’s a new push for federal financial help for Chicago and Milwaukee to defray costs from hosting the national political conventions this summer.
Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is calling on Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbot to quit sending busloads of migrants to the city as sub-zero temperatures loom. The National Weather Service is forecasting a rain and snow mix for the Chicago-area and northern Illinois Friday afternoon before transitioning to all snow overnight, and a winter storm warning is in effect until noon Saturday. You have until midnight tonight to enter Chicago's snow plow naming contest ....
Chicago used to be a destination for magic. “In the heyday of magic, this was the magic hub of the world,” said Joey Cranford, owner of the Chicago Magic Lounge in Andersonville. “We had more magic shops per capita. We had prop builders. We had close up bars. We were a magic hub. But all that went away. The magic kind of left Chicago.” That was decades ago. Today? The magic is back, according to the magicians that spoke with Robert Loerzel, a freelance journalist who wrote about Chicago’s magic ...
A winter storm warning is in effect for the Chicago area. City council members representing Chicago’s Southwest Side are pushing for a new police district and station. South Side restaurant Oooh Wee! It is! gets some love during the Golden Globes this week.
Illinois saw a nearly 50% jump in the number of people from other states who came for an abortion the year Roe v. Wade was overturned. Jurors in Chicago are deliberating in the federal trial in the killing of Chicago rapper FBG Duck. Illinois is awarding a $10 million grant to help a cancer treatment center in southern Illinois expand.
If you drink socially, January might be a tricky month to give up alcohol. Even without snow on the ground, Chicago winters tend to force us indoors, and many friend groups and social events turn to bars. Thankfully for Chicago’s Dry January participants, this city already has a growing map of sober spaces. To learn more, we talked to Cristina Torres, the founder of alcohol-free Bendición Bottle Shop. “I like to think of this space as a blessing for sober people,” she said. “This is a safe space...
Governor J.B. Pritzker argues Illinois is in good shape after several years of economic growth, including the elimination of the state’s backlog of bills and multiple credit upgrades. A campus cop cannot testify in Cook County cases – after WBEZ and the Sun-Times reported on his ties to an extremist group. Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles is defending the choice to keep head coach Matt Eberflus.
A former CVS store in the Little Village neighborhood will now be used to house migrants. The trial date for the man accused of the 2022 mass shooting in Highland Park is now up in the air. Surgery to repair Blackhawks star Connor Bedard's jaw was a success; he'll miss 6 to 8 weeks.
Drill music is a subgenre of rap born in Chicago in the 2010s. Since then, it’s taken off around the world, and earned national headlines due to explicit, violent lyrics and high-profile trials associated with drill artists, including the racketeering trial of Young Thug in Atlanta and the murder trial of six defendants accused of killing FBG Duck in Chicago. It has a bad reputation for the wrong reasons sometimes , according to Reginold Royston, an assistant professor who studies digital innova...
For nearly 300 migrants who have recently arrived in Chicago, their temporary homes are CTA buses in the West Loop. A pricey program meant to get disconnected kids back in Chicago Public Schools is off to a slow start. A group of financial analysts believes the Chicago-area economy will grow modestly this year.
The forecast calls for a mix of rain and snow as the temperature drops across the region. Suburban families continue to lie to get their kids coveted seats in elite Chicago Public Schools. A group of Chicago-area business leaders is “cautiously optimistic” about the region’s economy this year.
Isabel Olive discovered her love of music at her public school in Carbondale, Illinois. She learned to play the saxophone and joined her high school marching band. But now, she creates genre-straddling music as Half Gringa. She’s released several self-produced albums, and she is working to crowdfund her next record so she can level up with new collaborators. In this episode, Olive talks to host Erin Allen about where she gets inspiration and how growing up in a Venezuelan family in Illinois shap...
A winter weather advisory remains in effect for Chicago. A candidate for Cook County’s top prosecutor says his Democratic primary opponent should have recognized problems with an 11-year-old’s murder confession. Some 77-thousand computers bought by Chicago Public Schools were marked lost or stolen, but the inspector general says the problem is the tracking system.
The Chicago area can expect between 2” and 5” of snow by tomorrow afternoon, beginning around 8 p.m. tonight. Chicagoans can now apply for one of the seven seats on the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability. Divvy will increase rental prices for most of its fleet of bikes, e-bikes and scooters next month.
Vici Howard is a South Side filmmaker. Upset by the lack of opportunities to show off her work, Howard started her own rotating showcase to give Black and brown femme filmmakers a platform to show their films. “There’s a whole community of filmmakers out there, Black and brown women of color, who need a venue,” she said. “So I’m creating a community and giving that and offering that to them.” In this episode, Howard tells us about Black & Brown Femme Films and how she embraced her love of fi...
There’s hardly any ice on Lake Michigan. Less than a fraction of one percent is currently covering the lake – much less than usual at this time of year. Republican Donald Trump is facing questions about not signing a voluntary pledge in Illinois against advocating a government overthrow. The Chicago Bears ended their season Sunday with a 17 to 9 loss against the Green Bay Packers.
The CTA Yellow Line is running again. The man accused in the 2022 north suburban Highland Park mass shooting will not be representing himself after all. Chicago's COVID-19 risk level has risen to "medium" for the first time since last January.
It’s the agency responsible for protecting one of the most vulnerable populations in Illinois: children. And it’s had more than 30 years of issues, from failing many kids who come in contact with the agency, to a federally-mandated consent decree and a revolving door of directors. So what’s happening at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services? In this episode, WBEZ’s Alex Degman looks back at the start of the agency’s issues and examines the conditions that led Marc Smith, the lo...
Five Illinoisans objected to Trump’s state nominating petitions yesterday and want him off the 2024 presidential ballot. Researchers at the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign say the use of Tylenol during pregnancy can cause language delays in children. An Israeli student is suing the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for alleged discrimination and anti-Semitism.
Former President Donald Trump’s status as a presidential candidate in Illinois is being challenged. Palestinian American families in Chicago share the heartbreaking stories of loved ones in Gaza. Big changes are coming for Metra riders in the next few weeks.
“I think collecting is just a part of the human condition,” said Hussein Hallak, the co-founder and CEO of digital art platform Momentable. But for many of us, starting a physical art collection can feel inaccessible. We wanted to get some tips from Hallak and Good Things Vending creator Steph Krim about where to start. Of course, because this is The Rundown, it became a conversation about why we collect and how we make meaning out of the everyday. In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Krim ...
Illinois’ embattled child welfare agency gets a new director next month. Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan made a surprise appearance in his federal corruption case. Illinois will not reach an interim goal of reducing runoff pollution across the state’s waterways.
Illinois' child welfare agency is getting a new permanent director. A federal judge is delaying the corruption trial of longtime former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. The Chicago Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations held a candlelight vigil for 6-year-old Wadea al-Fayoume.
Most Christians celebrated Christmas last month, but this weekend, some others are just getting started. Orthodox Christmas is on Jan. 7, and Chicago has one of the largest Orthodox Christian populations in the U.S. Celebrations are underway this weekend, with delectable holiday food. So we turned to WBEZ producer (and former chef) Cianna Greaves. In this episode, Greaves tells host Erin Allen about some of the cultural and culinary traditions surrounding Orthodox Christmas, and where to enjoy t...
Cook County prosecutors recently dropped their case against a man accused of beating up a Cook County jail guard. Lawyers representing indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan will make their case today for delaying his spring trial. Illinois residents are now able to file lawsuits against those who spread digitally-altered, sexual images of them online.
A downstate Illinois lawmaker is seeking to bar indicted former House Speaker Michael Madigan from getting a special statehouse honor. Trauma, including violence or homelessness, rewires the brain. Now, teachers in Illinois will be getting trained in how to help. The FAFSA is open after a long delay, but its availability to students and parents remains spotty.
A 6-year-old refugee from Afghanistan named Mahbuba arrived on the doorstep of a Chicago school in 2021. She was deaf and had no previous exposure to formal sign language. Over the next year, she would learn to communicate for the first time. “Her story reflects the difference that just a few people can make,” writes freelancer Elly Fishman. “Because of the lengths a few Chicagoans have been willing to go, an Afghan girl is finding her voice and a new start.” In this episode, we hear Mahbuba’s a...
Dry January proponents say those seeking to support sober curious friends should be more intentional about how they choose to spend time with them. The Illinois State Police department has released its first-ever guidebook for how officers should help people experiencing homelessness. The Chicago Board of Education is considering ending the practice of allowing schools to have police officers stationed inside them.
