The state of Illinois could soon erase $1 billion worth of medical debt for thousands of families. Cook County is trying to figure out what to do with hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic-relief money from Washington. Many queer teens across the U.S. are unhappy about the sex ed they receive in school, a new study finds.
Some top Illinois officials are celebrating President Joe Biden’s new executive actions to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation. Christopher Columbus Elementary School in Ukrainian Village will soon be Ruth Bader Ginsberg Elementary School. Northwest Indiana is under an air quality alert until midnight.
On Chicago’s West Side, crews used the Juneteenth holiday to help seniors whose basements flooded last July. Many homeowners still need help to remove mold. Nine community organizations based in Cook County are receiving grant money to help the populations they serve manage diabetes and prediabetes. A new art project places the portraits of noteworthy Chicagoans on bus shelters across the city.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is urging caution as confirmed cases of COVID-19 are rising in emergency rooms. Unions representing journalists at WBEZ and the Sun-Times are calling for the ouster of the Chicago Public Media CEO. A Planned Parenthood clinic in Peoria is up and running after it was fire-bombed over a year ago.
Chicago is getting a new task force to study reparations for Black residents. The watchdog for Chicago City Hall is calling out Mayor Brandon Johnson for failing to act on a campaign promise to rid cops who joined two extremist groups. Illinois lawmakers approved a measure aimed at expanding access to fentanyl testing strips.
The Chicago area is under an air quality alert. Today is the first day for candidates to file petitions to run for Chicago’s first elected school board. Three famed Wrigleyville Rooftops could face the wrecking ball.
Yman Huang Vien is a former refugee who emigrated to Chicago with her family over 40 years ago, moved to Uptown and quickly co-founded the Chinese Mutual Aid Association , in order to serve low-income, immigrant and refugee communities across Chicago. Today, she’s one of six community members whose portrait and profile you might run into in a Chicago bus shelter for a project called “Unsung Heroes of Uptown: Art of People ON the Streets IN the Streets.” In today’s episode, The Rundown podcast ho...
Four neighborhoods in Chicago are developing ways to reduce gun violence through partnerships with public and private groups. Governor J.B. Pritzker touts $41 billion in spending on infrastructure. A hard foul at the Chicago Sky-Indiana Fever game drew some controversy.
Multiple CTA workers allege they received chemical burns while washing train cars with harsh cleaning materials they weren’t properly trained to use. The Chicago Police Department still does not ban officers from joining specific extremist groups despite promises of reform. High humidity and heat are in the forecast for early next week.
Every Friday from here we’ll be checking in with Nudia Hernandez of WBEZ’s sister station Vocalo, who’s gonna bring us a conversation with an artist or musician doing big things in Chicago. Today, we hear from Erin Kilmurray, creator of “The Function,” an immersive dance production that’s wrapping up its multi-week run in Garfield Park tonight . Plus, we hear from Nudia herself, how she followed her high school dreams to get into the music and radio scene, and an embarrassing admission about her...
Abortion rights leaders in Illinois are celebrating a recent ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. The Chicago Teachers Union and school district officials will participate in a public bargaining session this evening. The Illinois state treasurer helps a Lake County veteran get a half million dollar payout from an old life insurance policy.
Governor J.B. Pritzker reacts to the Supreme Court ruling tossing out a challenge to the accessibility of abortion pills. The Illinois Department of Public Health is launching a new data collection process to better track syphilis cases. The Chicago Bears wrapped up their annual organized team activities and are looking ahead to training camp and the preseason.
Pranita Nayar wanted to give young South Asians in Chicago a platform to express themselves and their culture through art and music. So, in 2014, she created Mandala South Asian Performing Arts, and five years later, the organization kicked off the first Mandala Makers Festival , a celebration of that art and culture happening in June at locations across Chicago. Nayar, a decorated Indian classical dancer, and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Chethan Anant sat down with The Rundown podcast hos...
The Chicago Park District did not vote on whether to approve another year of Riot Fest in Douglass Park after festival organizers moved locations. Senator Tammy Duckworth tries to force Republicans to take an election year vote on IVF treatments. A proposal to fine and suspend lobbyist donations to a mayor’s campaign was blocked from a final vote.
Four wrongfully convicted men will be paid a $50 million dollar settlement by the city. A neighborhood group in McKinley Park on Chicago’s south side is unveiling a plan to create a three-mile bike path along the South Branch of the Chicago River. Riot Fest is forcing the Chicago Red Stars out of their home stadium.
Painter Damiane Nickles loves playing with texture and color in his work. He sees his Trinidadian heritage in the vibrant colors he uses. Nickles grew up in New York, but he said he found his artistic home in Chicago. “There’s something here where people just magnetize to one another,” Nickles said. “That has really stuck with me.” In this episode, Nickles talks about inspiration, texture and finding community. This episode was produced by Ari Mejia for WBEZ’s sister station Vocalo and their Chi...
A federal judge in Chicago is hearing arguments today on whether to expand a consent decree overseeing the police department to include traffic stops. The Chicago City Council is expected to consider a $50 million dollar settlement for four wrongly convicted men. Bally’s casino meets with future vendors for its upcoming permanent Chicago site.
The Illinois Department of Human Services and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago are working to expand access to gender-affirming care. Thousands of Amazon delivery drivers filed legal claims against the company. The late Chicago journalist Mike Royko is the subject of a new exhibition at the Newberry Library.
Before Bridgerton’s string quartet renditions of pop songs, D-Composed was performing chamber music Beyoncé covers in Chicago. D-Composed events aren’t stuffy affairs. The Black chamber music collective rarely charges for tickets, and they want audience members to “come as you are.” That goes for the ensemble’s musicians, too. “When I'm with the other members of D-Composed, I feel completely myself,” said cellist and founding member Tahirah Whittington. “There are no guards. There are no hindran...
Federal prosecutors say former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke should serve 10 years in prison for illegally strong-arming developers. A new poll finds 61 percent of American adults are projected to develop cardiovascular disease by 20-50. We’ll tell you how the American Heart Association plans to combat that trend. Former President Barack Obama visited Chicago’s South Side yesterday to mark a major milestone in the construction of his namesake center.
A school district in the north suburbs is expected to vote on closing Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Students, a bilingual school in Skokie. The Democratic National Convention is driving up hotel prices in Chicago. The National Weather Service warns swimming today is high-risk, with waves up to seven feet.
Constitutional law scholar Wilfred Codrington III talks with Rundown podcast host Erin Allen about slavery’s influence on the creation of the electoral college – America’s state-elector-based system for electing presidents – and how that system affects democracy today. This conversation is a part of the Democracy Solutions Project , a partnership among WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times and the University of Chicago’s Center for Effective Government....
Another federal investigation in Chicago - this time, authorities are looking into a massive breach of private patient data at Cook County’s hospital system. New data shows there are now 1,000 fewer performing arts jobs in Illinois' than before the pandemic. The first-ever Chicago Public Library block party took place in downtown Chicago this weekend.
The city’s annual point-in-time count in January showed more than 18,800 people were unhoused—a threefold increase from last year. The Saint Adalbert Church in Pilsen is a step closer to being a historical landmark. Calumet Fisheries is reopening.
Pastry chef Anna Posey will find out June 10 if she’ll win the 2024 James Beard Award for “Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.” Among the five nominees in her category, she’s the only one in the Midwest . “I mean it’s scary to be truthful. You’re so grateful but you also feel kind of like, ‘Are you sure?’” Posey said. “It’s humbling. You still feel like that cook who doesn’t know anything who’s walking into their internship.” Ahead of the awards, Rundown podcast host Erin Allen visited Elske – the...
Several groups want to demonstrate near the United Center when the Democratic National Convention comes to Chicago in August. The city wants them much further away. The Chicago Board of Ethics is one step closer to being able to enforce an executive order barring lobbyist contributions to the mayor. The new Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services addresses challenges after stepping into the role just six months ago.
A Chicago alderperson wants to impose an 8 p.m. curfew for unaccompanied teenagers downtown. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling says officers working during the Democratic National Convention in August will have their badge numbers uncovered and body cameras on. A new exhibition highlighting queer history and banned books opens tomorrow in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.
All too often, the most vulnerable populations fall through the cracks in our social safety nets: people dealing with addiction, homelessness and severe psychosis. Zak Mucha, the president of the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, says this happens when the people serving those populations don’t understand what they need. “‘Are they like me or not?’ That's how a lot of these decisions are made,” he said. Mucha spent the early years of his social work career working on the ground on Chicago’s Nor...
Immigration advocates in Illinois say President Biden’s new executive order restricting asylum claims violates asylum law. Illinois’ Maternal Health Task Force reflects on four years of work trying to reduce health inequities in Illinois. Some workers at the Shedd Aquarium are claiming management is pushing back on efforts to unionize.
Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker is signing a new $53.1 billion state budget that he says is balanced. Foxtrot says it is coming back to Chicago. Parents from two world language magnet schools in Chicago are fighting against proposed budget cuts they say will devastate their programs.
