Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is defending a contract extension with a Kansas company to staff migrant shelters. The iconic South Side Brown Sugar Bakery opened its new manufacturing facility yesterday. Chicago City Council members want to see a new proposed Department of Environment have enforcement powers.
Arson fires are an issue across Chicago, according to a new WBEZ analysis. Unionized part-time faculty at Columbia College Chicago plan to strike Monday if a contract deal isn’t reached by then. Even as some high schools in Chicago struggle with low enrollment, a high school community on the far southwest side is asking for overcrowding relief.
Chicago elected its first-ever police district councils earlier this year, and people around the country are watching. The councils put police accountability in the hands of neighborhood residents and could inspire similar models in other cities—depending on how they fare. For the 65 council members across 22 districts, the first challenge is getting residents to show up and share their input. WBEZ’s criminal justice reporter Chip Mitchell talked at length with Austin District Council chair Carm...
We have an update on how things are going with a new effort in Cook County to locate missing people. It’s onto the state Senate for a measure allowing Illinois legislative employees to unionize. The city’s human relations commission says Chicago has seen an uptick in reported hate crimes.
Two Chicago police officers killed in the line of duty will be honored tonight. Chicago officials are assessing a site in Brighton Park on the South Side as a possible base camp to house 2,000 migrants. Bat sightings are on the rise in Chicago, and not just because of Halloween.
If you’ve seen a Chicago pothole filled with old world, mosaic tile artwork – yet depicting something modern like a pair of hot sauce packets or a pack of Marlboro cigarettes – it was probably the creation of Jim Bachor. “I’ve found that my goal in life is to drag the artform of the mosaic kicking and screaming into the 21st century,” Bachor said. Bachor tells Rundown podcast host Erin Allen how a tour guide in Pompeii kickstarted his obsession with mosaics, why both the durability and the restr...
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling backs sending mental health staffers to 911 crisis calls instead of police. A measure to allow legislative employees at the Illinois capitol to unionize is moving. After 38 years – Chicago’s Newberry Library is ending its annual book fair to focus on future exhibitions and storytelling events.
The Chicago Police Department responds to WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times reporting about extremist connections to the force. Illinois joins more than 30 states in suing Meta. The Chicago Audubon Society changes its name.
Before he got into the advice biz, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Ismael Perez did the research. He found advice columns going back to at least the 1800s when people would write into local newspapers for tips on clothing stains and housewarming parties. Somehow along the way, we ended up crowdsourcing wisdom on Reddit and calling into podcasts for advice. Now, Perez has an advice column for 2023. It’s called “Someone In Chicago,” and it’s geared toward Chicagoans in their twenties, thirties and for...
Hundreds of protestors blocked traffic in downtown Chicago Monday to call for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza. The leading Jewish civil rights group wants the Chicago Police to thoroughly investigate the influence of political extremism on the force. Some City Council members say the city needs more 3-1-1 operators that are multilingual.
Community members and activists in west suburban Oak Park want village leaders to step up to help with the migrant crisis. There was a chaotic scene outside an Israeli solidarity event in the northern suburbs Sunday. Rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent speaks about leading the Chicago Bears to a 30-12 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Briana Kidd realized the interest on her student loans was paused and saw a golden opportunity to pay down the principal. Living with her dad, working two jobs and routinely saving money allowed her to pay her balance down from $37,000 to $10,000. Andrew Palomo was able to adopt his now 16-month-old daughter Teresa. And although he’s been paying off his loans for nearly a decade, he still owes nearly $186,000 – “which is a house,” he said. In this episode, Erin Allen talks with WBEZ higher educa...
We'll hear more from the WBEZ-Sun-Times investigation into the troubling experiences people had with police officers who appeared on a leaked list of the Oath Keepers. Illinois lawmakers accepted donations from red-light camera companies despite passing a bill saying they can’t do that. Military veterans want Cook County to provide more resources.
An Evanston mother and daughter who were taken hostage by Hamas militants have been released. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a sit-in at Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky’s office. This year’s pumpkin crop was strong despite droughts.
Even 20 years ago, kids didn’t have their entire lives recorded online. Then, social media assured anyone could go viral and smartphones made us all infinitely more trackable. These technologies have changed what it means to be a kid. Chicagoland author Devorah Heitner explores childhood in the 21st Century in her latest book “Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World.” In this episode, we talk to Heitner about location tracking, “sharenting” and why kids post the way they do.
Illinois election officials are considering various security measures ahead of the 2024 primary elections next Spring. All those ads you see on CTA trains and buses are helping to keep ticket prices from rising. An Illinois healthcare program for undocumented seniors is pausing enrollments next month.
Chicago officials on a trip to the Southern border are seeing firsthand what conditions look like for asylum-seekers when they enter the U.S. Illinois is pausing enrollment in the program providing Medicaid-style healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants over age 65. A young guitarist mistakenly shot by a Des Plaines police officer four years ago is now getting a $1.9 million payout from the suburb.
Chicago’s own Ytasha Womack is both a scholar of afrofuturism and the author of a new book on one of the most notable figures in afrofuturistic sci-fi: Marvel’s “Black Panther.” In this episode, host Erin Allen talks with Womack about her book, “ Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration ,” how afro futures are everyone’s futures, and the cultural importance of T’Challa’s home country of Wakanda. “One woman in the book said that Wakanda was as real for her as the biblical city of Canaan,” Womack sai...
After a bombing of a Gaza hospital left hundreds dead – protesters in Chicago say they want local leaders to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Loyola University Law Professor Jeannine Bell breaks down what goes into a hate crime prosecution as the Chicago office of the FBI investigates the recent killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy. The public will have more chances to weigh in on possible changes to the state’s blueprint for teaching reading in Illinois schools.
Google has gotten the go-ahead to demolish the glass exterior and atrium of the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago. There could be a strike among healthcare and retail workers at Howard Brown Health. The launch of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s new abortion rights nonprofit signals he will not run for president next year, according to the chief political reporter at The Chicago Sun-Times.
If you live in Chicago, you know Lee Crooks—probably without realizing it. Crooks has been the voice of the CTA for 25 years, so he’s a fixture in most of our lives. We wanted to get to know the man behind “Doors closing.” In this episode, we talk to Crooks about trains, legacy and Midwest accents. And yes, we have him do the voice.
As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, an Islamic Day School in Chicago's southwest suburbs is trying to protect itself from violence and hate speech. Some Chicago alderpersons want the city to increase liquor inspectors to crack down on bars that have drawn shootings. Congress is hoping to create national standards for compensating college athletes.
A vigil is planned tonight in suburban Plainfield to honor 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, who was stabbed to death Saturday. Chicago-based nonprofit MedGlobal is working to support hospitals in Gaza. Family, friends and neighbors hope for the safe return of two Evanston women from Gaza.
Instead of junk food and sodas, a Good Things Vending machine offers local art, throwback trading cards, games and dozens of other items you won’t find in a typical vending machine. There are a handful of them around Chicago, and the creator of the business says the goal is to spark joy and promote the city’s arts community. Steph Krim talks with Erin Allen about how she came up with the idea, her favorite items and where you can find a machine near you ....
Family members of the 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy who was stabbed to death this weekend gathered to condemn the alleged hate crime. Chicago’s Council on American-Islamic Relations Office says they’re receiving an increasing number of Islamophobic phone calls. If college enrollment remains steady, only about 30% of Chicago Public School freshmen today are predicted over the next decade to get a bachelor’s or associate's degree.
A 6-year old suburban Palestinian-American boy was laid to rest today two days after being stabbed to death. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson reversed course and will not visit the U.S.-Mexico border. Bears quarterback Justin Fields dislocated his thumb and may miss Sunday’s game.
Whether you’re a longtime fan or a first-time listener, you’ll love the changes coming to The Rundown podcast. From now on, catch three episodes from The Rundown feed every weekday: morning news, a midday deep-dive conversation and afternoon news. We want to bring you all the Chicago news you need to get through your day. And with our midday episodes, we’ll help you discover new places, people and things to love about the city. In this episode, host Erin Allen checks in with morning news host Ad...
Prosecutors charged a southwest-suburban man with murder and hate crimes after the deadly stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy. Hearings kick off Monday as City Council members vet Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed spending plan for next year. Chicago’s homes impacted by flooding earlier this summer have more time to apply for federal relief.
The concept of a person’s “race” is relatively new in the scope of human history. A new exhibit at Chicago’s Newberry Library, “Seeing Race Before Race,” looks at the period before we started grouping ourselves in racial hierarchies. “From a period of time from about 1100 to 1800, we’re arguing that race was made, through image and text,” said Lia Markey, one of the exhibit’s curators. In this episode, host Erin Allen talks through the exhibit with Markey and Noémie Ndiaye, another exhibit curat...
The Chicago City Council is meeting Friday to debate a resolution “condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel.” Emanuel “Chris” Welch says it’s unlikely Illinois lawmakers will consider additional funding for migrants in Chicago during their upcoming legislative session. There’s a new push for a law, known as “Karina’s Bill” that would require police to remove guns from the homes of accused domestic abusers.
