The Rundown | Chicago News

Chicago Public Schools is proposing a later start date for the school year to avoid overlapping with the Democratic National Convention. Chicago’s top cop says the department is doing a better job solving homicides so far this year. Despite a history of lawsuits and damning assessments by experts, Illinois is re-upping its prison healthcare contract with a private provider.

The legendary performance artist Pope.L died in December 2023 at 68, and many of his contemporaries agree it will take years to unpack his work and its influence—if that is even possible.
 
 “At the basis of the work, I would say, is a riddle,” said curator Hamza Walker, the director of LAXART. “He was always full of questions.” Walker first met Pope.L in the early aughts and said he found his work both confounding and brilliant.
 
 We could dedicate a whole podcast to understanding Pope.L’s work, so in this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Walker to scratch the surface on Pope.L’s life and legacy.

Chicago is now the largest city in the country to pass a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. One teenager is dead and two are wounded following a daylight shooting yesterday in Chicago’s North Side Edgewater neighborhood. About 150 migrants staying in west suburban Oak Park were supposed to vacate their temporary shelters yesterday, but now have until the end of February.

The Chicago City Council passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza by a vote of 24-23. Journalists at the Chicago Tribune plan to go on strike Thursday for the first time ever. Attorneys for people in Illinois prisons are decrying the state’s decision to award another multi-billion-dollar contract to a controversial prison healthcare provider.

Many migrants new to Chicago cannot work legally, yet they still have to eat, find housing and just get by in a big city. So how are they making money?“Manicures, cutting hair, cooking food, delivering food,” said WBEZ immigration reporter Adriana Cardona-Maguidad. “People really want to work and they want to have financial stability. And the path to get there, especially from the shelters – like you're new, you don't know your way around – can be extremely difficult.”Cardona-Maguidad brings us her conversations with a few migrants as they’ve picked up work, from a mother selling candy at a busy intersection on Irving Park Road to a man washing windows for businesses on Montrose Avenue. 

The Illinois State Board of Elections voted to keep Donald Trump on the state’s primary ballot. Organizers of a protest march planned before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago are fighting City Hall after their application was denied. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says he supports the forced removal of police officers from schools.

The State Board of Elections has decided to keep former President Donald Trump on the Illinois primary ballot. Federal prosecutors have asked for a five-year prison sentence for Tim Mapes. Formula One Racing could be the next big racing event to take over the Chicago streets.

Homeownership isn’t just valuable for you personally. It also helps build wealth for your family, your community, and even society at large, according to former Chicago Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara.“When you have those kinds of assets in your life, it gives you way more options and way more ability to care intergenerationally for the well being of your family and to invest in your community,” said Novara, who is now the Vice President of Community Impact at the Chicago Community Trust.Unfortunately, homeownership is an inaccessible pipe dream for many Chicagoans, due to everything from high interest rates and stagnating wages to a long history of racist policies that have kept many potential buyers of color from entering the market. “Even today, it is much harder to get a loan at favorable terms from a bank if you are a Black or Latinx buyer trying to buy in a majority Black or majority brown community,” Novara said. In this episode, Novara talks with host Erin Allen about her recent article for Crain’s Chicago Business. Novara explains the value of homeownership, the historical barriers to it (and the modern ones), and a few solutions that are in the works to help level the playing field.

Staff and students are starting the grieving process for the two teenagers shot and killed Friday as they left their downtown school. The board that oversees Illinois’ elections is scheduled to decide today whether Donald Trump’s name should be printed on ballots for the March primary. The State of Illinois is partnering with Google to streamline access to children’s behavioral health services through a new online portal called BEACON.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker won’t support a ceasefire in Gaza until all the hostages being held by Hamas are released. Leaders from a contingent of Chicago-area unions joined to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. An error in the government’s formula for how much financial aid a student gets for college is causing a lot of uncertainty for Illinois families.

“Money intersects every area of our life,” said financial psychologist Brad Klontz. In the first part of our conversation with Klontz, we talked about how to reframe your narrative around finances. The way we think about money affects how we interact with the world around us.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen and Klontz discuss how to approach money in relationships.
 
 This episode originally aired on January 11, 2023.

A state hearing officer found the courts – and not the State Board of Elections – should decide whether former President Donald Trump will be on the state’s upcoming primary ballot. The Illinois-based think tank EveryLibrary Institute and editorial site Book Riot conducted a survey to learn what parents across the country think of school libraries. American bald eagle sightings are becoming more common in Chicagoland.

Naperville city officials are scrapping a proposal to recruit residents to house migrants. Chicago Public Schools says it's trying to do a better job tracking laptops. Two teenagers were shot and killed in the Loop.

Brad Klontz thinks a lot about his personal narrative around money. He’s a financial psychologist and a professor at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. After encountering bad financial advice on TikTok, he started building a following.“I realized there was a lot of terrible information out there,” Klontz said. “I got really passionate about putting out accurate information.”In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Klontz about the stories we tell ourselves about our finances. This episode originally aired on January 9, 2023.

The Chicago Board of Education gave the go-ahead for 49 charter schools to keep operating, but their decision was not without controversy. Some Chicago neighborhoods are seeing a growing share of residents earn college degrees, own their homes and make more money. For decades his voice was heard introducing Soul Train .. but Joe Cobb is suing to get compensated for his work.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants Illinois to open migrant centers outside Chicago. It’s going to be another foggy commute tonight – and the National Weather Service says to prepare for low visibility. This year’s cicada emergence could be the largest known anywhere, according to University of Illinois data.

Robberies are up. WBEZ’s Alden Loury looked at data from last year and found that robberies were at a six-year peak, and armed robberies led the surge.What do those numbers mean? And what causes someone to pick up a weapon and rob somebody? In this episode, Rundown podcast host Erin Allen talks with Loury and criminologist David Olson, who co-directs Loyola University’s Center for Criminal Justice, about the causes of crime, strategies to reduce it and the effectiveness of “tough on crime” laws and rhetoric.  “Anything that's easy, usually isn't very effective,” Olson said. “It's easy to quote ‘get tough on crime’ because usually all it means is we pass a law, right? The challenge with that is it really has no effect on crime because rarely do those tougher penalties ever get imposed.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is pushing back on City Council members calling for more oversight on city spending. Johnson also introduced an electrification ordinance that aims to set indoor emission standards as part of a broader effort to tackle climate change. The Illinois State Board of Education passed a comprehensive plan to improve how reading is taught across Illinois.

City Council called off a planned vote on whether Chicago Police can contest firings and long suspensions in private arbitration. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has picked two local vendors to provide food to migrants in city shelters after delays in the bidding process. Domestic violence victims and their advocates are asking Illinois lawmakers to pass Karina’s Bill.

Gigi Lira never imagined she’d make it as a working artist. Then, she started doing manicures on the side at Beauty Bar, a hair salon-inspired bar in West Town. She frequently worked queer events and did nails for LGBTQ+ Chicagoans who didn’t feel comfortable at other salons. Fast forward, and she has her own salon. “It’s so important to me to provide a safe, nurturing place that doesn’t just tolerate you,” Lira said.In this episode, Lira talks about creating an inclusive, nonjudgmental space for her clients.This episode was produced by Ari Mejia for WBEZ’s sister station Vocalo and their Chi Sounds Like series.

The Obama Foundation is donating half-a-million dollars to girls who live on Chicago’s South and West Sides. The Chicago City Council will consider a couple of big ticket items at its first meeting of the year today. Dense fog is blanketing the Chicago area this morning.

A new study from the University of Illinois shows one in 10 college students is food insecure. A man suspected of shooting and killing eight people in Joliet fatally shot himself Monday after a confrontation at a gas station with law enforcement officials in Texas. Finalists in Chicago's snowplow naming contest include Casimir Plowaski and Taylor Drift.

On any given night in Chicago, you’ve got options when it comes to seeing live music. Dozens and dozens of options. The Chicago Show Calendar is an Instagram account and weekly newsletter that tries to give you all the information on every show in the city, big names and small.“I do think the calendar gives people a place – like someone starting out – a place to get their name on a calendar when normally it would cost money to do that elsewhere,” said Caroline Patton, who created the calendar.Patton personally sorts through over 120 venue websites for show information every Tuesday night. She sends out the week’s slate of shows every Wednesday. It’s a labor of love.“We put out really good music in this city,” Patton said. In this episode, Patton explains how a personal project expanded into a public service, why she keeps going, and what it’s taught her about Chicago’s music scene.

The Chicago City Council is weighing new regulations for dollar stores. A Cook County state’s attorney candidate is calling on his Democratic primary opponent to return a campaign donation from a former prosecutor tied to alleged torture. It’s been 51 years since the U-S Supreme Court granted nationwide abortion access, and anti-abortion advocates say a lot has changed since then.

A Chicago City Council vote on a resolution supporting a ceasefire in Gaza will be postponed. The onslaught of bad weather around Chicago continues. A Boston-based solar energy company is making Chicago its second home.

Pegasus Theatre wraps up its 37th Young Playwrights Festival this week. This year’s festival features one-act plays by four Chicago high school students who worked with teachers to submit their work. Professional actors perform the winning scripts. 
 
 “It was really empowering,” said Grant Parris, one of the playwrights. He and another winner, Alexander Loaiza, submitted their plays to the festival last year and are now freshmen in college.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Parris and Loaiza about what it was like to see their words come to life onstage.

The Illinois Supreme Court could rule next month on whether the odor of cannabis is enough to search a vehicle. Many Chicagoans suffer from the “winter blues” during the city’s colder months, but experts say there are a few ways to combat feeling down when the weather is dreary. A state lawmaker from northwest Indiana has introduced a bill that would create a sports commission to look into luring a professional sports team – namely – the Chicago Bears.

Nearly 2,000 migrants must leave Chicago shelters by February 1st under new deadlines on shelter stays. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson today publicly addressed reports of unsanitary conditions at city-run migrant shelters after new details emerged this week. Bitter cold returns to the Chicago area tonight; expect high temperatures in the teens both Saturday and Sunday.

Today, we accomplished three things: 1) Mourned some of the Chicago restaurants we lost last year, 2) Rejoiced in some of the delicious new spots we’ve recently gained, and 3) Talked about the local food trends to watch for in 2024.To do that we were joined by Michael Nagrant, the food critic and writer behind The Hunger, a Substack site with local, anonymously-procured food reviews, and Brenda Storch, a food writer, Chicago Eater contributor and the creator of the food and culture site LaVitaminaT.com.“We’re so lucky in Chicago to have so many cultures converging. And have the availability of ingredients and experiences.” Storch said. “People who cannot go back to their countries will find that memory in a dish that they will find nearby.

Chicago City Council members are weighing whether there should be more limits on having jobs outside of their aldermanic duties. A candidate in the Democratic primary to replace Cook County state’s attorney Kim Foxx is raising more funds than the person endorsed by the party. Today is the first day of Chicago Restaurant Week.

The White Sox could be on the move. A federal judge has approved a more than $12 million dollar class action settlement for people in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood who were affected after a former coal-fired power plant imploded. The University of Illinois is freezing in-state tuition at all three of its universities.

The Illinois State Police released a guidebook late last year for officers interacting with unhoused individuals. The goal is to offer up-to-date resources and to bring dignity and humanity to those encounters for “the new face of homelessness,” according to Rev. Dwight Ford, the director of Project Now, a community action organization that helped develop the guidebook. “The new face of homelessness is a woman that works everyday, with a good cell phone and a nice SUV, but those are the paraphernalia of a life once lived,” Ford said. “They’re actually sleeping in that SUV in a Walmart parking lot, and taking their kids to a Casey’s bathroom to wash up at a gas station and go to school.”  In this episode, Ford explains what needs to change in these police interactions and how he wants us all to work toward bringing homelessness to “functional zero: rare, brief and non-reoccuring.”

Keeping up with the huge increase in migrant students is a challenge – even for Chicago schools that are used to teaching migrants. . Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is defending the actions it took to address unsanitary conditions at a Pilsen migrant shelter. The Shriver Center on Poverty Law is marking the anniversary of America’s “War on Poverty” with a summit today.

Preparations for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later this year continue to move forward. New recommendations are out from a working group dedicated to preserving local news in Illinois. A federal jury in Chicago convicted six men in the murder of local rapper FBG Duck

Chef Jessica Walks First started helping in the kitchen as a little kid, and she grew up cooking for her community in Chicago’s American Indian Center. Now, she runs Ketapanen Kitchen, a catering business with a focus on Indigenous foods. “Ketapanen” is an expression of love in the Menominee language.
 
 “If my community is eating my food, I want them to have great ingredients that are familiar to them and feel like home to them,” Walks First said. 
 
 She wants to expose as many Chicagoans as possible to Indigenous culinary traditions, and she advocates for making those foods more accessible to Indigenous communities.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Walks First about Indigenous representation in Chicago’s culinary scene and beyond.

A new analysis shows an area five times the size of Chicago’s Millennium Park could be used to build affordable and public housing in the city. A lawmaker introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of electronic tracking systems to determine someone’s location without their consent. Officials in at least one central Illinois county are preparing in case migrants are dropped off in their area.

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 Corps Coordinator at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, to bring a Climate Cafe to the museum.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Denson and Bachhuber about processing eco anxiety and leaning into hope for the future.

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 scene for WBEZ.In this episode, Loerzel explains Chicago’s on-again-off-again relationship with magic – from Harry Houdini and the World’s Fair to today – and he tells us where you should go to see a magic show right now, amidst Chicago’s magical renaissance. 

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 in a city full of alcohol.” In addition to selling non-alcoholic beverages and mocktail supplies, Bendición hosts a Sober(ish) Book Club and other events.In this episode, Torres and host Erin Allen talk about finding and building sober spaces in Chicago.This episode originally aired on December 30, 2022.

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 innovation at University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Nile Lansana, an artist and youth educator who grew up on Chicago’s South Side.“We’re hearing stories of violence. We’re hearing stories of trauma. We’re hearing stories of alleged crimes,” Lansana said. “And I think that for somebody who's a general consumer of drill, I would really push them to look past the aesthetics and really look into the substance.”In this episode, Lansana and Royston look at the history of the genre, where it exists in the wider culture today, and point out what many people miss. Some of the music heard in this episode: “Barbie World” - Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice“Love Sosa” - Chief Keef“I Don't Like” - Chief Keef featuring Lil Reese “Hate Bein' Sober” - Chief Keef“Killa” - Young Pappy“Play For Keeps” - L'A Capone“Flashbacks” - G Herbo“Street Guide (Part 01)” - ONEFOUR“Kwaku the Traveller” - Black Sherif

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 shaped her as a musician.