The Rundown | Chicago News

Timothy Mapes, the longtime chief-of-staff to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. The outage at Lurie Children’s Hospital continues – it’s been going on for nearly two weeks. New analysis shows nearly half of renters in Chicago are spending too much of their income on rent and utilities.

If you don’t know Tricia Hersey’s name, you’ve probably seen her work. Hersey founded The Nap Ministry, perhaps best known for its popular Instagram account, with the hope of teaching others how to rest in a society that glorifies grind culture. Hersey’s New York Times bestselling book “Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto” explores her lifelong project of resting under capitalism.In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Hersey about how rest and community care can be acts of resistance.This episode originally aired on April 10, 2023.

Chicago’s multi-million dollar contract with the company that runs the gunshot detection technology known as ShotSpotter expires on Friday. Black health advocacy groups are calling on the state to properly fund Black-led HIV and AIDS treatment providers. If you watched the Super Bowl last night, you may have seen some Illinois farmers during a commercial break.

Authorities say an overnight fire caused extensive damage to the Palace Grill on Chicago’s Near West Side, an iconic Chicago restaurant known for its breakfasts and filled with decades of memorabilia. Starbucks workers in the southwestern Illinois town of O'Fallon are seeking to unionize. Illinois House Republicans say they want to put money back in your pocket at tax time next year through a measure that would once again tie the state’s standard income tax exemption to inflation.

Black History Month is a time to look back at the big names that changed history, but also the smaller names that are making Black history right now, according to Arionne Nettles, director of Audio Journalism Programming at Northwestern University’s Medill School. 
 
 “The people who are living legends to me are perhaps everyday people,” Nettles said, nodding to the Black teachers, journalists and everyone else who shows up in small ways for their community. “Those are the people that are making such a big impact on your lives. Those are the people you never forget.”
 
 In this episode, Rundown host Erin Allen talks with Nettles about rethinking Black excellence and the Black Chicagoans making history today.

A new Illinois state senate bill would require a lawyer for anyone under age 18 throughout an interrogation in police custody. Illinois Republicans are hoping that they’re not entirely shut out of this year’s state budget process – again. A union that represents 3,800 Illinois Department of Transportation workers has voted to authorize a strike.

Lurie Children's Hospital confirmed its network was accessed by a “known criminal threat actor.” ComEd is trying to entice businesses to buy electric vehicles while the Chicago Auto Show is in town. A downstate Illinois funeral home director had his license revoked last year after a state investigation found he had given dozens of families the wrong cremated ashes.

Rundown host Erin Allen joins a conversation of three generations of Black women to talk about Black History Month – how we celebrate it and learned about it – by looking at the historic "firsts" of the past and those we should honor in the present. Weighing in on the topic are the crew from WBEZ’s sister podcast, When Magic Happens.

Mail ballots for Chicago’s March primary election are starting to be sent to voters today. Three Democratic lawmakers in Springfield are pushing to make fertility services more accessible. A judge is denying former President Donald Trump’s bid to stall an objection to his place on Illinois’ primary election ballot.

A new report says the medical care provided in Illinois prisons is so bad that people are dying. The deadline to file papers to run for seats on Chicago’s Local School Councils has been extended to Feb. 14. New research from Northwestern University says artificial intelligence is improving doctors’ accuracy when they diagnose certain skin diseases.

These days, it feels like there are two options if you want to get out of the house for Valentine’s Day: gooey couple’s outings and anti-Valentine’s singles events. But on The Rundown, we’re always looking for new and interesting ways to spend your time.
 
 Enter Crying at the Shed, a three-day film festival at the Salt Shed that combines film, music and Valentine’s vibes.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to festival curator Kris English and Douglas McCombs, one of the musicians in the festival lineup.

Some new intel on the troubled prison healthcare provider that just got a $4 billion contract from the state of Illinois. Progressive lawmakers and activists are trying to make Illinois the eighth state to eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers. Staff at two Little Village charter schools continue striking today.

Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago is on its seventh day of dealing with a cybersecurity matter that has crippled communications. Actor Jussie Smollett is asking the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn his disorderly conduct convictions for falsely reporting to police he was the victim of a hate crime. The Chicago area could see record-breaking temperatures in the upper 50s this Thursday and Friday.

Best Spoken Word Poetry Album was a brand new category when Chicago poet J. Ivy won it at the 2023 Grammy Awards. At this year’s Grammys, J. Ivy won the award again, for his poetry album “The Light Inside.” “When I’m creating an album, I don’t listen to anybody else,” the multi-hyphenate artist said on The Rundown back in 2023. “If I found myself sounding like anybody else, I switch that up real quick.” Today, we’re bringing you Erin’s conversation with the writer, narrator and poet – about the differences between rap and spoken word poetry, his influences and inspirations, and about how he produced the tracks on his first Grammy-winning album, “The Poet Who Sat By The Door.”This episode originally aired on March 3, 2023.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency wants southern Cook County residents to apply for relief funding by the end of the week. A housing advocacy group in the north suburbs has reached a deal in a federal lawsuit against a company that used artificial intelligence to discriminate against renters. After taking a two-week break, Illinois lawmakers are back in Springfield today with some unfinished business to attend to.

Metra has still not been able to fix glitches on the Ventra app that have prevented riders from buying tickets. The editorial board of the student newspaper at Northwestern University is urging its parent company to drop criminal charges against two Black students. The Chicago Red Stars continue to rebuild under new ownership.

Chicago has had a system of “school choice” for decades. That’s where, instead of sending students to schools in their neighborhoods, families can apply to send their kids to magnet, charter, test-in or even other neighborhood schools across the city.
 
 But change may be afoot. The Chicago Board of Education voted to move away from school choice in a resolution passed late last year. Further complicating the matter, the Board is about to pivot from having appointed members to having elected members, which means that voters will have a partial say in the matter this November.
 
 So why do some people want to get rid of school choice and others want to keep it? And which students have more to gain or lose if school choice is phased out? WBEZ education reporter Sarah Karp explains this “very ideologically contentious issue” and what the upcoming election might mean for the future of school choice in Chicago.

Chicago voters will start to receive their mail ballots this week – with one referendum question that is facing a lawsuit to throw it off. A new report on the racial wealth gap outlines steps for corporations and business leaders. The Latino Policy Forum has selected a new cohort of Chicago leaders expected to build bridges between Black and Brown communities.

Lurie Children’s Hospital is working to address a cybersecurity issue. A vigil was held Thursday night in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood to honor the three Senn High School students who were shot this week. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is promoting federal legislation to crack down on social media companies that allow online abuse and mistreatment of children.

Sufjan Stevens’s 2005 album “Illinois” is the source material for a new musical at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. It’s called “Illinoise,” and it’s the only time you’ll hear us pronouncing the “s” at the end of the state.
 
 “I always felt like there was something to discover in a stage work that derives from this album,” said Justin Peck, the director, choreographer and co-writer behind the show. 
 
 Peck identified the album as part of his own coming-of-age story when it came out in 2005, so it’s fitting that he and playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury adapted the record into a coming-of-age tale for the stage. The story is told entirely through music and movement.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Peck for a peek behind the curtain in developing “Illinoise.”

A succession of recent fatal shootings of high schoolers has some pushing for violence prevention workers to get into Chicago Public Schools – even if those workers have a criminal record. Chicago-based McDonald’s says it’s looking into a report that the fast food giant is connected to prison labor. A Dallas pastor has succeeded Reverend Jesse Jackson as head of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

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.