The Rundown | Chicago News

The November 2024 elections are still a year away, but the political season leading up to that vote officially gets underway today. Some City Council members want to see a pilot guaranteed basic income program become permanent. And officials are encouraging Chicagoans to buy local this holiday season.

The co-owner of Calumet Fisheries on Chicago’s Southeast Side says they intend to rebuild after a fire earlier this week. Members of the Chicago Bears served traditional Venezuelan fare to nearly 200 asylum-seeking Venezuelan migrants ahead of Thanksgiving. The city of Chicago plans to open its warming centers this week when temperatures drop to 32 degrees or below.

Lauren Viera’s new city guide to Chicago doesn’t read like a typical guidebook – no 72-hour itineraries or explanatory advice on how to ride the CTA. “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Chicago” is mostly just lists of unique places. Five dance clubs, five farmers markets, five nature outings, five small museums, five high-end cocktail bars, five city myths – totalling up to 500. “I'm not a fiction writer,” Viera said. “I'm very bad at making stuff up. So this is really just in my mind reporting times 500.” In this episode, Viera explains her favorite “hidden secrets,” how she chose the places she chose to include and how she welcomes feedback from Chicagoans ready to argue about what should be inside.

AAA recommends departing for Thanksgiving travel before 2 p.m. or after 6 p.m., and other travel tips. A Chicago group focused on helping formerly incarcerated people has found that cash pilots can help with housing instability and health. The Chicago Bears came up short on Sunday – but the team won the hearts of Venezuelan migrants who they served lunch to.

The Village of Oak Park voted narrowly to reallocate unused COVID recovery funds to shelter about 160 Venezuelan migrants through early February. The owner of about 150 Illinois Burger Kings has taken the witness stand in the corruption trial of former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke. The zones where flowers and vegetables across Illinois can survive and thrive are shifting.

For Thanksgiving, the food may be taken care of, but what about the feels? Jordan Wimby AKA “The Melanin Martha” is a chef and culinary preservationist.
 
 She talks to host Erin Allen about prioritizing identity, community and healing when you’re cooking and creating space during the holiday season.

Colleagues remember fallen Chicago firefighter Andrew Price as one of their department’s “very best.” Evanston’s mayor cast the tie breaking vote to greenlight Northwestern University’s $800 million football stadium rebuild. We hear one of the secretly recorded phone calls of former alderman Ed Burke played at his corruption trial yesterday.

The Chicago Fire Department says one person is dead after a freight train struck a FedEx semi-truck Monday morning. Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke read the riot act to a Field Museum employee after his goddaughter didn’t hear back about an internship. Federal officials say the CTA Yellow Line train that crashed into a snowplow last week should have had a longer braking distance.

A young gay man named Matthew Shepard was murdered in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998. Over a decade later, Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. 
 
 Sean Fader wanted to document the lives and deaths of LGBTQ+ people who were killed in that decade. He drove thousands of miles around the country to photograph sites of murders, and he has collected those photos in his project “Insufficient Memory.”
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Fader about queer archives and his Chicago installation at Wrightwood 659.

Mourners will gather for the funeral of the Chicago firefighter who died in the line of duty last week. Chicago officials say increased case management will help ensure migrants don’t end up homeless in the face of new limits on shelter stays. Jurors in the federal corruption trial of former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke are expected to start getting an earful of wiretapped phone conversations this week.

Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke and his two co-defendants presented their opening statements at federal court. Cook County prosecutors say they will no longer let 10 Chicago cops testify in criminal cases after they signed up for an extremist group. The CTA Yellow Line train crash that injured 38 people yesterday occurred when a faster moving Yellow Line passenger train ran into a slower moving snow removal vehicle traveling in the same direction on the same track, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

When Jessica Alvarado Gamez moved to Chicago earlier this year, she drove around to get her bearings. She couldn’t help noticing how close she came to cyclists. 
 
 “I can easily go into the painted bike lanes,” she said. Some Chicago cyclists have observed the same problem, resulting in the refrain, “paint is not protection.”
 
 Alvarado Gamez is WBEZ’s Roy Howard fellow. She focuses on data reporting, so she dug into city data to understand why cycling in Chicago is so dangerous and what cyclists want done.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Alvarado Gamez about the path toward safer biking infrastructure.

A new 60-day shelter deadline puts pressure on the need for permanent housing for asylum-seekers. The Peoples Gas Rate hike was slashed by over $100 million yesterday. Winter is coming, and the Illinois Department of Transportation is telling drivers to ‘get it together.’

Gov. J.B. Pritzker earmarked $160 million toward helping the thousands of asylum seekers now sleeping at Chicago police stations and O’Hare Airport. The Chicago Fire Department reports at least 19 people are injured as a result of a Yellow Line train crash at the Howard Street switching station. Northwestern University surprised the college football world this season: the team has a chance to make it to a postseason bowl game by winning one of their final two games.

The Chicago area is home to the country’s largest Palestinian American community. There are more than 18,000 Palestinians living in Cook County alone, the most of any county in the nation, and that’s only according to the available Census data.
 
 “Experts say that’s likely a huge undercount of the true population,” said WBEZ data reporter Amy Qin. “Some experts estimate the actual Palestinian population here in the Chicago area to be five times larger than what the Census has.” 
 
 Qin analyzed available data and spoke with experts about the history of Palestinian migration to Chicago. In this episode, she tells host Erin Allen about four significant periods, from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, to the Arab-Israeli Wars of 1948 and 1967, to the largest wave of migration in the 1990s.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first city budget passed. There are few details on a 60-day limit for migrants staying in Chicago city shelters. The Illinois Commerce Commission will issue its decision on the Peoples Gas $402 million dollar rate hike today.

The Chicago Police Department’s budget for next year will be nearly $2 billion, a slight increase from this year. The father of the suspect in last year's Highland Park mass shooting wore a shirt reading "I am a political pawn" when he showed up at the Lake County courthouse today to begin serving his jail sentence, leading a judge to threaten him with contempt. Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields is expected to return to the field on Sunday after missing the previous four games due to a thumb injury.

Can artists make the world a better place? “We have seen over and over again that the existing structures and hierarchies aren't working, the models aren't working,” said Megha Ralapati, the director of the fellowships program at CEC ArtsLink, “and artists are uniquely trained and experienced to dismantle, to understand them from a new angle – a new vantage point – to bring nuance, to bring a more 360 degree perspective that isn't binary and isn't reductionist.”“That's really speaking to the true transformative nature of art,” she added.Every year, Ralapati’s organization picks a city to host an international assembly of artists, activists and thinkers to share perspectives on how artists can help build a better world. This year’s ArtsLink Assembly is in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood on Thursday and Friday.In today’s episode, Ralapati explains how bringing people together from disparate parts of the world helps foster shared humanity. We also hear from one of the local artists presenting at the assembly, Patricia Nguyen, founder of Axis Lab in Uptown.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first city budget will be voted on today. Chicago’s police oversight board says the city is not accurately tracking how much is spent each year on policing. There’s a new initiative with the mission of informing young people about PrEP to prevent H-I-V.

The Biden Administration’s National Climate Assessment is out today, and the Midwest is expected to grow warmer and wetter if the U.S. does not cut emissions. The head of Northwestern University is appointing a new advisory committee on preventing antisemitism and hate. The number of migrants arriving in Chicago has slowed for the first time in months.

Angela Allyn started the Old Lady Project because she didn’t see enough aging women on Chicago’s stages. “I’m kind of reclaiming old,” Allyn says. “I don’t understand why old is great for houses or valuable paintings, but it’s not okay for humans.”
 
 She solicited scripts and screenplays with the goal of producing a couple staged readings. But in the 2023 submission cycle, she received over 600 scripts from around the world. Between the overwhelming response and the recent success of older adults’ stories in “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “The Golden Bachelor,” Allyn sees a hunger for complex narratives about aging.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Allyn about what we have to gain from telling and watching older adults’ stories.

Chicago Police arrested more than 100 protestors – who were calling for a ceasefire in Gaza – during a massive demonstration in downtown Chicago yesterday. A new rule aims to prevent Chicago cops from joining hate or extremist groups. Evanston leaders voted to delay a vote on Northwestern’s $800 million stadium rebuild.

Hundreds of Jewish people from across the Midwest rallied at Ogilvie Transportation Center Monday morning, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and leading to more than 100 arrests, according to organizers. A 39-year-old Chicago firefighter died Monday morning after battling an extra-alarm fire in Lincoln Park. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is announcing Doctor Olusimbo Ige will lead the city’s public health department, replacing former health commissioner Allison Arwady.

In 2016, Chicagoan Tracy Occomy Crowder went on a mission to find an adventure novel with a Black boy protagonist for her son. She wanted him to see himself in a book that wasn’t only about the heaviness of being Black in America, and she came up empty-handed.
 
 “You might have to write it,” a bookseller told her. So she did. This year, she published her debut middle grade novel, Montgomery and the Case of the Golden Key.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Occomy Crowder about representation in children’s books, bringing recess back to Chicago Public Schools and what it means to be a kid in 2023.

Coming up - a new assessment shows major barriers in the city of Chicago’s mental healthcare system. Owners of a west suburban grocery store float plans to expand into areas with poor access to fresh food. Former U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger on his new book.

Illinois lawmakers approved a measure that benefits those with existing cannabis transporter licenses, but Gov. J.B. has not committed to signing the bill yet. Deerfield-based Walgreens is laying off about 5 percent of its corporate staff, the company’s second round of staff reductions in recent months. Calumet Fisheries has been closed by the Chicago Department of Public Health after failing a health inspection.

How are religious leaders in Chicago explaining the conflict in Israel and Gaza to their congregations?
 
 The Rundown’s Adora Namigadde spoke with a Muslim shaykh, a Christian reverend and two Jewish rabbis – one a self-described Zionist and the other a self-described anti-Zionist. We hear from all four. Namigadde tells host Erin Allen how each of them is processing the conflict, and how each wants their congregations to pray, learn and take action.

President Joe Biden toasted a new labor deal for autoworkers and the opening of a truck-manufacturing plant in northern Illinois. The Chicago City Council approved expanding paid leave for workers. A new program helps Venezuelan migrants with the logistics of applying for work permits.

Illinois lawmakers have approved a measure lifting the state's moratorium on building nuclear facilities. The federal corruption trial of ex-Chicago Alderman Ed Burke is delayed once again. Several community organizations rallied in downtown Chicago calling for solidarity between Black and brown residents.

Do you know your neighbors? Many of us feel isolated these days, and it can be hard to tap into your local community. So we want to talk to people who are investing in their neighborhoods. 
 
 Enter Cultivate Collective, a Southwest Side community hub on the former LeClaire Courts public housing site. The nonprofit is built around a public charter school, the Academy for Global Citizenship. And in a community disproportionately impacted by industrial pollution, they prioritize sustainability and environmental justice.
 
 In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Cultivate Collective CEO Sarah Elizabeth Ippel and Board President Niquenya Collins about their green approach to reinvesting in their Southwest Side community.

A proposal being debated today at City Hall would give workers an additional five vacation days they can use for any reason. Chicago plans to convert a downtown hotel into a homeless shelter. Workers there are protesting layoffs. A bill to lift Illinois’ over 36-year-long moratorium on construction of new nuclear reactors just passed the state senate and now heads to the house.

Legislation meant to get guns out of the hands of domestic abusers has stalled in Springfield. A new study suggests cities can increase usage of public transit by changing the way large downtown spaces are used. The Chicago Sky introduced Jeff Pagliocca as their new general manager.

When it comes to addressing climate change, some solutions wouldn't really affect our lifestyles, like changing outdated building codes to limit greenhouse gas emissions.But other solutions have the potential to make a big impact on our lives, like giving up meat or cars.“That’s something that just doesn’t track well with people,” said Sabina Shaikh, senior instructional professor at the University of Chicago. “And so I think we want to make sure that we capture all those invisible things, but then we also start moving towards the direction of cultural shifts.”Cultural shifts like reimagining what a city looks like, how transit works, and what we consume.Shaikh recently spoke at the Chicago Humanities Festival about how cities like Chicago have an outsized impact on the climate and how nature-based solutions can help mitigate the effects of climate change.In this episode, she talks with Erin Allen about that age-old dilemma: whether addressing climate change should come down to individual responsibility or a broad cultural change … or both.

Chicago City alderpersons ultimately voted today [TUES] NOT to formally reprimand Alderperson Carlos Ramirez-Rosa following allegations of threats and bullying. Illinois lawmakers want answers: how is the state recouping some of the 5 billion dollars paid out in fraudulent unemployment claims? A surprising finding about Chicago shoplifting rates.

The Chicago City Council approves the purchase of land in Morgan Park to open a migrant shelter. Voters will decide whether Chicago should increase a tax on the sale of high-end properties to fund homelessness prevention. Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy kicked off his book tour for “World Within a Song” in Chicago this past weekend.

This year marks the 29th Black Harvest Film Festival, which showcases work from Black filmmakers—past and present. From a short film about Chicago’s South Shore Drill Team to a Black Barbie documentary, the 2023 lineup promises a wide range of Black joy onscreen. And the festival looks back to Black filmmakers that came before with screenings of films from the 20th cCentury.Host Erin Allen previews the festival with Chicagoan and journalist Arionne Nettles. For more information about the festival, you can read Nettles’ story for WBEZ or head to siskelfilmcenter.org/blackharvest.

One of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s top City Council allies is resigning from leadership amid accusations of bullying. The ramifications of a guilty plea from the father of the alleged Highland Park shooter. Latinos in Chicago are three times more likely to contract COVID than other demographic groups, according to experts with the city’s health department.

The father of the man accused of last year’s July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park will spend 60 days in jail for helping his son get a gun permit when he was under age. The Chicago Cubs are hiring former Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell as their new manager. A second victim is suing the Chicago Blackhawks for alleged sexual misconduct by former coach Brad Aldrich.

Ayana Contreras is an influential figure in Chicago’s arts, music and history scene. She was an early-career mentor to artists like Chance the Rapper and Noname. She even wrote a book about Black excellence here in Chicago.“Growing up in Chicago and the Chicagoland area and being a Black person, there were so many fairy tales honestly that we heard, but those fairy tales were real,” she said.She’s talking about the likes of musicians Chaka Khan and Mavis Staples, “Ebony” and “Jet” magazine founders John and Eunice Johnson, Uncle Remus founders Gus and Mary Rickette, and so many more. Contreras is an overall culture creator, a prolific DJ, a style-icon in her own right and has been the content director at WBEZ’s sister station Vocalo, a radio station she played a big role in creating. She talks with Rundown podcast host Erin Allen about why Chicago needed an urban alternative public radio station, her career in Chicago’s arts scenes and why afro-optimism is the antidote to afro-pessimism. 

It’s been a long-time coming. Today, the trial of former Alderman Ed Burke begins. In more courtroom news, the trial is expected to get underway for the father of the Highland Park July 4th mass shooting suspect. Members of a Chicago-based medical aid organization are calling on locals to advocate for a humanitarian corridor in Gaza.

Former Northwestern University athletes are calling for an end to racist abuse they say they experienced. Howard Brown Health Workers plan to go on a two-day strike later this month. The Village Board of Oak Park has approved an Emergency Disaster Resolution to provide aid and support to asylum seekers.

The U.S. Senate voted to make Daylight Saving Time permanent last year (the House of Representatives has yet to take up the bill, known as the Sunshine Protection Act). As we mark another semi-annual clock change, we speak with Dr. James Rowley, the president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, who reminds us of an “experiment” back in 1974 when permanent Daylight Saving Time came and went quickly.“People were so against it, Congress reversed themselves in less than a year,” he said.Rowley explains why the Academy instead supports a change to permanent Standard Time. He also shares some tips for acclimating to Sunday’s change.  This episode originally aired on Mar. 17, 2023.

A former Chicago top cop is back in the Police Department. A Chicago City Council meeting ended abruptly over a debate on the city’s sanctuary city status. Congressman Mike Quigley thinks he and his colleagues could soon consider aid to cities to help care for migrants.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said he had “positive” and “productive” conversations in Washington D.C. today about the ongoing migrant crisis. Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. Chicago has five more Michelin-recognized restaurants – in Bucktown, Chinatown, Lincoln Square and Logan Square.

In the 1960s, the Chicago Police Department uncovered and fired officers with ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Now in the 2020s, cops across Chicago and Illinois are dues-paying members of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government group that played a central role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
 
 A WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times investigation looked into these officers, their track records and the countless complaints filed against them.
 
 Host Erin Allen breaks down the findings of the investigations with WBEZ investigative reporter Dan Mihalopoulos and Chicago Sun-Times criminal justice editor Tom Schuba.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson reaffirmed his stance that officers shouldn’t belong to extremist groups. Governor J-B Pritzker says the state legislature won’t be sending any more money this year to Chicago to help accommodate migrants. A new proposed Chicago elected school board map is out. Lawmakers could vote on it as early as next week.

Families of Israelis taken hostage or killed by Hamas will share their experiences at Jewish community vigils tonight and tomorrow. Chicago City Council delayed a vote on a plan to purchase 6.5 acres of land on the South Side for a city migrant shelter. Chicago has finished its fourth month in a row with a drop in murders compared to last year.

Greta Johnsen is the host of WBEZ’s Nerdette podcast and a known super-reader, regularly knocking out at least a book a week. Rundown host Erin Allen talks with Greta about her favorite fall reads, new and old, where to find them (hey Libby!) and what a poll of readers is consuming right now.Here’s just a few of the many recommendations in this episode:“Happiness Falls” by Angie Kim (2023)“Worthy” by Jada Pinkett Smith (2023)“Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner (2021)“Throne of Glass” series by Sarah J. Maas (2012-2018)“Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman (2011)“Who Fears Death” by Nnedi Okorafor (2010)“The Secret History” by Donna Tartt (1992)

A measure asking Chicago voters whether they want to increase a tax on the sale of high-end properties is one step closer to appearing on the March ballot. Cook County Health plans to spend less on expensive temporary workers. An Illinois state lawmaker is hoping to crack down on emerging threats from AI technology.

A 48-year-old man faces felony charges for allegedly wounding 15 people in a shooting at a Halloween party early Sunday morning. Doctor Erik Mikaitis is named the interim CEO of Cook County Health. Chicago will host the 2025 Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress.