WBEZ News

COVID-19 cases are rising among older children. In Dupage County they now make up nearly 20% of all cases. Dr. Jihad Shoshara runs a pediatric practice in the county, and explains what that means. Host: Mary Dixon Producer: Mariah Woelfel

Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation in Chicago is just down the street from the funeral home where 15 people were shot earlier this week. Carlos Nelson leads the organization and has long championed revitalization of 79th Street. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Natalie Moore

Donna Clarke of Neighborhood Housing Services wants Chase to invest $1 billion, mostly in the form of home loans and small business loans. Host: Melba Lara Reporter: Linda Lutton

President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday that federal agents will surge into Chicago to help combat rising crime. Reset's Justin Kaufman broke down the president's remarks. Host: Melba Lara

Chicago Public Schools officials are proposing a back-to-school plan for the fall that includes in-person and remote learning. But with the COVID-19 crisis far from over, students and parents are mixed about a return to the classroom. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Adriana Cardona Maguigad

Chicago's entertainment venues have been shut down in the coronavirus pandemic. And now the owners of many small music clubs are banding together to ask Congress for help riding it out. Host: Mary Dixon Guest: Katie Tuten

Servers at Chicago restaurants say customers are risking their health every time they walk in the door. Governor J.B. Pritzker says if cases go up much more, indoor dining and bars could be first to go. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Vivian McCall

Police say they are working on a plan to return the bikes, but lawyers worry protesters could “implicate themselves” by showing up in person. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Monica Eng

The Chicago History Museum acquired more than five million images and negatives that belonged to the newspaper. In a new exhibit over 80 years of Chicago history is on display, as captured by photographers at the Chicago Sun-Times. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Carrie Shepherd

As the electric utility Commonwealth Edison pays a $200 million fine, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has denied wrongdoing. "He has never made a legislative decision with improper motives," a spokeswoman said. Host: Melba Lara Reporter: Tony Arnold

CPS released a plan Friday, days after the Chicago Teachers Union said it wanted remote learning only this fall. Most students will be in schools two days a week and, on the other three days, learn remotely or work on assignments from home. Host: Melba Lara, Mariah Woelfel Reporter: Sarah Karp

A few years ago, a mutual friend introduced Haley Fitzsimons to the man who would later become her husband. She talked to Kevin for StoryCorps Chicago about meeting in person for the first time. Producer: Bill Healy

School districts in suburban Chicago are releasing their reopening plans for the fall, and it’s clear things won’t be the same. Plans vary from in-person instruction to going fully remote for the start of the year. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Susie An

Soon after the pandemic hit Illinois, numerous nurses and doctors told WBEZ that a chaotic and stressful work life was harming their emotional well-being. We check back in with a few of them to see how COVID-19 has changed their lives since. Host: Melba Lara Reporter: Mariah Woelfel

Universities are preparing to welcome students back for on-campus learning but one professor says schools aren’t doing enough to protect the health of the host communities. Host: Mary Dixon Guest: Sheldon Jacobson

Threewalls gallery in Humboldt Park awarded $32,000 to seven Chicago artists and one duo to develop projects that address racial justice issues where they live. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Carrie Shepherd

An estimated 1,200 people are kept behind bars in Illinois every year even though they’ve completed their sentences. With COVID-19 spreading in prisons across the country and the state, the problem has taken on new urgency. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Jessica Pupovac

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfood is ordering travelers coming from 15 states where COVID-19 cases have increased drastically to quarantine for 14 days. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Adriana Cardona Maguigad

Any Illinoisan who’s voted since the 2018 midterms automatically will get an application to vote by mail in the November Third elections. A new state law is meant to make it easier to cast a ballot in high-profile presidential years. Host: Melba Lara Reporter: Claudia Morell

In the North Kenwood neighborhood, music has filled the air every evening for the past three months. The source: The front porch of a music-loving couple. Host: Melba Lara Reporter: Carrie Shepherd

Roughly 4,000 new teachers will join the profession this fall after an interruption in their training and a crash course in remote learning. Host: Lisa Labuz Reporter: Susie An

Black Americans are forever reminded of their complicated relationship to this country. They know this country often doesn’t love them back. Host: Susie An Author: Natalie Moore

Its been a violent summer in Chicago, with more than 400 shootings and 89 people were murdered in June, according to police. The people doing the shooting are traumatized themselves and often driven by righteous anger, say violence prevention workers. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Patrick Smith

Murders in Chicago continue at their highest pace in three years, and there’s renewed attention at the toll that gun violence is taking on children. 
 
 Host: Melba Lara
 Reporter: Odette Yousef

Some community groups are throwing out a bold proposal to address disinvestment on the West and South Sides: How about a thousand new single-family homes on each side of town? Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Linda Lutton

Some community groups are throwing out a bold proposal to address disinvestment on the West and South Sides: How about a thousand new single-family homes on each side of town? Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Linda Lutton

Some community groups are throwing out a bold proposal to address disinvestment on the West and South Sides: How about a thousand new single-family homes on each side of town? Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Linda Lutton

The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership will hire community organizations, which will then be tasked with recruiting 600 contact tracers by mid-September. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Kate McGee

Next school year is around the corner and with the pandemic far from over, school officials across Illinois are figuring out back-to-school plans that fit the needs of their communities. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Adriana Cardona Maguigad

With data lacking, overwhelmed hospitals relied on who they knew to get COVID-19 patients transferred. It’s a potential problem for future outbreaks. Host: Melba Lara Reporter: Kristen Schorsch

Decades ago a woman forced the police department to treat sexual assault as a crime. While in Chicago, she also came up with the rape kit that is commonly used today in investigations. Her name has not been attached to the invention until now. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Natalie Moore

How have LGBTQ people fared during COVID-19? Advocates say they’re not sure because health officials aren’t tracking gender and sexuality at COVID testing sites. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Vivian McCall

Shifting to Phase 4 of Illinois' reopening plan means colleges and universities can carefully begin to re-open this fall. Local universities have started sharing initial plans for what that might look like. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Kate McGee

A native of Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood, New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinetist Anthony McGill is using his platform and music as a call for justice. Host: Becky Vevea Reporter: Carrie Shepherd

Chicago police will remain in the city's public schools after the Chicago Board of Education voted to continue the controversial practice. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Sarah Karp

Artists in Chicago are pushing cultural institutions to make real changes on diversity and inclusion - and not make the creators do all the work. Host: Melba Lara Reporter: Carrie Shepherd

The way summer camps and daycare centers operate during the pandemic may offer a glimpse into how schools might safely reopen in the fall. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Susie An

Chicagoans are walking, biking and jogging along Lake Michigan on what marks the long-awaited reopening of the city’s pedestrian trail. Host: Melba Lara Reporter: Mariah Woelfel

An art center on Chicago’s Southeast Side is delivering supplies to kids across the city so they can stay creative and connected as the pandemic continues. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Carrie Shepherd

In the 1970s, Alejandra Cano’s parents fled from the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile and brought her to the United States. Cano joined Nestor Gomez to talk about her recent troubles with the immigration system. Host: Melba Lara Producer: Bill Healy

In an 1857 speech, orator Frederick Douglass affirmed the yearning for liberty and justice, and warned of the fight needed to achieve both. Host: Melba Lara Producer: Steve Bynum

DACA recipients living in the Chicago area say DACA has changed their lives. They are celebrating this victory, but they vow to continue fighting for full citizenship. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Maria Ines Zamudio

The holiday commemorates the date, June 19th 1865, when Union soldiers told enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War had ended and they were free. Host: Mary Dixon Guest: Dr. Kim Dulaney

Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is a major advocate for DACA, and he spoke on the floor of the Senate this morning. Host: Melba Lara, Mary Dixon

Some say observing Juneteenth is a way for employers to signal that they are serious about racial equity, but the work shouldn’t stop there. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Odette Yousef

Calls for police reform or defunding and disbanding departments have grown louder recently in Gary, Indiana as part of protests against racist police practices. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Michael Puente

About 20 protesters shut down a JP Morgan Chase branch on Chicago’s South Side over lending patterns exposed by WBEZ and City Bureau Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Linda Lutton

ComEd’s payments to Jenner & Block spiked as federal prosecutors investigated the company’s ties to Illinois politicians. Host: Melba Lara, Lisa Labuz Reporter: Tony Arnold

The Illinois Supreme Court may issue an order that could potentially undermine attempts to identify problematic cops. Host: Mary Dixon Reporter: Patrick Smith

Block club members and residents in black neighborhoods may not trust the police, but they work with them because of public safety concerns.
 
 Host: Lisa Labuz
 Reporter: Natalie Moore