WBEZ News

The Chicago-rooted duo The Cool Kids built an impressive hip-hop career with seven albums across two decades and many collaborations. 
 
 For the first time in three years, the Cool Kids have a new album. 
 
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From the 67-foot-tall Norway spruce in Millennium Park to a dizzying number of “Christmas Carol” variations, Chicago’s most festive season has arrived. 
 
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One way the federal government provides affordable housing is by subsidizing rent in buildings owned by private developers.
 
 That’s the case at one building complex on Chicago’s South Side, where wealthy out-of-state investors — one of them quite high profile — have collected millions of dollars in rent from the government.
 
 But some tenants say conditions there have become deplorable. 
 
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It’s December, so it’s Nutcracker season. 
 
 Some local groups are presenting the classic holiday ballet with a twist. 
 
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In 1972, architect Louis Sullivan’s famed Chicago Stock Exchange Building was demolished to make room for a 44-story office tower. 
 
 The public was outraged. The move made national headlines and led to the creation of Chicago’s modern preservation movement.
 
 BUT in an ironic twist, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks is now considering landmark status for the nondescript office building that replaced Sullivan’s masterpiece - 30 North LaSalle Street.
 
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With federal immigration enforcement bearing down on Chicago, many feared student attendance would plummet, especially in schools serving mostly Latino children.
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Chicago-area protests over immigration enforcement have quieted some in recent weeks. 
 
 But many people who were caught up in them are still dealing with criminal cases.
 
 One protester was charged with assaulting Gregory Bovino.
 
 He’s a U.S. Border Patrol chief who led the Trump administration’s deportation blitz here.
 
 Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges — after a video undermined Bovino’s accusations.
 
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The daughter of Chicago’s longest-serving mayor grew up in the political spotlight.
 
 And while Nora Daley doesn’t work in City Hall, she’s active all around it. She’s a member of several prominent arts boards and the chair of the state arts council. 
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Chicago Public Schools has turned to the community to help it with the difficult task of getting children to school, when so many moms and dads feel vulnerable outside their homes. 
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Illinois Governor J-B Pritzker and his wife MK recently paid Pope Leo the 14th a visit in Rome. 
 
 They presented the Chicago-born pontiff with a few Illinois-themed gifts, including a drawing made by a woman incarcerated in a downstate prison.
 
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With the holiday season it should be a busy time for Chicago’s neighborhood shopping districts. 
 
 While there’s heavy foot traffic on Michigan Avenue and the Mag Mile – not so in the city’s predominantly Latino areas – with many would-be customers scared off by Operation Midway Blitz. 
 
 Although Immigration Customs and Enforcement has ramped down its presence in the area – it’s unclear when the crowds will come back.
 
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When a person is deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE… 
 It also impacts the family left behind.
 
 A year ago, Vanessa Lopez found out her father was being sent back to Mexico… after living most of his life in America.
 
 His forced departure left her feeling helpless… and significantly changed her relationship with her dad.
 
 Vanessa wrote about her experience for the Chicago Sun-Times. Now, she brings us this audio essay.
 
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These “are not ordinary times at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse.”
 
 That’s the conclusion of a federal judge who yesterday dismissed the last of five prosecutions tied to protests outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview.
 
 It was just one of many updates in several key cases stemming from the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign.
 
 Sun-Times federal courts reporter Jon Seidel breaks it all down.
 
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Thirty years ago, The Smashing Pumpkins released “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.”
 
 Now, frontman Billy Corgan is celebrating the double album with a symphonic version at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
 
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Chicago-area food pantries continue to experience a higher need than normal. 
 
 They’re grappling with issues like state and federal funding cuts, rising grocery prices – and the upcoming holiday season. 
 
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150 U.S. Border Patrol agents who rattled Chicago for two months have moved on to North Carolina.
 
 But the Trump administration says its deportation blitz here is continuing.
 
 And the Sun-Times reports a bigger Border Control group could be here by March.
 
 Some law enforcement experts say what they’ve seen so far — from tear gas to car chases — has been out of control.
 
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Yes, it’s the ultimate food holiday. And yes, some people don’t want to cook. 
 
 Chicago chefs this year are leaning into options for dining in or picking up to go. 
 
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In a rare move, a key city council panel REJECTED Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget proposal today (mon), far ahead of the December 31st deadline to pass a plan.
 
 Critics say that sends a clear message to the mayor to go back to the drawing board, while Johnson defiantly doubled down.
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Talk about Chicago theater, and soon the subject will turn to the director Robert Falls.
 
 Falls spent thirty-five years atop Goodman Theater and in 2015 was inducted into the National Theater Hall of Fame. 
 
 But he stepped down from the Goodman a few years ago….launched a freelance career in his 70s… and this month, pops up in an unlikely place… Steppenwolf. 
 
 WBEZ theater reporter Mike Davis sat down with Falls and talked about opening the play “Amadeus” at his former cross-town rival. 
 
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Tax credits that make Obamacare insurance more affordable are expiring in December. That prompted the fight at the center of the government shutdown.
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Perez Jr. died unexpectedly last month. On Tuesday, during a Veteran’s Day celebration in Little Village, his friends, family and elected officials gathered to celebrate his life and legacy. 
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Grocery prices are continuing to rise, SNAP benefits are in flux for many families – and the holidays are on the horizon.
 
 The Sun-Times has been tracking grocery prices for 35 different items across 4 different Chicago stores for nearly a year to evaluate cost trends. 
 
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While violent crime in Chicago has declined, there’s one category that continues to persistently rise. 
 
 That’s domestic violence. It skyrocketed during pandemic-era stay-at-home orders and continues to plague the city.
 
 Yet, as federal COVID-19 relief grants dry up, organizations that support survivors are bracing for drastic cuts to city-funded programming that they say has changed lives.
 
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The modern opera “Proving Up” was supposed to premiere in Chicago three years ago. 
 
 But it was lost to COVID-19 and the omicron surge. 
 
 Now the opera finally makes its debut—in a school production. 
 
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Alongside the Chicago Sun-Times, we’re gathering your questions about all things money and finances.
 
 Then each week, we get your questions answered by the people who know best.
 
 This week we’ve got this question from Carson in Wilmette:
 
 "Why do I pay more for less? At restaurants, they make the portions look like it's the same, but when I open it, it's less. Everything is shrinking, yet costs go up. Why?"
 
 It’s a phenomenon called “shrinkflation.” To find out more, we called up an expert.
 
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Nearly two months into President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, social media feeds from his administration and its right-wing allies paint a grim picture of Chicago.
 
 Highly produced videos depict heroic military raids. And social media influencers help to spread the message that Chicago is a city plagued by violence, at war with the federal government.
 
 But the videos don’t always match the reality of what’s happening in communities across the Chicago area.
 
 Sun-Times reporter Nader Issa has been analyzing these videos with the help of several experts, and he joins us now to discuss his findings.
 
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President Donald Trump has been outspoken in blaming crime on ‘sanctuary’ policies in Democratic states, but the numbers don’t tell the same story. 
 
 A WBEZ and Sun-Times analysis shows many Republican-led states actually have higher violent crime rates and faster-growing undocumented immigrant populations.
 
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After police killed George Floyd in 2020, there was talk of a racial reckoning.
 
 In the theater community, that reckoning took the form of a letter titled “We See You, White American Theater.” The letter demanded that theaters stop tokenizing artists of color and start implementing company wide anti-rascist trainings.
 
 It would ultimately be signed by one-hundred-thousand artists, including many in Chicago. 
 
 Five years later, WBEZ reporter Mike Davis set out to learn what changed.
 
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A federal judge today extended limits on the use of force by federal agents carrying out a Chicago-area deportation blitz.
 
 The decision came after the judge heard clips of sworn testimony by the U.S. Border Patrol chief in charge of that operation.
 
 He was asked about a pep talk for his agents by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
 
 Both say they’re going tough on violent mobs to protect the American people.
 
 But the judge today found their use of force in Chicago, quote, “shocks the conscience” and chills First Amendment rights.
 
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The 20-20 murder of George Floyd stirred waves of activism and protest across the country. 
 
 It also sparked a year of reflection. In Chicago, several major arts groups joined businesses big and small in showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. 
 
 Many promised in public D-E-I plans to make changes to better reflect the city they serve.
 
 Now, five years later, the Sun-Times and WBEZ have surveyed 21 arts, culture and humanities nonprofits to see what progress they made. 
 
 Sun-Times reporter Erica Thompson joins us to talk about the survey and what she learned. 
 
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been targeting Chicago neighborhoods and the fear among residents and workers is palpable. 
 
 That’s meant delays in building repairs or missed rent payments … which some property managers say could raise the cost of rent.
 
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It’s a facility where human rights abuses have been alleged, and that has been entirely cut off from the public. 
 
 There was another form of protest yesterday (MON). 
 
 It was music. 
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Each year, Chicago’s cultural affairs department stages a competition for local musicians. 
 
 It’s called the Chicago Made Music Showcase….Winners go on to perform at Lollapalooza and Taste of Chicago ….and they get studio recording time. 
 
 The grand prize winner also receives ten-thousand dollars. 
 
 This year’s top vote getter is the singer Mara Love. She visited the studios of WBEZ sister station Vocalo to talk with Nudia Hernandez about what’s next.
 
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We're answering YOUR questions about the National Guard and immigration agents in Chicago. Today’s Questions: "What are the qualifications for becoming an immigration agent?
 
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Not all federal immigration officers are wearing ID badges on their uniforms more than three weeks after an order from a federal judge in response to a lawsuit. 
 
 And many of the IDs they are wearing can be hard to find or read
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Alongside the Chicago Sun-Times, we’re gathering your questions about all things money and finances.
 
 Then each week, we get your questions answered by the people who know best.
 
 This week, we’ve got this question from Murray who says:
 
 Please explain supply and demand. Why is it that if a manufacturer has produced a product and has established a cost to manufacture and then sells more than anticipated, the asking/selling price increases because there is a “limited supply"? The cost to manufacture has NOT increased due to scarcity. Why the price increase? Is this the philosophy of “demand what the market will bear”?
 
 To find out, we called up an expert.
 
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After three decades of writing, Dale is calling it a career. 
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The dust is clearing in Springfield after state lawmakers wrapped up a busy fall veto session at around 4:30 this morning.
 
 Democrats threw a financial lifeline to the Chicago-area’s mass transit system that raised tolls and sales taxes.
 
 They pushed back against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions.
 
 And they moved to allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients.
 
 Here to help us break it all down is WBEZ’s Alex Degman.
 
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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was in Gary, Indiana yesterday (THURS) and made several surprising remarks.
 
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area will continue over the Halloween weekend.
 
 Even though Governor J-B Pritzker asked her for a three day pause. 
 
 The back-and-forth came after federal agents conducted a recent raid on the Northwest side that disrupted an annual Halloween parade.
 
 The ongoing immigration actions have families wondering how to keep their kids safe for the holiday celebrations.
 
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How do you tell a really scary story? Three horror writers gathered at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School recently to discuss the ways they approach the genre.
 
 It was part of the American Writers Museum’s upcoming exhibition called American Prophets: Writers, Religion and Culture that opens next month (Nov). It explores the ways writers tap into religion and spirituality. 
 
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Grayson was charged after shooting Sonya (sahn-yuh) Massey to death in her home after she call 9-1-1 for help. HOST: MELBA

Fall is the new Christmas. At least that's what the co-owner of Perfect Pumpkins Chicago says. 
 
 Nicole Regan and her mother, Cindy Nelson, love decorating their porches with pumpkins in elaborate fall displays. 
 
 And in 20-22 they turned that into a business – offering custom-designed fall arrangements to homeowners.
 
 They’re one of several Chicago-area companies in the “pumpkin-concierge business.”
 
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Museum visitors encounter Ono’s art before they even step inside. Out front there is a giant billboard that reads Peace is Power.
 
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Homeland Security officials say the face coverings are a matter of agent safety.
 
 But some former top U-S law enforcement officials are raising red flags.
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In recent months, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in west suburban Broadview has become a place where religious leaders say immigrants lack access to spiritual care… HOST: MELBA

Alongside the Chicago Sun-Times, we’re gathering your questions about all things money and finances.
 
 Then each week, we get your questions answered by the people who know best.
 
 This week, we’ve got this from Mare in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood:
 
 "I have a student loan. Initially, it was with a servicer that provided good service. In 2022, I applied for public service loan forgiveness and was denied, but in the process the government moved my loan to another servicer without notifying me. This servicer is the worst - they raised my payments without notice, and whenever I have a problem, I cannot get a human on the phone. I would like to move my loans back to the first servicer, but they said I would need to do a loan consolidation first. I have no idea how to do this, or if it will cost me more money in the long run. Please help!"
 
 So to help Mare out, we called up an expert.
 
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This week's Chicago school board meeting was filled with the normal fare.
 
 But members were distracted as their phones lit up with messages about what was going on outside on the streets. 
 
 Federal immigration agents were out in force… and they were confronting protesters. Some high school students were detained. 
 
 And then, at one point, the news filtered into the board chambers. 
 
 WBEZ’s Sarah Karp tells us what happened.
 
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The 61st Chicago International Film Festival wraps up this weekend.
 
 WBEZ’s Melba Lara sat down with Vocalo contributor and film critic Reggie Ponder to hear some of his highlights from the festival and learn about where Chicago filmmakers are making their mark.
 
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Carp from Asia were first introduced to fish farms in the Southern United States in the 1960s to help control algae.
 
 But the carp quickly became invasive. 
 
 They overran the Illinois River decades ago - so much so that there’s more carp there today than any other place on Earth. 
 
 Illinois and federal officials have fought to keep the fish contained ever since. 
 
 They worry if the fish reach the Great Lakes it could upend the delicate ecosystem there. 
 
 Last week - Illinois may have turned a corner in the fight against this aquatic menace.
 
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