Eight Forty-Eight

Several recent polls show a tight race between Chicago mayoral runoff candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas. City Council members are pushing to have more independence from the next mayor. Plus, the Fed’s star witness takes the stand in the ComEd bribery trial. Reset breaks down these top local stories and more in the Weekly News Recap with Kim Bellware, national and breaking news reporter for The Washington Post, John Fountain, journalism professor at Roosevelt University and Heather...

This year the jazz fusion ensemble Snarky Puppy won their fifth Grammy. Michael League, founder and bandleader, joins Reset to chat about the band's beginnings, his label GroundUP Music and how sounds from around the world influence his work. You can catch Snarky Puppy this evening at the Riviera Theatre this evening.

On March 30, Reset’s Sasha-Ann Simons sat down with mayoral hopefuls Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson for their last forum before the April 4 runoff.

In his latest book, An Immense World, science writer Ed Yong takes a break from his tireless pandemic reporting for The Atlantic to invite readers inside the wondrous and innumerable different ways animals perceive the world around them — from bees and songbirds to scallops and crocodiles. Reset talked to the award-winning writer to learn more about the book and some of his favorite quirky wildlife.

Spring this year in Chicago means flowers blooming, pollen galore and (because of that pollen) what’s shaping up to be one of the worst allergy seasons in recent history. Reset spoke to allergist Dr. Baiju Malde from Northwestern about how to muscle through an epic sneezing season. We also learned how climate change plays a hand.

There are nearly 100 crisis pregnancy centers in Illinois, but many of them do not provide abortion care, medication or contraceptives. A proposed bill would allow people to sue the centers for deception, misrepresentation of facts and interfering access to abortions. Reset discussed the proposed legislation with WBEZ reporter Mawa Iqbal and Megan Jeyifo, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund.

The Chicago Sun-Times editorial board says that “us vs. them” thinking in economic development needs to become a thing of the past and that lifting up neglected neighborhoods in the city can benefit Chicago as a whole. Reset talks with editorial board member and architecture critic Lee Bey.

Members of Congress questioned TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about the safety and security of the app and expressed their concern that China would access information about Americans through the app. Reset digs into the latest on the hearings and the fate of the video-sharing app with Washington Post tech writer Shira Ovide.

After at least 38 migrants died in a fire in an immigration detention facility near the U.S.-Mexico border, Reset shares the latest on migrants and asylum seekers making their way to the U.S. with Gladis Molina Alt, executive director of Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and Nicole Hallett, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School.

The Chicago-based group Queers on the Rocks is building a community of LGBTQ climbers and promoting representation of queer athletes. Reset talked to group organizers Danya Rosen and Daniel Bedoya.

The Covenant School in Nashville is the latest school to be targeted by a mass shooter. What do schools in Illinois do to prepare for a school shooting? And what runs through the minds of educators when they hear about Sandy Hook, Uvalde and now Nashville? Reset spoke to two local education advocates for their perspective: Katherine Buitron-Vera, former school safety consultant and volunteer with March Fourth, and Nate Pietrini, executive director at High Jump and former principal at...

Yesterday a 28-year-old shooter killed three 9-year-old children and three staff members — all in their 60s — at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. In a twist of fate, Ashbey Beasley, a survivor of the Highland Park shooting, was in the area during the attack. Reset checks in with Beasley about Monday’s tragic events and her push for gun reform in Washington.

hat were the mayoral hopefuls like as kids? Teens? Young adults? Brandon Johnson is the son of a pastor and one of 10 kids in a family who lived in Elgin. Paul Vallas, the second of four kids, started life in Roseland and as a teen moved to suburban Alsip. Reset heard from WBEZ reporters Mariah Woelfel and Tessa Weinberg to learn more about the candidates’ backstories.

Barbara Gaines has directed more than 60 productions since founding the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 1986. We talked to the artistic director ahead of her final production of "The Comedy of Errors," which runs through April 23.

All Advocate Health Care locations in the Chicago area are dropping mask requirements and easing visitor limits starting Monday. The policy changes at the health care system will affect patients and care teams at locations in Chicago, the suburbs and Northwest Indiana. Reset hears the details of Advocate’s plans from Chicago Sun-Times reporter David Struett and checked in with University of Chicago infectious disease specialist Dr. Emily Landon.

Back in 2019, a wave of younger, more progressive aldermen joined Chicago’s City Council, some of them self-identified Democratic socialists. This year, they won a second term. Reset is joined by two progressive aldermen — one soon to start his third term in office, the other his second — to hear about their plans for the coming years and how they see themselves working with a Vallas or a Johnson administration. Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th Ward joined the council in 2015. Alderman...

Across the country, drag performances are under attack: Republican lawmakers in states like Arizona, Oklahoma, Idaho and Kansas are moving to regulate when and where drag can take place, and Tennessee has already restricted performances in public. We checked in with ACLU Illinois’s Ed Yohnka after an Illinois bakery announced it’s closing this month after threats last summer for planning a drag event. We also heard from Alex Grelle, Chicago drag theater queen and performer, to hear his...

More dramatic testimony in the ComEd trial. Abortion opponents descend on the State Capitol. Meanwhile, endorsements continue to roll in for Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson. Reset goes behind those headlines and more in our Weekly News Recap with Paris Schutz, reporter and anchor, WTTW-TV, A.D. Quig, Cook County and Chicago government reporter for the Chicago Tribune and Jon Seidel, federal courts reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times.

In Chicago, you have to take advantage of every warm day you can. Luckily, WBEZ’s got you covered with a guide to the hottest events of the season. We checked in with editor Cassie Walker Burke to get the scoop.

The Chicago Police Department has prioritized seizing illegal guns. A new investigation suggests that tactic is not leading to meaningful improvements to public safety and that it’s upending the lives of Black men in the city, who have guns seized at five times the rate of any other racial group. Reset learns more about the arguments for and against this tactic and what happens when police prioritize seizing guns with Lakeidra Chavis and Geoff Hing from The Marshall Project.