Category: 4-FrequentNewsStreams

All eighth graders in Illinois public schools need to take this test to graduate. Traditionally, it’s been a 15 true-false question quiz covering the U.S. and Illinois constitutions. Now, more school districts are moving away from that version and opting for short answer questions that require more critical thinking. Reset discusses how civic education these days is focusing less on dates and facts and stressing the important role students play in shaping democracy. Plus, we’ll see if a couple of our WBEZ colleagues can pass the test!

Sports writer Rick Telander started writing poetry when he was hospitalized with a serious illness and thought about what kids who were in his situation might be going through. Reset talks with Telander about seeing his longtime side project come to fruition with the publication of Sweet Dreams: Poems and Paintings for the Child Abed. If you liked this conversation, check out our full catalog of interviews with Chicago artists and newsmakers at wbez.org/reset.

Nearly 26,000 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago since August 2022. The post-Thanksgiving cold snap has highlighted just how important it is to find housing for the thousands currently sleeping in police stations, tents and the city’s airports. Reset gets the latest on the Johnson administration’s plans for a tent camp in Brighton Park and hears about other efforts to house migrants and asylum seekers from WBEZ city government and politics reporter Tessa Weinberg. To explore our full catalog of interviews, head on over to wbez.org/reset.

Chicago-based Foxtrot Market and Dom’s Kitchen and Market — both upscale supermarkets with food service — will join forces. Reset talks with Virginia Lee, a market research expert and Food Institute writer, about what the merger means. To explore our full catalog of interviews, head on over to wbez.org/reset.

After having often felt like the only Native or queer person in a room, River Ian Kerstetter set out to make her own space with TIES Poetry, a series of open mics and readings celebrating Indigenous queer, trans and Two-Spirit writers. Reset talks with Kerstetter about the group and their own artistic journey. For more conversations like this, check out our full catalog of interviews at wbez.org/reset.

Hospitalizations are nowhere near past years, but the virus is still here. Plus, two new vaccinations to protect babies against RSV were approved this year, but rollout has been spotty. Reset gets insight into the increase in cases and the state of vaccine access for COVID and RSV from infectious disease specialist Dr. Mia Taormina. For more conversations like this, check out our full catalog of interviews at wbez.org/reset.

The latest season of the docuseries High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America continues tracing the development of American food and food culture by examining more (relatively) recent history: Reconstruction and the Great Migration. Reset learns more about the history of Black cooking in Chicago with James Beard award-winning chef Erick Williams and Dario Durham, co-host of the history and food podcast 77 Flavors of Chicago. For more conversations like this, head over to wbez.org/reset.

The new book Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement introduces readers to a figure whose story has largely been overshadowed– until now. Reset learns more about how Moon shaped the Civil Rights Movement from author and historian Tanisha Ford. For more conversations like this, check out our full catalog of interviews at wbez.org/reset.

Federal investigators are so far saying a “design issue” caused the Yellow Line crash, but a full investigation still needs to be conducted. Reset dives into what we know about the crash — and what it means for train safety with Sophie Sherry of the Chicago Sun-Times and DePaul University’s Joseph Schwieterman. For more conversations like this, check out our full catalog of interviews at wbez.org/reset.

Chicago politics can be complicated, but jury members in former and longtime alderman Ed Burke’s corruption trial had to quickly get up to speed. Reset gets the latest on the trial from WBEZ city government reporter Mariah Woelfel. For more conversations like this one, browse our full catalog of interviews at wbez.org/reset.