Category: 4-FrequentNewsStreams

Ready for Summertime Chi? Lake Michigan and the Chicago River are fantastic ways to enjoy your Chicago summer. Reset hears about all the reasons to appreciate our lakefront and waterways and gets some aquatic inspiration to kick off our summer. We check in Marlon Harvey, commodore at the Jackson Park Yacht Club; Alex Surmach, vice president of the board of directors at Learn Scuba Chicago; and John Quail, director of conservation at Friends of the Chicago River.

Illinois lawmakers are back in the Capitol this week for an extended spring session after failing to agree on and pass a budget. For more on what the sticking points are and what else is on the agenda before the spring session wraps up, Reset gets a Springfield update from WBEZ statehouse reporter Alex Degman.

When 50 Chicago Public Schools were closed a decade ago, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and district leaders promised students would be better off and that the buildings would be transformed into community assets. A new WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times series takes a closer look at those promises and the long-term consequences on the city’s district, neighborhoods and families. Reset learns more from the team behind the series: Kate Grossman, WBEZ senior editor for education; Sarah Karp, WBEZ education reporter; Lauren FitzPatrick, Chicago Sun-Times investigative reporter; and Nader Issa, Chicago Sun-Times education reporter.

Chicago is home to a rich arts scene, but advocates say more can be done to support arts education, expand access to the arts and recognize that the arts can be a powerful economic engine for the city. Reset talks to Leslé Honoré, poet and CEO of Urban Gateways, Monica Trinidad, co-founder of For the People Artists Collective, Abby Pucker, founder of GERTIE, a Chicago arts wayfinding platform, about the ways the Johnson administration could lean into the arts. The trio are co-chairs of Johnson’s transition subcommittee on arts and culture.

WBEZ is out with a new guide to 80 markets you can find in Chicago and the suburbs this summer, just in time for farmers market season. Reset learns more about where to find fresh produce, flowers and other extras at markets in the region with Julia Binswanger, WBEZ audio producer and curator, Veah Larde, market manager at Austin Town Hall City Market, and Liz Abunaw, founder and owner of Forty Acres Fresh Market.

Brandon Johnson is inaugurated as Chicago’s new Mayor. Illinois lawmakers work to wrap up their spring session. Reset breaks down those stories and more with Alice Yin, politics reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Christian Farr, NBC-5 Chicago reporter, Angela Rozas O'Toole, WBEZ Politics & Government editor.

It’s AAPI Heritage Month. Reset invited three Asian American artists in Chicago’s thriving music scene to talk about the AAPI’s community’s contribution to the arts. Sen Morimoto, Yna Pineda, and Stuti Sharma share their fave AAPI musicians in Chicago, discuss resources the city may be lacking and talk through how their heritage influences their craft.

A new WBEZ project called First 12 Weeks chronicles the journeys of three new mothers. From isolation to breastfeeding to expectations, these mothers faced a lot in just the first few weeks postpartum. But, they also persevered through. In the final installment of the series, Reset discusses the challenges new LGBTQ+ parents face with Elly Fishman, reporter and WBEZ contributor and Dr. Liz Glassgow, executive director of Innovations to Improve Maternal Outcomes in Illinois and medical director of the UI Health Two-Generation Clinic

Asian Americans have been reported to be the fastest-growing racial group in the country. And this is also a time when AAPI representation in the media has been growing and celebrated with historic wins for films like Everything Everywhere All At Once. While more representation and visibility of AAPI folks is still needed, it begs the question of what’s next? Reset dives into a discussion with writer and fire performer, Michi Trota, and environmental justice fellow at the Grist, Siri Chilukuri, about the growth of representation for the Asian American Pacific Islander community, and what to do with more visibility.

The saga continues for the Illinois assault weapons ban as the question of “Can I legally buy an assault rifle?” has a new answer for the third time this year. Reset hears from statehouse reporter for WBEZ, Mawa Iqbal, and Highland Park Survivor, Ashbey Beasley, on the latest.