A high school choir from Auburn Gresham made it all the way to the finals in the national competition show ‘America’s Got Talent’ last month. Now they’re back in Chicago and back in class. In the Loop checks in with members Derrick Davis, Bernard Freeman, Kevin Wilson and Tyshawn Brown about their journey to Los Angeles, the “brotherhood” they enjoy in the choir and what comes next for each of them.
For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.
Since President Trump announced at a White House news conference on Sept. 22 that pregnant women's use of acetaminophen, sold under the brand name Tylenol, might raise the risk of autism in their children, claims about the drug have been circulating online.
But this isn’t the first time moms have been blamed for their children's autism. In fact, an early theory of autism revolves around the term “refrigerator mothers.”
In the Loop discusses this history of parental shame and uncovers the genetic components of autism with psychologist Dr. Latha Valluripalli Soorya at Rush, and J.J Hanley, a film producer and local mother of an adult with autism.
For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop
The Kankakee mallow is one of the rarest plants on the continent, according to the Smithsonian Garden in Washington D.C. It’s a pink flower that grows on tall stalks and is native to just one small island in the middle of the Kankakee River, about an hour south of Chicago.
But when botanist Rachel Goad paddled over to take a look back in 2014 with a group of native plant enthusiasts, instead they found an island overgrown with invasive honeysuckle.
Was this special native plant gone for good?
Perhaps, if not for the efforts of a small group of volunteers, initially led by conservationist Trevor Edmonson.
“Hearing the phrase that the Kankakee mallow only grows on this island — anywhere in the world, like that is the extent of its remaining natural habitat — is such a draw for anybody, especially someone early on in their career,” Edmonson said.
Today, reporter Claire Keenan-Kurgan from the Points North podcast at Interlochen Public Radio guides us on this floral rescue mission.
Points North is a podcast that tells great stories from the Great Lakes. For more stories like this one, go to pointsnorthpodcast.org.
In an op-ed in the Sun-Times, public health experts call for maintaining medical facilities as “sanctuaries that protect human life,” and outline steps to protect patients from immigration enforcement. In the Loop talks with Dr. Linda Rae Murray, professor, University of Illinois Chicago’s School of Public Health and former chief medical officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health, and Dr. Claudia Fegan, national coordinator for the Physicians for a National Health Program and former chief medical officer of Cook County Health.
For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop
Chicago legal advocates and volunteers in communities are quickly responding after ICE arrests to protect immigrants’ rights. In the Loop talks with Resurrection Project chief program officer Erendira Rendon, National Immigrant Justice Center director of litigation Keren Zwick, Pilsen Rapid Response Network organizer Diego Morales of PUÑO and Southwest Rapid Response organizer and CPS teacher Kat Zamarron.
For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.
The Texas National Guard arrived in the Chicago area, then a judge granted a temporary restraining order on deploying the guard in Illinois. Meanwhile, ICE arrests and raids continued and the Chicago area began to feel the effects of the ongoing federal government shutdown.
Reset dives into those and other top local stories with Chicago Sun-Times reporter Mark Norkol, Fox 32 political correspondent Paris Schutz and Borderless Magazine editorial director Mauricio Peña.
For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.
You might mistake a recent video released by the Department of Homeland Security for an action movie trailer.
It shows Border Patrol agents in military fatigues entering an apartment building in South Shore and arresting people alleged to be connected to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang.
Reporting from WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times and other outlets confirm that U.S. citizens were detained for hours, some of them in handcuffs and zip ties. None of that was shown.
In the Loop talks to Jim Warren with NewsGuard and security affairs expert Robert Pape of UChicago about whether or not the federal government’s videos of immigration raids – such as the one in South Shore – amount to propaganda about Chicago crime and immigrants.
For a full archive of In The Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.
A government shutdown is underway. The National Guard has arrived in the Chicago area, and immigration enforcement has escalated in recent weeks. In the Loop host Sasha-Ann Simons and the show’s listeners ask Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson about his plan to create “ICE-free zones” and get his thoughts on the federal deployment of National Guard troops, among other topics.
For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.
There’s a hole in the map of Chicago. It turns out, it’s a cemetery. But there are many other cemeteries in Chicago that don’t show up as holes on the map, so what’s up with this one? We take you to the 19th Ward and explore the history of this dead zone.
The Trump administration has paused $2.1 billion in federal funding for infrastructure projects in Chicago, including the long-awaited extension of the Red Line. In the Loop discusses the impact of this pause on residents, public transit and the environment with Greater Roseland Chamber of Commerce executive director Andrea Reed, UChicago Harris School of Public Policy research professor Justin Marlowe and In the Loop sustainability contributor Karen Weigert.
For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/in-the-loop.
