Author: WBEZ Chicago

The Mellon Foundation granted Chicago $6.8 million to invest in several monument projects. One of those will include the Rekia Boyd Project on the West Side. Reset talks to Scheherazade Tillet, executive director of A Long Walk Home and one of the organizers of the monument.

On the heels of another violent Fourth of July weekend, Reset checks in with a panel of anti-violence workers trying a variety of solutions to end cycles of violence in Chicago.

Actor Judy Greer has made a career out of being one of the most versatile people in any room or set in Hollywood. With more than 150 film and TV credits to her name, you’ve seen her in everything from rom-coms like “13 Going On 30" to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And this month, you can see her debut at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre with the play “Another Marriage.” Reset sits down with the booked-and-busy actress to go behind the curtain of her new play and talk about working in a fickle and changing industry.

Chicago is home to several mural corridors – from Pilsen to Rogers Park. These murals tell stories and are available for everyone to see. Reset learns more about the art form from muralists Sandra Antongiorgi and Rahmaan Statik, and also Robert Herguth, who writes the weekly Murals and Mosaics newsletter for the Chicago Sun-Times.

On July 4, 2022, seven people died and dozens more were wounded in a shooting during Highland Park’s annual Independence Day parade. An upcoming documentary called “Memorial” features the stories and voices of survivors of the Highland Park shooting. We talk with Highland Park-born filmmaker and director Jonathan Siskel, and two survivors of the shooting, Jacqueline von Edelberg and Rachel Lander.

A new report by Crain’s Chicago Business reveals the sky-high construction costs for housing developments being built through the city’s Invest South/West initiative — one of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s signature programs. Reset learns more about the cost disparity and what the status of the project is under the Johnson administration with Alby Gallun, Crain’s Chicago Business senior reporter covering real estate and David Doig, president of Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives.

Kara Jackson is known for being the National Youth Poet Laureate from 2019 to 2020. And now, she’s receiving glowing reviews for her debut album, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love. The Chicago-based singer-songwriter joins Reset to talk about her inspirations, her mandatory piano lessons growing up in a musical household and other local artists who encouraged her latest work.

Some Chicago drivers experience road rage over street closures for NASCAR race; Canadian wildfires fill Chicago’s air with smoke and haze; President Biden comes to town for fundraisers and kicks off his political messaging with what he calls “Bidenomics”. Reset breaks down these stories and much more with Mike Flannery, political editor at Fox 32 News, Ben Kesling, reporter, Wall Street Journal and Derrick Blakley, former CBS2 Chicago politics reporter Journal