Author: WBEZ Chicago

Hip hop marks its 50th anniversary this summer. For Juneteenth, we look back on that history and celebrate highlights of the genre.

Almost 70% of visitors to national parks in the U.S. are white, and Black people are the most underrepresented group to visit them. Reset meets Chevon Linear and Kameron Stanton, the Chicago couple working to change that through their popular TikTok account Black People Outside and through meet-up events.

Juneteenth has only been a federal holiday since 2021. If it’s new to you or you want to learn more, here are some resources.

Five fresh hip-hop and R&B tracks are "In Rotation” all month on Vocalo Radio, WBEZ’s sister station. Chicago emcee Jovan Landry brings the heat on a new catchy tune with an uplifting message, singer th0rn’s latest track will make you want to dance, and up-and-coming Chicago artists Elijah LeFlore and Galaxy Francis team up for a summer banger. Michigan musician Bri Miller and Ohio native Amar Miller also top the list with their smooth vocals. Reset learns more about the new songs and the artists behind them.

Reset talks with florist John Pendleton of Black Men Flower Project, which allows Black men to give other Black men a bouquet.

Asylum seekers, NASCAR, a ban on book bans, and the latest from City Hall. Reset goes behind the headlines of these stories and more with David Greising with the Better Government Association, Brandis Friedman with WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight,” and WBEZ reporter and editor Natalie Moore.

Chicago is a deep dish and tavern-style town, but there’s good pizza by the slice available if you know where to look. Join Reset and Curious City as we go on the hunt for delicious single slices around the city.

Reset heads out to Chinatown to hear about some key sites in the neighborhood, including the Chinatown Gate on Wentworth Ave. just south of Cermak Road. Sasha-Ann Simons speaks with What’s That Building contributor Dennis Rodkin of Crain’s Chicago Business.

Since February, police officers have been turning unhoused people away at O’Hare International Airport so they won’t sleep there. The situation is just one sign of how persistent and pervasive homelessness is in Chicago. Shelter beds are full, and recently arrived asylum seekers are also in need of the social safety net. Reset learns more about the options left for the city’s unhoused population and what solutions social service agencies and the city’s new administration are considering with guests Elvia Malagón, social justice and wage gap reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, and Ali Simmons, case and outreach worker with the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

lllinois Democratic lawmakers continue pushing to keep abortion accessible after the U.S. Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade last year. Since then, five measures expanding and protecting abortion access passed in Springfield, while GOP lawmakers have failed to pass anti-abortion-rights bills. Reset talks to Mawa Iqbal, statehouse reporter for WBEZ about the efforts.