Author: WBEZ Chicago

There are a lot of long-standing disparities in healthcare, from unequal allocation of resources to a lack of diverse representation of providers. Reset spoke to Neelam Dhadankar, a healthcare policy analyst at Access Living, and Myles Brady Davis, the communications director at Equality Illinois, about how mandated cultural competency courses for medical professionals could solve some of these inequities.

Public university professors across Illinois are fed up, with faculty from Chicago State University and Eastern Illinois University already on strike, and staff at Governor’s State University set to strike on Tuesday. Reset learns more about what’s driving faculty at public universities in Illinois and across the country to hit the picket line. Reset checks in with WBEZ higher education reporter Lisa Philip and Valerie Goss, CSU faculty union president.

Because science says so! In honor of National Hug Your Dog Day, Reset sits down with Mark Lukas, a volunteer at PAWS, and his own pup, to find out more about the bond between dog and man.

Chicago’s new City Council will be more progressive, more diverse and younger than it’s been in years past when new members are sworn in May 15. Reset sits down with 11th Ward Ald. Nicole Lee and 46th Ward Ald. Angela Clay to discuss the importance of representation at City Hall, their top priorities when they take office and their plans for working with mayor-elect Brandon Johnson.

Reset talks to Simone and Jory Luster of Luster Products, one of the biggest Black-owned hair care manufacturers in the world. We also talk to Leslie Roberson, CEO and founder of the Black Beauty Collective, a new black-owned beauty supplier in Hyde Park.

The Lutheran School of Theology has been a modernist mainstay in Hyde Park since 1967. Now the school along with its neighbor, McCormick Theological Seminary, has been purchased by the University of Chicago. Reset talks to architecture sleuth Dennis Rodkin to learn about the history of the buildings and how they’ll be incorporated into the UChicago campus.

Chicago gets a new mayor. The trial of ComEd lobbyists continues. Two firefighters die in the line of duty within two days. Protesters postpone the opening of an Englewood grocery store. Reset breaks down these stories and much more with Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Kesling, Block Club Chicago investigative editor and reporter Mick Dumke and WBEZ data projects editor Alden Loury.

David Barksdale and Mayor Richard J. Daley are names you might not put together. But scholar Lance Williams does just that in his new book, King David and Boss Daley: The Black Disciples, Mayor Daley and Chicago on the Edge. Williams argues that amid urban renewal in the city two men ruled their respective Black and Irish neighborhoods with an iron fist. Reset talks to Lance Williams to learn the story.

Two Chicago firefighters died in the line of duty this week battling housefires. Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt called the back-to-back losses “unprecedented.” The tragedy has some Chicagoans wondering how the city could prevent residential fires before they happen. Reset talked to David Greising from the Better Government Associations about solutions to this overlooked public safety issue.

When the owners of a local vintage and antique store opened shop in 2009, they weren’t expecting people to also come to them with questions about estate liquidation. That’s when their store morphed into the Estate Sale Goddess. Reset chats with Lynn and Ty McDaniel to learn more about what it takes to run their business and what people need to know about navigating estate sales.