Author: WBEZ Chicago

Around 12 million people in America over the age of 40 have a visual impairment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For Low Vision Awareness Month, Reset checks in with Julie Tye and Douglas Walker of the Winnetka-based nonprofit Hadley about its free tools and resources for people with vision loss.

WBEZ’s sister station Vocalo features movers and shakers who work to bring healing, joy and inquiry to their communities throughout Chicago as part of the Chi Sounds Like series. Reset highlights a Vocalo feature on a training coordinator for a nonprofit saving lives through first response training.

We take a listen to Governor Pritzker as he provides an overview of his proposed budget for Illinois. And Reset checks in with WBEZ state politics reporter Dave McKinney and two lawmakers after the speech.

In response to the pandemic, the Illinois Department of Human Services issued emergency allotments to help people pay for food. But those will go away by Feb. 28, even though food prices remain high. Reset talks with advocates Patricia Fernandez, Kellie O’Connell, and Alici McNeal as well as Christina, a recipient of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

There were 41 after-school shooting incidents in 2022 near public schools in Chicago involving people 19 years old and younger. And in the last decade, there was an average of three murders of kids under 17 each year, a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times analysis found. Now calls are growing louder for city officials and the district to take action. Reset finds out more on what’s behind the spike in shootings near CPS schools and learns about potential solutions with reporters Sarah Karp and Nader Issa.

Vocalo radio, WBEZ’s sister station, features movers and shakers who work to bring healing, joy and inquiry to their communities throughout Chicago as part of the Chi Sounds Like series. Reset highlights a Vocalo feature on a multidisciplinary artist who brings empowerment and joy through connecting youth to their African roots and history.

With nine candidates running in the Chicago mayoral election, it is widely assumed there will be a runoff election, which is all too common in municipal elections here. Some argue that moving to a ranked choice voting system could help prevent runoffs and make voting more democratic. Reset hears from advocates Andrew Szilva and Alisa Kaplan about why they want to see ranked choice voting instituted in Chicago and Illinois. Then we’ll hear from FairVote research analyst Rachel Hutchinson about how the system has worked in other cities and states and from a professor of public policy, Anthony Fowler, about the positives and drawbacks of the system.

Vocalo radio, WBEZ’s sister station on 91.1, is celebrating 15-years of bringing more Chicago artists and stories to the airwaves. Check out Chi Sounds Like for a full list of archived interviews. Reset chats with Ari Mejia who produced the series and the station director, Ayana Contreras to learn more about their programming and features a Vocalo interview with Djedi Ohm