Author: WBEZ Chicago

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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Chicago Wants City Rats to Take Birth Control

In 2024, Chicago was named the rattiest city in the US by Orkin Pest Control for the TENTH year in a row. The city’s budget for its ‘Bureau of Rodent Control’ is almost $15 million annually. And they’re trying something new. Starting in [[[]]], bait boxes with rat ‘birth control’ will be placed in alleys throughout Wicker Park and Bucktown to try to curb the growth of rat populations. Reset checks in with Quinn Myers of Block Club Chicago to learn more about the program. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Spring Cleaning Anyone?

With the weather warming up, it’s time to exit hibernation. And what better way to get outside and give back than cleaning up your neighborhood with people in your community? There are a number of ways to get involved, so Reset checked in with Sophie Rallo, executive director and founder of Garbage Gals, Kirstin Quigley of LoveBlue Chicago and Katherine Tellock, executive director and founder of Cleanup Club Chicago to learn more. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Roxane Gay Curates New Anthology On Past, Present And Future Of Feminism

In her new book, The Portable Feminist Reader, writer and cultural critic Roxane Gay has compiled writings by ancient, historic and modern feminist voices. It explores the state of American feminism, its successes and failures, and what feminism looks like in practice. Gay recently joined Reset host Sasha-Ann Simons to discuss the anthology in front of a live audience at the Athenaeum Center in Chicago. Here’s their full, unedited conversation, which includes some strong language. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Weaving The Fabric Of Chicago: The Immigrant Women Of Hull House

In the final installment of our Women’s History Month series, we go inside the lives of immigrant women who found their way to Hull House upon arrival to Chicago, and their homes in the surrounding neighborhoods. Reset speaks with Chicago professor and historian Jennifer Brier and Liesel Olson, director of the Hull House Museum, to honor the unnamed remarkable figures that helped shape Chicago. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Meet Chicago Musician Brooklynn Skye

Brooklynn Skye has been a staple in the Chicago music scene for years and has played with the likes of noname, Sistazz of The Nitty Gritty, The Celestials! and more. And now, she’s embarking on her solo career, and just dropped her latest single “NVR MET YOU.” Reset sits down with the Chicago born-and-bred artist to learn more about her journey, music and evolution. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - WBEZ’s Weekly News Recap, March 28, 2025

Trump administration cuts $153 million in Illinois mental health and substance abuse services. Mayor Brandon Johnson struggles to find money for a $175 million pension payment. Also: can you name 1,000 things you love about Chicago? Reset goes behind the headlines in the Weekly News Recap. This week’s roundtable includes Simone Alicea, City Cast Chicago executive producer; Alex Nitkin, government finance and accountability reporter with the Illinois Answers Project; and Nader Issa, Chicago Sun-Times education reporter. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - What’s That Building: Yukon Building

The Yukon building is a two-story structure built in 1898 by the Boston-based real estate investor who also put up the Rookery, the Monadnock and the Marquette in Chicago. The Yukon was always meant to be a temporary building, and yet has stood for more than 120 years. Now, the property taxes are delinquent and at least three tenants have vacated their spaces in recent months. How much longer can the Yukon last? Reset gets the full story from Dennis Rodkin, senior reporter covering residential real estate for Crain’s Chicago Business. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Do You Know Where I Can Find Crispy Borek In Chicago?

The City Fresh Market opened in 2004 to serve the Yugoslavian community with grocery items that were hard to find. “The desserts were a big reason my family would make the trip to the store when I was a kid,” says one of the managers. Reset tries some of the offerings – from borek to slices of dobos torte – and explores the role grocery store bakeries play in the community with WBEZ producers Lynnea Domienik and Cianna Graves, and the City Fresh Market manager Amina Krlicevic. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Trump Administration Goes After Chicago, Deerfield Schools

Chicago Public Schools and a suburban school district are under a civil rights investigation from the Department of Education. And the center of the investigation? School locker room policy. The investigation, announced last week, comes after politically conservative groups filed complaints about trans students being allowed to change in the locker room that lines up with their gender identities. The Trump Administration says it is investigating alleged violations of Title IX, while the Chicago and Deerfield school districts insist they are in accordance with Illinois law. Reset digs into what’s at stake with Chicago Sun-Times reporter Violet Miller. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
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Curious City - “Enemy Alien”: How Chicago photojournalist Jun Fujita avoided Japanese internment camps

Jun Fujita is the Japanese-American photographer behind some of the most recognizable photographs taken in Chicago in the 20th century, including his shots of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929, the Eastland passenger boat disaster of 1915, and the 1919 Chicago race riots. Fujita was also a published poet and something of a regional celebrity, known for socializing with William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Fujita’s foreign identity also made him the subject of government inquiry and suspicion on multiple occasions — during both World War I and World War II — according to Graham Lee, Fujita’s great-nephew and the author of a new Fujita biography, “Jun Fujita: Behind the Camera.” After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Fujita’s assets were frozen, his business was shuttered, his cameras were taken away, and he constrained himself to Chicago to avoid possible internment, Lee said. How did Fujita navigate this perilous time for an immigrant in Chicago? We sat down with Lee to discuss how Fujita, a “supremely confident person,” came to rely on both the support of his community and his wits.