Author: WBEZ Chicago

Northwestern and other schools received a letter from the Department of Education that said the universities were being investigated over claims of alleged antisemitism on campus. The warning letter comes on the heels of the detention of Columbia University student and protest organizer Mahmoud Khalil, who faces deportation without a specific charge. Reset turns to WBEZ higher education reporter Lisa Kurian Philip and the ACLU’s Ed Yohnka to look at First Amendment concerns and why Northwestern is under the microscope. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

It’s been five years since cities around the country like Chicago shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, millions of people have been affected. Whether it’s coming down with the virus, losing a loved one during the pandemic or living with the consequences of infection, also known as long COVID. To find out more about what we do and do not know about the chronic condition, we turned to Dr. Jerry Krishnan, a professor of medicine and public health at the University of Illinois Chicago, and Amy Pope, and long COVID patient and patient researcher. We also checked in with Mike Bielaczyc, a licensed clinical social worker and long-hauler support group leader at Northwestern University, and Chimére L. Sweeney, a long COVID patient consultant. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

May 7 is the deadline to acquire a Real ID before the new federal guidelines are enforced. DMVs all across the country are seeing unprecedented demand. Illinoisans are experiencing long lines and even longer wait times. Last year, the “Get Real, Illinois” campaign launched to encourage residents to “get real” well in advance of the deadline. However, only around 30% of Illinois residents have Real IDs. Despite the looming cutoff, state officials are reminding Illinoisans not to panic. Reset learns more about the Real ID mandate from Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Illinois saw a drop in drug overdose deaths in 2023, according to newly released data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. And in Cook County, that trend seems to have held in 2024 as well, according to preliminary data from the county coroner’s office. Reset talks with Fanya Burford-Berry, a community worker at West Side Heroin Opioid Task Force, where they provide outreach to hear what’s led to this decrease and what’s needed to bring the numbers down even further and WBEZ reporter and anchor Araceli Gomez-Aldana. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Russia and China are no fans of his. Egypt wouldn’t even let him in the country. As the executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth spent 30 years investigating and standing up to the world’s most ruthless oppressors. During that time, he exposed war crimes, confronted authoritarian regimes and, on more than one occasion, found himself in the crosshairs. Reset checks in with Roth about his new book Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments, and how he found shame to be a useful tool in holding governments accountable. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

To mark Women’s History Month, we learn about Jackie Bross, a 1940s Chicago factory worker who had the audacity to wear men’s pants to work in a time when it was considered cross-dressing and illegal. Her court case in 1943 eventually led to an ordinance that allowed women to wear pants as long as it wasn’t concealing their gender. Reset gets the story from professor of history at University of Illinois at Chicago Jennifer Brier. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

The four members of Chicago band The Orchard all met in high school. It wasn’t until their college years that they started to play music together. The group practiced and covered songs by artists like Velvet Underground in a barn near a friend’s orchard, hence the name of the band. They are inspired by the sounds of ‘50s country and classic Americana, describing its sound as “barn rock.” You can get a taste of that barn rock in The Orchard’s latest EP ‘County Fair.’ Reset sits down with the band. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

While House Republicans took aim at Democratic mayors over immigration issues, and former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel criticized Democrats, hinting he may run for political office again. Meanwhile, the Highland Park mass shooter pleaded guilty. Reset breaks down these stories and much more with WTTW News correspondent Nick Blumberg, Washington Post national and breaking news reporter Kim Bellware and WBEZ city politics reporter Mariah Woelfel. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.