The Chicago Sky’s coach is fired. Hundreds more people join a lawsuit saying they were abused at juvenile detention centers across Illinois. Mayor Brandon Johnson calls for the resignation of Chicago Public Schools CEO.
Reset goes behind those headlines and more with a panel of local journalists on the Weekly News Recap. This week’s panel: Chalkbeat Chicago reporter Reema Amin, City Cast Chicago host Jacoby Cochran, and Chicago Sun-Times reporter Mitchell Armentrout.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
The WNBA broke its own records across all categories this year: ticket sales, attendance, viewership — even players’ stat lines were blowing up. And Chicago’s team did not miss out on the action, having its own moment in the spotlight before falling to injuries (and more mature teams) mid-season and failing to make the playoffs. But the Sky’s future looks bright.
Reset sat down with Annie Costabile, Chicago Sky reporter for the Sun-Times, Maya Goldberg-Safir, who wrote about the Sky for South Side Weekly this season and Quita from the Quita Loves Sports channel on YouTube.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
A new report by the Greater Chicago Food Depository found that 1 in 3 families in the city can’t cover the basic costs of living. This includes the cost of eating every day. This data hasn’t changed much since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic — how is that possible? And what can be done? Reset talks with Jim Conwell, VP of marketing and communications at the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
The Chicago River has gone through a lot to shed its cesspool past and enter into its cleaner, shinier present. But has it gone far enough to make the average Chicagoan feel comfortable to take a dip in it?
Reset learns about a unique approach to monitoring the health of the area's rivers from Alaina Harkness, ED of Current and Karen Weigert, director of Loyola University’s Chicago’s Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and what the data can tell us about how the rivers are constantly changing.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
Polish immigrants came to Chicago to make a living, and for a time, they got to hang out every weekend with some of Poland’s biggest stars at a small club in the city.
The University of Illinois at Chicago has published an in-depth report studying impact of Mexican Chicagoans, a group that has been historically overlooked as its own data set versus under the umbrella of Chicago Latinos as a whole. According to researchers’ findings, Mexicans are the largest population of Latinos in Chicago and subsequently play a pivotal role in Chicago’s economy.
Reset sat down with Teresa Cordova and Juan Gonzalez, two of the scholars who wrote the report to break down their team’s findings and the importance Mexicans have on informing policies.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
Residents of Humboldt Park, West Town, Logan Square, Avondale and Hermosa have faced rising housing prices due to gentrification for over a decade. A city ordinance passed last week aims to stem the tide of people forced to move because they can no longer afford to stay in their neighborhoods. Reset discusses with Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th Ward, and housing organizer Gary Jimenez.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
The Chicago Teachers Union took a no confidence vote in Pedro Martinez, the CEO of CPS, citing concern that the district might be considering closing or consolidating schools – which Martinez vehemently denies. And four sources tell the Chicago Sun-Times that Chicago’s mayor is now asking Martinez to resign.
Reset gets the latest on how this could affect the district finances, and the school year ahead with education reporters Sarah Karp of WBEZ and Nader Issa of the Chicago Sun-Times.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
In Australia, due to the country’s system of mandatory voting, turnout for federal elections is around 90%, but in many remote Aboriginal communities, it’s far lower. As part of our Democracy Solutions Project, Reset executive producer Dan Tucker traveled to the town of Yuendumu in Australia’s vast Northern Territory to understand why voters stay away from the polls and what it says about political representation in the country.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
Reset executive producer Dan Tucker shares his takeaways from a recent reporting trip to Australia. Unlike the U.S., the country has a rich history of changing its voting system to create a more representative government and a more democratic society. As a result, voting is mandatory in Australia, voters rank candidates from multiple parties, the Senate uses proportional representation and an independent commission administers federal elections. So, how do these systems work? And could they work in the U.S.?
In this episode you’ll hear from: Judith Brett, author of “From Secret Ballot To Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting”; Samantha Ratnam, member of parliament in the state of Victoria for the Greens; Nick Minchin, former finance minister, former Liberal leader in the Senate; Shane Singh, professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, author of the book “Beyond Turnout: How Compulsory Voting Shapes Citizens and Political Parties”; Tom Rogers, Australian Electoral Commissioner; and Bill Browne, director of the Democracy and Accountability program at the Australia Institute, an independent think tank in Canberra.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
