Author: WBEZ Chicago

Four people were killed in a mass shooting on the Blue Line, a Palestinian coffee shop in Uptown was vandalized and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker spent Labor Day campaigning for Kamala Harris in New Hampshire. Reset breaks down those stories and much more with journalists Block Club investigative reporter Manny Ramos, Fox 32 political correspondent Paris Schutz and Chicago Sun-Times reporter and editor Tom Schuba. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

The Insect Asylum began as a traveling exhibit in 2018, and its brick-and-mortar space opened in 2022. There are over 5,000 taxidermy specimens ranging from beetles and butterflies to a giraffe named Long John as well as over 40 live animals and insects. Reset producers Ari Mejia and Lynnea Domienik visited the Avondale museum and share how it acts as a haven for people with unconventional interests. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

How did a spirit that “tastes like bandaids” and has been the butt of many jokes survive generations and go from a lone bottle collecting dust in the back of bars to so closely linked with Chicago that bartenders and enthusiasts alike tattoo it on their bodies? Well, it has to do with a plucky businessman named George Brode and his secretary Pat Gabelick. Reset learns the history as laid out in a new book from a veteran food writer Josh Noel, author of Malört: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

For the first time in five years, the Chicago Abortion Fund is going to have to limit how much financial aid it provides to people seeking abortions in Illinois. This comes as people from 32 states seek abortion care in Illinois and national funding is drying up, putting more strain on local funding to cover the costs. Reset checks in with Kristen Schorsch, WBEZ public health and politics reporter. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Mary Mitchell, former columnist and director of culture and community engagement retired in 2019 but returned to the Sun-Times a year later. This time around, she says she’s leaving “for real.” Reset sits down with Mitchell to reflect on her career and what she’s learned about herself and Chicago in the process. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Reset wraps a summer “What’s That Building?” series about Chicago’s incredible music venues at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Lincoln Square. Sasha-Ann Simons and Dennis Rodkin explore this old library turned music school and venue and dive deep into the history of its exterior as well as what lives inside. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Long-term stress can have many negative outcomes for parents in the U.S., so much so that the U.S. surgeon general says it’s time to start treating parental stress as a public health issue. Reset discusses some of the biggest challenges parents face today and how communities are coming together to support parents and children with Rosalia Salgado, mother of two from Hermosa and a community healer with Community Organizing and Family Issues and Teri McKean, parent and director of Crisis and Support Operations at NAMI Chicago. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

After 11 years, The Onion is bringing back its print edition. Subscribers are now able to enjoy deeper layers of the most pressing (fake) stories on paper, not just on screens. Reset learns more about covering the “political circus,” the website’s evolution and The Onion’s path back to print in a conversation with the editor-in-chief, Chad Nackers. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

The Chicago Jazz Festival happens every year over Labor Day weekend. Reset gets the rundown with an organizer, Frayne Lewis, DCASE senior policy analyst, and two artists taking the stage this weekend: Lynne Jordan, jazz and blues singer and jazz pianist and composer Miguel de la Cerna. Click here to see the full schedule for the Chicago Jazz Festival. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.