Author: WBEZ Chicago

Attorneys for former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan request evidence be thrown out ahead of his upcoming corruption trial. Demolition begins on local landmark to make way for Chicago's riverfront casino. Local radio host resigns from high school coaching duties after controversial comments. Reset goes behind those headlines and more with a panel of local journalists that includes Natalie Moore, WBEZ race, class and communities editor, Becky Vevea, bureau chief of Chalkbeat Chicago and Mitchell Armentrout, Chicago Sun-Times reporter covering government and politics. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

What do you think of when you hear the word design? Maybe fashion, photoshop or video games? What about urban planning, street art and choreography? The Design Museum of Chicago on the corner of Michigan and Randolph has thought a lot about this question – they hope to contextualize and humanize how design shapes our day-to-day lives. Reset host Sasha-Ann Simons and production intern Ellie Gilbert-Bair visited the museum. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Planning out the week’s meals, making a shopping list based on that plan, and then dedicating time to prepare veggies, starches and proteins can help avoid the dread of having to figure out what’s for dinner when you’re already hungry. Plus, it helps keep costs in check at the grocery store. Reset discusses the benefits of meal prepping and gets tips for keeping it interesting with Lisa Counts, executive chef at The Chopping Block and Jenny LeFlore, creator of Mama Fresh. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

With the two political conventions behind us, we take a look at the candidates' records on climate issues. From the three Supreme Court justices appointed by Trump affecting the court’s rulings on environmental cases to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act under President Biden. Reset discusses what this could mean for the Chicago area and what to keep an eye out for moving forward with Karen Weigert, Reset sustainability contributor and director of Loyola University Chicago’s Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Until the 1980s, the former South Works site along Chicago’s lakefront on the South Side was home to steel mills. But soon it will house a quantum computing campus known as the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. Reset talks with two Southeast Side residents. Clifton Muhammad is a local business owner and board member of the Alliance of the Southeast. Roman Villareal is an artist and lifelong resident of the Southeast Side. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Reset learns about efforts to bring resources to survivors and their families experiencing violence from Dr. Ted Corbin, professor and chairperson for the department of emergency medicine RUSH University Medical Center and Dr. John Rich, director of the RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Extreme heat is the most dangerous weather event in the country, according to the National Weather Service. The elderly, young children and people who work outside are the most vulnerable. Reset hears what’s up with the heat this week and how groups representing people who work outside are responding. Trent Ford, Illinois state climatologist, Miguel Alvelo Rivera, executive director of Latino Union and Gaby Gracia, deputy director of the Great Lakes Center for Farmworker Health and Wellbeing at the UIC School of Public Health join us in conversation to talk about the heat and its effects on Chicagoans. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

During the Democratic National Convention, some people repeated harmful narratives about crime, framing Chicago as a “combat zone.” Chicagoans don’t deny that gun violence is a real issue, but exaggerations can be dehumanizing – and they often ignore the people who are most affected by gun violence, as well as the efforts of locals working to solve this issue. Reset learn more about local efforts to reduce gun violence with Rita Oceguera, reporter for The Trace, Cedric Hawkins, strategic initiatives manager at Chicago CRED, LaQuay Boone, deputy head of programs with Chicago CRED and Dwayne Hunter, outreach supervisor for West Garfield Park for the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Chicago Public Schools’ students returned to the classroom Monday for the first day of school. As students and educators get lessons underway, the district faces bus driver shortages, budget troubles and growing tension with the teachers union. Reset checks in with WBEZ education reporter Sarah Karp for the details. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.