Author: WBEZ Chicago

Sorry, Josh Shapiro and JB Pritzker: Kamala Harris has tapped Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. The pair will kick off their campaign together touring battleground states – starting Tuesday in Pennsylvania. Plus: Harris gains support from Illinois Republican politicians. Reset gets the latest on Harris’ efforts to court the Midwest vote. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

The rich stone edifice of Thalia Hall is a lot to take in. Now a concert venue, this Pilsen building has a history as a gathering place for ethnic communities, and theater for movies and Shakespeare plays. Reset’s Sasha-Ann Simons and architecture expert Dennis Rodkin head to the beloved music venue for the latest in our series “What’s That Building.” For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

This year, breaking – aka breakdancing – is joining the Olympics. The dance sport joins a score of other recent additions, like surfing, skateboarding, and sports climbing. Reset spoke with a couple of local superfans of these sports for more on what they’re excited to see at the Olympics, and finds out more about what the local surfing and skateboarding scenes look like in Chicago. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Do you avoid the stove and the oven on hot summer days, or do you just sweat it out? Either way, we’ll get ideas for salads, cooking with appliances besides your stove and marinades for grilling. Reset gets recommendations for beating the heat and still eating deliciously. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

“To my community: feel it all. Don’t run from things that scare you. Use it. It is power. Let it guide you wherever it wants to take you with your creativity. You are valid,” says Yna. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Trump makes false statements about Kamala Harris’ race at a Black journalists’ convention in Chicago. Hundreds gather in Springfield and Chicago in response to Sonya Massey’s death. Lawyers for R&B singer R. Kelly appeal his conviction. Reset breaks down those stories and more in our Weekly News Recap. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Nestled along Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast sits an old mansion styled after a French chateau. But this isn’t Versailles. It’s Chicago’s International Museum of Surgical Science. Inside you’ll find some things maybe you’d expect: vintage surgical instruments, skeletons, and archival medical books. But then, it ventures into what feels and looks more like an art museum. Sculptures, murals, and rotating contemporary art exhibitions. And on the fourth floor: the future of surgery in space. The Reset team explores the museum and its “haunted vibes.” For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Do you love to sing in the shower? Are you a regular at your local karaoke bar? Well, get ready to sing your heart out in front of 5,000 Chicagoans! The Empty Bottle and Salt Shed Chicago are hoping to make it into the ranks of the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting what they’re calling World’s Largest Karaoke on Aug. 8. Expect to write your name and song of choice on a sheet of paper and drop it into a bucket day-of. If you’re lucky, you might just be selected to grace the Salt Shed stage. So get ready to dust off the old pipes and RSVP for free here, or just show up. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

TV and movies are streamed, our communication becomes data in the form of emails, texts and tweets, and AI appears in new parts of our lives. Our increasingly digitized economy is fueling the need for more places to store information. But large data centers use the same amount of water as small municipalities in the U.S. on a daily basis just to cool down their servers. Reset learns more about how data centers work and what needs to be done to reduce the environmental impact from Andrew Chien, professor computer science, University of Chicago, Chheng Lim, architect SNHA and 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.