Former ComEd CEO and Madigan confidante is sentenced to prison. O’Hare sees the busiest day ever. Vandals target immigration organizations in Little Village. NASCAR passes on another race in the Loop and Chicago Mayor Johnson introduces a new plan to snuff out smoking on CTA. Reset goes behind those headlines and more in our Weekly News Recap with Block Club Chicago reporter Mack Liederman, Chicago Sun-Times federal courts reporter Jon Seidel and WBEZ investigative reporter Dan Mihalopoulos.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
On July 26, 1990, then-President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, into law. This was a turning point for the quality of life for disabled people in the country.
But disability rights activism didn’t start when the ADA was introduced into Congress.
Reset talks about disability advocacy before and after the ADA. We also dig into recent efforts to weaken it and how the community continues to fight. Our panel: Charles Petrof, senior ADA attorney with Access Living; Mike Ervin, writer and disability rights activist; and T.J. Gordon, co-founder of Chicagoland Disabled People of Color Coalition.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
More Illinois suburbs are cracking down or regulating the use of e-bikes and e-scooters. In Fox Lake, e-bikes and e-scooters are now banned from sidewalks. In Elk Grove, riders must have a driver’s license. And in Hinsdale, children are banned from riding e-scooters altogether.
The patchwork of rules is leaving many potential riders confused on what they can and can’t do.
Reset finds out more about how local municipalities are trying to balance mobility with safety. We chat with Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig B. Johnson, Jim Merrell with Active Transportation Alliance, and Dave Simmons with Ride Illinois.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
As we head into the dog days of summer, it’s time to make the most of the season and check off items on our summer bucket lists. So, we sat down with John Kessler, Chicago Magazine dining critic, Ambar Colón, Chicago Sun-Times arts and culture reporter, Mike Davis, WBEZ theater reporter to get dining, ice cream and theater recommendations.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
What is it about softball?
“What is it not about softball?” replies Megan Faramio, a star pitcher for the Talons in the all-new Athletes Unlimited Softball League, or AUSL. “I can literally talk about softball for days.”
The AUSL is about to wrap up its first season with a three-game playoff series in Alabama between Faraimo’s Talons and the Bandits, a team name that Chicago softball fans know well. The Chicago Bandits were based mainly in Rosemont and played in the National Pro Fastpitch league from 2005 to 2019 until the league disbanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. The AUSL said it was “re-introducing” the Bandits brand “to make new history.”
AUSL league commissioner Kim Ng acknowledged that pro women’s softball leagues in the U.S. have a “spotty” history, but she says this league will be different.
In this inaugural “barnstorming season,” AUSL teams like the Talons and Bandits are not yet attached to specific cities, so The Stadium in Rosemont has hosted every team in the small league for many of the regular season’s games. Next year, the AUSL plans to attach six teams to six to-be-determined cities, and Ng says Rosemont is on the short-list.
“Absolutely, you have to consider somewhere that has a Jennie Finch Way,” Ng said, a reference to the team’s legendary former player and the street named after her where Rosemont’s pro softball field is located.
In our last episode, we looked back at Chicago’s first professional women’s softball league from the 1940s and ‘50s — one that featured business-sponsored teams like Parichy’s Bloomer Girls or Brach’s Kandy Kids. That softball league rivaled the pro women’s baseball league featured in the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own.”
Today, we’re exploring this new chapter in professional women’s softball history. What’s going to give the AUSL staying power? And what’s all the hype about?
We asked Talons star Megan Faraimo, Commissioner Ng, and — at a sellout crowd on a hot day in Rosemont — the fans.
As dangerous heat bears down on Chicago, we get tips for staying safe. Plus, how climate change is making conditions riskier for all residents, especially those who work and spend lots of time outside. We sat down with Gaby Gracia, deputy director Great Lakes Center for Farmworker Health and Wellbeing at the UIC School of Public Health, and also Trent Ford, Illinois State Climatologist.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
The Damen Silos in McKinley Park on Chicago’s Southwest side serve as a visual reminder of the city’s history as an agrarian trading center. But the process to demolish the silos is now underway.
Reset speaks with Kate Eakin, executive director of McKinley Park Development Council, and Chicago journalist Robert Loerzel about the role the silos played in early 20th-century Chicago and what lies ahead for the site and the surrounding neighborhood.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
There was the Rockford Peaches, women’s pro baseball team of the 1940s that was celebrated in the movie "A League of Their Own." But there was also a pro softball league at the time that had Chicago fans going wild.
Chicago just saw its most violent non-holiday weekend so far this summer. This comes just three months after local violence prevention groups learned the Department of Justice grants those groups depended on. Despite all that, however, community violence intervention efforts in Chicago are growing, with shootings and homicides down during the first half of 2025.
Reset digs into how Chicago can keep up momentum despite federal funding cuts with Vaughn Bryant, executive director of Metropolitan Peace Initiative; Garien Gatewood, deputy mayor of community safety for the city of Chicago; Michael Harris, outreach worker at the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago; and Katie Hill, executive director, University of Chicago Crime Lab.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
While Ford City Mall in West Lawn faces demolition and going the way of many of its mall brethren, two other suburban shopping centers in the area are thriving. A “reader’s choice” report from USA Today says Oakbrook Center in the western suburbs and The Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont are among the best in the nation.
Reset looks at what makes these and other Chicago-area shopping centers great and discusses how local malls are changing to draw visitors at a time when malls nationwide have been in decline.
Our guests: Amanda Lai, Director of Food Industry Practice at McMillanDoolittle;
Meha Ahmad, Reset senior producer; Rachel Herzog, Crain’s Chicago Business commercial real estate reporter.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
