Author: WBEZ Chicago

Residents on the South and West sides claim their 911 calls were ignored, as data shows the rapid response teams made traffic stops instead. Parts of Lurie Children’s Hospital’s system have been restored after a cyberattack forced it to shut down. And a Yelp list ranks a Chicago restaurant’s pizza as number one in the country. Reset hears more about those stories and more with Chicago Tribune state government reporter Dan Petrella, WBEZ criminal justice reporter Patrick Smith, and WBEZ city government and politics reporter Mariah Woelfel.

Chicago became the largest U.S. city to outlaw a lower minimum wage for tipped workers last year. Now, Democratic lawmakers in Springfield have introduced legislation that would get rid of the lower minimum wage for the state’s tipped workers, something advocates for higher pay call the “subminimum wage.” Reset hears two perspectives on the proposed legislation: Audra Wilson, president and CEO of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, and Mario Ponce, owner of Takito Brands restaurants.

More than half of U.S. tenants can’t afford their rent. Here in Chicago, thousands — tens of thousands by one measure — are experiencing homelessness. To complicate matters, the city continues to struggle to find shelter for the more than 35,000 migrants who have arrived in Chicago since August 2022. Reset goes behind the scenes of Evicted, a new exhibition at the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago with its Executive Director, Lisa Yun Lee, to shine a light on national housing policies and tenants’ rights.

Chicago is severing ties with Shot Spotter – rebranded just last year as Sound Thinking – at the end of the summer. Supporters of the gunshot detection technology say this will slow response times to gunshot victims, but studies by the city and county officials find the tech system rarely produces documented evidence of a gun crime. Reset learns more from WBEZ criminal justice reporter Chip Mitchell.

There’s no perfect formula to love, but a set of good questions can get you far. Reset chats with dating coach and founder of Smart Dating Academy Bela Gandhi on her best advice for deepening relationships.

Bring Chicago Home is an initiative to create a dedicated funding stream in the city budget to support the city’s unhoused population. Reset chats with WBEZ’s city government and politics reporter Mariah Woelfel about how that referendum could impact not just the unhoused, but also renters and the real estate market.

Since August 2022, over 35,000 people have come to Chicago from the southern border, most sent here by plane or bus. Reset hears from a father of two about his journey to Chicago and when he hopes to be reunited with his family.

Firefighters are an important part of keeping a community safe. Not only do they literally put out fires, they also help clean up hazardous materials and in some cases, make sure our buildings are up to code. And Skokie Citizens Fire Academy teaches interested residents about all that goes into the job, plus some firefighting skills. Reset learns more about the program from Inspector Timothy Taylor and hears from its oldest graduate, Mort Feldberg.