City Cast Chicago

All this week, we're replaying some of the team's favorite stories from 2021. Host Jacoby Cochran picked this story about Illinois' nascent cannabis industry. When state lawmakers legalized weed in 2019, they promised licenses and revenues would go to Black and brown communities hit hardest by the war on drugs. But cannabis remains dominated by white growers and sellers. And confusion remains, des...

On City Cast Chicago, we often focus our stories around neighborhoods. That’s partly because of the old Chicago adage that we’re a "city of neighborhoods.” But it’s also because when you say the name of a neighborhood in our city, it conjures up images of the area: the racial makeup of it, how affluent it is, if disinvestment has plagued it, if it has single-family homes with yards, or is dense wi...

While many of us are just trying to get through the rest of 2021, Mayor Lori Lightfoot spent the week before the holiday making promises to combat the two most pressing issues facing Chicago: The omicron surge and violent crime. On Monday, she gave a 40-minute speech outlining her public safety plans, spanning everything from suing gangs, cracking down on electronic monitoring, and bringing in mor...

The City Cast Chicago team are all very vocal cold weather haters. And while we have been spared so far this year from the bone-chilling temps, wind that pierces our souls, and ice that turns our sidewalks into skating rinks, it's sure to come soon. We’ve learned there are people who don’t just tolerate the cold, but LIKE it. Producer Simone Alicea takes a stroll with one of these cold weather lov...

For more than 40 years, “Bozo’s Circus” was a daily, and later, weekly presence on the televisions of kids and their parents. And in Chicago, we really claimed Bozo, Cookie and his friends as our own because the show taped at WGN studios. But, Bozo didn’t originate here, and other cities even had their OWN Bozos. But, ours was the best. The show has been off the air since 2001, but actor—and nativ...

Injustice Watch senior reporter Maya Dukmasova and Chicago Reader culture editor Salem Collo-Julin join host Jacoby Cochran to look back on a few stories from the week, including one judge’s obsession with an alcohol monitoring bracelet called SCRAM, the ongoing fallout after tornadoes tore across the Midwest over the weekend, and, oh, did anyone check out the Cook County Democrats’ endorsements?...

In the early 1960s, Gloria Allen, aka Mama Gloria, was ridiculed by teachers and fellow students at Englewood High School for being a “sissy.” Allen says no one knew back then what being transgender meant. But she always knew she was a girl, and with the support of her mother, grandmother, and some neighbors, Allen was able to embrace who she really was. Living that authentic life is what helped h...

Music is known as a therapeutic tool, but usually that conjures up thoughts of soothing sounds, learning to play an instrument, or writing song lyrics as a form of expression. But for many people, it also includes popping into a local karaoke bar, signing up for the song you want to sing, making friends with regulars who also sing, feeling vulnerable, finding community, and building routine. This...

Each year, tens of thousands of super fans, aka cosplayers, head to McCormick Place Convention Center to celebrate their shared love of Star Wars, Marvel Comics, and all sorts of characters that dominate spheres of pop culture. Since the pandemic shut down gatherings and conventions, participating in those communities has been limited to online, and has left past attendees feeling lonely and isola...

The Second City. Windy City. The City of Big Shoulders. Chicago is known by many names. “We matter so much to the country, people always talking about us,” says Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, aka The TikTok Historian. Dilla talks about the history of some of these nicknames with host Jacoby Cochran, and they discuss what these monikers say about the city. Plus, Dilla just can’t help but drop a few other...

Jussie Smollett was found guilty Thursday evening of falsely reporting to police that he was a victim of a hate crime in January 2019. It’s been nearly three years of conflicting stories and political rancor leading up to the jury’s decision, after the former “Empire” actor said he was attacked outside his Streeterville apartment, and police later accused Smollett of staging the crime. The City Ca...

Journalist Michael J. O'Loughlin is gay and Catholic, and his latest book explores the intersection of those two worlds. “Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear” profiles church members who were behind scenes caring for people with HIV and AIDS, even as the institutional church denounced these individuals. Some of these nuns and priests were the onl...

For their podcast “77 Flavors of Chicago,” Dario Durham and Sara Faddah seek to visit each of Chicago’s 77 community areas to taste some of the best food the city has to offer. Host Jacoby Cochran recently joined the couple at Mikkey’s Retro Grill in Avalon Park. The trio throw down on some burgers, jerk fries, and even vegan options, while talking about the changing South Side. Follow Sara and Da...

Generations of residents in West Side neighborhoods like Austin have complained that police don’t come when they call 911. The Central Austin Neighborhood Association even sued the city over the problem in 2011. A decade later, a settlement has been finalized. It includes a requirement that Chicago Police track response times in each of the department’s 22 districts and make the data public. Block...

Right now, thousands of Chicago Public School kids and their families are stressing about where they’re going to high school. That’s because Dec. 15 is the deadline to apply to the district’s selective enrollment schools. There are 11 selective enrollment public high schools in Chicago, some of which are included in lists for the best schools in the country — schools like Whitney Young, Walter Pay...

Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett is charged with lying about being attacked nearly three years ago outside his Streeterville apartment. The alleged-hate-crime-turned-alleged-hoax was a big deal when it happened, but City Cast’s Simone Alicea and Carrie Shepherd are a little exhausted by the story. They share their fatigue with Chicago Tribune’s Stephanie Casanova, who tells us about a fight o...

We’ve been covering Chicago’s ward remap at City Cast Chicago, but here’s a reminder: The remap process takes place every decade after the census, and it’s meant to reflect changing demographics of the city. Each time, transparency and public input are promised. Then alderpersons gather behind closed doors and negotiate with each other about which boundaries would serve each of them and allow them...

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in August signed into law legislation requiring sex education in K-12 schools to teach about HIV, consent, and the role of technology in sexual health. Pritzker and backers of the bill said it modernizes sex education, but schools and parents can still opt out of the curriculum. On this World AIDS Day, Lead Producer Carrie Shepherd talks to a clinical psychologist from No...

David Plotz, CEO of City Cast and co-host of Slate's "Political Gabfest," is a lifelong Washingtonian who knows the ins and outs of THAT city. But now, in his current role at City Cast, he has to learn about about a slew of new cities that are part of the company's network: Denver, Houston, and, of course, Chicago. So, naturally, he has questions. David asks host Jacoby Cochran and Lead Producer C...

Chicago's Black population is the lowest it's been since the 1950s. What was once a destination for Black Southerners seeking more opportunity and racial equity is now a city they're fleeing to move to nearby states, like Indiana, but also farther away like Texas, Georgia and Arizona. Chicago Tribune's Will Lee talked to former Chicagoans. Lee explains why they say they’re leaving, and as life-lon...

As many of us enjoy delicious food over the Thanksgiving holiday, we wanted to take a moment to look back on a story about a Chicagoan working to feed his neighbors. Dion Dawson was asked in 2020 what he wanted to do to help his Englewood community. He responded that he wanted to feed 100 families. Fast forward a year, and Dion's Chicago Dream is running a community fridge that the organization ke...

Last year, the Wabash Arts Corridor commissioned two murals in the South Loop to celebrate the centennial of women’s suffrage. While one mural has been installed, the other has been blocked by a nearby parking lot owner who said it was “too political.” Lead producer Carrie Shepherd visited the site at Wabash and Harrison and has been looking into what happened. She explains what happened and how i...

A group of South Shore neighbors pooled their money to buy and restore a historic vacant apartment building in their neighborhood. Mayor Lori Lightfoot remains on the fence as alders continue to spar over the city’s next ward map. And one Chicagoan may have caught the biggest carp in Illinois at the Humboldt Park lagoon, leaving the rest of us wondering, “Where the hell did this 72-pound behemoth...

The film “Passing,” now streaming on Netflix, is based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel of the same name. Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry are two light-skinned Black women who grew up on Chicago’s South Side—just like Larsen. One of the women is “passing” as white while the other is heavily involved with the Harlem community where she now lives. Writer and Larsen scholar Amina Gautier explains how Chi...

The Illinois Restaurant Association says even as establishments continue to reopen since the start of the pandemic, 100,000 restaurants have closed nationwide, and the industry is still down 70,000 jobs in Illinois. Worker advocates say one way to fix that shortage is to get rid of the subminimum wage. That’s the minimum hourly rate employers have to pay tipped workers like waiters and bartenders...