City Cast Chicago

Cubs fans had a rough weekend. Trade rumors started Thursday about who the team would be losing, and who they would be getting as the deadline loomed. By Friday, The Chicago Cubs front office had broken up the stars of their 2016 World Series, including Anthony Rizzo who went to the New York Yankees, Kris Bryant who headed to the San Francisco Giants, and Javier Baez to the New York Mets. They als...

The CDC had advised that masks be worn indoors again, especially in states that are seeing COVID cases surge again. Host Jacoby Cochran and South Side Weekly editor-in-chief Jackie Serrato talk about how it feels like we're moving back into the pandemic, especially when Black and brown communities still have low vaccination rates. They also talk about how residents on the Southwest Side are saying...

It has been a week since the 2021 Summer Olympics kicked off in Tokyo, Japan. Already we’ve seen a couple of Chicago-area athletes' medals, a Tsunami scare, and the biggest gymnast in the world make an unprecedented decision to step back. Chicago Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair has been everywhere in Tokyo from the pools to the basketball courts, to an emotional softball field covering her fourth...

Chicago is bracing for nearly half a million people to flood Grant Park for Lollapalooza. The four-day festival makes residents cranky anyway, with street closures, crowded buses, and trains, teenagers stumbling around during rush hour, but Lolla during a pandemic is another level. Chicago’s Department of Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady says festival organizers and the city have made the...

This weekend, the Chinatown Summer Fair is back after taking a year off because of the pandemic. The event is also two days instead of one this year and is expected to draw about 40,000 people. There will be hip-hop music, live DJs, and booths from members of all of Chicago’s AAPI communities. Some of this year's changes are part of a push by younger Chinatown residents to make the neighborhood mo...

After several extensions of the state’s eviction moratorium, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker issued an executive order last Friday that allows eviction filings to begin on August 1. Both the state and city have available rental assistance, and housing advocates are doing their part, too. Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago expects close to 100,000 applications for some help. And while that prog...

City Council passed a civilian police oversight ordinance that assuages some activists’ calls for more accountability, but ultimately, Mayor Lori Lightfoot still retains a lot of power. Host Jacoby Cochran talks about that story, as well as “Overhyped” and “Under-hyped” stories with WCIU’s Brandon Pope. Jacoby and Brandon also talk about the joy an NBA Finals win brought for all of the Midwest. Gu...

This summer’s Olympics are the fourth for Chicago Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair. And, it’s already like no other games she’s covered. After weeks of tests and preparations, Stacy and her colleague, photojournalist Brian Cassella, have each been quarantining in their hotel rooms for three days, and are allowed 15 minutes a day to go outside, get some fresh air, and maybe run to the minimart for...

Back in April, WBEZ reporter Dan Mihalopoulos reported that that the Chicago Park District was looking into allegations by former lifeguards who say they experienced “criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse” while working at city beaches and pools. The internal investigation had been happening for more than a year, and according to documents, revealed that the parks superinten...

For most Chicagoans, the Loop is just where the office is (or used to be) or a place to take your family when they’re in town. But as downtown recovers from the pandemic, the Chicago Loop Alliance is working to make the Loop more welcoming to everyone. One way they’re trying to do that is by closing three blocks along State Street this summer for “Sundays on State.” Host Jacoby Cochran was there t...

For the last year, the housing market in most big cities has been in overdrive. The pandemic forced us inside our homes; they became our offices, our schools and the center of our social lives. That led families to seek more space, and low interest rates had longtime renters making the switch to homeowner.s One area of the city and surrounding area that is seeing homeowner growth? Black middle cla...

A former Chicago Public Schools principal has been accused of stealing of $200,000 from the school to pay her mortgage, which garnered a little bit of, “Yeah, what else is new in Chicago?” from this week’s guest, Jill Hopkins. Jill hosts “Jill Afternoons” on Vocalo Radio. She and host Jacoby Cochran break down that news, Scottie Pippen’s new gig as an Airbnb host, worries about COVID at camps, and...

Dario Durham and Sara Faddah come from very different food traditions. Faddah is originally from Jordan, and she cooks the Arab foods her grandmother made when she was a child. Durham is a born-and-bred Chicagoan, and grew up on soul food like mac ‘n cheese, cornbread and candied yams. So when they started dating in 2019, they began exploring each other’s food cultures, and building their own list...

With the return of festivals, the reopening of restaurants, and a pause on travel restrictions, the last couple months have felt more like normal in Chicago. But on Tuesday, city officials announced travelers from Arkansas or Missouri must test negative for COVID-19 or quarantine for 10 days before coming to Chicago. The new travel advisory plus concerns over the delta variant and vaccine disparit...

The New York Times recently reminded us — or told us for the first time — that Chicago is not immune from the climate crisis. The article “A Battle Between a Great City and a Great Lake” explains how Lake Michigan, that expansive, beautiful source of freshwater, has been fluctuating between not enough water and too much. When levels are too high, it wreaks havoc along the lakeshore, including on h...

There were about 1,430 carjackings in Chicago in 2020, more than double the previous year’s total. And more than half of the people arrested in those incidents were under 18. A new investigation by the Better Government Association finds that many of these teens, some as young as 13, are being put on electronic monitoring and sent home instead of receiving services that could help curtail future c...

Chicago started the week on a sad note. The city had its most violent weekend so far this year over the 4th of July holiday. And, unfortunately, that led to more finger pointing by officials rather than a unified front. WBEZ Senior Producer Meha Ahmad and host Jacoby Cochran talk through that story, and also how President Biden’s visit to the northwest suburb of Crystal Lake didn’t feel quite as e...

Achieving a “work-life balance” has always been hard, but the pandemic blurred those worlds even more. The resulting burnout is prompting many companies to rethink how they work. One local example is City Bureau. The journalism nonprofit is trying out a four-day work week this summer to combat burnout and boost productivity. We ask City Bureau co-founder Bettina Chang and the organization’s people...

On Chicago’s far Northwest Side, changing demographics and politics represent a divide of old vs. new. Many residents in these neighborhoods are cops, fire fighters, teachers and other city workers who are required to live inside the city’s borders. They like the suburban-like living that offers brick bungalows, backyards and a slower pace. Now, more Latino and younger, white, liberal families hav...

People outside of Chicago often view the city as dangerous. Sometimes they even call it “The Murder Capital,” even though other cities have higher rates of violence. Natalie Moore says media are part of the problem. The WBEZ reporter and author of “The South Side” has spent her career pushing back on the idea that covering the South and West sides is all bad news all the time. She and host Jacoby...

Today we're sharing an episode from the podcast "It's All Good" from our friends at Block Club Chicago. Each week, host Jon Hansen talks to the people who make their neighborhoods great. This week: The Folded Map Project. Creator Tonika Lewis Johnson and sociologist Maria Krysan interviewed 30 people about how they first confronted — and eventually combatted — harmful narratives about Chicago’s So...

We’re breaking down the week’s news with Jon Hansen, host of Block Club Chicago’s “It’s All Good” podcast. He and host Jacoby Cochran talk about why City Council infighting could actually be a good sign, Jon’s discovery of a Black-owned LGBTQ+ bar in South Shore, how Jacoby is over the fireworks already, and the long-awaited unveiling of the Ida B. Wells monument in Bronzeville. Guest: Jon Hansen,...

Every year, The Broken Arrow Riding Club hosts a rodeo at the South Shore Cultural Center Park. Yes, right there next to a golf course, beach and landmark event space where the Obamas hosted their wedding reception. The club has been around for more than 30 years with a mission to bring horseback riding and rodeos to all ethnic backgrounds and physical abilities in Chicago. As a native Chicagoan,...

Before he became the host of The Late Show, or The Colbert Report, and before The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert honed his craft in Chicago. Colbert went from Northwestern University’s theater department to The Second City, where he is now joining the board of directors. Colbert tells host Jacoby Cochran about his early days with the historic theater, his lasting impressions of the city, and how he w...

After seeing how impactful the pandemic was for their young kids, two Chicago moms decided that a great way for kids to look back at this historical moment was to start a time capsule. They created “Once Upon Our Time Capsule,” a project that collects individual time capsules from kids across the city. We talk to Stacey Gillett and Stephanie Hodges about why they thought it was important that chil...