In the Loop (Segments)

For 30 years, After School Matters has provided a variety of extracurricular programs for high school teens. This summer, they are offering a hybrid version of their summer programs to reach even more kids. Reset talks with a spokesperson from the local non-profit more about this program.

Some economic soothsayers have warned that the remote work boom we’ve seen during the pandemic will slowly suck the life from big U.S. cities. Reset checks in with a demographer who thinks the worry is overblown and points to what happened in cities after the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

If you’re looking for a way to celebrate Pride Month, Deerfield Public Library has a virtual option. Every day in June, the library is putting on a virtual literary Pride Parade of poets. Reset brings on the co-directors of Queer Poem-a-Day to learn more about the special podcast series and their hopes for what the project will achieve beyond Pride Month.

The Cubs and the White Sox are in first place. Fans are in the stands. And the weather looks like it’s finally turning toward something that looks like summer. WBEZ’s sports contributor Cheryl Raye-Stout updates us on the diamond, the gridiron, and the court

The name “Lake Shore Drive” is as Chicago as our famous 7-topping hotdog, but some aldermen want to honor Chicago’s first non-native Black resident by renaming part of the drive after Jean Baptise Point DuSable. Reset takes the pulse of listeners about the proposed change, which is expected to be voted on in City Council in June.

Illinois senators closed up the spring session into the early hours of Tuesday morning to approve the last couple bills that will go to the governor's desk for his approval or veto. Questions around budgeting, racial justice, college sports and more were on the line this week. Reset brings in our state politics reporter and education reporter for a recap of the legislative session.

A former Chicago alderman with some big ideas helps us wrap up our series on how community investment and economic development could work better in Chicago.

The New Venture Challenge at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has served as an innovation hub for startups and entrepreneurs. On Wednesday, a dozen teams will pitch their business plans for a chance of at least $1 million in investment. Reset brings on a co-founder of the annual competition and an alumni company to discuss Chicago Booth’s legacy of supporting startups.

Located on Michigan Avenue near Millennium Park, you may have walked by the American Writers Museum countless times without knowing it. The only one of its kind in the country, it’s a museum devoted to our national heroes of the written word, literary legends like Walt Whitman and Upton Sinclair, as well as film critic Roger Ebert and comedian Richard Pryor. Reset gets summer book recommendations...

Reset brings on a bioethicist and opens the phones to listeners to discuss the COVID-19 honor system and other ethical challenges during the pandemic.

For the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Reset explores how the destruction and denial of Black wealth in Tulsa and across America over the last 100 years built the pillars of structural racism today.

Reset talks with an energy policy expert about what would be landmark environmental legislation.

Reset checks in with two top city officials to hear their ideas and to hear them react to some creative solutions proposed earlier in our Re-imagine Chicago series.

Reset talks with two wedding pros about how the industry is preparing for a predicted post-pandemic wedding boom this summer and fall.

Reset learns more about what’s causing the shortages and how they are rippling across Chicago-area commercial and residential real estate.

Clean energy, ethics, an elected school board and marijuana expansion — COVID-19 caused a backlog of bills in Springfield. Now legislators are frantically trying to finish up the spring session by Monday’s deadline. Reset gets an update on state legislation and finds out what’s been happening with police reform in Chicago, as well as a stalled plan to rename parts of the Outer Drive after Jean Bap...

Reset brings on David Marienthal to discuss the story of his family’s legendary Chicago night club, Mister Kelly's. He partnered with director and screenwriter Ted Bogosian on the new documentary Live At Mister Kelly’s.

The typical Puerto Rican-inspired jibarito is a sandwich of thin-cut steak or shredded beef, tomatoes, lettuce, and garlicky mayo stuck between two fried and flattened green plantains. Recommended by a Reset listener, host Sasha-Ann Simons tries a jibarito for the first time.

Reset brings on an infectious disease expert for our weekly check-in to provide clarity and answers to your questions, comments and concerns about COVID-19.

Most U.S. history classes making little more than passing references to the impact Asian Americans have had on the nation or to the discrimination many faced after arriving in the United States as immigrants. With Illinois poised to become the first state to require instruction in Asian American history in high schools, Reset checks in with a scholar on the subject for a primer.

Illinois legalized recreational marijuana in 2019, and incorporated strong social justice initiatives into the legislation, including licenses set aside for “social equity applicants” hoping to own marijuana dispensaries. Reset examines the details of cannabis legislation aiming to increase non-existent minority marijuana business ownership in Illinois.

Reset checks in with the president of the Chicago Transit Authority to learn how the agency is preparing to welcome riders back post-pandemic.

Nearly a century ago, a white mob attacked businesses, homes and residents in the predominantly Black Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Okla. Historians estimate as many as 300 people died. Hundreds of businesses and homes were looted and burned down. One of the businesses destroyed belonged to the great-grandfather of Keewa Nurullah, a fourth-generation Chicago entrepreneur. Reset talks to Nurulla...

Reset producer and Radio Z host Jason Marck talks about making the one-hour audio documentary Dylan At 80: A Chicago Music Perspective. The special focuses on six of the biggest names in Chicago music from a wide variety of genres, and each one explains the influence Bob Dylan had on their art and their lives.

A year after the police murder of George Floyd, some companies and corporations are taking major steps to combat racial inequities in the workplace — from addressing hiring discrepancy to incorporating more people of color in leadership. Reset speaks with a reporter and a CEO for more on the significance of this past year in corporate America.