In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons

Responders have not identified actual threats as a result of these fake active shooter reports. But Illinois State Police say these so-called “swatting” incidents are targeting schools throughout the U.S. Reset digs into why these threats are happening and how schools are responding with Sophie Sherry, Chicago Sun-Times reporter.

The Chicago musician Angel Bat Dawid draws parallels between Mozart and the ’60s documentary “The Cry of Jazz” in her latest album, Requiem for Jazz. Angel joins Reset to talk about the new album, her hopes for future Black musicians, and her early days learning the clarinet.

Chicago gets the DNC, staff at local universities continue to strike, and workers at the Museum of Science and Industry vote to unionize. Reset breaks down these stories and much more with Alice Yin, politics reporter for the Chicago Tribune, David Greising, president and CEO of Better Government Association, and Dave McKinney, WBEZ state politics reporter.

The city is a food writer’s delicious playground, and a new guide book aims to point you to all the best dishes created in the city. Reset learns about the origin stories that started them all with Monica Eng, author of Made in Chicago and Chicago reporter for AXIOS and David Hammond, author of Made in Chicago and Chicago food writer

Chicago residents weighed in on what they want in the city’s next police chief at a town hall meeting Tuesday night. The next meeting is set for April 19 at St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham on the South Side. Reset hears from leaders of Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, Anthony Driver and Remel Terry, about the progress in their search.

Fast fashion stresses water supply, leaches chemicals into the environment and requires diesel and gasoline to transport the goods. Reset learns about the problem with Karen Weigert, director of Loyola University Chicago’s Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility. Sasha-Ann Simons also sits down with fiber artist and teacher Kristine Brandel, and Katherine Bissell Cordova, executiv...

Vocalo’s Stephen Bekoe stops by Reset to share the top five tracks he’s spinning this month.

U.S. district court judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled a ban on the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of medical abortion pill mifepristone. Since then, the Biden administration has urged the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to keep the drug available to Americans as litigation continues. Reset breaks down what’s happening nationwide and locally with Lee Hasselbacher, director of the University...

Reset digs into the five ways Mayor Elect Brandon Johnson plans to improve public safety in Chicago with WBEZ criminal justice reporters Chip Mitchell and Patrick Smith.

Thanks to its unique geology, companies are eyeing Illinois to be the terminus of carbon dioxide pipelines that send liquid CO2 long distances to be stored deep underground so the gas does not need to be released into the atmosphere. Reset talks to Chicago Tribune reporter Nara Schoenberg about how the technology works and what people from downstate Illinois have to say about the greenhouse gas be...

Do you have to be wealthy and knowledgeable about everything there is to know about art to be a collector? Not according to Chicago artist Patric McCoy. In our Chicago Innovator series, we get to know the people shaking up the city. In this installment, Reset talked to McCoy about his journey to embracing the term “art collector,” and about his new exhibit, which chronicles Black gay culture in th...

An investigation from the Chicago Tribune shows how a cascade of failures within the Cook County criminal justice system leads most murder cases to take four years to go to trial, with some lasting up to or more than a decade. Reset talks with journalists Megan Crepau and Joe Mahr, who reported “Stalled Justice,” and with Shapearl Wells, a Chicago woman who’s still seeking justice in her son’s dea...

Independent artists have it harder than ever and big streaming platforms pay less than a penny per listen. So how can you give back to the person behind that song you have on repeat? Reset learns more about finding new artists and supporting them outside of the streaming platforms. We spoke to Sen Morimoto, musician and co-owner of Sooper Records, Shane Bradley, AKA DJ Moonlanding, Marketing Direc...

There are a lot of long-standing disparities in healthcare, from unequal allocation of resources to a lack of diverse representation of providers. Reset spoke to Neelam Dhadankar, a healthcare policy analyst at Access Living, and Myles Brady Davis, the communications director at Equality Illinois, about how mandated cultural competency courses for medical professionals could solve some of these in...

Public university professors across Illinois are fed up, with faculty from Chicago State University and Eastern Illinois University already on strike, and staff at Governor’s State University set to strike on Tuesday. Reset learns more about what’s driving faculty at public universities in Illinois and across the country to hit the picket line. Reset checks in with WBEZ higher education reporter L...

Because science says so! In honor of National Hug Your Dog Day, Reset sits down with Mark Lukas, a volunteer at PAWS, and his own pup, to find out more about the bond between dog and man.

Chicago’s new City Council will be more progressive, more diverse and younger than it’s been in years past when new members are sworn in May 15. Reset sits down with 11th Ward Ald. Nicole Lee and 46th Ward Ald. Angela Clay to discuss the importance of representation at City Hall, their top priorities when they take office and their plans for working with mayor-elect Brandon Johnson.

Reset talks to Simone and Jory Luster of Luster Products, one of the biggest Black-owned hair care manufacturers in the world. We also talk to Leslie Roberson, CEO and founder of the Black Beauty Collective, a new black-owned beauty supplier in Hyde Park.

The Lutheran School of Theology has been a modernist mainstay in Hyde Park since 1967. Now the school along with its neighbor, McCormick Theological Seminary, has been purchased by the University of Chicago. Reset talks to architecture sleuth Dennis Rodkin to learn about the history of the buildings and how they’ll be incorporated into the UChicago campus.

Chicago gets a new mayor. The trial of ComEd lobbyists continues. Two firefighters die in the line of duty within two days. Protesters postpone the opening of an Englewood grocery store. Reset breaks down these stories and much more with Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Kesling, Block Club Chicago investigative editor and reporter Mick Dumke and WBEZ data projects editor Alden Loury.

David Barksdale and Mayor Richard J. Daley are names you might not put together. But scholar Lance Williams does just that in his new book, King David and Boss Daley: The Black Disciples, Mayor Daley and Chicago on the Edge. Williams argues that amid urban renewal in the city two men ruled their respective Black and Irish neighborhoods with an iron fist. Reset talks to Lance Williams to learn the...

When the owners of a local vintage and antique store opened shop in 2009, they weren’t expecting people to also come to them with questions about estate liquidation. That’s when their store morphed into the Estate Sale Goddess. Reset chats with Lynn and Ty McDaniel to learn more about what it takes to run their business and what people need to know about navigating estate sales.

Two Chicago firefighters died in the line of duty this week battling housefires. Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt called the back-to-back losses “unprecedented.” The tragedy has some Chicagoans wondering how the city could prevent residential fires before they happen. Reset talked to David Greising from the Better Government Associations about solutions to this overlooked public safety issue.

After seven years as a correspondent for The Daily Show, Roy Wood Jr. will now get behind the desk as a guest host this week. Wood will also be venturing into new territory as the emcee of the White House Correspondents Dinner at the end of April. Reset speaks with the entertainer about these two big gigs, and how fatherhood has changed his outlook on his life career.

Reset speaks to mayor elect Brandon Johnson about his victory and his initial plans as the new mayor of Chicago.