In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons

The results are in and Chicago voters have chosen Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson as the next mayor of the city. Reset dives into the results with a panel of experts including Jaime Dominguez, professor Northwestern University; Connie Mixon, professor of political science and director of the urban studies program at Elmhurst University; and political strategist Delmarie Cobb.

The University of Chicago founded the Oriental Institute in 1919 to be on the cutting edge of research into ancient West Asia and North Africa. More than 100 years later, the institution was in need of an update. Reset learns all about the changes with Marc Maillot, associate director and chief curator at newly-rebranded Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum at the University of Chica...

Today marks 55 years since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., who was killed during Holy Week (the time between Palm Sunday and Easter). Reset talks to Vann Newkirk, host of The Atlantic’s new podcast “Holy Week,” which explores the week following King’s assassination, and how it set the stage for today’s fight over voting rights, redlining and critical race theory.

How did one state Supreme Court race become possibly the most consequential election of 2023? Reset learns what the state race could mean for abortion access in Wisconsin, and how this will impact services provided in Illinois. Reset checks in with Molly Beck from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Brigid Leahy, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood Illinois Action.

In 1997, thirteen-year-old Lenard Clark was brutally beaten by three white teenagers in Bridgeport for being Black in a white neighborhood. A new podcast by Yohance Lacour, who covered the incident and its aftermath as a young journalist, revisits the story decades later in “You Didn’t See Nothin.” Reset spoke with Lacour to learn more about the new series.

After a spike of shootings in 2016, Chicago stepped up its violence prevention efforts. Reset sat down with some of the leaders of this endeavor to learn what’s changed in the eight years since the movement began. We talked to Dominique McCord from Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, Teny Gross from the Institute for Nonviolence, Chris Patterson from Illinois’ Office of Firearm Violence Prevention, an...

A new three-part documentary tells the story of the last season the White Sox played at the original Comiskey Park before it was demolished in the early ’90s. Reset learned a piece of Chicago baseball history from Matt Flesch, the producer and director of the docuseries “Last Comiskey.”

Do you know what a police officer does on a day-to-day basis? It’s not something Chicago’s Police Department grants public access to, and it’s what Chicago’s new Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability leader Anthony Driver says has led to a lack of empathy and understanding between the community and police. Reset spoke with WBEZ reporter Patrick Smith to learn more.

Several recent polls show a tight race between Chicago mayoral runoff candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas. City Council members are pushing to have more independence from the next mayor. Plus, the Fed’s star witness takes the stand in the ComEd bribery trial. Reset breaks down these top local stories and more in the Weekly News Recap with Kim Bellware, national and breaking news reporter fo...

This year the jazz fusion ensemble Snarky Puppy won their fifth Grammy. Michael League, founder and bandleader, joins Reset to chat about the band's beginnings, his label GroundUP Music and how sounds from around the world influence his work. You can catch Snarky Puppy this evening at the Riviera Theatre this evening.

On March 30, Reset’s Sasha-Ann Simons sat down with mayoral hopefuls Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson for their last forum before the April 4 runoff.

In his latest book, An Immense World, science writer Ed Yong takes a break from his tireless pandemic reporting for The Atlantic to invite readers inside the wondrous and innumerable different ways animals perceive the world around them — from bees and songbirds to scallops and crocodiles. Reset talked to the award-winning writer to learn more about the book and some of his favorite quirky wildlif...

Spring this year in Chicago means flowers blooming, pollen galore and (because of that pollen) what’s shaping up to be one of the worst allergy seasons in recent history. Reset spoke to allergist Dr. Baiju Malde from Northwestern about how to muscle through an epic sneezing season. We also learned how climate change plays a hand.

There are nearly 100 crisis pregnancy centers in Illinois, but many of them do not provide abortion care, medication or contraceptives. A proposed bill would allow people to sue the centers for deception, misrepresentation of facts and interfering access to abortions. Reset discussed the proposed legislation with WBEZ reporter Mawa Iqbal and Megan Jeyifo, executive director of the Chicago Abortion...

The Chicago Sun-Times editorial board says that “us vs. them” thinking in economic development needs to become a thing of the past and that lifting up neglected neighborhoods in the city can benefit Chicago as a whole. Reset talks with editorial board member and architecture critic Lee Bey.

Members of Congress questioned TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about the safety and security of the app and expressed their concern that China would access information about Americans through the app. Reset digs into the latest on the hearings and the fate of the video-sharing app with Washington Post tech writer Shira Ovide.

After at least 38 migrants died in a fire in an immigration detention facility near the U.S.-Mexico border, Reset shares the latest on migrants and asylum seekers making their way to the U.S. with Gladis Molina Alt, executive director of Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and Nicole Hallett, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School.

The Chicago-based group Queers on the Rocks is building a community of LGBTQ climbers and promoting representation of queer athletes. Reset talked to group organizers Danya Rosen and Daniel Bedoya.

The Covenant School in Nashville is the latest school to be targeted by a mass shooter. What do schools in Illinois do to prepare for a school shooting? And what runs through the minds of educators when they hear about Sandy Hook, Uvalde and now Nashville? Reset spoke to two local education advocates for their perspective: Katherine Buitron-Vera, former school safety consultant and volunteer with...

Yesterday a 28-year-old shooter killed three 9-year-old children and three staff members — all in their 60s — at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. In a twist of fate, Ashbey Beasley, a survivor of the Highland Park shooting, was in the area during the attack. Reset checks in with Beasley about Monday’s tragic events and her push for gun reform in Washington.

hat were the mayoral hopefuls like as kids? Teens? Young adults? Brandon Johnson is the son of a pastor and one of 10 kids in a family who lived in Elgin. Paul Vallas, the second of four kids, started life in Roseland and as a teen moved to suburban Alsip. Reset heard from WBEZ reporters Mariah Woelfel and Tessa Weinberg to learn more about the candidates’ backstories.

Barbara Gaines has directed more than 60 productions since founding the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 1986. We talked to the artistic director ahead of her final production of "The Comedy of Errors," which runs through April 23.

All Advocate Health Care locations in the Chicago area are dropping mask requirements and easing visitor limits starting Monday. The policy changes at the health care system will affect patients and care teams at locations in Chicago, the suburbs and Northwest Indiana. Reset hears the details of Advocate’s plans from Chicago Sun-Times reporter David Struett and checked in with University of Chicag...

Back in 2019, a wave of younger, more progressive aldermen joined Chicago’s City Council, some of them self-identified Democratic socialists. This year, they won a second term. Reset is joined by two progressive aldermen — one soon to start his third term in office, the other his second — to hear about their plans for the coming years and how they see themselves working with a Vallas or a Johnson...

Across the country, drag performances are under attack: Republican lawmakers in states like Arizona, Oklahoma, Idaho and Kansas are moving to regulate when and where drag can take place, and Tennessee has already restricted performances in public. We checked in with ACLU Illinois’s Ed Yohnka after an Illinois bakery announced it’s closing this month after threats last summer for planning a drag ev...