The Fran Spielman Show

Jonathan Jackson, a son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, on Monday kicked off his congressional campaign in the crowded Democratic primary to replace Rep. Bobby Rush for Illinois' 1st Congressional District. In declaring his candidacy, Jonathan Jackson talked about having traveled the world with his father, seeing greatness and about being “in the room” where it happened. During the wide-ranging intervi...

Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Erin Harkey acknowledged that Taste of Chicago was once the city’s premier food and fun festival spanning ten days that included the all-important July 4th weekend and the July 3rd fireworks show. But, that was before a tidal wave of police retirements left a demoralized and overworked Chicago Police Department with more than 1,000 vacancies as it s...

Little Village Ald. Mike Rodriguez (22nd) on Thursday applauded the extraordinary level of community cooperation that led police to the two people charged with the murder of 8-year-old Melissa Ortega. “What you had was community members all around the area communicating with police. You had people calling 911. You had people turning over their video willfully. This was a crime that was solved beca...

Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates wouldn’t say if she’ll challenge Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whom she has said is on a “kamikaze mission to destroy” Chicago Public Schools. But she offered a blistering critique of Lightfoot’s tenure.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by former United States Secretary of Education and former CPS CEO Arne Duncan to discuss violence in Chicago. Duncan, founder of Chicago CRED, which stands for “Creating Real Economic Destiny," brought on two local men to discuss their experience with violence. First is Billy Moore, who served 20 years in prison for fatally shooting Chicago prep...

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by her colleagues Tim Novak and Mark Brown to discuss the biggest stories in 2021 from the fall of Mike Madigan to the ongoing violence throughout the city.

“There’s a sense of no plan. That’s what’s most concerning to the business community,” Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jack Lavin told the Sun-Times. “Our businesses---and it’s not just retail as you hear on the Mag Mile. It’s restaurants, offices returning to work, banks. They want to know how are we gonna solve the violence and the public safety problem this week. This weekend....

Twice in the last month—and as recently as this week— Mayor Lori Lightfoot urged Magnificent Mile merchants victimized repeatedly by smash-and-grab robberies to follow the lead of their counterparts in Milan, London, Paris, Rome and along Hollywood’s Rodeo Drive. She specifically mentioned security guards at the door, entrance cameras, merchandise “either chained and roped or put behind glass” and...

Greg Harris reminisced about his career as the first openly gay member of the legislative leadership team and about how much it has been shaped by the fact that he is, as he put it, the lucky one. He’s managed to survive for decades, even after being diagnosed as HIV-positive. “I’m one of the few friends from that era that actually survived…A lot of the stuff I do today is to honor them and the th...

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s City Council floor leader Ald. George Cardenas (12th) to discuss his plan to study the feasibility of the city to purchase the Chicago Bears as well as the current state of crime and whether or not to give CPD Supt. David Brown more time as top cop.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by Victor Reyes and Burt Odelson to discuss the current state of Chicago's ward map and what changes are currently being negotiated.

As the head of Chicago’s foremost taxpayer watchdog group, Laurence Msall might be expected to urge fiscal caution. But Msall said losing the Bears would be a blow the city should try hard to avoid.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman and investigative reporter Lauren FitzPatrick are joined by Interim General Superintendent & Chief Executive Officer Rosa Escareno to discuss her role in bringing new direction to the recently scandal-ridden Chicago Park District amid sexual misconduct investigations currently surrounding ousted CEO Michael Kelly.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by Cole Stallard, a Streets and Sanitation “lifer” who worked his way up through the ranks and earned the right to replace retired Commissioner John Tully. Stallard embraced the idea of adding a ten-cent deposit to the cost of bottles and cans to reduce the mountain of plastics and other containers overwhelming landfills and discussed plans he's...

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by her colleague, retiring editorial page editor Tom McNamee, to discuss his 40 year career in journalism and what's next for him after the Sun-Times.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to discuss his vision for the job including community outreach, school closures, and COVID-19 measures. Sun-Times education reporter Nader Issa later joins to deep-dive the interview with Martinez.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), chairman of the City Council’s Hispanic Caucus and Mayor Lori Lightfoot's former floor leader, said 5,000 of Chicago’s neediest families would have been collecting $500 monthly checks since last spring, if only Lightfoot hadn’t dragged her feet on the ordinance he championed.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, who said he expects Mayor Lightfoot to run again, and when and if she does declare her candidacy, he’ll be among those standing beside her.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by sports columnist Rick Telander to preview the upcoming Chicago Bears season.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin to discuss her determination to reverse lending inequities by depositing tax dollars in smaller, local banks.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by Joe Weisberg, the Emmy award-winning creator and executive producer of FX's 'The Americans' to discuss his family's Chicago connections and how working for the CIA led him to create the acclaimed series which follows Russian spies living amongst Americans in the height of the Reagan-era Cold War.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by World Business Chicago CEO and Chicago's Chief Marketing Officer Michael Fassnacht to discuss his prediction that the traditional work-week that drew 600,000 employees to Chicago’s commercial office buildings Monday-through-Friday before the pandemic will be replaced by a “three-and-two hybrid” that includes two days of remote work.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by Chicago's Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett & Budget Director Susie Park to discuss the most recent city budget which revealed a $733 million budget gap and that The Chicago Police Department will spend $150 million on overtime this year.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by her colleague and fellow WLS-AM City Hall reporter Bill Cameron to discuss his storied career covering Chicago politics.

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by multi-hyphenate Paul Vallas to discuss his involvement with negotiating the long-awaited FOP contract and urges Mayor Lori Lightfoot to stop using the pandemic as an “excuse” for police hiring slowdown.