WBEZ News

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area will continue over the Halloween weekend. Even though Governor J-B Pritzker asked her for a three day pause. The back-and-forth came after federal agents conducted a recent raid on the Northwest side that disrupted an annual Halloween parade. The ongoing immigration actions have families wondering h...

How do you tell a really scary story? Three horror writers gathered at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School recently to discuss the ways they approach the genre. It was part of the American Writers Museum’s upcoming exhibition called American Prophets: Writers, Religion and Culture that opens next month (Nov). It explores the ways writers tap into religion and spirituality. HOST: LANE

Grayson was charged after shooting Sonya (sahn-yuh) Massey to death in her home after she call 9-1-1 for help. HOST: MELBA

Fall is the new Christmas. At least that's what the co-owner of Perfect Pumpkins Chicago says. Nicole Regan and her mother, Cindy Nelson, love decorating their porches with pumpkins in elaborate fall displays. And in 20-22 they turned that into a business – offering custom-designed fall arrangements to homeowners. They’re one of several Chicago-area companies in the “pumpkin-concierge business.” H...

Museum visitors encounter Ono’s art before they even step inside. Out front there is a giant billboard that reads Peace is Power. HOST: LANE

Homeland Security officials say the face coverings are a matter of agent safety. But some former top U-S law enforcement officials are raising red flags. HOST: MELBA

In recent months, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in west suburban Broadview has become a place where religious leaders say immigrants lack access to spiritual care… HOST: MELBA

Alongside the Chicago Sun-Times, we’re gathering your questions about all things money and finances. Then each week, we get your questions answered by the people who know best. This week, we’ve got this from Mare in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood: "I have a student loan. Initially, it was with a servicer that provided good service. In 2022, I applied for public service loan forgiveness and was deni...

This week's Chicago school board meeting was filled with the normal fare. But members were distracted as their phones lit up with messages about what was going on outside on the streets. Federal immigration agents were out in force… and they were confronting protesters. Some high school students were detained. And then, at one point, the news filtered into the board chambers. WBEZ’s Sarah Karp tel...

The 61st Chicago International Film Festival wraps up this weekend. WBEZ’s Melba Lara sat down with Vocalo contributor and film critic Reggie Ponder to hear some of his highlights from the festival and learn about where Chicago filmmakers are making their mark. HOST: LABUZ

Carp from Asia were first introduced to fish farms in the Southern United States in the 1960s to help control algae. But the carp quickly became invasive. They overran the Illinois River decades ago - so much so that there’s more carp there today than any other place on Earth. Illinois and federal officials have fought to keep the fish contained ever since. They worry if the fish reach the Great L...

The murder trial of a former downstate sheriff’s deputy accused of fatally shooting an unarmed, Black woman in her home is now underway. Sean Grayson’s killing of Sonya Massey last year and his ongoing trial have drawn national headlines. WBEZ’s Mawa Iqbal has been in Peoria this week, covering this trial, and is here to tell us about where things stand. HOST: LARA

Justin Perry was a writer. A rapper. A music fan who appreciated all genres. He was a parent to a young daughter. And, his mother’s only son. But, when he died in 2021 in a shooting just outside Chicago when he was 28 years old, Justin Perry was reduced to one paragraph in a newspaper story about local gun violence. Now, his mother, the coolly calm and confident Racquel Perry is bringing her son’s...

People have a few options if they think their rights were violated or federal agents used excessive force. But the process is different than the one for local law enforcement. We're answering YOUR questions about federal immigration agents – and the National Guard – in Illinois. HOST: ARACELI GOMEZ-ALDANA

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is laser focused on passing his 16-point-6 billion dollar budget – propped up by a slew of new taxes — by the end of the year. And that’s while juggling the city’s response to the Trump Administration, including the president's threats to federal funding and militarized-style immigration enforcement in Chicago. HOST: LANE

The online platform Homeaglow (Home-a-glow) links consumers with house cleaning services in their area, touting a home cleaning for just $19 dollars. But more than 28-hundred consumers have filed complaints about Homeaglow with the nonprofit Better Business Bureau. They say they were trapped in hard-to-cancel subscription plans that some people didn’t even realize they were signing up for. HOST: L...

A team of reporters at Chicago Public Media has been looking into Bovino’s history with the border patrol agency, the legal issues involved and the people who have been caught in its cross-hairs. HOST: MELBA

79 year old Thomas Weisflog has a unique job. It involves four keyboards, a chimney flute, and a flugelhorn. For the past 25 years he has been the organ player at University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. HOST: LANE

Gil Kerlikowske [ker-lih-COW-skee] was Customs and Border Protection commissioner from 20-14 to ’17. Before that, he was police chief of Seattle for eight years. That included policing hundreds of protests. HOST: MELBA

Alongside the Chicago Sun-Times, we’re gathering your questions about all things money and finances. Then each week, we get your questions answered by the people who know best. This week, we’ve got this question from Richard. HOST: LANE

Just last week, WBEZ told you about the 22 million dollars the Chicago Housing Authority paid to three companies with close ties to a C-H-A board commissioner. Since then, we’ve learned two of those three insiders have faced accusations from the C-H-A’s inspector general. HOST: LANE

As federal immigration agents aggressively detain people all over the city, some Chicagoans are fighting back the only way they can. They’re forming neighborhood patrols and gathering outside of schools and churches. And to help sound the alarm, many of them are arming themselves with whistles. HOST: LANE

As immigration enforcement has ramped up around the Chicago area, photojournalists have been up close – and sometimes even caught in the middle. Chicago Sun-Times photojournalist Anthony Vazquez was on the scene earlier this week when federal immigration agents tear-gassed protesters and Chicago police officers on Chicago’s far Southeast side. Vazquez joins us now to talk about what he’s been seei...

Mayor Brandon Johnson gave an impassioned budget address today, pitching his $16.6 billion dollar spending plan as a clapback to quote- “unprecedented” attacks on Chicago by President Donald Trump. The proposal does not rely on a property tax increase to close a massive deficit. Instead, Johnson is pitching a corporate head tax, a social media tax, a yacht tax, and more in the proposal applauded b...

The one-time street gang the Young Lords has inspired a new exhibit at the DePaul Art Museum. The show traces the group’s transformation into an influential civil rights group…. and it comes at a moment when museums are under the microscope. HOST: LANE