WBEZ News

Our partners at The Marshall Project discuss ways for people in prison to process grief, even in an environment that repels compassion.

We also learn about the stress of managing money inside prison, even if you’re making less than $20 a month.

We also highlight a new Chicago Sun-Times investigation showing the disturbing track record of Illinois’ new private prison health care provider.

The City of Chicago’s director of reentry answers questions from people in prison about how they can work to rebuild their lives once they’re released.

In the first hour of the show, we hear from men incarcerated at Sheridan Correctional Center about how to handle the often stressful holiday season on the inside.

We recently asked people in Illinois prisons this question: “If you could spend one afternoon on the outside with a family member or friend, where would you go and what would you do?" It’s part of Prisoncast – our statewide journalism project made with and for people incarcerated in Illinois and their loved ones. A man named Robert Jernigan wrote us saying he’d take his mother to her church, so he...

Today is the move-out deadline for the last residents of the Chicago apartment building raided by federal immigration agents in early fall. A judge ordered the troubled South Shore building vacated, calling it a fire trap. She also appointed a manager to secure the property and help residents relocate. But tenants say that “help” was merely a check and a list of phone numbers to call. HOST: LABUZ

A new exhibit at the Chicago History Museum documents a long tradition of resistance in Chicago's Latino communities. That includes not just political activism, but also the daily work of maintaining culture. The exhibit is called Aqui en Chicago. It is a result of a protest organized by local high school students six years ago.. HOST: LANE

The State of Illinois runs an online auction year-round, giving bidders the opportunity to buy heaps of treasure from afar. People can purchase items as tiny as a set of earbuds or as big as a dump truck. HOST: LANE

There are only seven stops on the Green Line between the Loop and West Garfield Park on Chicago’s West Side. But between these stops, how long someone is expected to live plummets by 20 years. This is the widest death gap in Chicago — and the biggest gap across neighborhoods of any big city in America. HOST: LANE

The new company that provides health care to nearly 30-thousand people in Illinois state prisons… has a disturbing track record. Centurion Health took over health care for the Illinois Department of Corrections this summer, after a multi-year deal – with a different company – fell through. Centurion already serves close to a dozen other state correctional systems – where it’s been accused of ignor...

The Chicago-rooted duo The Cool Kids built an impressive hip-hop career with seven albums across two decades and many collaborations. For the first time in three years, the Cool Kids have a new album. HOST: LANE

From the 67-foot-tall Norway spruce in Millennium Park to a dizzying number of “Christmas Carol” variations, Chicago’s most festive season has arrived. HOST: LANE

One way the federal government provides affordable housing is by subsidizing rent in buildings owned by private developers. That’s the case at one building complex on Chicago’s South Side, where wealthy out-of-state investors — one of them quite high profile — have collected millions of dollars in rent from the government. But some tenants say conditions there have become deplorable. HOST: LANE

It’s December, so it’s Nutcracker season. Some local groups are presenting the classic holiday ballet with a twist. HOST: LABUZ

In 1972, architect Louis Sullivan’s famed Chicago Stock Exchange Building was demolished to make room for a 44-story office tower. The public was outraged. The move made national headlines and led to the creation of Chicago’s modern preservation movement. BUT in an ironic twist, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks is now considering landmark status for the nondescript office building that replaced...

With federal immigration enforcement bearing down on Chicago, many feared student attendance would plummet, especially in schools serving mostly Latino children. HOST: MELBA

Chicago-area protests over immigration enforcement have quieted some in recent weeks. But many people who were caught up in them are still dealing with criminal cases. One protester was charged with assaulting Gregory Bovino. He’s a U.S. Border Patrol chief who led the Trump administration’s deportation blitz here. Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges — after a video undermined Bovino’s accu...

The daughter of Chicago’s longest-serving mayor grew up in the political spotlight. And while Nora Daley doesn’t work in City Hall, she’s active all around it. She’s a member of several prominent arts boards and the chair of the state arts council. HOST: MELBA

Chicago Public Schools has turned to the community to help it with the difficult task of getting children to school, when so many moms and dads feel vulnerable outside their homes. HOST: MELBA

Illinois Governor J-B Pritzker and his wife MK recently paid Pope Leo the 14th a visit in Rome. They presented the Chicago-born pontiff with a few Illinois-themed gifts, including a drawing made by a woman incarcerated in a downstate prison. HOST: LANE

With the holiday season it should be a busy time for Chicago’s neighborhood shopping districts. While there’s heavy foot traffic on Michigan Avenue and the Mag Mile – not so in the city’s predominantly Latino areas – with many would-be customers scared off by Operation Midway Blitz. Although Immigration Customs and Enforcement has ramped down its presence in the area – it’s unclear when the crowds...

When a person is deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE… It also impacts the family left behind. A year ago, Vanessa Lopez found out her father was being sent back to Mexico… after living most of his life in America. His forced departure left her feeling helpless… and significantly changed her relationship with her dad. Vanessa wrote about her experience for the Chicago Sun-T...

These “are not ordinary times at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse.” That’s the conclusion of a federal judge who yesterday dismissed the last of five prosecutions tied to protests outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview. It was just one of many updates in several key cases stemming from the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign. Sun-Times federal cour...

Thirty years ago, The Smashing Pumpkins released “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.” Now, frontman Billy Corgan is celebrating the double album with a symphonic version at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. HOST: LANE