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The latest news and featured stories from WBEZ Chicago.
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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 will come back.
HOST: LANE
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-Times. Now, she brings us this audio essay.
HOST: LARA
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 courts reporter Jon Seidel breaks it all down.
HOST: LARA
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
Chicago-area food pantries continue to experience a higher need than normal.
They’re grappling with issues like state and federal funding cuts, rising grocery prices – and the upcoming holiday season.
HOST: LANE
150 U.S. Border Patrol agents who rattled Chicago for two months have moved on to North Carolina.
But the Trump administration says its deportation blitz here is continuing.
And the Sun-Times reports a bigger Border Control group could be here by March.
Some law enforcement experts say what they’ve seen so far — from tear gas to car chases — has been out of control.
HOST: LANE
Yes, it’s the ultimate food holiday. And yes, some people don’t want to cook.
Chicago chefs this year are leaning into options for dining in or picking up to go.
HOST: LANE
In a rare move, a key city council panel REJECTED Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget proposal today (mon), far ahead of the December 31st deadline to pass a plan.
Critics say that sends a clear message to the mayor to go back to the drawing board, while Johnson defiantly doubled down.
HOST: MELBA
Talk about Chicago theater, and soon the subject will turn to the director Robert Falls.
Falls spent thirty-five years atop Goodman Theater and in 2015 was inducted into the National Theater Hall of Fame.
But he stepped down from the Goodman a few years ago….launched a freelance career in his 70s… and this month, pops up in an unlikely place… Steppenwolf.
WBEZ theater reporter Mike Davis sat down with Falls and talked about opening the play “Amadeus” at his former cross-town rival.
HOST: LANE
Tax credits that make Obamacare insurance more affordable are expiring in December. That prompted the fight at the center of the government shutdown.
HOST: DEGMAN
Perez Jr. died unexpectedly last month. On Tuesday, during a Veteran’s Day celebration in Little Village, his friends, family and elected officials gathered to celebrate his life and legacy.
HOST: DEGMAN
Grocery prices are continuing to rise, SNAP benefits are in flux for many families – and the holidays are on the horizon.
The Sun-Times has been tracking grocery prices for 35 different items across 4 different Chicago stores for nearly a year to evaluate cost trends.
HOST: LANE
While violent crime in Chicago has declined, there’s one category that continues to persistently rise.
That’s domestic violence. It skyrocketed during pandemic-era stay-at-home orders and continues to plague the city.
Yet, as federal COVID-19 relief grants dry up, organizations that support survivors are bracing for drastic cuts to city-funded programming that they say has changed lives.
HOST: LANE
The modern opera “Proving Up” was supposed to premiere in Chicago three years ago.
But it was lost to COVID-19 and the omicron surge.
Now the opera finally makes its debut—in a school production.
HOST: LANE
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 Carson in Wilmette:
"Why do I pay more for less? At restaurants, they make the portions look like it's the same, but when I open it, it's less. Everything is shrinking, yet costs go up. Why?"
It’s a phenomenon called “shrinkflation.” To find out more, we called up an expert.
HOST: LANE
Nearly two months into President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, social media feeds from his administration and its right-wing allies paint a grim picture of Chicago.
Highly produced videos depict heroic military raids. And social media influencers help to spread the message that Chicago is a city plagued by violence, at war with the federal government.
But the videos don’t always match the reality of what’s happening in communities across the Chicago area.
Sun-Times reporter Nader Issa has been analyzing these videos with the help of several experts, and he joins us now to discuss his findings.
HOST: LARA
President Donald Trump has been outspoken in blaming crime on ‘sanctuary’ policies in Democratic states, but the numbers don’t tell the same story.
A WBEZ and Sun-Times analysis shows many Republican-led states actually have higher violent crime rates and faster-growing undocumented immigrant populations.
HOST: LANE
After police killed George Floyd in 2020, there was talk of a racial reckoning.
In the theater community, that reckoning took the form of a letter titled “We See You, White American Theater.” The letter demanded that theaters stop tokenizing artists of color and start implementing company wide anti-rascist trainings.
It would ultimately be signed by one-hundred-thousand artists, including many in Chicago.
Five years later, WBEZ reporter Mike Davis set out to learn what changed.
HOST: LANE
A federal judge today extended limits on the use of force by federal agents carrying out a Chicago-area deportation blitz.
The decision came after the judge heard clips of sworn testimony by the U.S. Border Patrol chief in charge of that operation.
He was asked about a pep talk for his agents by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Both say they’re going tough on violent mobs to protect the American people.
But the judge today found their use of force in Chicago, quote, “shocks the conscience” and chills First Amendment rights.
HOST: LARA
The 20-20 murder of George Floyd stirred waves of activism and protest across the country.
It also sparked a year of reflection. In Chicago, several major arts groups joined businesses big and small in showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Many promised in public D-E-I plans to make changes to better reflect the city they serve.
Now, five years later, the Sun-Times and WBEZ have surveyed 21 arts, culture and humanities nonprofits to see what progress they made.
Sun-Times reporter Erica Thompson joins us to talk about the survey and what she learned.
HOST: LANE
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