In the Loop

After the Chicago area got battered by rains, flooded basements, and more rain to come, Reset checks in on what non-profits and elected officials are doing to combat climate change and mitigate flooding. We talk to Trent Ford, Illinois state climatologist, Kyra Woods, policy director for Chicago’s Environment and Sustainability Team, and Margaret Frisbie, executive director for the Friends of the Chicago River.

Mayor Johnson released a 223-page report charting his four-year plan for Chicago. We talked to WBEZ city government and politics reporters Tessa Weinberg and Mariah Woelfel to learn more about Johnson’s vision for the city.

The Illinois EPA announced an “Air Pollution Action Day” for the thirteenth time this year. Those announcements are issued when air quality is at or above an unhealthy level for sensitive groups, and the first half of 2023 has had more than any year in the last decade. So what should we do when there’s an advisory, and how does poor air quality affect our mental and physical health? We spoke to Zac Adelman, executive director of the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium, Stacy Montgomery, researcher with Northwestern’s Climate Change Research Group, Steve Mosakowski, director of respiratory care at RUSH university medical center, and Gina Ramirez, Midwest outreach manager at Natural Resources Defense Council.

Meta just rolled out its Twitter competitor, Threads. And as other social media platforms like Spill, Mastodon, Bluesky and Post are hitting the market, what does this mean for the future of social media? Reset discusses with Ross Schulman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Naomi Nix of The Washington Post, Jim Speta of the Northwestern University School of Law, Arionne Nettles of the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism and Paul Booth of DePaul University.