In the Loop

The Chicago Sun-Times editorial board says that “us vs. them” thinking in economic development needs to become a thing of the past and that lifting up neglected neighborhoods in the city can benefit Chicago as a whole. Reset talks with editorial board member and architecture critic Lee Bey.

The Chicago-based group Queers on the Rocks is building a community of LGBTQ climbers and promoting representation of queer athletes. Reset talked to group organizers Danya Rosen and Daniel Bedoya.

The Covenant School in Nashville is the latest school to be targeted by a mass shooter. What do schools in Illinois do to prepare for a school shooting? And what runs through the minds of educators when they hear about Sandy Hook, Uvalde and now Nashville? Reset spoke to two local education advocates for their perspective: Katherine Buitron-Vera, former school safety consultant and volunteer with March Fourth, and Nate Pietrini, executive director at High Jump and former principal at Hawthorne Scholastic Academy.

Yesterday a 28-year-old shooter killed three 9-year-old children and three staff members — all in their 60s — at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. In a twist of fate, Ashbey Beasley, a survivor of the Highland Park shooting, was in the area during the attack. Reset checks in with Beasley about Monday’s tragic events and her push for gun reform in Washington.

hat were the mayoral hopefuls like as kids? Teens? Young adults? Brandon Johnson is the son of a pastor and one of 10 kids in a family who lived in Elgin. Paul Vallas, the second of four kids, started life in Roseland and as a teen moved to suburban Alsip. Reset heard from WBEZ reporters Mariah Woelfel and Tessa Weinberg to learn more about the candidates’ backstories.

Barbara Gaines has directed more than 60 productions since founding the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 1986. We talked to the artistic director ahead of her final production of "The Comedy of Errors," which runs through April 23.

All Advocate Health Care locations in the Chicago area are dropping mask requirements and easing visitor limits starting Monday. The policy changes at the health care system will affect patients and care teams at locations in Chicago, the suburbs and Northwest Indiana. Reset hears the details of Advocate’s plans from Chicago Sun-Times reporter David Struett and checked in with University of Chicago infectious disease specialist Dr. Emily Landon.

Back in 2019, a wave of younger, more progressive aldermen joined Chicago’s City Council, some of them self-identified Democratic socialists. This year, they won a second term. Reset is joined by two progressive aldermen — one soon to start his third term in office, the other his second — to hear about their plans for the coming years and how they see themselves working with a Vallas or a Johnson administration. Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th Ward joined the council in 2015. Alderman Andre Vasquez, 40th Ward, joined in 2019.