In the Loop

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx won office four years ago with a mandate to reform the criminal justice system. She makes the case for why she deserves another term while her challenger, former judge and prosecutor Pat O’Brien, lays out why he thinks he should take over the office.

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For more about the program, you can head over to the WBEZ website or follow us on Twitter at @WBEZreset.

The pandemic, a lack of trust in the health system and misinformation are leading to a drop in the number of Chicago kids getting vaccinated for preventable diseases like the measles, mumps and rubella. We check in with community health clinics and a reporter to hear more about the situation and what’s being done to reverse the trend.

For more Reset interviews, please subscribe to this podcast and leave us a rating. It really helps other listeners find us.

For more about the program, head over to the WBEZ website or follow us on Twitter at @WBEZreset.

Dr. Mia Taormina, infectious disease specialist at the DuPage Medical Group, explains the latest coronavirus science and the precautions to take to navigate the pandemic. Look for our latest interview with her in your podcast feed every Sunday.

For more Reset interviews, head over to the WBEZ website. You can also follow the show on Twitter at @WBEZreset.

From Mayor Lightfoot’s new budget plan, to a fresh round of Covid-19-related business closures to no sitting on Santa’s lap this year at Macy’s, Reset’s Justin Kaufmann sits around the virtual table with Heather Cherone and Laura Washington for the best wrap-up of Chicago and Illinois news on WBEZ’s Weekly News Roundup

Illinois Gov. George Ryan shocked the nation when he commuted the death sentences of more than 150 inmates three days before he left office in 2003. In this interview, the Republican details his personal evolution from staunch supporter of capital punishment to ardent opponent. He also discusses his complicated legacy as a Nobel Peace Prize nominee who also served years in federal prison on corruption charges. His new book is called Until I Could Be Sure: How I Stopped the Death Penalty in Illinois.

This is Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s full budget address from the morning of Oct. 21, 2020. The mayor outlines the fiscal challenges faced by the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures she would like to take to right the fiscal ship. For expert analysis and to hear two key aldermen’s reaction to the speech, look for the other Reset podcast that dropped in your feed today.

With Chicago already facing difficult pension problems, the COVID-19 crisis has dealt an even bigger blow to the city’s economy. WBEZ city politics reporter Becky Vevea and two Chicago aldermen break down and react to Mayor Lightfoot’s budget address as she tries to navigate some very choppy fiscal waters for 2021.

With a recent uptick in COVID-19 across Illinois, Gov. Pritzker has begun talking about a return to Phase 3 restrictions.

Reset talks to infectious disease specialist Dr. Emily Landon about what a resurgence of  cases means for local residents, and gives you advice on best practices to curb the spread of the virus.

New York Times political reporter Peter Baker discusses his new book on the unlikely rise of James A. Baker III, and how his influence over Washington, the White House, and global politics spanned a generation. 

The writer and director behind The West Wing and A Few Good Men talks about his new film, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and how today's protests harken back to the anti-Vietnam war protests of the late 1960's. And Lee Weiner, one of the actual defendants in the trial, tells us how close the movie came to reality.