In the Loop

Heather Cherone has moved from the Daily Line to WTTW, but she continues to bring us fantastic state and local political coverage. She's joined by Better Government Association's CEO (and long-time journalist) David Greising to deconstruct the biggest news stories of the week on our Friday News Roundup. 

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois joins Reset for an update on what Capitol Hill is doing to help the American people deal with COVID-19.

Rapper, producer, humanitarian, activist and South Sider Che “Rhymefest” Smith suggests things to read, watch and do that’ll inspire, calm and make us appreciate what we have in this difficult times.

The Cook County assessor’s office is planning to review every single property in the county because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Reset checks in assessor Fritz Kaegi for more on the process.

With no way to do social distancing, America’s jails and prisons are petri dishes for covid-19. Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx talks about the way she’s trying to overcome these challenges as more guards, detainees, and workers at the jail come down with the virus.

Masks. We should wear them. We shouldn’t wear them. They work. They don’t work. We’ve heard a lot of conflicting and changing information about masks. Find out the real story, as an expert answers questions from us and from you. Plus we remember “The Mailman from Maywood”, the legendary John Prine, who passed away yesterday at age 73.

There’s plenty of state and local news this week as the covid-19 crisis continues. We break it all down with AD Quig of Crain’s Chicago Business, and Laura Washington of the Sun Times and ABC7

News and information about the covid-19 virus-how it spreads, how long it lasts in various environments, and best practices to protect ourselves-is constantly changing. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Mia Taormina keeps us up to date, and answers those questions from Jenn and from listeners like you.

As more and more of our work and family life has gone all online, a cyber security expert gives us tips on how to avoid being hacked. And poet Kevin Coval looks at the Covid crisis from his unique perspective, and lays some amazing poetry on us.

He still needs to be confirmed by the city council, but Mayor Lightfoot’s pick to run the Chicago Police Department is the former chief of police in Dallas. WBEZ’s Patrick Smith gives us some intel on why he was chosen and how he’ll run CPD.