In the Loop

A war of words between Mayor Lightfoot and President Preckwinkle. Cops fired over a cover-up in the Laquan McDonald case. Possible sites for a future Chicago casino. Those are just some of the stories three of the city’s top journalists will unpack when they sit down with Jenn White for our Friday News Roundup

Photographer Steve Schapiro made some of the most compelling and moving images of the civil rights movement in the 1960's. He's paired those images with the words of one of the movement's intellectual leaders, writer James Baldwin. Baldwin's twin essays that make up his book "The Fire Next Time" are intertwined with Schapiro's photos in a way that bring the text to life with renewed urgency.  And musician Andrew Bird is one of the few musicians who can get away with naming his new album "My Finest Work Yet" without eliciting serious eye-rolls. The wry sense of humor that went into naming the album is spread across a series of songs that have a political bent. 

A new study uncovers the fact that, despite homicides going down in Chicago, more of the city's children are exposed to violence than ever before.  Plus a Chicago mom talks about how she's channeled her pain after the loss of her son to gun violence, and a group that's gathering mothers like her for a day of mind and body healing. 

The nationwide immigration raids that President Trump threatened over the weekend did not happen. Meanwhile Trump administration policies mean hundreds of immigrant kids are still being housed at shelters in the Chicago area. Want more Morning Shift? Subscribe to our podcast and rate us. It really helps. Connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter at @WBEZMorning. And leave us a voicemail with feedback or with a comment we may play on the air at 855-848-5551.

Utter silliness. Brilliant wackiness. However you describe it, Monty Python’s Holy Grail turned the Aurthurian legend on its head and changed the lives of a whole generation of comedy fans and future smart aleks. One of those people is Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me host Peter Sagal. In this latest installment of The Movie That Made Me, Sagal talks about why a film featuring coconuts, shrubberies, and killer bunny rabbits changed his life forever. Plus Chicago band Girl K mixes indie rock, dream pop, and more into something all their own. Two of the members describe their journey, their influences, and more.

There’s an alligator living in the Humboldt Park Lagoon. While you were on #GatorWatch2019, what news did you miss this week? Morning Shift breaks down the biggest local news stories of the week in our Friday News Roundup with Jenn White.

If you live in south Florida, you see it every day. In Chicago...not so much. An alligator-somewhere between 4 and 5 feet long-has appeared in the Humboldt Park lagoon. We’ll hear about how it may have gotten there, what authorities are doing to humanely remove it, and why the lagoon makes for a good alligator home. Plus, hurricane season has begun in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. And September will mark the 2-year anniversary of the devastating storm that hit Puerto Rico. We’ll find out how the island is doing, and how residents who came to Chicago after the storm are doing.

Mayor Lightfoot has halted the program to install water meters in homes across the city. Testing found lead levels would jump during and after the process. Tens of thousands in Chicago have lead pipes connecting their houses to water mains running under the streets. We’ll get an update from Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Hawthorne, and talk to two experts about how worried you should actually be about lead levels in your water, and how you can keep your family safe.

As more Democratic presidential hopefuls talk of free college tuition as part of their future plans if elected, the University of Illinois is making it a reality now. This fall, incoming freshman from Illinois who meet certain requirements will have tuition and fees waved. U of I Chancellor Robert Jones talks about the plan Then, the latest beverage craze...hard seltzer. This ain’t your average La Croix.

The Trump administration has drastically reduced the number of refugees the U.S. accepts each year. In fiscal year 2018, the U.S. allowed around 22,500 refugees into the country. That was a 60 percent drop from the last year of the Obama administration. The shift in policy is complicating matters at Refugee One, the largest resettlement agency in Illinois. Morning Shift's Jenn White sat down with Refugee One’s Jims Porter, the organization’s policy and communications coordinator, on how resettling efforts are going for refugees here in Chicago. Also, a look at how immigration advocates have been advising migrant families to have an emergency plan and documentation on hand after President Donald Trump announced, and later postponed, immigration raids in major cities last month.  President Trump announced last week that his administration would carry out the delayed immigration sweeps after the fourth of July for migrant families who have received deportation orders. NPR’s Cheryl Corley jumped in the host chair to learn more about this issue with Mony Ruiz-Velasco, the executive director of PASO West Suburban Action Project.