In the Loop

Many comedy fans saw Dave Chappelle’s two-show special on Netflix as a comeback. Did he deliver and meet expectations? Morning Shift host Tony Sarabia talked to Lisa Beasley, a comedian with Second City, and Tim Barnes, host of the comedy podcast It's All True.

Morning Shift talks to State Senator Don Harmon, the sponsor of SB 1657 “The Gun Dealer Licensing Act,” and Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, for their takes on statewide licensing of gun sellers. 

Morning Shift talks with the president of the new Chicago blues museum, Terry Stewart, about its opening, what visitors can expect, and community outreach.

Morning Shift talks to Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago, about the various pieces of public sculpture and art that could be on the chopping block.

Morning Shift talks to Eric Liu; author of You're More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen's Guide to Making Change Happen. 

Chicago could lose tens of millions of dollars if Mayor Rahm Emanuel stands by his promise to protect undocumented immigrants by refusing to comply with federal immigration law. Morning Shift talks to DePaul University political science professor Kathleen Arnold about what Monday’s announcement from Attorney General Sessions could mean for Chicago.

If the Chicago area were less segregated, homicides would plunge, African-Americans would make more money and more people would graduate college. Those are some of the major conclusions in a new report by the Metropolitan Planning Council and the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute. Morning Shift host Tony Sarabia spoke with Alden Loury, director of research and evaluation at the Metropolitan Planning Council, about the report and what steps need to be taken to desegregate the area. Below are highlights from their conversation.

You’ve heard of performance-enhancing drugs, but what about performance-enhancing sandwiches? A new ESPN exclusive sheds light on how an all-American staple — the hum-drum peanut butter and jelly sandwich — has become a secret pre-game addiction for legions of NBA stars from Kevin Garnett to Damian Lillard to Steph Curry. >Morning Shift talks to ESPN sportswriter Baxter Holmes about this unlikely trend and how it has migrated from team to team across the Eastern and Western conferences.

Hip-hop has become more than music it has influenced society as a whole. Early hip-hop artists spoke about oppression, the War on Drugs, and poverty in their neighborhoods. The hip-hop artists that incorporated these messages in their lyrics were influenced by the failed urban design they experienced. That is the argument made by a professor at the University of Wisconsin who teaches design justice.

A new report shows that Chicago police are stopping and frisking far fewer people overall since a 2015 agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union to reform the practice, but the report also reveals that African-Americans are still being stopped at a much higher rate than Latinos and whites. Morning Shift talks with Karen Sheley, director of the Police Practices Project with the ACLU of Illinois.