In the Loop

Whether you’re in your 20s, 30s, 40s or beyond, it’s never too late to get your finances organized and start building a nest egg. We’ll give you the 411 on financial tools like IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401Ks and 403Bs, life insurance and mutual funds with our guest Christine Benz, director of personal finance for the investment research firm Morningstar and senior columnist for Morningstar.com, the firm’s website for individual investors.

The city of Chicago is the focal point for a growing number of procedural TV dramas, the most recent addition being Chicago Justice. Fox has also added a Chicago based show to its lineup, APB, and there’s a new Chicago based comedy on NBC, Superior Donuts.  NPR TV critic Eric Deggans and assistant editor of the AV Club Danette Chavez discuss why Chicago has become an increasingly popular TV character. 

Legendary trumpeter, composer and educator Wynton Marsalis has been bringing the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to Chicago for many years, but they’ve brewed up something special this time around. Marsalis is deeply dedicated to getting kids involved in music and has spent considerable time working in Chicago Public Schools. He joins us, along with JLCO member and Northwestern professor Victor Goines, to talk about the state of music education and the art of jazz.

As attorney General of the United States, Jeff Sessions is the chief law enforcement officer and the head attorney for the country. During the Obama Administration, Attorneys General investigated police departments, went after banks for predatory lending, and sought to protect voting rights. So what does an Attorney General Sessions mean for civil rights?

Human trafficking advocates are often working against misconceptions about the issue and who it affects. Some people think it’s only an urban issue or that it only affects the agriculture industry. But according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, there are 30,000 victims in every state. Exact numbers are hard to come by as victims struggle to come forward, or even escape. Morning Shift talks to advocates and service providers for survivors about the prevalence of labor trafficking and what industries use this forced labor.

This month marks the 60th anniversary of when the world was introduced to a famous rhyming and troublemaking feline with excellent taste in headwear. Roxanne Owens, associate professor of elementary reading at Depaul University, joins Morning Shift to talk about the influence Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat had on children’s literacy and what parents can do to continue his tradition of making reading fun for kids.

What do the oldest golf course in America, an Atlanta-based real estate developer, and some suburban nuns have to do with one another? They’re all at the center of a controversial plan to tear down a beloved 1890s mansion in the town of Wheaton. For the latest in our series What’s That Building? Morning Shift talks to Dennis Rodkin of Crain’s Chicago Business talks about the controversial plan to demolish it.

Although the truth became legend and the legend became murky, researchers point to this week at the 100th anniversary of the first Jazz records ever made. John McDonough, professor of jazz history at Northwestern University, joins us to talk about who made them, the sensation they caused at the time, and why they’re still important to jazz-and American-history. 

Chicagoan Christian Picciolini talks to 'Morning Shift' about a recent string of hate crimes and how it may be related to the rhetoric of the Trump administration.

In the 1990s, the Harlem Children’s Zone started as an effort to take one block of Harlem plagued with crime, health issues, rampant drug issues, failing schools and housing problems and turn it into a place where kids could succeed. Today, Harlem Children’s Zone encompasses 97 blocks and serves over 10,000 kids and 10,000 adults. We speak with HCZ founder, Geoffrey Canada, about what it really takes to change a neighborhood and break the cycle of poverty.