In the Loop

Earlier this year, the Chicago Tribune reported that city officials haven’t been doing enough to warn residents about potential threats of lead in the water.  Now, the Emanuel administration is responding by testing for lead in some of Chicago Public Schools. WBEZ’s Monica Eng joins us with an update.

After Liz Jackson’s chronic illness forced her to walk with a cane, she realized that assistive devices were not designed with style in mind. So she started a campaign to make retailers and designers more aware of the needs of the disabled community and how things like canes and wheelchairs should evolve just as other fashion does.  Jackson is in Chicago on Sunday for the Chicago Humanities Festival’s spring program about style, and she explains how she’s pushing for design accessible to all people.

When Wisconsinite Holly De Ruyter moved to Chicago to attend Columbia College, she experienced a kind of culture shock. No fish fry on Friday? No supper clubs?  At the time, she hadn’t realized that those commonplace Wisconsin traditions were unique.  Later, she decided to explore her roots in her documentary Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club. Jenn White talks to De Ruyter about the dinnertime customs of our neighbor to the north. We also open up the phones for comments from listeners.

Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard’s six-book magnum opus My Struggle has earned comparisons to Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time.  The autobiographical novel has been translated into dozens of languages and turned its author into an international literary sensation, but it’s not without controversy.  Knausgaard told his life story in detail without changing names and alienated many friends and family in the process. Jenn White talks to Knausgaard about his epic novel (or is it a memoir?) and what he might write next.

Due to the statute of limitations, Dennis Hastert couldn’t be sentenced for sexually abusing high school students. Will that be enough closure for the victims? We take your calls and use the Hastert case as a jumping-off point to discuss.

Afro-Spanish singer Concha Buika started out as a drummer but found that no one in Spain wanted a female drummer so she switched to singing. She deploys her smoky voice in everything from flamenco and Spanish gypsy music to jazz, soul and pop. On her latest album Vivir Sin Miedo, which translates to “To Live Without Fear,” Buika sings in English more than Spanish for the first time.  The Latin Grammy-nominated artist performs in-studio before her show, Thursday night at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison Wednesday in a hush-money case where he was accused of sexually abusing four teens while he was a high school wrestling coach in Yorkville, IL. Hastert admitted to abusing one of the boys and the judge called the Republican lawmaker a “serial child molester.”  NPR’s David Schaper and Chicago Magazine's David Bernstein break down the emotional testimony from survivors, and the judge's ultimate decision to put Hastert behind bars and require him to undergo sex offender treatment.

Soul musicians and singers from St. Louis have a long history of making their way to Chicago, from Little Milton to Fontella Bass. Today, St. Louis soul singer Coultrain has come to Chicago as part of a residency through Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation. On this week’s Reclaimed Soul, Ayana Contreras will talk with him about his residency, career, and the various music connections between St. Louis and Chicago, and she joins Morning Shift for a preview.

The number of women breaking into male-dominated trades is on the rise. That means more female electricians, carpenters, plumbers and construction workers. Jayne Vellinga from Chicago Women in Trades explains how her organization is providing women the training and resources they need to gain more traction in these fields, and K. Sujata from the Chicago Foundation for Women explains how the inequity in pay for tradeswomen compares with gender pay gaps in other industries.

The Emanuel administration announced a new pilot program over the weekend to address chronic homelessness with permanent housing. It seems like a common sense approach, but this “housing first” model is something new for Chicago. WBEZ’s Odette Yousef joins us to explain how the program will work and how homeless advocates and the homeless themselves are reacting to the plan.