In the Loop

During the day, he’s Jacob Green. At night, Jacob transforms into Muffy Fishbasket - and that’s not a quick outfit change. As part of our Working Shift series, we talk to a Drag Queen who doesn't just grace the stage with song and dance, Muffy Fishbasket does aerial from the rafters.

Bernie Sanders has polled well with millennials as a whole, even drawing the support of some young African Americans who were expected to go for his opponent Hillary Clinton. We sit down with two black students from U of Chicago --one a Sanders supporter, one a Clinton supporter -- to talk about why they're supporting their chosen candidate. And this year, there were some shakeups on Chicago Magazine’s recently released Power 50 list, which tracks the rising and falling stars among the city’s elites in politics, business, the arts, and more. This year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel fell to number 2 on the list. We discuss who’s who when it comes to power in Chicago. Chicagoans know Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church on the city’s South Side as activist priest who takes on issues like economic inequality and gun violence. He’s been in the news a lot in the last year, and he even made an appearance in President Obama’s town hall event on guns last month. We learn about Pfleger's personal story to explain what makes him tick. Plus, we hear the power harmonies of California-based folk rock band The Wild Reeds.

Bernie Sanders is in town Thursday with appearances at Chicago State University and the University of Chicago. He's polled well with millennials as a whole, even drawing the support of some young African Americans who were expected to go for his opponent Hillary Clinton. We sit down with two black students from U of C --one a Sanders supporter, one a Clinton supporter -- to talk about why they're supporting their chosen candidate.

This year, there were some shakeups on Chicago Magazine’s recently released Power 50 list, which tracks the rising and falling stars among the city’s elites in politics, business, the arts, and more. Mayor Rahm Emanuel fell one slot to number 2 on the list. Chicago Magazine’s David Bernstein joins us to discuss who’s who when it comes to power in Chicago.

Chicagoans know Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church on the city’s South Side as activist priest who takes on issues like economic inequality and gun violence. He’s been in the news a lot in the last year, and he even made an appearance in President Obama’s town hall event on guns last month. Evan Osnos, staff writer from the New Yorker, talks to us about his profile of Pfleger where he goes deep into his personal story to explain what makes him tick.

We hear the power harmonies of California-based folk rock band The Wild Reeds. They’re in town for the last show of their tour – Thursday night at the Hideout.

WBEZ’s new anchor/host Jennifer White makes her debut on the Morning Shift. She talks to Chicagoans Lee Bey and Rick Kogan to get to know her new city.

We’re knee-deep in primary season. Super Tuesday is right around the corner, where voters in a dozen states take to the polls. It feels like primaries have been around for as long as there have been elections. But did you know they were actually invented by Teddy Roosevelt? We learn more. WBEZ’s new anchor/host Jennifer White makes her debut on the Morning Shift. She talks to Chicagoans Lee Bey and Rick Kogan to learn about her new city. And the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University is the first major medical school in the country to offer a class in Transcendental Meditation. We hear more about the class, why it’s being offered, and how the students are using the TM technique to manage the stress and workload of their demanding educational program.

We’re knee-deep in primary season. Super Tuesday is right around the corner, where voters in a dozen states take to the polls. It feels like primaries have been around for as long as there have been elections. But did you know they were actually invented by Teddy Roosevelt? Geoffrey Cowan tells the story of how and why Teddy Roosevelt made our electoral system even more democratic in his new book 'Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary'.

The Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University is the first major medical school in the country to offer a class in Transcendental Meditation. We talk to course instructor Dr. Carla Brown and second-year medical student Danielle Terrell about the class, why it’s being offered, and how the students are using the TM technique to manage the stress and workload of their demanding educational program.