In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons

Lizzo, the Minneapolis rapper and singer, put on a show at the Subterranean in Wicker Park Thursday. Her fans just could not get enough of it. Lizzo joined Morning Shift to discuss her performance, her new album Coconut Oil, and appearing on Samantha Bee's Full Frontal the day after the election.

2016 brought us many words, including “post-truth,” “alt-right,” and “adulting,” but Merriam-Webster Dictionary has one word that it’s really hoping will get knocked out from the top leaderboard for word-of-the-year: “fascism.”  Recently the team behind the dictionary’s Twitter account tweeted its followers that though “fascism” was in the lead to be word-of-the-year, it wasn’t too late to look something else up, leading Twitter users on a mission to help out the glum dictionary. So we’re wondering: What would you choose as Word-of-the-Year? Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s lexicographer Peter Sokolowski joins the Morning Shift to talk about what other words are in the running and hear your suggestions. 

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer has been a household name for decades. Yet, in 1939, the colorful creature was just an idea in the brain of a copywriter at Chicago’s Montgomery Ward department store who was charged with designing the company’s annual Christmas coloring book. Montgomery Ward printed millions of copies of the book that year and Rudolph quickly became as iconic as Santa Claus.  For the latest installment in our series What’s That Building, Morning Shift talks to Dennis Rodkin of Crain’s Chicago about the buildings where copywriter Robert May created Rudolph and his red nose.

Illinois is the first state to go more than a year without a state budget since the Great Depression. But what does that mean for residents? What does it mean for you? A new online documentary series, “Stranded by the State,” seeks to show the day-to-day impact of the state budget crisis on the lives of families, employees, students, and the stability of Illinois communities. The eight-episode series, a collaboration by Kartemquin Films and the progressive magazine In These Times, releases a new episode each week. Morning Shift talks to Liz Kaar, the producer, director, cinematographer and editor of the series.

In the 1970s, writer and oral historian Studs Terkel traveled the country asking people about their jobs. The result was the book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. Now there’s a new national multimedia exhibit that updates Terkel’s project for a new generation of Americans struggling with economic inequality. It’s called Working In America, and it includes radio stories, photos and a website where anyone can share a working story. Morning Shift talks the creator of the exhibit Jane Saks, founder of Project &, an organization that funds artists and arts projects focused on social change.

President-elect Donald Trump is a strong proponent of “school choice.” In other words, he wants federal dollars to be directed to charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run. His pick for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, oversaw the expansion of charters in Detroit. That’s not a surprise considering Trump has called public schools “failing government schools” and made a campaign pledge to provide $20 billion to low-income students to enter private or charter schools. Support for charters is not a partisan issue. President Barack Obama gave charter schools a big push during his eight years in office. So, what does the history of charter schools tell us about their effect on students and student achievement? Morning Shift talked with Diane Ravitch, an education historian, analyst and professor of education at New York University.

Throughout his campaign and post-election, Trump has softened or changed his stances on different issues--from the ban on Muslims entering to the US to his promise to repeal and replace Obamacare--but what about when it comes to guns in America? What can we expect? Morning Shift talks to Adam Winkler, professor of law at the University of California in Los Angeles and author of Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America.

Have you heard of kratom? The natural drug is the latest substance to gain the attention of the federal drug enforcement agency. They wanted to place kratom on the schedule 1 list of banned drugs alongside heroin, LSD, and cannabis but an outpouring of support for the painkiller temporarily halted their plans. Now, a debate on whether kratom is helpful or addictive will help the DEA decide whether or not to regulate the natural drug. With the substance sold right here in Chicago, we wanted to take a closer look at the pros and cons of kratom.

University students and faculty around the country have been calling on administrators to designate their schools as “sanctuary campuses.” That includes several here in Illinois, including the University of Chicago, where the student government will vote next month on a resolution to protect the rights of international and undocumented students. Morning Shift talks to WBEZ Northside reporter Odette Yousef about the various interpretations of what a sanctuary campus is and examines efforts in Illinois on the issue. 

The state of Illinois has not had a budget agreement during Bruce Rauner’s tenure as governor, but even if lawmakers and the governor pass a budget, there will still be major structural problems with the state’s finances for years to come. A pair of new reports from the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois proposes some potential fixes for those problems. Morning Shift talks to David Merriman, professor of public administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-author of the reports, which are part of IGPA’s “Fiscal Futures Project.”