In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons

This election cycle has been a challenging one to cover for journalists. Republican Presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has reporters questioning whether regular rules of journalism apply this election cycle. In an article for The New York Times, Jim Rutenberg examines what counts as journalistic fairness in an unconventional election cycle.

Illinois’ ongoing budget crisis just created another headache; the state’s rainy day fund is nearing a zero balance.  As of Friday, the fund was down to $180 million dollars from its original $275 million dollars, which financial experts say is well below what a state should keep in a rainy day account. Morning Shift talks with the Civic Federation’s Laurence Msall about the state’s history with a rainy day fund and how the current condition of the fund impacts Illinois. 

OK, so you’re not a farmer. But do you like gardening? Astronomy? Cooking? How about “smart living”? If you said yes to any of those questions, then the Farmers’ Almanac may be for you after all.  The venerable compendium of weather, wit and wisdom — which is out August 15 — celebrates its 200th edition this year. Morning Shift talks to editor Peter Geiger about the long-range forecast for the Chicago region, the almanac’s family history and how it’s staying current on social media.

In our occasional series 'The Movie That Made Me,' we ask folks from all walks of life about the movie that had the biggest impact on their lives or their work. Robert Milazzo, founder of the Modern School of Film in New York does something similar where he talks to famous creatives in a live setting about films they love. Milazzo is coming to Chicago to do one of those talks at Thalia Hall, and his guest is the very funny David Cross. We thought we’d grab the two of them for a preview of the event and put them under our movie microscope.

A new study of census data reveals that the percentage of multigenerational households is almost as high as it was in the 1950s. We’ll talk about the numbers and some of the factors behind them with D'Vera Cohn from the Pew Research Center, and take your calls about your experiences with multigenerational households.

Sit, back and relax. After all, Monday August 15 is National Day of Relaxation. In the latest in our Working Shift series, we talk to Molly Coeling, a massage therapist and reiki practitioner about why she decided to go into the field and what she hopes to bring to her clients.

There are more than 11,000 athletes competing in this year’s Olympics games. We check in with the Chicago Tribune’s Stacy St. Clair from the Summer Olympics in Rio, where she’s covering all the Chicago athletes.

A lot of hashtags you come across on Twitter and Facebook are sort of silly, but one that went viral earlier this week shed a lot of light on the shifting sands of the world of employment: #FirstSevenJobs. Morning Shift talks to Adam Chandler, senior associate editor at The Atlantic, who published a piece about the hashtag this week called The Unexpected Joys of #FirstSevenJobs.

Local reporters recently got a rare opportunity to visit one of the 19 facilities authorized by Illinois to grow medical marijuana. Morning Shift talks with Chicago Tribune reporter Robert McCoppin about what he saw and learned during his tour at the Cresco Labs Grow House in Joliet.

The federal government made some big statements about marijuana this week. In a filing by the Drug Enforcement Agency, it stated that marijuana will continue to be considered a schedule 1 drug and that it rejects marijuana as a medicine. However, the filing also makes clear that more universities will be able to grow marijuana to conduct research. We speak with Jon Caulkins, professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a drug policy expert, about the implications and potential impact of this federal filing about marijuana.