In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons

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.

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'.

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.

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.

Now that the Emanuel administration has pledged to seize the old Main Post Office through eminent domain, we’re imagining a future for the promising site. We explore different ideas. In his book Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics, Timothy Stewart-Winter explains the impact Chicago had on the gay rights movement in the United States and how the path to power relied on politics. We discuss. And during live coverage of an event at the White House, President Obama issued a statement on his plans for Guantanamo Bay. Obama announced that he planned to shut down the detention center by the end of his final term as president and transfer the remaining detainees. We take a look at his plans.

Now that the Emanuel administration has pledged to seize the old Main Post Office through eminent domain, we’re imagining a future for the promising site. MarySue Barrett, president of the Metropolitan Planning Council, joins us to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the massive building in the West Loop.

In his book 'Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics', Timothy Stewart-Winter explains the impact Chicago had on the gay rights movement in the United States and how the path to power relied on politics.