It’s time once again for our Best of the Midwest feature! Are you trying to come up with some vacation ideas that are only a quick getaway from the Chicago area? Well, John Williams has some great recommendations for your trip! Today, we take our appetite across the border and visit with the always delightful Stephanie Klett, President and CEO, Visit Lake Geneva! Stephanie tells us everything we need to know about the upcoming Lake Geneva Restaurant Week! Stay for a bit and dine your way around the lake!

Author and registered dietician nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner joins John Williams to talk about the benefits of adding fish to your diet, and fun ways to eat more fish. Dawn also answers all of your nutrition questions.

John Williams brings you another round of Speed Jokes. Keep sending yours to [email protected].

The Mincing Rascals this week are John Williams of WGN Radio, Eric Zorn, Publisher of The Picayune Sentinel, Austin Berg of the Illinois Policy Institute (sign up for his new Substack!), longtime Chicago journalist Cate Plys, and political pundit Marj Halperin! This week the Rascals start the podcast discussing The Atlantic publishing the contents of a Signal group chat of Trump administration officials messaging about military operations. What was the biggest takeaway from the story? And do the Rascals believe the story has legs? This week, the Sun-Times announced they will discontinue running editorials. Do editorials matter anymore? And how will the buyouts at the Sun-Times impact local news. This week, a symposium was held on the push for a Chicago charter. Austin explains why a city charter is needed. President Trump signed an executive order that would require prospective voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. Is this just a distraction or does it merit concern?

Elder law attorney Kerry Peck joins John Williams to answer all your questions about elder law, trusts, wills, and elder abuse. Kerry tells John why you should consider long-term care insurance, and the importance of having end-of-life conversations when you are mentally competent.

Maureen Dowd, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Op-ed columnist, joins John to discuss her new book, “Notorious: Portraits of Stars from Hollywood, Culture, Fashion, and Tech.” Maureen talks about being in Chicago for the DNC, how she picked the columns to include in the book, the challenge of writing about notable figures such as George Clooney, Paul Newman, Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman, Tina Fey, and disgraced movie executive Harvey Weinstein, and if she believes SNL carries the same cultural currency as it once did.

Chris Holtmann, Head Coach, DePaul’s Men’s Basketball, joins John Williams to talk about how well the team played in the Big East tournament, the growth the team has made since he took over, his thoughts on the transfer portal, the exciting freshmen that will be entering the program, how DePaul competes in NIL, and getting prepared for the the inaugural College Basketball Crown postseason tournament.

John Williams brings you another round of Speed Jokes. Keep sending yours to [email protected].

Minooka Mayor Ric Offerman joins John Williams to talk about the town trying to land a new data center. Mayor Offerman explains what this data center would mean for Minooka, how many jobs this would create, and what the residents of Minooka are saying about the possible development.

Eric Zorn, Publisher of The Picayune Sentinel, joins John Williams to talk about the Sun-Times discontinuing editorials, the Trump administration’s Signal leak, and the results of his poll about the length of the baseball season. Do the Picayune Sentinel readers believe the baseball season is too long?