John Williams

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

John Williams with WGN Radio’s Bob Kessler and traffic manager Julie Stern joined with fellow WGN Radio listeners to volunteer at City Kids Camp in Lewistown, Illinois. There they painted, cleared brush, made repairs and spruced up the camp to ready it for another season of campers. It was an exhausting – but rewarding – weekend for all with new friends made, sore backs and limbs from hard work for a good cause.

A few days prior to the May clean-up weekend, a crew from Avondale Roofing visited the camp to make repairs to several roofs on the property and we’ve shared some before and after photos from their work.

Below are the photos shared by John Williams, Julie Stern and Hector Corona.

WGN Radio’s third annual radiothon to benefit City Kids Camp, hosted by John Williams and Lisa Dent, is May 21.

Gallery 1:

• Exhausted! Bob Kessler and John Williams (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• The Friday night of Volunteer Weekend is a cocktail party thanks to Whiskey Acres in DeKalb! (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• Bob Kessler with City Kids Camp’s Bob Evans and a volunteer. (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• Bob Kessler recruits harmonica players – City Kids Camp’s Bob Evans and a volunteer. (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• Bob Kessler plays harmonica (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• City Kids Camp gives city kids a respite in the country. (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• John Williams with volunteers at breakfast. (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• Mike Stern paints a dock bright blue. (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• A freshly painted dock! (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• Volunteers take a meal break. (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• WGN Radio’s traffic manager Julie Stern at City Kids Camp. (J. Stern/WGN Radio)
• Planting. (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• Landscaping team. (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• Sprucing up the mini golf. (J. WIlliams/WGN Radio)
• At work on the mini golf. (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• Mealtime (J. Stern/WGN Radio)
• City Kids Camp Volunteer Weekend (J. Stern/WGN Radio)
• Bob Kessler at City Kids Camp. (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• John Williams and volunteers at City Kids Camp. (J. Stern/WGN Radio)
• L to R: Diane Corona and Hector Corona, the founders of City Kids Camp, Hector’s mom Paz Corona and John Williams. Diane and Paz cooked the meals the volunteers ate. (Julie Stern/WGN Radio)
• WGN Radio’s Julie Stern (far left) with fellow volunteers and John Williams (J. Williams/WGN Raido)
• WGN Radio’s Julie Stern (far left) and her husband Mike (far right) with fellow volunteers. (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• Leaning Tower of Pisa on the mini golf. (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• Volunteer at the mini golf course. (J. Williams)
• Mealtime (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• Julie Stern and Mike Stern on their blue dock. (H. Corona/City Kids Camp)
• Bob Kessler and John Williams (J. Williams/WGN Radio)

Gallery 2:

• 2025 volunteers at City Kids Camp (Bob Evans/City Kids Camp)
• Clean-up crew at City Kids Camp (H. Corona/City Kids Camp)
• Volunteers (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• Mike Stern at work on one of the docks. (J. Stern/WGN Radio)
• Volunteers (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• Pruning trees (H. Corona/City Kids Camp)
• That’s Bob Kessler in is “Huckleberry” overalls. (J. Williams/WGN Radio)
• WGN Radio’s Bob Kessler at work on sprucing things up., (H. Corona/City Kids Camp)
• Repairing bicycles (H. Corona/City Kids Camp)
• Sprucing up the cabins (H. Corona/WGN Radio)
• Working on the cabins. (H. Corona/WGN Radio)
• Cabin clean-up crew (H. Corona/WGN Radio)
• Mini golf workers (H. Corona/WGN Radio)
• Camp spruce up (H. Corona/City Kids Camp)
• Volunteers (H., Corona/City Kids Camp)
• Picnic tables at City Kids Camp (H. Corona/City Kids Camp)
• The brush cleared around the camp is ready for a bonfire.. (J. Stern/WGN Radio)
• Burning away the cleared brush. (H. Corona/City Kids Camp)
• Bonfire time! (J. Stern/WGN Radio)
• Giant rocking chair (J. Stern/WGN Radio)
• City Kids Camp in Lewistown, Ill. (H. Corona/WGN Radio)
• Bob Kessler and John Williams (J. WIlliams/WGN Radio)

Jessica Mayle, Regional Spokesperson and Public Affairs Specialist at Transportation Security Administration, chats with WGN’s John Williams about Real ID compliance at the airport. Jessica explains the Global Entry program and how it can be used as an acceptable form of ID. Jessica also talks about the ID requirements for TSA PreCheck.

NewsNation Now anchor Connell McShane joins John Williams to discuss the current tariff and economic situation in the United States. Connell also talks about how small business are affected by today’s economic decisions.

Enjoy this edition of “The Best of Speed Jokes.” What was your favorite joke of the week? Keep sending your jokes to [email protected]!

Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips joins John Williams to talk about the 50th anniversary of ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail,’ and to share his thoughts on the Oscars introducing a Best Stunt Design category.

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 head down south to the great state capital of Illinois! Joining John today is Amy Beadle, Marketing Manager, Visit Springfield, who talks about all the great things happening in Springfield this spring and summer. Amy tells John about all the Abraham Lincoln-related sights you can see, the upcoming International Carillon Festival, where people can stay when they visit, the great food and shopping in the area, and all the amazing outdoor activities available.

Author and registered dietician nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner joins John Williams to talk about the importance of diet and exercise, why you should separate diet and exercise, a new study that shows that people who drank 8 or more drinks per week had 133% increased risk of having brain injury that is associated with memory and thinking issues (compared to those who didn’t drink). Dawn also answers all of your health and nutrition questions.

Marge Sipla, Speed Jokes spirit animal, cataloger and Member of the Speed Jokes Committee, joins John and the gang to give us her favorite Speed Jokes of April 2025! What was your favorite joke this month? And as always, John 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! The Rascals begin the podcast discussing the odds that Governor Pritzker becomes president, former governor Rod Blagojevich makes a run for Illinois senator, or Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton takes Senator Durbin’s seat. Eric explains why he is upset that Governor Pritzker and Senator Duckworth already put their fingers on the scale in favor of Stratton in the race to replace Senator Durbin. But what about Pritzkers’ fiery speech in New Hampshire over the weekend? A news story broke earlier this week that suggested Amazon was going to display tariff costs on items. A few hours later, Amazon said that was never the plan. Will Jeff Bezos ultimately decide to display tariff costs? President Trump did an interview with ABC news where he discussed tourism, tariffs, and the detainment of Abrego Garcia. What were the big takeaways from the interview? The Chicago Teachers Union is encouraging students and staff to miss school for a political rally. Austin gets us up to speed on the controversy. Legislation is pending in Illinois that would ban large retailers from using single-use plastic or styrofoam. What do the Rascals think of the proposed legislation? And finally, it’s time for red light, yellow light, green light! What are the Rascals recommending (or not recommending) this week?