Looped In: Chicago

Chicago collegiate sports are under a national microscope this month, as Northwestern University Athletics made news for two completely separate, but equally appalling, situations: both football coach Pat Fitzgerald and baseball coach Jim Foster were fired last week for -- among other allegations -- creating or condoning racist, sexist and otherwise harmful behavior, both in the locker room and on the field.

Joining host Jim Hanke today is 670 The Score's Danny Parkins, who originally broke the story last week on Foster's alleged toxic behavior; plus, hear from NU journalist Sophia Vlahakis about the student newspaper's role in exposing a culture of hazing, reportedly ignored by Fitzgerald.

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As one of the first and largest decisions of his new tenure as the Mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson has chosen to keep only one member of the Board of Education. Starting next week, they'll move forward with six new representatives, most being CPS parents, like Johnson himself. On this episode of Looped In, we discuss this initiative with WBBM political editor Craig Dellimore and Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor (chair of the City Council’s Education Committee), and find out what this shake-up means for the future of Chicago Public Schools.

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Since 2008 the Chicago hub for Honor Flight -- a nationwide non-profit -- has flown more than 10,000 US veterans to Washington, DC at no cost to pay respect to their bravery and sacrifice. And in recent years Vietnam veterans (who have notably struggled with various aspects of PTSD) have become Honor Flight's main beneficiaries. On today's episode, we follow a veteran from Oak Lawn and his daughter on their recent journey with Honor Flight, and learn how this organization is benefitting these military heroes almost 50 years since their service.

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Honor Flight Chicago's IG: https://instagram.com/honorflightchicago?igshid=YzcxN2Q2NzY0OA==

To see pictures and videos of this event, check them out and follow us on our socials: Twitter, Instagram
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We didn't start the fire but the immense smoke from our northern neighbors blanketed Chicagoland and most of the Midwest last week. But can we expect it to come back? And if it does, what does that mean in the long-term when it comes to our health?

This week we get Looped In with our reporter Bernie Tafoya and TikToker, allergist Dr. Zachary Rubin about what we should anticipate in the future.

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In an effort to extend their fanbase and excite a new generation about auto racing, NASCAR is undoubtedly making its imprint on Chicago this summer. On this episode, podcast host and producer Jim Hanke examines the intricacies of the sport's first ever street race, and the historical nature of the event, with WBBM sports reporter Rick Gregg and auto racing journalist Kelly Crandall.

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During prohibition, Swedish immigrant Carl Jeppson sold his homemade wormwood liquor door-to-door in the Andersonville neighborhood, skirting anti-alcohol laws by presenting it as medicinal. 90 years later, Malört has a brash reputation but remains a cornerstone of almost every Chicago liquor cabinet. On today's episode, we get to the bottom of the bottle, by going to the top of the Malört dynasty -- CH Distillery in Pilsen. We also visit Nisei Lounge in Wrigleyville to check out their renowned Malört infusions, and attempt to answer why this particular drink is so intrinsically Chicago.

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Follow David Hammond on Twitter | Follow Jeppson's Malört on Twitter

Follow Marlene Sharp on Twitter | Follow CH Distillery on Twitter

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The Chicago Public Library celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.

Along with this birthday comes an increased debate about banned books and what subjects, genres and authors children that should have access to in school or public libraries.

On today's show, podcast producer and host Jim Hanke speaks with WBBM reporter Brandon Ison and Chicago Public Library Commissioner Chris Brown about a new landmark bill, signed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. It halts funding to libraries that choose to ban literature due to partisan disapproval.

This is the first law of its kind in the country, so what does this mean for the ongoing nationwide debate?

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Sources:

KMOV

CBS This Morning

PBS NewsHour

Fort Worth Report

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Naperville? Waukegan? Arlington Heights? Or stay at the hallowed halls of Solider Field?

On this first episode of Looped In: Chicago, podcast producer and host Jim Hanke talks with WBBM reporter Terry Keshner and 670 TheScore's Chris Emma about where the football team could migrate to and what's making them second guess their landing pad.

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First publicly released in November 2022, ChatGPT has since taken over the conversation -- almost literally -- about artificial intelligence. Powered by AI, the chatbot is a natural language processing tool that allows for human-like conversations, and the completion of written tasks based on prompts from real people. And while this technology is still relatively new to the average consumer, the worlds of medicine, business and the creative arts are looking to capitalize in multiple ways. This episode of Courier Pigeon features audio from a recent panel, hosted by WBBM news anchor Rob Hart. Joined by experts from the University of Chicago, Placer.ai and VRAR Chicago, Rob dives into AI's current and future role in our daily lives. For video of the full panel discussion with additional topics and to subscribe to our channel, visit WBBM's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wbbmam.

Since it’s 4/20, we wanted to re-release our previous episode about cannabis and social equity for the day. So sit back, relax, and get your snacks ready for a chill time as we explore Illinois’s regulations, taxes, dispensaries and more in this episode.

Please note: There are some items that have changed since this original podcast release back in December. Check out our sources below for updated information.

Marijuana Business Daily

ABC7

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Original sources:

Mike Krauser from WBBM NewsRadio

Marijuana Business Daily

Forbes

Block Club Chicago

CBS News Chicago

Chicago.gov

New England Journal of Medicine

Pew Research

Drug Policy Alliance

ACLU of Illinois

United States Sentencing Commission

CNBC

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Courier Pigeon is a new podcast from WBBM that will highlight trending topics in Chicagoland. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, tweet at us: @WBBMPodcasts.