The Rundown | Chicago News

By WBEZ Chicago

In one bite-sized episode every weekday, we'll keep you informed, tickled, geeked, and pondering on Chicago's news, culture and people. Each episode starts with a quick news roundup from the WBEZ n

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FAQs about The Rundown | Chicago News:

How many episodes does The Rundown | Chicago News have?

The podcast currently has 2,021 episodes available.

The Rundown | Chicago News episodes:

December 22, 2025 Monday, December 22, 2025
The Chicago Bears are the toast of the town after an overtime win Saturday
against the Green Bay Packers. The Cook County Clerk’s office has selected the
couple who will receive the county’s first marriage license of 2026. Operation North
Pole is an annual holiday charity event for children with life-threatening
illnesses. It returned for the first time since COVID.
Plus, the biggest life expectancy gap between Chicago neighborhoods is 20 years,
from West Garfield Park to the Loop. One of the solutions to closing this gap is
playing out in Garfield Park.
...more
10min
December 19, 2025 Friday, December 19, 2025
The Chicago City Council has approved the revenue portion of a rival,
aldermanic-led spending plan that does not include a corporate head tax as Mayor
Brandon Johnson wanted. It still requires a second official vote to be fully
adopted. The Trump administration said the Chicago Transit Authority’s new security
plan “fails to meet the need for immediate, measurable corrective action” and
threatened to withhold up to 50 million dollars from the agency. Chicago six-piece
soul band Hollyy will play its fifth-annual holiday show at Thalia Hall.
Plus, a state panel documenting alleged abuses by federal immigration agents held
its first meeting. The Illinois Accountability Commission plans to interview
witnesses and review bystander videos on social media.
...more
10min
December 18, 2025 Thursday, December 18, 2025
A state commission examining wrongdoing by federal agencies during the
so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” is now taking testimony. Chicago Mayor Brandon
Johnson says he will do "whatever it takes" to avoid a government shutdown. A
coalition of alders advanced a rival budget proposal, and the plan still needs a
full council vote. The Chicago Bears will host arch-rivals the Green Bay Packers
Saturday night.
Plus, fans of the novelist Jane Austen celebrated her 250th birthday through a
Regency ball – complete with a string quartet, historical snacks, and dancers in
gowns stitched from YouTube tutorials.
...more
8min
December 17, 2025 Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Chicago's Jewish community continues to mourn the victims of the mass
shooting during a Hanukkah celebration in Australia. An Illinois state task force is
investigating why violence against women and girls in Chicago is disproportionately
high. Chicago officials are urging people to get their vaccines before gathering
with friends and family for the holidays.
Plus, a school on Chicago’s southwest side has long had a club to support students
without legal status and to raise money to help them go to college. But this year
with immigration enforcement tearing families apart, the club has changed course.
...more
8min
December 16, 2025 Tuesday, December 16, 2025
U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino has returned to the Chicago
area. Illinois might not be able to generate all the power it needs to meet future
demand because coal-fired plants are shutting down and newer, cleaner sources aren’t
coming online fast enough. The Chicago Blackhawks are playing in Toronto without
star center Conor Bedard due to an upper-body injury.
Plus, a Chicago theater company created its own holiday-inspired version of the
“Real Housewives” reality television series: The Real Housewives of the North Pole.
...more
7min
December 15, 2025 Monday, December 15, 2025
Jewish leaders in Chicago are mourning the lives lost in Australia this
weekend, but say they won’t live in fear as Hanukkah celebrations continue this
week. Actor and film director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer, were killed
in their Los Angeles home yesterday. Some anti-violence advocates want the Chicago
Transit Authority to allow violence interruptors to patrol the transit system. Plus,
the move-out deadline has passed for the last residents of a Chicago apartment
building raided in the fall by federal immigration agents. A judge ordered the
troubled South Shore building vacated by last Friday and appointed a manager to
secure the property and help residents relocate. Tenants say that “help” was merely
a check and a list of phone numbers to call. WBEZ's Esther Yoon-Ji Kang spent some
time with one resident as he scrambled to figure out where he goes from here.
...more
10min
December 12, 2025 Friday December 12, 2025
Patients in Illinois who are terminally ill will be able to request
life-ending medication with a doctor’s prescription starting later next year. A
proposed city-wide ban on the sale of hemp products now includes an exception for
THC-infused beverages. The National Weather Service says snow is likely Saturday
afternoon with evening wind chills near 20 below zero.
Plus, We recently asked people in Illinois prisons this question: “If you could
spend one afternoon on the outside with a family member or friend, where would you
go and what would you do?" A man named Robert Jernigan wrote us saying he’d take his
mother to her church, so he could play music and sing for her. For WBEZ’s statewide
journalism project called Prisoncast!, producer and editor Robert Wildeboer packed
up a keyboard and drove to Pinckneyville prison in Southern Illinois.
...more
10min
December 11, 2025 Thursday, December 11, 2025
The city of Chicago says warming centers will be available this weekend as
bitterly cold temperatures move in. A commission formed in honor of an unarmed Black
woman murdered in her Springfield-area home last year has unveiled their 26 “calls
to action.” Red Kettle donations for the Salvation Army are down in the Chicago
area.
Plus, the new company that provides health care to nearly 30,000 people in Illinois
state prisons has a disturbing track record. Centurion Health took over health care
for the Illinois Department of Corrections this summer, after a multi-year deal with
a different company fell through. Centurion already serves close to a dozen other
state correctional systems – where it’s been accused of ignoring and misdiagnosing
patients, leading to serious illness or death. Chicago Sun-Times reporter Kaitlin
Washburn has been digging into lawsuits filed by incarcerated people. She sat down
with Erin Allen - host of our Prisoncast program – to share what she found.
...more
8min
December 10, 2025 Wednesday, December 10, 2025
WBEZ lost power at our studios at Navy Pier today and will return to its
usual programming schedule as soon as we can. A group of alderpersons who oppose
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget have introduced their own revenue package.
Chicagoans can expect more snow going into the weekend.
Plus, the widest “death gap” across neighborhoods of any big city in America is
between the Loop and West Garfield Park on Chicago’s West Side. Between these seven
stops on the Green Line, how long someone is expected to live plummets by 20 years.
WBEZ’s Kristen Schorsch takes us to West Garfield Park where a mom and her son talk
about what it’s like to live in the death gap and what they’re trying to do about
it.
...more
11min
December 09, 2025 Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is revising his proposed and controversial
corporate head tax in hopes of shaking a budget stalemate loose. Illinois Gov.JB
Pritzker signed into law protections from what he called “unjust actions” taken by
federal immigration agents. Top executives at the parent company of Blue Cross and
Blue Shield of Illinois got hefty raises and multimillion bonuses last year despite
a 54 percent drop in net income, according to Crain’s.
Plus, the Chicago-rooted duo The Cool Kids built an impressive hip-hop career with
seven albums across two decades and many collaborations. For the first time in three
years, the Cool Kids have a new album. Chuck Inglish and Sir Michael Rocks sat down
with WBEZ's sister station Vocalo and host Nudia Hernandez to talk about “Hi Top
Fade.”
...more
8min

FAQs about The Rundown | Chicago News:

How many episodes does The Rundown | Chicago News have?

The podcast currently has 2,021 episodes available.

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