WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Grant Achatz: The Chef behind world-renowned restaurants Alinea and Next discusses the elevation of the dining experience.

Ike Barenholz:  The Chicago actor and comedian talks about his new gig on the HBO baseball comedy Eastbound & Down

Insight Labs:  Howell Malham and Jon and Jeff Leitner have made a career out of helping businesses, governments, non-profits, and individuals think outside the box and take it to the next level with their project Insight Labs.  Today, they’ll dive into the concept of brainstorming.  Is the popular and (seemingly) democratic way of generating ideas all its cracked up to be?

Producer Eilee Heikenen Weiss gives us her Top 3 @ 3

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Chicago, you told us where you'll be this weekend -- and we listened and mentioned you on Eight Forty-Eight. So, you're basically famous.

David Aaron Katz said he was "going to see Disgraced at American Theater Company" (you can read more about it in Laura Molzahn's profile of lead actor Usman Ally).

Jonah Winnick is checking out Dead Rider, The Conformists and Redgrave at the Hideout.

And Rehanna Landis Khan Kheshgi is seeing Jassie Gift at the University of Chicago. He's the voice behind this song from the film 4 the People:

In the weeks ahead, you can call 312-948-4848 and leave a message at any time to keep us up to date about what we should be doing, and how much cooler you are than us for knowing about it first. 

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The current culinary chief of Chicago is undoubtedly Grant Achatz. Not only is Alinea universally regarded as one of the top restaurants in the world, his new restaurant Next is the definition of the word "buzz." The Next Facebook page around the time of a new menu is a glimpse into the dark heart of the foodie movement.

Friday on Afternoon Shift with Steve Edwards, Achatz and business partner Nick Kokonas spoke about the new tribute menu to Spain's late, great, El Bulli restaurant. Edwards also asked what inspires them to keep innovating and what plans they have for future endeavors.

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It's a mix of serious and seriously silly on Friday's Eight Forty-Eight with Tony Sarabia for Thursday, February 16:

Stream the show live at 9 a.m.

Medicaid: Illinois’ Medicaid problem is drowning in red ink. The program that provides state and federal health care coverage for the poor, the elderly and the disabled cannot sustain itself going forward. As health care costs have risen, and the program has been expanded, Illinois’ ability to pay for it is reaching a crisis point. WBEZ and Chicago News Cooperative reporter Kristen McQueary gives the details and previews Gov. Pat Quinn’s upcoming budget address.

National Restaurant Week: National Restaurant Week starts today.

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So you made a New Year’s resolution to join a gym—that’s terrific…and original. It’s not that I don’t want you to get healthy after years of sedentary, reckless abandon; it’s that while you’re getting your life together, you’re ruining mine.Every January, gyms swell with the newly-resolved; outfitted with new sneakers and US Weekly subscriptions, decked out in some NASA space suit that anticipates sweat before a bead is formed. Easy Buzz Aldrin—some of us spent all year in these here treadmill trenches. Before you go and poke holes in my routine, think about what you’re doing.

1. You’re ruining my life: The gym is my happy place (which is already sad) and you’re keeping me from it. I now have to wait 20-plus minutes to get on a machine, which means I get home later, which means I eat dinner later, which means I come home to another cranky, hungry person, which means we’re eating later, which means we’re sleeping less, which means I’m dragging at work, which means my work is suffering, which means I’m going to get fired and now my unborn kids and I are on the street with beer bellies because we can’t afford to go to mommy’s old gym for some crunches and baby yoga.

2. You look ridiculous: If you’re talking on the phone, reading a magazine and watching TV while “working out,” you’re not working hard enough.

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Supt. Garry McCarthy began his policing career as a patrolman in the New York City Police Department. By 2000, he was the department's principal crime strategist, charged with running its famed Compstat program. He went on to run the Newark Police Department, where crime saw a steady decline during his tenure. And crime has been, overall, on the decline here in Chicago too. Crime, overall, is down. But the murder rate is up more than 50 percent from the same period a year ago. Though as Supt. McCarthy told Steve Edwards on the Afternoon Shift Thursday, "murder" and "homicide" are different--and not the most important numbers when analyzing crime statistics.

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