WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Lead story: After 17 years in prison for a murder he always said he didn’t commit, Alprentiss Nash will likely be released. Prosecutors have dismissed charges against him, citing newly-discovered DNA evidence that exonerates Nash. It’s the latest in an ongoing, disturbing trend in Chicago of exonerated suspects. Earlier this year, the National Registry of Exonerations released a study [PDF] that put Illinois as the leader in state exonerations from 1989 to 2012 with 101 cases. The same study cited Cook County as the leading county in the nation with 78 exonerations, more than 47 entire states (outpaced by only California, New York and Texas).

Lead story: Oh, BP. It’s okay. Really. By now, everyone’s forgotten all about that teensy little oopsy-daisy you had in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. You know, the little spill wherein you dumped an estimated 206 million gallons of crude oil into a delicate ecosystem? Wherein the economic effects linger (but thanks for those ads!) as does the threat of oil churning up every time a hurricane comes by? I mean, sure, it’s understandable you’d be nervous after that. But I wouldn’t worry. No one will get that upset about you selling 4.7 million gallons of tainted gas in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Lead story: Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed a much-hyped gambling bill yesterday, citing a lack of oversight and “loopholes for mobsters,” thereby shutting down (for now) the movement to bring a casino to Chicago. But there’s more fight left to come and it’s shaping up to be the battle of Quinn vs. Rahm. After the veto was announced, Mayor Emanuel expressed frustration about Quinn’s decision and vowed to keep fighting for a Chicago casino. And Rahm’s not alone; other officials are upset with Quinn’s decision, citing the revenue the bill would have generated for the state. Still, the main event here is the pair of Democratic leaders going head-to-head.

Lead story: The tragic shooting outside the Empire State Building Friday — the latest in a string of mass shootings this summer — did what few other news stories have done: upstage violence here in Chicago, where 19 people were shot the night before, including eight people shot in a single incident — a mass shooting on its own. The city reminded everyone of its violent reputation over the weekend, though: At least nine people were killed and 28 injured in shootings between Friday afternoon to early Sunday evening. Police have arrested two suspects in one of those incidents, a homicide in Bronzeville.

Lead story: No matter what you think of Gawker – love ‘em or loathe ‘em – the blog had a huge day Thursday when they went all WikiLeaks on the Romney campaign and dropped a sprawling investigation into Romney’s finances while at Bain Capital. The report comes after staffers at the blog sifted through almost 1,000 pages of documents to map out the convoluted way in which Romney clears his fortune to avoid paying taxes. Of course, the backlash was almost instant as Fortune called the report “worthless” and tried to pick it apart piece by piece. Still, as Amy Davidson points out over at the New Yorker, the final worth of the contents doesn’t matter as much as the fact that folks are out there finally digging through Romney’s financial trail because of the his refusal to be upfront about his tax returns and other business dealings.

Lead story: This coming December, nearly three years after the agency’s last round of big service cuts, the CTA will attempt to balance things out a bit with a new “crowd reduction” plan. The plan calls for more trains across all lines, particularly the Blue, Brown and Red lines, and more frequent bus service on 48 routes. The trade-off: A handful of bus routes will be discontinued or will have their segments shortened (the biggest of which will be a large chunk of the #11 Lincoln Ave. route). The idea, of course, is to make you feel less sardine-like on those rush hour trains or buses. After venting about the fact that my main bus route (said #11) was being cut, I saw that this wasn’t a bad idea, actually, and makes sense.