WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Amid the big debates this year in Congress – from the Iraq war to immigration, the Republicans have been missing one of their respected elders. Republican Congressman Henry Hyde chose not to run last fall after 32 years representing Chicago's western suburbs.

If you're a fan of Star Trek, you may be thrilled to know that William Shatner is in town this week. The ninth annual international TransVision Conference begins tonight.

When destructive acts happen around the globe in the name of Islam, the religion itself – particularly in a post-9/11 era – tends to get painted in broad stroke terms like “extremist.”

More than 3,500 U.S. military personnel have died since the beginning of the Iraq War. These past four years have been a time of great stress on the men and women fighting the war. There's pressure, too, on the military chaplains behind the scenes. They're ministering to the troops in the field.

Equality in the workplace is the subject of today's StoryCorps installment. The StoryCorps Griot Initiative aims to capture the oral history of everyday African Americans with an emphasis on the stories of World War Two veterans and men and women involved in the Civil Rights struggle.

The run of bad news coming out of Motorola's Schaumburg based headquarters shows no sign of slowing down. Last week, the company reported it's second straight quarterly loss.