WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

The death toll following Japan’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami has reached 3,400 and is expected to rise. Meanwhile, the nuclear crisis continues to unfold at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the northeast.

Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is defending the use of nuclear power, despite the problems at nuclear plants in Japan."We are still challenged with the notion of nuclear waste: what we are going to do in terms of the safe deposit and safe storage of that waste.

There will be many, many stories of bravery as we learn more about what happened Friday in Japan when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered devastating tsunamis that wiped some communities off the map, leaving thousands missing or dead.Chie Matsumoto, a journalist in Japan who has been traveling to s

Japanese groups across the Chicago region are organizing relief efforts following a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan late last week.

Powerful aftershocks hampered rescue efforts and deliveries of humanitarian aid to earthquake-stricken Japan Tuesday.

An interfaith effort to provide relief funds to Japan is gearing up across the Chicago region.Several Japanese groups here are collecting money, along with the Red Cross. Religious groups have joined that effort. The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago is taking donations.

Republican Illinois U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk said a U.S. aircraft carrier was slightly contaminated with radioactive material Sunday.The USS Ronald Reagan has been stationed off the coast of Japan.