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Curious City

Putting A Spotlight On Chicago’s LED Streetlights

Do LED lights cause cancer? Can they really reduce crime? One kid is so concerned about LED streetlights that he called Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
May 19, 2018
City Hall

WBEZ News

What The Heck Happened At Chicago City Council Wednesday

Obama’s Presidential Center sailed through the City Council, but plans for a new police academy got left ashore.
May 23, 2018
A legendary Jazz Age mural in the onetime Sunset Cafe building is on full-time public display in a store at 315 E. 35th Street.

Morning Shift

What's That Building? The Sunset Cafe Mural

This Bronzeville mural was once the backdrop for performances by jazz legends such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie.
May 24, 2018
CPS Logo

WBEZ News

Inspector General: End Public School Perk For Chicago’s Wealthiest

Chicago Public Schools’ inspector general calls on the school district to end free preschool for students from the richest area in the city.
May 23, 2018
River North businesses are ready for Motorola's arrival

Morning Shift

Mr. Beef Helps Celebrate National Italian Beef Week (Which Is A Thing)

Chris Zucchero, co-owner and manager of the legendary Mr. Beef, talks about how Jay Leno used to sleep in the parking lot.
May 23, 2018
folded map 1

Morning Shift

'Folded Map' Project Addresses Segregation In Chicago

The project brings together people who live on the same streets but in different neighborhoods to help spark a conversation about race.
May 23, 2018

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Dolores French poses with her husband, Richard. Dolores was found dead of Legionnaires' disease in her room at the Quincy veterans' home during the first outbreak in 2015.

WBEZ News

Records Show Quincy Home Couldn't Find Woman Who Later Died Of Legionnaires’

Was Dolores French dead for two days before the Rauner administration found her? A coroner says yes, the state says no.
May 18, 2018
Kelvyn Park High School students on a Loop scavenger hunt consult a map at City Hall. The hunt took them to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s fifth floor office where they requested — and received — the mayor’s business card.

WBEZ News

Downtown Expedition Helps Teens Make Chicago Their Own

A group of Northwest Side teens call this city home yet rarely leave their community. WBEZ went along as they explored a new Chicago.
May 21, 2018
Disabled Chicago Park District Drinking Fountain

Curious City

Park District Shutting Off Hundreds Of Outdoor Fountains

After years of grappling with outdoor fountains’ high lead levels, the Chicago Park District will disable nearly half of them.
May 11, 2018
Chicago closed a record 50 schools in 2013, affecting 11,000 children from those schools. Kayla Porter, 9, walks with her grandmother and mother to her new school on the South Side after the school Kayla had attended the previous school year was closed.

WBEZ News

Study: 2013 Chicago School Closings Failed To Help Students

UChicago research finds students from 50 schools that were closed in 2013 aren’t better off academically now, despite promises otherwise.
May 22, 2018
Nerdette's Finest

Editor’s List

Nerdette's Finest

Going on a roadtrip? Here's a totally subjective list of Nerdette podcast's greatest episodes.
May 24, 2018
Steve Kamenicky, known on the streets as “Ponytail Steve.”

Editor’s List

Voices Of Chicagoland's Opioid Crisis

As part of a weeklong series, Morning Shift spoke to people who are on the frontlines of the opioid crisis on a daily basis.
May 16, 2018

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