Earlier this month, thousands of Chicago area Chinese poured into a little-known cemetery in west suburban Stickney. They were there for Ching Ming, one of the two most important memorial holidays on the Chinese calendar.  Despite being generations away from China, many immigrants still engage in ancient ancestor worship traditions that link them to their past and their family’s country of origin. WBEZ’s Monica Eng and Chicago author Wen Huang join us to discuss to discuss how different cultures mourn and honor the dead and how those traditions evolve.

Guests:

• Monica Eng is a WBEZ reporter and co-host of WBEZ’s Chewing the Fat podcast.
• Wen Huang is the author of “The Little Red Guard.”

South Shore artist Faheem Majeed’s first solo museum exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art explores the relationship between people and the communities they live in. It features a room-sized installation and sculptural works made from the kinds of materials you might find in a neighborhood: particleboard to shutter windows, scrap metal, discarded signs. WBEZ’s Natalie Moore caught up with Faheem at the MCA and brings us this interview from inside one of his installations.

Now that parts of Pullman have been named the city’s first national monument, teams of architects, engineers, and designers are brainstorming ideas for the future of the historic Pullman District. On Saturday April, 18 the teams presented their ideas and took public comment on the proposals. Richard Wilson is an urban planner and helped organize the event. He joins us with details.

From 2009 to 2013 there was a 37%  increase in discharges from Chicago emergency rooms for mental health, according to data obtained from the state. The Emergency Room visits grew, as both the city and state cut services. WBEZ’s Shannon Heffernan visited an ER that literally is rebuilding parts of its hospital to accommodate the rise and she joins us with more.

On Friday April, 17 the Chief Technology Officer of the United States brought fifty tech organizers from around the country to Washington for a meet-up at the White House. The idea was to spark a conversation about how communities can get citizens more involved in technology. Demond Drummer of Smart Chicago, attended the event and joins us to talk about the meet-up and what his organization is working toward locally in Chicago.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett is taking a leave of absence as the FBI digs into possible corruption charges involving CPS and a $2.5 million no-bid contract awarded to a principal training academy where she previously worked. This isn’t the first time in her career that Byrd-Bennett has been under investigation. Dick Simpson, professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality, joins us to discuss how this situation fits into Illinois’ legacy of corruption.

On Monday afternoon, a Cook County judge unexpectedly ended the trial of Chicago police detective, Dante Servin, charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 22-year old Chicago woman, Rekia Boyd. WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell joins us live from the Leighton Criminal Courthouse with details.

Police in Hammond, Indiana will soon be the first in Northwest Indiana to wear body cameras. The purchase is the direct result of an ugly incident that took place last September when Hammond police officers pulled over a family for not wearing seatbelts.  The dramatic altercation that followed was captured on a cell phone video and went viral, inviting comparisons to Ferguson, Missouri. Now Hammond’s mayor hopes the new cameras will shed more light on such incidents in the future. WBEZ’s Michael Puente joins us with more.

The Cook County State’s Attorney Office will no longer prosecute most misdemeanor marijuana cases. The announcement was made on April, 20 at press conference with State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. It’s part of a larger overhaul of how the office handles low-level drug offenses.  WBEZ’s Susie An was at the press conference and she joins us with details.