The Rundown: Good Things Vending machines swap out junk food for art
Instead of junk food and sodas, a Good Things Vending machine offers local art, throwback trading cards and games meant to spark joy.
Erin Allen
Digital Anchor
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The Rundown: Get to know your new Rundown podcast hosts
Changes are coming to the Rundown feed. You can now catch three episodes every weekday: morning news, a midday deep-dive conversation and afternoon news.
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The Rundown: Humans created the concept of race. A new exhibit explains how.
The concept of a person’s “race” is relatively new in the scope of human history. Newberry Library has a new exhibit looking at the history.
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The Rundown: The perils of driving while Black in Illinois
A data analysis from WBEZ and the Investigative Project on Race and Equity has found that Black driver involvement in Illinois traffic stops is at a record high.
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The Rundown: Chappell Roan wants to empower local queer communities on tour
Growing up, singer Chappell Roan didn’t think of queerness as an option. But she’s now using her platform as a pop star to empower LGBTQ+ communities.
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The Rundown: Why you should get on stage
The Guatemalan civil war brought Nestor Gomez and his family to the United States when he was a teenager in the 1980s. “In many ways I didn’t have a voice at all,” he told Erin Allen.
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The Rundown: Actor LaRoyce Hawkins has a poetic side
If you watch any shows set in Chicago, you’ve probably seen LaRoyce Hawkins. He plays Kevin Atwater in “Chicago P.D.” and its many crossover shows and is in “South Side” as Michael “Shaw” Owens. Even if Hawkins hasn’t appeared on your TV, you might’ve seen him around town. He’s the tall guy with the toothpick, coordinating fundraisers for community organizations in and around Chicago. But he’s also a lifelong poet and comedian, and currently touring his show “Poetry OVER Prose.” In this episode, we talk to Hawkins about poetry, improv and unicycles.
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‘Young Love’ Creator Matthew A. Cherry on why Chicago families are at the center of his new TV series
The Oscar-winning Chicago football-player-turned-director recently joined WBEZ’s Rundown to talk about his new show ‘Young Love,’ growing up in the city and his hopes for future Black storytellers.
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The Rundown: Charting a path toward anti-racism in Chicago arts organizations
Enrich Chicago partners with organizations to upend racist systems in the arts. They surveyed employees of their member groups to find out how things are going.
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The Rundown: Chicago is on the verge of ending tipped minimum wage
Restaurants can pay servers 60% of minimum wage, assuming they’ll earn the rest in tips. But Chicago is soon expected to end the exception.
