Stay ConnectedChicago’s daily news podcast, fresh every weekday morning. Host Jacoby Cochran brings you timely conversations with news and culture makers; activists and artists; bus drivers and students; those who love and hate this place. City Cast Chicago is a smart and delightful new way to connect with the city we share. Learn more and subscribe to our newsletter at chicago.citycast.fm.
Named Best Podcast by Chicago Reader 2022
November’s general election saw the fourth-lowest midterm voter turnout in Illinois in 40 years. So what can we expect in Chicago’s municipal elections? Hooligan Magazine founder Rivka Yeker and Chicago Tribune reporter A.D. Quig talk with host Jacoby Cochran about that story and more, including upcoming sticker shock for COVID treatments and vaccines, potential job cuts at Howard Brown Health, and protections for gender-affirming healthcare. Plus, President Biden signs the Speak Out Act, and Rivka tells us about Hooligan Hangout.
You have until noon today to nominate City Cast Chicago as Best Podcast and Hey Chicago as best newsletter in the Chicago Reader's 2022 Best of Chicago. Find us under the City Life category.
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We met up with Lincoln Square neighbor Gretchen Eng to discuss her favorite things to do, see, and eat in the North Side neighborhood.
Gretchen's Recs:
Gene’s Sausage Shop & Delicatessen
Banjo after Dark Jam at Borelli’s Pizza
A little bit of news: Today. the United Center is hosting Juice WRLD Day in honor of the late rapper. Check out our episode about Juice WRLD from earlier this year.
Nominations for the Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago 2022 are due by noon tomorrow. Nominate City Cast Chicago as Best Podcast and Hey Chicago as Best Newsletter under the City Life category.
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Dario Durham and Sara Faddah come from very different food traditions. Faddah is originally from Jordan, and cooks the Arab foods her grandmother made. Durham is a born and bred Chicagoan, and grew up on soul food. So when they started dating in 2019, they started exploring each other’s food cultures and building their own list of favorite dishes and restaurants as a couple. They then decided to eat at a restaurant in every community area for their podcast, 77 Flavors of Chicago. Dario and Sara have now been to all 77 community areas, and they update us on some of their favorite spots.
77 Flavors is having a live taping tomorrow night in North Lawndale to celebrate reaching all 77 community areas.
This conversation was originally published July 15, 2021.
Some good news: The 4th annual Love and Nappyness hair care drive is almost over. This is the last week to donate natural hair care, skin care, and hygiene products at one of their six drop-off locations.
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Across Chicago, cars have crashed into cyclists in the bike lane more than 400 times between 2020-22, according to an investigation by the Illinois Answers Project and Block Club Chicago. So what can city and state officials do to make Chicago streets safer for cyclists? Kyle Lucas and Michael Podgers with Better Streets Chicago tell us four things that have to happen.
A spokesperson from Mayor Lori Lightfoot's office told City Cast that Chicago is building nearly 40 miles of new bikeways per year, nearly twice as much as the previous mayoral administration. Safe cycling is part of CDOT's strategic plan, with a focus on protected bike lanes and other low-stress routes.
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Season three of “South Side” premieres Thursday on HBOMax. The comedy follows various characters — from workers at a rent-to-own store to wannabe rappers to cops — as they make their hustle on Chicago’s South Side. Creators Diallo Riddle (who plays Allen Gayle), Sultan Salahuddin (Simon), and Bashir Salahuddin (Officer Goodnight) tell host Jacoby Cochran about what inspired the show and how they stay true to the city to get the biggest laughs.
You can see an advanced screening of the season three premiere of “South Side” tomorrow at DuSable Museum. Plus, Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle will be talking to WBEZ’s Sasha Ann-Simons.
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The filing deadline for the February municipal election was Monday. One name that won’t be on the ballot for the first time in over 50 years is Southwest Side 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke. The indicted alderperson decided to quietly bow out of the race as he faces a federal corruption trial and an unfavorably redrawn ward. We are joined by WTTW politics reporter Heather Cherone and WBEZ’s host of The Rundown Erin Allen to discuss Burke’s legacy and how the aldermanic races are shaping up. The trio will also break down an ethics complaint against Mayor Lori Lightfoot, an Illinois nonprofit providing safe flights to people seeking and providing abortion care, and reentry programs for Illinoisans leaving incarceration. Plus we’ve got some gooooooddddd news to get you through the weekend!
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When City Cast Chicago first talked to Dion Dawson in 2021, he said, “Englewood was everything that I needed it to be.” Dawson is the founder of Dion’s Chicago Dream, which delivers free fresh produce to families across Chicago. He gives host Jacoby Cochran recommendations of things to eat, see, and do in the South Side neighborhood where he grew up.
Dion’s Recs:
Viaduct murals at 58th and Halsted
“Gateway” mural at 63rd and Halsted
Resident Association of Greater Englewood
Plus, check out the In The Land open mic at Imagination House on Dec. 7 and Share the Love Englewood Winterfest on Dec. 10.
Some news: On Monday, the city and Bally’s are holding a public meeting about the planned casino at the old Tribune publishing site in River West.
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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently boasted that Chicago is the 4th best city in the U.S. for startups. The Chicago Innovation Awards are one way companies get their ideas to the rest of the world. Earlier this month, Chicago Innovation gave the “Up and Comer” award to a company called Joe and Bella, which makes adaptive apparel aimed at older adults. City Cast Chicago’s Carrie Shepherd talked to the company’s co-founder and president Jimmy Zollo.
Some news: Some of the city's overnight parking bans go into effect early tomorrow.
Some good news: The Chicago Kids Company's "Mrs. Claus the Holiday Musical" opens today at the Beverly Arts Center.
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Chicago once had the second highest population of Polish people in the world outside of Warsaw, and many called Jackowo, which is the Northwest Side neighborhood Avondale, home. Back in March, we talked to Mary Wisniewski and Joanna Marszalek, who have both lived in Jackowo and shared their stories of family, migration, and Polish bakeries. They wrote “The Death (and Possible Rebirth) of Jackowo,” for Chicago magazine, which recently won the Chicago Journalists Association’s Boyden Award for best feature. Host Jacoby Cochran sat down with Wisniewski and Marszalek in March to talk about how the neighborhood has changed from Polish to Latino in recent decades.
This conversation was originally published on March 10, 2022.
The Avondale Neighborhood Association is hosting a series of public meetings to talk about a neighborhood community plan, including tonight at 6 p.m.
Some news: Comment on the Chicago Police Department’s draft policy for its Criminal Enterprise Information System (aka the new gang database).
The Chicago Elite Classic high school basketball tournament is back this weekend.
Remember to nominate City Cast Chicago as Best Podcast and Hey Chicago as Best Newsletter in the Reader’s 2022 Best of Chicago under the City Life category.
Follow us on Twitter: @CityCastChicago
Sign up for our newsletter: chicago.citycast.fm
Call or Text Us: (773) 780-0246
Chef Charlie Trotter opened his eponymous restaurant in Lincoln Park in 1987, pushing Chicago to a new culinary level. Some of today’s best chefs trained under the groundbreaking — and mercurial — chef. The documentary “Love Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter” talks to friends, family, and Trotter-trained chefs about what it was like to learn from him and how things started to change. Host Jacoby Cochran talks to filmmaker Rebecca Halpern about the doc, which is available to rent or purchase on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
Nominate City Cast Chicago for Best Podcast and Hey Chicago as Best Newsletter in the Reader’s Best of Chicago 2022 under the City Life category.
Follow us on Twitter: @CityCastChicago
Sign up for our newsletter: chicago.citycast.fm
Call or Text Us: (773) 780-0246
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