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
We’ve been covering Chicago’s ward remap at City Cast Chicago, but here’s a reminder: The remap process takes place every decade after the census, and it’s meant to reflect changing demographics of the city. Each time, transparency and public input are promised. Then alderpersons gather behind closed doors and negotiate with each other about which boundaries would serve each of them and allow them to be reelected. Dec. 1 — Wednesday — was the deadline for approving a new map. But in the days leading up to it, City Council meetings were canceled, the mayor left town, and the public still hadn’t seen an official map. Without a map approved by at least 41 alderpersons, there’s now a chance voters could have final say on Chicago’s ward boundaries. But politics reporter A.D. Quig explains it’s just a chance and there’s still a lot more negotiating and dealing to come.
Guest: A.D. Quig — Politics reporter, Crain’s Chicago Business
Listen to our past coverage of the census and ward remap:
The push for an Asian American–majority ward
An alternative, independent mapping process
How shifting demographics shift political power
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in August signed into law legislation requiring sex education in K-12 schools to teach about HIV, consent, and the role of technology in sexual health. Pritzker and backers of the bill said it modernizes sex education, but schools and parents can still opt out of the curriculum. On this World AIDS Day, Lead Producer Carrie Shepherd talks to a clinical psychologist from Northwestern University whose expertise includes HIV prevention and sexual and gender minority populations. They discuss what young people today understand about HIV and where there still needs to be more awareness.
Guest: Kathryn Macapagal — Professor, Northwestern University
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David Plotz, CEO of City Cast and co-host of Slate's "Political Gabfest," is a lifelong Washingtonian who knows the ins and outs of THAT city. But now, in his current role at City Cast, he has to learn about about a slew of new cities that are part of the company's network: Denver, Houston, and, of course, Chicago. So, naturally, he has questions. David asks host Jacoby Cochran and Lead Producer Carrie Shepherd about the “L,” Oprah and Kanye, and, yes, pizza.
Guest: David Plotz
A little bit of news, y'all:
Giving Tuesday Organizations List: Block Club Chicago, Crain's Chicago Business
Chicago Elite Classic 12/3-12/4
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Chicago's Black population is the lowest it's been since the 1950s. What was once a destination for Black Southerners seeking more opportunity and racial equity is now a city they're fleeing to move to nearby states, like Indiana, but also farther away like Texas, Georgia and Arizona. Chicago Tribune's Will Lee talked to former Chicagoans. Lee explains why they say they’re leaving, and as life-long Chicagoans, he and host Jacoby Cochran talk about their own personal struggles on whether to stay or go.
Guest: William Lee — Reporter, Chicago Tribune
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As many of us enjoy delicious food over the Thanksgiving holiday, we wanted to take a moment to look back on a story about a Chicagoan working to feed his neighbors. Dion Dawson was asked in 2020 what he wanted to do to help his Englewood community. He responded that he wanted to feed 100 families. Fast forward a year, and Dion's Chicago Dream is running a community fridge that the organization keeps full of fresh produce, and delivering groceries to families from Maywood to Evanston. Dion tells host Jacoby Cochran it was his own food insecurity growing up that made him want to help feed his neighbors and give back to the neighborhood he loves.
Get involved with Dion's Chicago Dream.
**This story was originally published Aug. 9, 2021**
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Last year, the Wabash Arts Corridor commissioned two murals in the South Loop to celebrate the centennial of women’s suffrage. While one mural has been installed, the other has been blocked by a nearby parking lot owner who said it was “too political.” Lead producer Carrie Shepherd visited the site at Wabash and Harrison and has been looking into what happened. She explains what happened and how it fits into Chicago’s larger conversation about the purpose of public monuments and public art. We also hear from the artist behind the blocked mural.
Guests:
Carrie Shepherd — Lead Producer, City Cast Chicago
Dorian Sylvain — Artist
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A group of South Shore neighbors pooled their money to buy and restore a historic vacant apartment building in their neighborhood. Mayor Lori Lightfoot remains on the fence as alders continue to spar over the city’s next ward map. And one Chicagoan may have caught the biggest carp in Illinois at the Humboldt Park lagoon, leaving the rest of us wondering, “Where the hell did this 72-pound behemoth come from?” Block Club Chicago’s Maxwell Evans and Crain’s Chicago Business’ A.D. Quig stop by to talk about these stories and more. Plus, Thanksgiving is next week so we’re talking favorite side dishes and the City Cast Chicago team says what they’re thankful for this year!
Guests:
Maxwell Evans — Hyde Park, Woodlawn, and South Shore reporter, Block Club Chicago
A.D. Quig — Politics and government reporter, Crain's Chicago Business
Stories discussed:
South Shore neighbors restore a historic vacant apartment building
Southeast Sider helps a couple from Indiana stranded in Chicago
Why you should care about the Cook County Assessor’s race
Man catches gigantic carp in Humboldt Park lagoon
The film “Passing,” now streaming on Netflix, is based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel of the same name. Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry are two light-skinned Black women who grew up on Chicago’s South Side—just like Larsen. One of the women is “passing” as white while the other is heavily involved with the Harlem community where she now lives. Writer and Larsen scholar Amina Gautier explains how Chicago played an integral role in the author’s life and in the story.
Guest:
Amina Gautier—Writer and University of Miami Professor
A little bit of news, y'all:
Comment as Chicago Police develop a new gang database, after the old one was found to be riddled with errors and proven to be racially biased
Find a park with ice skating near you
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The Illinois Restaurant Association says even as establishments continue to reopen since the start of the pandemic, 100,000 restaurants have closed nationwide, and the industry is still down 70,000 jobs in Illinois. Worker advocates say one way to fix that shortage is to get rid of the subminimum wage. That’s the minimum hourly rate employers have to pay tipped workers like waiters and bartenders because the law assumes the combination of the lower wage and tips will equal the full minimum wage. One of those advocates is Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage. Jayaraman was in Chicago this week visiting restaurants that have abandoned the subminimum wage—at least for now. She talks to host Jacoby Cochran about the campaign. And we hear from a worker who left the industry and says she’s not going back.
Guests:
Saru Jayaraman — President, One Fair Wage
Jewel Simmons — Former Chicago restaurant worker
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When the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for kids between the ages of 5 and 11 a little more than two weeks ago, parents quickly tried to secure spots to get their kids vaxxed. Even before the approval, Chicago Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady assured parents and guardians that getting the vaccine “was not going to be the Hunger Games,” the way it often felt when the vaccine was approved for adults. A health care reporter details the early days of the pediatric vaccine roll-out, and we talk to a family in suburban Palos Park about how they’re feeling now that two teens are fully vaxxed and two kids are partly vaxxed.
Guests:
Lisa Schencker—Health care business reporter, Chicago Tribune
The Narciso Family
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