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Morning News: January 3, 2024 Jan 03, 2024

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Cook County prosecutors recently dropped their case against a man accused of beating up a Cook County jail guard. Lawyers representing indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan will make their case today for delaying his spring trial. Illinois residents are now able to file lawsuits against those who spread digitally-altered, sexual images of them online.

Afternoon News: Tuesday January 2, 2024 Jan 02, 2024

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A downstate Illinois lawmaker is seeking to bar indicted former House Speaker Michael Madigan from getting a special statehouse honor. Trauma, including violence or homelessness, rewires the brain. Now, teachers in Illinois will be getting trained in how to help. The FAFSA is open after a long delay, but its availability to students and parents remains spotty.

How a deaf Afghan refugee found her voice Jan 02, 2024

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A 6-year-old refugee from Afghanistan named Mahbuba arrived on the doorstep of a Chicago school in 2021. She was deaf and had no previous exposure to formal sign language. Over the next year, she would learn to communicate for the first time.

“Her story reflects the difference that just a few people can make,” writes freelancer Elly Fishman. “Because of the lengths a few Chicagoans have been willing to go, an Afghan girl is finding her voice and a new start.”

In this episode, we hear Mahbuba’s amazing journey to language, as written by Elly Fishman and read by WBEZ’s Melba Lara.

Morning News: January 2, 2024 Jan 02, 2024

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Dry January proponents say those seeking to support sober curious friends should be more intentional about how they choose to spend time with them. The Illinois State Police department has released its first-ever guidebook for how officers should help people experiencing homelessness. The Chicago Board of Education is considering ending the practice of allowing schools to have police officers stationed inside them.

50 Years of Hip Hop: Hannibal Buress is Eshu Tune Dec 29, 2023

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If you haven’t been to any of Hannibal Buress’s recent shows, you probably know him as a stand-up comedian and actor from shows like “Broad City.” But he also happens to be a musician and a rapper. Last winter, he dropped a new single called “Knee Brace” under the moniker Eshu Tune. Since then, he’s been doing hybrid stand-up and musical performances on tour. During the last week of 2023, we’re commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip hop by returning to our most memorable episodes on the subject. In this conversation, Buress can’t help but make some jokes. But he also talks about growing up making music and coming back to it during a global pandemic.

50 Years of Hip Hop: Chicago's own SoloSam Dec 28, 2023

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During the last week of 2023, we’re commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip hop by returning to our most memorable episodes on the subject.

SoloSam is a Chicago rapper, producer, and chef with a cooking show series, a cookbook and B-EATS. It’s a bi-monthly party series that combines good food, good music and community.

“If it wasn’t for food I wouldn’t have grown as a music artist, for sure,” he said.

In this episode from August, we play some of his songs, learn about his Ghanian-Korean heritage and talk about the connection he finds between food and music.

“At the end of the day, it’s just art.”

50 Years of Hip Hop: DJ Spinderella on civic love Dec 27, 2023

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To round out 2023, we’re commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip hop by returning to some of our favorite interviews about the genre. Next year, the National Public Housing Museum will open in Chicago, and DJ Spinderella is curating the music room. WBEZ hosted an event with the museum back in August, so we took the opportunity to sit down with DJ Spinderella and Chicago-based singer Isaiah Sharkey. In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Sharkey and DJ Spinderella about how growing up in public housing influenced their music.

50 Years of Hip Hop: The nuance of Ye FKA Kanye West Dec 26, 2023

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During the last week of 2023, we’re commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip hop by returning to our most memorable episodes on the subject. Ye – the artist formerly known as Kanye West — has been stirring up controversy for decades now, for better or for worse. We come back to our conversation with professor and Chicago native Jeffrey McCune Jr., who has written about, researched, and taught classes on Ye. He’s here to add even more nuance to how we think about the many different versions of Ye and his existence in the culture.

Afternoon News: Friday December 22, 2023 Dec 22, 2023

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Illinois politicians are weighing in on former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke's corruption conviction. Half of the counties in Illinois are reporting elevated numbers of hospitalizations due to COVID-19. Chicago’s animal shelters are at capacity as adoption rates slow.

A tribute to Richard Hunt, ‘One of the most important figures in art history’ Dec 22, 2023

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Richard Hunt’s sculptures are all over the city of Chicago – at McCormick Place, Midway Airport, and too many more locations to list – and they’re all around the country too. With over 160 installations, Hunt is one of the most prolific creators of public art in America.

He passed away on Saturday. He was 88 years old.

In this episode, his friend and biographer Jon Ott explains why Hunt – born in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood in 1935 – was “one of the most important figures in art history.”

“He was using the industrial materials of the time,” Ott said. “Being one of the first artists in the direct metal welding technique that he used to create assemblage art out of discarded bumpers, steel parts, aluminum, copper.”

Ott tells us about Hunt’s upbringing on the South Side, his unexpected scholarship to the School of the Art Institute, and how the death of Emmett Till – who lived just two blocks from Hunt’s childhood home – profoundly changed his art.

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