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How the Garfield Park Conservatory is lifegiving Oct 30, 2023

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Flora and fauna from all types of climates, available to bask in – in Chicago – year round. The Garfield Park Conservatory is a special place.

“The first impression is just overwhelming,” said Jennifer Van Valkenburg, the president and CEO of the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance.

In this episode, Van Valkenburg offers up reasons you should visit and spots you shouldn’t miss. She also talks about the conservatory’s upcoming “floral fashion fundraiser” Fleurotica, how the conservatory’s relationship with the community has changed over the years, and why it holds such a special place in many Chicagoans’ hearts.

“Every time I meet someone and I tell them I work for the conservatory, they have generational stories,” she said. “Everybody connects with the conservatory in an individual way.”

Morning News: October 30, 2023 Oct 30, 2023

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Homeowners in the north and northwest suburbs should brace for sticker shock as their property tax bills arrive. City officials want to purchase the site of a vacant Morgan Park Jewel-Osco to turn into a shelter for migrants. The deadline to apply for federal flood relief for this past summer’s rainstorms is tonight (Monday).

Afternoon News: Friday October 27, 2023 Oct 27, 2023

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A suburban foundation plans to send a million hot meals to Gaza. A northwest Illinois sheriff defends a cop who joined an anti-government extremist group. Another Chicago cyclist was hit and killed by a car.

Why did Chicago become a haven for feral cats? Oct 27, 2023

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You know Chicago is the country's rattiest city – at least according to Orkin, who just gave us that distinction for the ninth straight year – but did you also know it’s one of the feral-cattiest?

Chicago has thousands of outdoor cats, as well as thousands of humans who care for them.

“Probably over 3,000 caretakers in the city taking care of I don’t even know how many cats, cats we don’t even know about,” said Cecilia Ocampo-Solis, community programs manager at Tree House Humane Society in the Rogers Park neighborhood.

In this episode, we talk with one of these feral cat colony-minders about what it’s like to host a couple of wild fuzzballs.

“I call them more like barn cats,” said Rob Crowder, who hosts two cats, Washington and Drake, in his backyard in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood. “Because they’re – they don’t live in a barn but they’re always just around, they’re easy to maintain, and they give back to us as well.”

By “give back” Crowder means “deter rats.” But Ocampo-Solis also myth-busts a common misconception about Chicago’s feral cats and her organization’s "Cats at Work" program.

“This program was built to offer quote unquote, a ‘second chance’ to unsocialized cats in high-volume shelters. They don't have many options. Sometimes their options are humane euthanasia,” Ocampo-Solis said. “So it's a harm reduction program.”

Morning News: Friday October 27, 2023 Oct 27, 2023

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is defending a contract extension with a Kansas company to staff migrant shelters. The iconic South Side Brown Sugar Bakery opened its new manufacturing facility yesterday. Chicago City Council members want to see a new proposed Department of Environment have enforcement powers.

Afternoon News: Thursday October 26, 2023 Oct 26, 2023

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Arson fires are an issue across Chicago, according to a new WBEZ analysis. Unionized part-time faculty at Columbia College Chicago plan to strike Monday if a contract deal isn’t reached by then. Even as some high schools in Chicago struggle with low enrollment, a high school community on the far southwest side is asking for overcrowding relief.

What are Chicago’s 22 police district councils up to? Oct 26, 2023

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Chicago elected its first-ever police district councils earlier this year, and people around the country are watching. The councils put police accountability in the hands of neighborhood residents and could inspire similar models in other cities—depending on how they fare. For the 65 council members across 22 districts, the first challenge is getting residents to show up and share their input. WBEZ’s criminal justice reporter Chip Mitchell talked at length with Austin District Council chair Carmelita Earls, who wants to create a safe space for people to share concerns without risking retaliation from officers in their neighborhood. In this episode, Mitchell updates host Erin Allen on the first few months of police district councils.

Morning News: Thursday October 26, 2023 Oct 26, 2023

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We have an update on how things are going with a new effort in Cook County to locate missing people. It’s onto the state Senate for a measure allowing Illinois legislative employees to unionize. The city’s human relations commission says Chicago has seen an uptick in reported hate crimes.

Afternoon News: Wednesday October 25, 2023 Oct 25, 2023

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Two Chicago police officers killed in the line of duty will be honored tonight. Chicago officials are assessing a site in Brighton Park on the South Side as a possible base camp to house 2,000 migrants. Bat sightings are on the rise in Chicago, and not just because of Halloween.

Learn the origin story of Chicago’s pothole artist Oct 25, 2023

Show notes

If you’ve seen a Chicago pothole filled with old world, mosaic tile artwork – yet depicting something modern like a pair of hot sauce packets or a pack of Marlboro cigarettes – it was probably the creation of Jim Bachor.

“I’ve found that my goal in life is to drag the artform of the mosaic kicking and screaming into the 21st century,” Bachor said.

Bachor tells Rundown podcast host Erin Allen how a tour guide in Pompeii kickstarted his obsession with mosaics, why both the durability and the restrictions of the medium are reasons he loves it, and why he started installing his artwork in Chicago potholes.

“I got to thinking,” he said, “I’ve got this reoccuring problem outside of the house that can’t be fixed, and then a hundred yards away in my studio in the basement here I am passionately working on this artform that is so durable, why don’t I combine them?”

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