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1 month ago | 
wbez.org | Andrew Meriwether
Sofia Jensen has always been terrible at losing things. One time, the young Chicago musician left behind a wallet at the very start of a tour in Ohio. “ So, then I didn’t have that wallet with all that stuff for months,” recalled Jensen, who uses they/them pronouns. Because of their age — Jensen is 21 and has a youthful face — not having their ID was a big problem. Green Room Newsletter You’re subscribed!Please check your inbox for your confirmation.
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2 months ago | 
wbez.org | Andrew Meriwether
If you travel out of O’Hare Airport, you’re probably familiar with the busy departure and arrival lanes, congestion at the security checkpoint and the complete chaos of getting food from Torta Frontera. But there’s a whole other side to O’Hare the public doesn’t see: the industrial side. And tucked even further amongst the warehouses and cargo planes is something truly out of place — a cemetery dating back to before the Civil War.
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Jan 29, 2025 | 
wbez.org | Katie O’Brien |Katie O'Brien |Andrew Meriwether |Erin Allen
The future of Chicago sports fandom looks pretty bleak from my vantage point: driving carpool and listening to backseat color commentary from sports-obsessed 7-year-olds. “These [Chicago] coaches literally suck,” Graham said. “Almost all of them got fired, except the Bulls one. He’s the only one who stayed,” Reilly added. These boys love sports. They spend car rides watching highlights: top-10 catches, most awesome goals, top-10 Hail Marys. They can’t get enough.
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Jan 22, 2025 | 
wbez.org | Andrew Meriwether |Erin Allen |Alex Degman |Susie An
Editor’s note: This story originally published in Jan. 18, 2024. The accompanying podcast episode answers several traffic-related questions, including how city traffic lights are timed and why construction on I-90/I-94 happens the way it does. Chances are if you’ve heard a Chicago-area traffic report on the radio in the past twenty years, Mike Pries helped put it together. He works for Total Traffic and Weather Network, which manages a traffic database used by nearly every local news outlet.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
wbez.org | Erin Allen |Mary Hall |Monica Eng |Andrew Meriwether
You can pick any year in Chicago’s 180-plus-year history, and it’d likely be full of important events that have shaped our culture. You might think of 1871: Residents watched the city burn in the Great Chicago Fire, and it had a big influence in physically shaping our city. Or perhaps 1893, when Chicago was front and center for the World’s Columbian Exposition. Or maybe 1968, a tumultuous year on many fronts, including the Democratic National Convention that turned violent in Chicago.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Andrew Meriwether |Erin Allen |Susie An |Jesse Dukes
Entering Miller’s Pub, it’s easy to see why it’s a holiday gathering spot. The restaurant is warmly lit with vintage stained glass fixtures, and dark woods combine with classic Christmas decor for a cozy ambiance. Among those who gather is special education teacher Jason Munchoff, who has met his friends here for an annual holiday celebration since 2007. Essential to their festivities is drinking a Tom and Jerry. “I’m really into traditions, especially around the holidays,” he said.
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Oct 17, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Maggie Sivit |Andrew Gill |Anna Mason |Andrew Meriwether
Curious City listener Diane Judge thinks a lot about what she throws away. The longtime Ravenswood resident composts what she can, recycles what she can and consigns to the garbage bin only what she has to. Because of that, she makes a trip to her alley to toss her garbage in the city-issued bin less often than most. But when she does, she sometimes runs into a Chicago Streets and Sanitation collection crew making their rounds. That got her curious about the people who pick up her trash.
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Oct 11, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Matthew Hendrickson |Andy Grimm |Andrew Meriwether
The former CEO of Loretto Hospital has been named in a new indictment by federal prosecutors for his alleged role in a $15 million embezzlement scheme. George Miller, 73, faces a count of conspiracy to defraud in a superseding indictment filed Wednesday in federal court in Chicago, according to records. He is the fourth person to be named in an alleged fraud scheme to charge the small West Side hospital for goods and services it had not received between 2018 and 2022.
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Sep 19, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Anna Mason |Andrew Meriwether |Robbie Q. Telfer |Max Lubbers
Nowadays, if you see a low-riding bicycle with high handlebars, lots of shining chrome and a long banana seat, you may think two things. First: that’s one hot retro bicycle. And second, if you know your bicycle history: that’s a Schwinn. Schwinn Bicycle Company single handedly shaped bicycle culture across the country for decades, all while maintaining their strong Chicago identity through four generations of family ownership.
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Sep 13, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Andrew Meriwether |Robbie Q. Telfer |Max Lubbers |Maggie Sivit
Behind the Chicago Transit Authority’s massive Skokie facility stand several dozen of the agency’s best bus drivers. Their uniforms are freshly ironed and their gaze is focused on the parking lot in front of them, where a competitor is maneuvering a bus between a narrow set of cones.
