Maggie Sivit

3 weeks ago | wbez.org | Justin Bull |Maggie Sivit

Note: A previous version of this story ran on Feb. 29, 2024. The Chicago area has one of the most progressive feral cat policies in the nation. That’s in large part because Cook County is one of just a handful of large metropolitan counties in the U.S. where Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is legal and residents can become recognized caretakers of feral cat colonies.

Oct 29, 2024 | wbez.org | Susie An |Marie Mendoza |Maggie Sivit |Andrew Gill

On a cool October night in 2018, Larry Arroyo was leading a tour at the Old Joliet Prison in the southwest suburbs. Arroyo has been a tour guide around Chicago for years, but this was his first time leading a group at Joliet. An eerie energy filled the air. Just the night before, he had experienced strange things when he walked the grounds with his fellow tour guides. “As I’m walking through this area, I just get … there’s someone behind me, like an intimidating presence,” he recalled.

Oct 24, 2024 | wbez.org | Marie Mendoza |Maggie Sivit |Andrew Gill |Anna Mason

Editor’s note: This story originally published in 2023. The term “Chicagoland” is part of the region’s DNA. You’ve probably seen it plastered on car dealership billboards or grocery store coupons. Maybe you’ve even heard the weatherman refer to “sunny skies across Chicagoland.”There’s no New York-land or Boston-land, so why does the Chicago metropolitan area have its own unique name? It turns out this has been a question on the minds of many Curious City listeners.

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.

Oct 3, 2024 | wbez.org | Erin Allen |Susie An |Marie Mendoza |Maggie Sivit

As a high school senior in Chicago, I got to tell you, when it comes to Black history, the only people who I really learned about in school were Emmett Till, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Oh, and Harriet Tubman. But if I was teaching history, I’d tell you about Dr. Margaret T.G. Burroughs, or as I like to call her, Dr. B. She was a powerhouse. She helped start the South Side Community Art Center when she was only 23 years old.