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Time for reflection: The Bean reopens after months of construction
Chicago’s famous Cloud Gate sculpture, also known as “the Bean,” reopened to the public Sunday after nearly a year of construction. Tourists and locals alike flocked to the iconic sculpture, snapping photos and touching their metal reflections. The city began construction on Grainger Plaza, which surrounds the...
Buckingham Fountain closed after vandals dye water red, pro-Palestinian graffiti found
Buckingham Fountain is “closed until further notice” after the Grant Park tourist attraction’s pool water was dyed red overnight and messages protesting the war in Gaza were written on the ground surrounding the fountain. “Damage was discovered in and around” the fountain overnight, police said. They did...
In bid for young voters, Democrats offer social media influencers access to August convention
At a Democratic National Convention media walkthrough of the United Center last month, local content creators and social media influencers were given a private tour of their convention working space: a skybox next to major networks like ABC and NBC. The local influencers, most of whom do not post political...
WBEZ’s Weekly News Recap, June 21, 2024: Reparations, record-breaking heat and more
Mayor Johnson explores making reparations a reality in Chicago, and cooling centers close for Juneteenth holiday during record-breaking heat wave. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson launches reparations task force to mark Juneteenth holiday, candidates for Chicago’s first-ever elected school board line up in the heat to get on the ballot, and Chicago City Council considers public financing of aldermanic campaigns.
Lovers and Friends is the 30+ queer party of our dreams
When Yoly Rojas came back single from a stint on Netflix’s “The Ultimatum: Queer Love,” she wanted to meet some new queer people her age. She and friend Keli Knight looked around and realized they didn’t have a space to meet other LGBTQ+ people over 30. So they made one.
Supreme Court upholds federal ban on guns for domestic abusers
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal ban on gun possession for anyone covered by a domestic violence court order. The vote was 8-to-1. The decision was the first major gun ruling since 2022 when the high court broke sharply with the way gun laws had previously been handled by the courts; the decision declared for the first time that in order for a gun law to be constitutional, it has to be analogous to a law that existed at the nation’s founding in the late 1700’s.
Chicago’s once-powerful Ed Burke faces sentencing Monday, ‘very humbling’ days could be ahead
When it’s finally time to sentence the longest-serving Chicago City Council member in history for racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion, federal prosecutors want a judge to send “a simple, undiluted and unequivocal warning” to government officials across the state:. If you follow in the corrupt footsteps of...
Cubs accuse rooftop owner of selling tickets without a license. ‘No public right to a live Cubs game.’
The Chicago Cubs are suing one of the rooftop owners outside Wrigley Field, accusing him of selling tickets for games and other events at the stadium without a license. Buildings along Waveland and Sheffield avenues have sold tickets under a licensing deal with the Cubs. The license for Aiden Dunican and Wrigley View Rooftop, 1050 W. Waveland Ave., has expired, but it continues to advertise and sell tickets this season, the Cubs claim in a federal lawsuit.
For ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,’ the path to Chicago stage is paved with creative risks
The key to a successful musical adaptation goes deeper than the selection of the source material. Turning John Berendt’s Southern Gothic novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil into a captivating theatrical experience required an award-winning creative team assembled by a native Southerner, director Rob Ashford, and the backing by a trio of Broadway producers.
Highland Park parade shooting suspect expected to change plea, prosecutors say
The Highland Park parade shooting suspect is expected to change his plea next week, just ahead of the second anniversary of the attack that killed seven people and wounded 48 others, according to the Lake County state’s attorney’s office. Robert E. Crimo III is scheduled to be in...
Pilsen ‘serial polluter’ Sims Metal should not get city permit, groups say
Community groups are urging the city to hold off on giving an operating permit to a Pilsen scrap metal business until the owner proves the operation will reduce harmful air emissions. Ahead of a community meeting Friday night, multiple organizations are warning Chicago’s public health department that Sims Metal Management...
Illinois a blue haven for gender affirming care, but advocates say housing, safety still a concern
Illinois is already a safe haven for those seeking gender-affirming care — and the Democrat-led legislature this year passed a pair of bills to further protect the privacy of those coming to the state for care and to make it easier for transgender people to correct their name and gender on IDs.
Behind Chicago’s Asian Pacific Islander drag brunch Dim Sum and Drag
Dim Sum and Drag is a vibrant display of Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage and LGBTQ+ glamor in Chicago. You can check out their latest edition of Dim Sum and Drag on Saturday, June 22, featuring performances by Eva Young, Ms. B LaRose, Squeaky C. Banks and Kahmora Hall of Season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Performers will be celebrating the event’s three-year anniversary.
‘Decolonizing your plate,’ and embracing the foods of your cultural heritage
The Mediterranean diet isn’t the only healthy cultural heritage cuisine out there. Nutritionists are raising the alarm that focusing on one diet as “the best” can make people feel like their own heritage foods aren’t adequate – or even healthy. This can affect mental and physical health.
In Chicago’s running scene, there’s a place — and a pace — for everyone
Whether an aftereffect of the pandemic lockdown or a counter-response to an increasingly digital world, running is becoming a place where many Chicagoans find community and togetherness. Why are all your friends running a half-marathon? How come the park is swarmed with run clubs every weekend? Should you be waking...
7-year-old shooting victim mourned: 'There will be justice'
More than a hundred people gathered Wednesday to release balloons in memory of a 7-year-old boy who was shot and killed outside his home Tuesday afternoon on the Near West Side. The crowd shouted “Justice for Jai’Mani” and “justice for number seven” as Chicago police officers were on scene in...
Laurie Metcalf, Joe Mantello join Samuel D. Hunter in Steppenwolf Theatre's 'Little Bear Ridge Road'
After a 14-year interval, Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Laurie Metcalf is back in Chicago and ready to take the stage at the iconic Lincoln Park campus. Among the award-winning actor’s first orders of business upon arrival: getting a “deeply unfortunate” haircut. “I walked in to the rehearsal...
Chicago shuts down cooling centers on fourth day of heat wave
The city cited the Juneteenth holiday for closing all but one cooling center for vulnerable residents Wednesday even as temperatures are expected to exceed 90 degrees for the fourth-straight day. “It’s extremely alarming that we are shrinking our cooling centers in the middle of a heat wave,” said state Rep....
Chicago’s all-ages rock scene is catching fire, led by bands like Twin Coast
The notion that “rock is dead” isn’t true in Chicago, where an underground surge of bands barely out of high school is suddenly active throughout the city and suburbs. The sibling duo Twin Coast is adding to the growing do-it-yourself, teen-driven scene and creating a mini festival around it. New Static! Revival Now, a five-band bill at Schubas on Thursday, capitalizes on the excitement of the underground scene that is “full of really young, innovative people,” drummer Kira Isbell, 22, said. (Schubas is also the site of a daylong fair on independent musicmaking on June 23, hosted by CHIRP Radio.)
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