WBEZ - Headlines

Madigan opponent calls him 'weed' in garden

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:23:00 -0600

Michele Piszczor is standing in the driveway of her Southwest Side home,...

Motorola settles class action suit for $200 million

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:04:00 -0600

Suburban-based Motorola is settling a years-long securities fraud lawsuit brough by company shareholders.

Motorola Solutions has agreed to pay $200 million to settle a class action lawsuit investors brought against the company in August 2007. The lawfirm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, which represents Motorola shareholders in the suit, announced via its webiste Friday that a settlement had been reached with the electronics company earlier in the week.

According to documents...

Durbin praises bill banning Congressional insider trading

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:52:00 -0600

Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is praising the Senate for passing a bill that would ban insider trading among lawmakers and other government officials.

Durbin said Friday the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, was taken up in November after an episode of CBS's 60 Minutes detailed how members of Congress traded stocks on non-public information from Capitol Hill. President Barack Obama also mentioned the bill in his State of the Union address, saying he...

Wrigley Building could get a landmark status soon

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:58:00 -0600

Chicago's historic Wrigley Building could soon get landmark status. The city's Commission on Chicago Landmarks made the recommendation earlier this week.

Lee Bey is an architecture blogger for WBEZ. He said the building is deserving of being a landmark because of its popularity in film.

"I think Wrigley Building, although, again, not a protected landmark for all those years, really is a landmark - I mean in the people's hearts and minds," Lee said.

The Landmarks Commission...

Schools fear Quinn idea to shift pension costs

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:51:00 -0600

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Cash-strapped Illinois could save more than $1.3 billion a year if it passed off its portion of public teacher retirement benefits to schools and colleges, but administrators say it could mean ruin for some school districts.

Gov. Pat Quinn has expressed support for shifting the cost to local school districts and colleges to free up money to pay down a huge unfunded liability in the five state pension systems.

School districts say their budgets are already...

The GOP DREAM Act is just an act

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:10:00 -0600

One of the most curious things to come out of the Florida primary (where Mitt Romney won with less than 50 percent of the vote but somehow regained his inevitability), is the Republican version of the DREAM Act. Be certain that that as the GOP primaries wander into...

Brizard discusses teachers' pay, longer days

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:12:00 -0600

Schools on the Line is the name of a call-in show WBEZ airs during the last Thursday of every month. It is a chance for listeners ask Chicago Public School chief Jean Claude Brizard their questions. There are certainly no shortage of issues facing schools, parents, teachers and administrators. School closings and longer school days are two of the most pressing issues right now.

During Thursday nights show,...

Milos Stehlik and Nari Safavi talk the Oscar-nominated Iranian film ‘A Separation’

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:38:00 -0600

Written and directed by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, the film A Separation is the early front-runner for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.

The film has already won big at the Berlin International Film Festival, snagging the Golden Bear for Best Film -- a first for an Iranian film. It also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. The movie comes at a time when other Iranian filmmakers, like Jafar Panahi, are forbidden to work or have been...

Items left at U.S.-Mexican border reveal hidden history of migration

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:36:00 -0600

Millions have crossed the dangerous, high-security border between Mexico and the U.S. But we rarely hear about the actual, visceral experience of crossing. What do migrants bring? What do they eat and drink? How do they survive in the middle of the desert?

This curiosity is what led Jason De Leon to the border. Jason’s a professor at the University of Michigan and a trained...

Weekender with Alison Cuddy

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:33:00 -0600

These are strange days for the movies. Sure, Hollywood still pretty much owns the world's box office. But as with other media - books, music, TV - moviegoers want what they want when they want...

Libya post-Qaddafi

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:19:00 -0600

It’s been five months since Libya’s long-time dictator Muammar Qaddafi was killed. His death marked an end to nearly 42 years of dictatorship. It also opened a political vacuum that Libya’s interim government has tried to fill, at least temporarily.

But since coming to power, the Transitional National Council has faced a series of crises. It’s struggled to assert its authority in some areas. Rival militias are still armed. And it's had a hard time doing basic things like paying...

Komen drops plan to cut Planned Parenthood grants

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:15:00 -0600

After three days of controversy, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity says it is reversing its decision to cut breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood.

"We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives," a Komen statement said.

As first reported by The Associated Press on Tuesday, Komen had adopted criteria excluding Planned Parenthood from grants because it was under...

Lone Star Swing Band resurrects obscure Scottish musician

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:18:00 -0600

Scottish country-blues musician Duncan McLean joined Eight Forty-Eight to talk about his group, Lone Star Swing Band, and their involvement in the intimate concert production, "Long Gone Lonesome."

Criss Henderson, executive producer at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, also joined the conversation. Shakespeare Theater collaborated with the...

The Lin Brehmer Interview

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:02:00 -0600

Today’s interviewee would like to remind you that it’s great to be alive. Late last month, 93.1 WXRT-FM threw him a party to celebrate 20 years of rockin’ morning broadcasts. He got his professional start as a DJ at Albany, NY's WQBK-FM in January 1977, where he worked for...

The ultimate decision: stay or go?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:11:00 -0600

WBEZ blogger and Patriots fan Mark Bazer cannot decide whether to go to the Super Bowl to support his home team or make good on his promise to watch it at home with his son. When he wrote about his dilemma on Facebook, the responses, which were all over the map, got him even more confused.

He joined Eight Forty-Eight for a therapy session. WBEZ's Justin Kaufmann, Carrie Shepherd and Lisa Labuz offer their...

Christopher Shea on how 'The Iron Lady' made Margaret Thatcher apolitical

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0600

Two of the movies vying for awards attention this season have been biopics: The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and J. Edgar, starring Leonardo Dicaprio as former FBI director J....

Dueling Critics: 'Punk Rock' at the Griffin Theatre

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:56:00 -0600

WBEZ Dueling Critics Jonathan Abarbanel and Kelly Kleiman tell Eight Forty-Eight about the building boom underway in Chicago's theater district. While expansion is a boon to the theatre scene, moves can often result in a temporary decline in quality.

They also debated the merits of "Punk Rock," which runs through March 4 at the...

Anita Alvarez assigns new task force to review convictions

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:46:00 -0600

Last week Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez joined Eight Forty-Eight to talk about a recent case in which her office dropped charges against four men who confessed to a rape and murder when they were teenagers because new DNA evidence did not match any of the suspects.

During last week's show, Alvarez briefly mentioned a new unit to deal with these kinds of cases. In a speech Thursday to the City Club of...

Mrs. Kellogg Fairbank: Chicago's renaissance woman

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:15:00 -0600

Kellogg Fairbank was an honest, upright, somewhat dull lawyer who spent much of his time managing the estate of his late father, Chicago's lard and soap king. We're not interested in him. His wife is the one worth mentioning.

...

The Morning Drive Podcast: Friday

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:30:00 -0600

Chicago's top headlines, piped straight to your earbuds.

In today's episode: What it takes to challenge a powerful Illinois pol;...

Alvarez: New unit will prevent wrongful convictions

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:37:00 -0600

Exonerations are not uncommon occurences here in Chicago, so Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez says she's started a new unit in her office to deal with the problem. It's called the Conviction Integrity Unit.

"Based on what we've been dealing with in these last couple of years and also because of DNA and the fact that 30 years ago we could not do what we do today, we should be able to work up these cases, and look at these cases and re-evaluate them more efficiently,"...

Hope for Burge torture victims still in prison

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:26:00 -0600

A ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court is giving new hope to Burge torture victims who are still in prison. The court ruled Thursday that Stanley Wrice deserves a hearing on whether his 1982 confession to Chicago police was coerced. That could lead to his conviction being overturned and a new trial.

A special prosecutor argued that even if the confession was coerced, it was a "harmless error" because of all the other overwhelming evidence of Wrice's guilt. The Supreme Court ruled that...

Bishop of Joliet critizes ruling on contraceptions

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:09:00 -0600

A Catholic Bishop in Joliet is criticizing a recent ruling about contraceptions made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The ruling requires some religious institutions to pay for contraceptions for employees.

Diocese of Joliet Bishop Daniel Conlon said the ruling is against the teachings of the Catholic Church.

"The church itself, the institution that owns and operates the facility, is being required to use its money in a private health care program to pay for...

President Obama stands by Jackson despite ethics investigation

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:31:00 -0600

Updated at 9:14 p.m.

President Obama's top political advisor is not commenting on the ethics investigation into U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. The president is supporting Jackson in the upcoming Second Congressional District Democratic primary against a former congresswoman, Debbie Halvorson.

"Well, the president has endorsed him, primarily because there's a long history of friendship between them," David Axelrod said Thursday. "And Congressman Jackson was very...

New Cook County task force investigates wrongful convictions

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:16:00 -0600

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced Thursday the creation of a task force that will focus on investigating cases that have led to wrongful convictions. The staff of the new Conviction Integrity Unit includes three assistant state’s attorneys, two investigators and one witness specialist.

Recently several convictions have been overturned in Cook County including one case involving four men who spent 15 years in prison for rape and murder.

Alvarez said the...

Live Music Thursday: Sharon Van Etten performs 'One Day'

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:30:00 -0600

Sharon Van Etten is a singer-songwriter from New Jersey who is steadily expanding her sphere of influence. Her music career began only a few years ago performing in coffeeshops and...

A field of dreams and swans in Sendai, Japan

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:21:00 -0600

In downtown Sendai, the biggest city hit by the earthquake and tsunami last year, you can't see any signs of the destruction that my cabbie said hit every single street corner. Unless you look closely. He points out a few modern, mid-rise buildings—that look like they're plucked off Daley...

Chicago seeks public input on new cultural plan

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:05:00 -0600

The city of Chicago's moving ahead with its first official cultural plan in more than 25 years. It's designed to serve as a roadmap for arts and culture planning.

The city hasn't done a cultural plan since Harold Washington was mayor.

Michelle Boone, commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, said she hopes the plan leads to cultural and economic growth.

"We're hoping people will take advantage of the opportunity to be really be bold and think of...

Changing Gears: The Midwest Migration Project

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:21:00 -0600

Generations of people came to the Midwest in hopes of finding a better life. But economic opportunity has been harder to find since the recession began, and in recent years, people have left the region in...

Axelrod hints at Obama 2012 election night party in Chicago

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:17:00 -0600

A top political advisor to President Barack Obama is hinting that Chicago will again host a big election night party.

On November 4th, 2008, an estimated 70,000 people turned out in Chicago's Grant Park to hear Mr. Obama claim victory. Regardless of whether 2012 is again that festive for Obama supporters, a major election night event is standard.

Presidential advisor David Axelrod said Thursday that the location hasn't been discussed.

"But, you know, our [campaign]...

Impact of American Airlines job cuts on Chicago still unclear

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:34:00 -0600

The parent of American Airlines wants to eliminate about 13,000 jobs — 15 percent of its workforce — as the nation's third-biggest airline remakes itself under bankruptcy protection. But it's still unclear how the cuts might affect American's 10,000-strong Chicago workforce.

"Am I worried? I'm Jewish. I worry a lot," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said when asked about the cuts Thursday.

...

Spacetoon Kids TV addresses challenges teens face from conflict in Iraq

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:45:00 -0600

Fifty percent of Iraq’s population is under 19 years old. The younger generation is in a distinct position, having lived under the shadow of sanctions and wars for two full decades. Today, Worldview talks to a man who's focusing on helping to heal Iraq's youth.

Hussam Hadi is regional director of the Arabic cartoon channel Spacetoon Kids TV. Operating in the Middle East and North Africa, the channel...

Chimps in Super Bowl ads cause controversy

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:32:00 -0600

Chicago-based CareerBuilder is coming under fire for its latest Super Bowl ad featuring chimpanzees. This is not the first year CareerBuilder has featured chimpanzees as actors in its ads, and it's not the...

Results from the Liberal Elite Media Survey

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:15:00 -0600

It's election season. (Did you know that?) And what I hate most about it is how certain candidates throw around terms like "liberal elite media" and "lamestream media," and insist that journalists are full of lies and hate America and so on. How do we know...

Suicides in China-controlled Tibet continue to rise

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:55:00 -0600

In recent months, a number of Tibetans have set themselves on fire in public to protest Chinese rule. Photos and videos circulated online show a startling scene: onlookers cheer as another life is sacrificed in a show of resistance against China.

Though the self-immolations aren’t new, they are rising steadily and spreading to more areas. Meanwhile, China is scrambling to tighten its grip on the parts of Tibet where these self immolations have occurred.

Worldview talks...

New theaters in Edgewater, Evanston, Uptown (and Navy Pier?)

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:42:00 -0600

We call it a bricks-and-mortar story when a theater company buys its own building and takes on a mortgage to have its own, permanent home. Sometimes it’s not a purchase but a long-term lease, one which requires the company to shoulder the costs of renovating or retrofitting a space into a suitable playhouse.

Listen to the Dueling Critics...

In Syrian crackdown, doctors who treat protesters become targets themselves

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:17:00 -0600

In Syria, a surprising constituency has gotten caught up in the conflict between the government and dissidents: ordinary doctors. As President Assad’s regime becomes more militarized and protesters take up arms, doctors are resorting to underground clinics to treat those hurt in the violence.

But the struggle to provide care is wrought with complications. With independent medical organizations like Doctors Without Borders barred from the country, individual doctors must deal with...

Daily Rehearsal: Chicago women are funny

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:15:00 -0600

1. Matt Damen and Lupe Fiasco talked to WBEZ's Tony Sarabia. The duo were in town together for The People Speak, Live!, which had Chicagoans reading from historian Howard Zinn's work.

...

Celebrating the contributions of African-American musicians

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:01:00 -0600

Eight Forty-Eight and Radio M host Tony Sarabia grew up in a household that celebrated musical diversity. His parents took him to concerts by the likes of Sly and the Family Stone, the Fifth Dimension and Chaka Khan.

As a boy, Sarabia listened to WBEZ's Richard Steele, then the "Real Steele" on WBMX, which later became V-103. Every Thursday in February, he and Steele will take the last half hour of Eight Forty-Eight to listen to some deep cuts from the...

The Don't-Miss List: BONEdanse, a 'Girl in the Yellow Dress', and 'Garage Rep'

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:00:00 -0600

Kelly Kleiman

Court Theatre's adaptation of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is a scathing portrait of racism built around the observation that the central character is invisible because the people he deals with can see only his color. But its scope goes beyond race to the existential question of whether anyone ever sees anyone except through the observer's own needs and concerns. Thus all the...

Debate rages over longer day in Chicago's public high schools

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:59:00 -0600

Chicago Public Schools is setting guidelines for a longer high school day for the 2012-13 year. CPS maintains that the district falls behind nationally in instructional hours. And that’s coupled with underperforming schools. Meanwhile, Chicago parents, students and the teachers union are all asking tough questions about what to do with 40 more minutes of school each day.

Here’s a typical schedule for one Chicago high schooler.

Selena Frandsen is a junior at Jones College Prep in...

If you build it, what really happens?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:30:00 -0600

As Jonathan and I will discuss more fully on Friday, 'tis the season for theater...

Listener relives the 2011 blizzard

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:22:00 -0600

Eight Forty-Eight turns the clock back to the morning of February 2, 2011, when Chicagoans woke up to hushed streets, abandoned cars and lots of snow.

Tony Sarabia recalls his epic journey to work. And, Lakeview resident Mike Molitor recounted his harrowing experience on Lake Shore Drive the night of the blizzard.

James Porter and Bethany Thomas pay tribute to Etta James

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0600

Etta James died last week after losing her battle with leukemia. But...

Ethics Moment: When it comes to leadership, one size does not fit all

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:50:00 -0600

Peter Drucker once suggested that the true quality of leadership cannot be measured by eloquence, but rather by effectiveness. In general I agree, but...

Matt Damon and Lupe Fiasco bring 'The People's History' to Chicago students

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:49:00 -0600

For some students, high school history can be a drag. But some schools and teachers mix things up from the standard lesson plans. One alternative is to teach from Howard Zinn's seminal 1980 work A People's History of the United States.

Actor Matt Damon is a fan of the book and actually grew up next to Zinn in Boston. He's executive producer of the film The People Speak, based on Zinn's book.

Damon...

On 79th Street: Architecture lost when the walls came tumbling down

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:03:00 -0600

The last thing the South Side needs is another vacant lot. But that's exactly what it'll get in a few days when the wreckage of a three-story commercial building in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood is cleared away.

That's because the long-vacant 86-year-old building on the southeast...

Illinois high court to rule in police torture case

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:02:00 -0600

An inmate who says Chicago police officers tortured him into confessing to a brutal rape could learn Thursday whether the Illinois Supreme Court will allow him to present evidence of coercion that was denied at trial, a ruling that could have implications for as many as 20 other inmates seeking similar appeals.

Stanley Wrice, 57, is among dozens of men — almost all of them black — who have claimed since the 1970s that former Chicago...

GOP blasts Quinn's State of the State

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:42:00 -0600

Illinois Republicans wasted no time criticizing Gov. Pat Quinn’s State of the State address.

They said Quinn painted a distorted picture of Illinois and didn't talk enough about solutions to the state's fiscal problems. The state cannot afford new programs, they said.

The Republican leader in the House, Tom Cross of Oswego, said the governor’s speech made him think of his son, who plays fantasy football and fantasy baseball.

"I felt like we were in a game of fantasy...

The Morning Drive Podcast: Thursday

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:28:00 -0600

Chicago's top headlines, piped straight to your earbuds.

In today's episode: Criticism of Quinn's State of the State; Soul Train's...