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The man accused of murdering Chicago police officer Ella French goes on trial this week. A Cook County judge is lifting his freeze on Chicago Police Board activity in serious officer-discipline cases. The faculty union at University of Illinois at Chicago has taken a vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Kelley Engelbrecht moved to Chicago in 2020. One day, she and her husband were driving around the city, and an abandoned building caught her eye. Emblazoned on the side of the building were huge block letters spelling out “Mr. Mr. Fungi.” “We were like ‘What does that even mean?’” she recalled. Engelbrecht decided to follow her curiosity about the graffiti tag by reporting on it for Chicago Magazine. In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Engelbrecht about graffiti, street artists and legacy.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is proposing a new plan to fully fund the state’s pension systems, which have been in significant debt for years. Chicago Public Schools plans to end its contract with the police department this summer, but district officials revealed last week this won’t necessarily save money. Local Ukrainian activists spoke with WBEZ this weekend on the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A Cook County judge ruled that a referendum that would have allowed a tax increase in Chicago to fund homelessness prevention is invalid. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is trying to permanently get rid of the state’s 1% grocery sales tax. Gov. Pritzker also wants to earmark more money for the state’s Department of Children and Family Services: $2.3 billion over the next fiscal year.

Tonika Lewis Johnson calls her latest project – unBlocked Englewood – “a very unusual art project.” It involves beautifying the 6500 block of South Aberdeen Street in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood – though things like murals, gardens, gazebos and landscaping – that’s not the unusual part. “But,” she said, “if we were to just start doing art right away, it would be an insult to people on that block.” Johnson said the homeowners there, like so many other minority Chicagoans on the South Side, are still suffering from racist housing practices of the 20th century that devalued the land in those neighborhoods and prevented many from becoming homeowners in the first place. So Johnson did something a little different, by applying for grants from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events that would combine public art with home repairs. She got them. And the effects have been transformational, according to some of the residents of 65th and Aberdeen. In this episode, Johnson talked with Rundown podcast host Erin Allen about how she’s pulling it off, and why. “We can be as creative as we want when we’re trying to dismantle these systemic injustices,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t have to be as complicated as we make it.” ]]>

Chicago Board of Education votes to tell schools to prepare for no more cops in schools next year. The same board is officially ending private custodial management after years of complaints that schools were filthy. A new initiative in Chicago aims to double youth employment in the city in the next three years.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is asking for a much more modest increase than he did last year to the MAP grant that helps low-income students pay for college. Gov. Pritzker is also under fire from Republicans for his plan that does not raise a popular state tax credit to fully cover the effects of inflation. Metra has unveiled plans to buy zero emission, battery-powered trains.

Last May, the federal government declared the end of the pandemic public health emergency. But COVID-19 is still widely circulating, and Chicago event organizers are taking precautions into their own hands. Emily Dupree started Clean Air Club after her partner caught COVID while masked at a concert. “If we’re going to meaningfully reduce the disease burden in the country and around the world, we have to target air quality,” she said. Dupree and some COVID-cautious event organizers see these types of precautions as an issue of accessibility—and we all stand to benefit. In this episode, Rundown producer Sarah Stark talks to Dupree about COVID-safer events and the case for cleaning the air we breathe.

Governor J.B. Pritzker made education a focal point of the nearly $53 billion state spending plan he laid out yesterday. Dollar Stores in Chicago will be prohibited from opening within a mile of existing locations under an ordinance passed by the City Council. The Chicago Sky are prepping for an active WNBA draft.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveiled his nearly $53 billion spending plan during his State of the State address in Springfield. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson introduced a major development plan today that relies on borrowing $1.25 billion to pay for affordable housing units and other projects. The Chicago City Council is adding new restrictions to limit the spread of chain dollar stores.

There’s a new sky show at the Adler Planetarium that asks kids and families to explore big questions – like, are there multiple universes? – through the eyes of a little girl from Chicago named Niyah. “This film, in particular, follows her journey as she explores every piece of her being and what it means to be a young girl trying to find her way in the universe,” said Taylor Witten, who co-wrote “Niyah and the Multiverse” with Chicago author and filmmaker Ytasha Womack. Womack said another big theme is Niyah’s journey through her own Black cultural heritage. “We wanted to establish that Niyah, being a young girl, has a cultural relationship, as we all do, to space and time, and to explore that through this lens of afrofuturism,” Womack said. In this episode, Womack and Witten talk with The Rundown podcast host Erin Allen about tackling these ideas. ]]>

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is delivering his budget address later today, and there’s one line item that Democrats and Republicans are strictly divided on. He also wants to spend more than $20 million dollars next fiscal year to help prevent more pregnant Black women from dying. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is expected to introduce a major development plan today that relies on borrowing more than $1 billion.