The Block Club Chicago Podcast

A majority of the city’s aldermen are calling for a hearing into Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handling of the Chicago School Board and Chicago Public Schools after the school board’s members resigned en m…

Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the six new members at a South Chicago church just three days after the current board announced they would resign. Forty-one alderpeople have signed a letter criticizi…

A new Trace analysis shows a decreasing percentage of Chicagoans survive gunfire. Researchers, experts, and community members say access to more lethal weapons and devices that make guns more dangero…

Despite weeks of pressure from Mayor Brandon Johnson and the teachers union, the Chicago Board of Education did not remove Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez from his post last week. Reema Ami…

Every bird you’ve ever seen— every pigeon at a bus stop, every penguin at the zoo— is a living, breathing dinosaur. Birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survived the mass extinction. A fossil c…

Residents of an affordable housing building in Lakeview say they’ve felt trapped and unsafe for months as the building’s new management delays repairs to the main elevator.

Wheelchair users and others…

Why, after almost a century of toiling in obscurity, did Malört experience a cultural and economic renaissance in the 2010s, making it not just a staple at Chicago dive bars but in high-end cocktail …

Not everyone has noticed it, but listeners from Beverly To Edgewater have complained recently of a sulfur-like sour smell emanating in Chicago. Kevin Fitzpatrick from the Metropolitan Water Reclamati…

Fifty years after Clemente Community Academy opened with the promise of serving the community, its students are missing critical instruction time because of absent teachers.

Host - Jon Hansen

Reporter …

Chicago Public Schools students returned to class last week — amid an excessive heat warning, ongoing student transportation challenges, and growing friction between district leadership, the teachers…

While CTA riders coped with dirty and delayed trains and buses, Carter spent a cumulative total of more than three months in other U.S. cities, Spain, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Australia from spri…

ACM’s Thirsty Ears Festival is Chicago’s only classical music street festival!

For two days Wilson street between Hermitage and Ravenswood are closed to feature stellar ensembles and soloists performi…

An eventful final day at the DNC convention. Block Club reporters covered it all. 

Reporters - Mack Liederman, Alex V Hernandez, Melody Mercado, Colin Boyle, Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Quinn Myers

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An eventful Day Three of the DNC featured continued protests, a strange incident involving maggots, the pomp inside the United Center and a sit-in following the festivities. Block Club Chicago covers…

The DNC is halfway through, and day two featured energy, drama, and some weird stuff too! Our reporters covered it all. 

Host - Jon Hansen

Reporters - Melody Mercado, Colin Boyle, Quinn Myers, Mack Lie…

The 2024 Democratic National Convention kicked off in Chicago Monday, after months of preparations and an eventful summer that saw Vice President Kamala Harris abruptly become the party’s nominee as …

Marques “Merk” Elliston and Cher’Don Reynolds hope to buy the former Strangers Home Missionary Baptist Church and convert it into the Cabrini Art House, an arts and community center.

Host - Jon Hansen

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An analysis of city permit data found many street festival producers are submitting permits for crowd sizes significantly lower than what’s being advertised online — but the estimates are used to mak…

Dave Matthews’ tour bus emptied its 800-pound septic tank on people taking a cruise 20 years ago this week. One boat passenger thinks the band has paid an unfair price for its driver’s error, but get…

Gator trapper Frank Robb said Chance is the “beefiest and bossiest” gator at the Florida gator farm, where he’s been living “a glorious life” since he was caught. Mina Bloom on how Chance changed eve…