The Rundown | Chicago News WBEZ Chicago

Chicagoans and their pets have limited exercise options amid this week’s heat wave. A National Weather Service meteorologist says this spring was unusually stormy in central Illinois. Hundreds of cycling enthusiasts are in Chicago this weekend for an international convention named after a local sports legend.

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.

Rojas and Knight’s Lovers and Friends party, which has a focus on the BIPOC lesbian community, has amassed a large following in its first year on the scene—so much so that they’ve already started branching out into other cities.

“You would think those parameters are so niche,” said Nudia Hernandez from our sister station Vocalo. “How many people could show up? A lot, apparently.”

In this episode, Hernandez talks to Rojas and Knight about creating the queer spaces they want to inhabit.
]]>

The state of Illinois could soon erase $1 billion worth of medical debt for thousands of families. Cook County is trying to figure out what to do with hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic-relief money from Washington. Many queer teens across the U.S. are unhappy about the sex ed they receive in school, a new study finds.

Some top Illinois officials are celebrating President Joe Biden’s new executive actions to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation. Christopher Columbus Elementary School in Ukrainian Village will soon be Ruth Bader Ginsberg Elementary School. Northwest Indiana is under an air quality alert until midnight.

On Chicago’s West Side, crews used the Juneteenth holiday to help seniors whose basements flooded last July. Many homeowners still need help to remove mold. Nine community organizations based in Cook County are receiving grant money to help the populations they serve manage diabetes and prediabetes. A new art project places the portraits of noteworthy Chicagoans on bus shelters across the city.

The Illinois Department of Public Health is urging caution as confirmed cases of COVID-19 are rising in emergency rooms. Unions representing journalists at WBEZ and the Sun-Times are calling for the ouster of the Chicago Public Media CEO. A Planned Parenthood clinic in Peoria is up and running after it was fire-bombed over a year ago.