The Rundown | Chicago News WBEZ Chicago

Angie Leventis Lourgos began reporting on abortion access in Illinois in 2015. In the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, she has watched the Midwest become even further divided over the issue of abortion rights.
“It seems like the chasm between Missouri and Illinois or Illinois and Indiana has only widened,” she said. “I didn’t think that was possible because they seemed so disparate when I started doing this reporting.”
Earlier this year, Leventis Lourgos published her first book, “Life-Altering: Abortion Stories from the Midwest.” She spoke with a number of abortion patients around the region about their experiences. The stories in the book span six decades: from illegal abortions pre-Roe, to post-Roe attacks on abortion clinics.
In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Leventis Lourgos about her reporting and the state of the post-Roe Midwest this election year.

A new study sheds light on the impact of removing police from Chicago high schools. Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch’s lawyers work to get a lawsuit against him dismissed. Illinois Governor J-B Pritzker signs into law the creation of a new state agency.

A Chicago City Council committee approved plans for a new Wrigleyville development Tuesday over the objections of preservation groups. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Junior has filed the necessary paperwork to get on Illinois' ballot in November. Two people locked up at Robinson prison in downstate Illinois recently went on hunger strikes because they believe that if their sentence credits were corrected, they’d be out of prison already.

The longest serving alderman in Chicago history gets sentenced to federal prison. Millions of federal dollars will be going toward new storm water projects across Cook County. Walmart donates a training facility on the South Side to the Chicago Urban League.

A federal judge has sentenced former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke to two years in prison, one year of supervised release, and a $2 million fine. Illinois' state climatologist says soil conservation work is our best weapon to reduce the risk of dust storms. Sky rookie Angel Reese had a career-high 25-point game yesterday as Chicago beat the Indiana Fever 88 to 87.

Colombia’s influx of Venezuelan migrants has led to accusations the migrants are fueling crime and drawing resources needed by low-income Colombians. This resembles some responses to Venezuelan arrivals in Chicago.

WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell spent two weeks in Colombia – a country that’s received a much larger influx of Venezuelan migrants than Chicago – to discover how the conditions compare, how Venezuelan migrants in both countries are experiencing xenophobia and what lessons the city of Chicago can learn.

This episode is a part of the Democracy Solutions Project, a partnership among WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times and the University of Chicago’s Center for Effective Government.
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