WBEZ’s Weekly News Recap: June 12, 2026

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
At Vocalo, we've always known what Chicago sounds like. Now we want to hear from you.
Every Friday night on WBEZ, the Vocalo hotline features song requests and dedications from listeners plus artist interviews, turning Chicago into a living mix tape. Listen in every Friday night at 8 on 915 WBEZ Chicago and vocalo.org.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:31)
Governor JB. Pritzker making his first public remark since the team announced its advancing talks with Hammond.

**JB Pritzker** (0:35)
There was some discussion with the city of Chicago after they told everybody that they wanted to be in Arlington Heights. It's confusing. Which one do you want?

**SPEAKER_5** (0:43)
Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel wrapped up his bike tour through New Hampshire.

**SPEAKER_6** (0:47)
Do we assume you're all in?

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (0:49)
Are you running for president?

**Rahm Emanuel** (0:50)
You can make whatever assumption you want, but there's no decision until I make the decision.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (0:54)
Hey Chicago, I'm Sasha-Ann Simons, and this is In the Loop.
It's Friday, so it's time to look back and break down the big stories of the week in our Weekly News Recap. Residents are still recovering from the tornadoes and thunderstorms that caused widespread damage and power outages across the Chicago region. Calls grow for Chicago's US. Attorney to resign. Plus, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools faces tough questions from Republicans during a congressional hearing.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:27)
The head of Chicago Public Schools was in the hot seat in Washington today.

**SPEAKER_9** (1:30)
Republicans have threatened to withhold funding over policies for trans kids.

**SPEAKER_10** (1:34)
Do you think it's appropriate for boys to sleep in the same room as girls on field trips?

**Macklin King** (1:39)
Chicago Public Schools policies are in alignment with the state of Illinois.

**SPEAKER_12** (1:44)
US. Attorney Andrew Boutros is facing criticism and calls for his resignation.

**SPEAKER_6** (1:49)
It's extremely unusual for us to get this kind of a glimpse into the proceedings before a grand jury.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (1:56)
We'll get into those stories and much more, but let's start today's episode with a closer look at a series that you can read in the Sun Times and hear on WBEZ.
With me to discuss is WBEZ Senior Editor Alden Loury. He's one of our panelists this week. Hey, Alden.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:09)
Good to see you.

**Alden Loury** (2:10)
Hey, Sasha. Same here.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (2:11)
So you've been working with our CPM colleagues on a series about the history of black churches in Chicago. So tell us about the latest story that you're working on.

**Alden Loury** (2:20)
Sure. This latest story is the third in a five-part series. We're looking at a church that has built a reputation over the last four decades of really focusing on the issue of housing.
And the church essentially created a non-profit community development organization in the historic neighborhood of North Lawndale, which is a neighborhood that has its own legacy of issues with regard to housing.
Martin Luther King, when he made his trip to Chicago for several months, engaged in a lot of work around essentially creating safe and affordable places for African Americans to live in the city. North Lawndale was the place where he set up shop. He moved his family, rented a dilapidated apartment in North Lawndale. And 20 years after the non-binding agreement that King struck with Mayor Richard J. Daley back then, when not a lot of progress was made, this church, Lawndale Christian Community Church, stepped forward and said, we're going to keep the mantle of King's work alive. And they created this non-profit. And this non-profit, like I said, for four decades, has been doing work to help connect people with affordable rentals and pursuing home ownership opportunities.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (3:40)
This series from reporter Nicole Jeanine Johnson has been just so eye-opening and just so rich with great characters. She's meeting a lot of people, talking to a lot of great folks. And it seems like Chicago's black churches were really just like a one-stop shop, if you will, right? Or this hub for not just faith, but for social justice movements and a way for residents to, black residents in particular, to unite and also to take action. Wouldn't you say?

**Alden Loury** (4:06)
Indeed, yeah. We've dubbed it the Faith in Action series. And we started with two very prominent historic churches and delved into very difficult spaces during just the time even before emancipation.
And then during the great migration and the reason which they were helping black folks not only have a church home in the sense of a church home, a religious home, but also a home for all of those other needs that they have. And one of the things that we've loved about the series is that those were historic churches, but there are also churches today that are doing similar work. They're offering people a spiritual home, but they're also offering a place for black residents in the city and communities surrounding these churches an opportunity to take advantage of things that they need.