WBEZ’s Weekly News Recap + Sasha-Ann Simons says goodbye to WBEZ

Lisa Laubes (0:00)

I'm Lisa Laubes, host of The Rundown Podcast, and I'm here to make your daily news habit a little easier and quicker. In less than 10 minutes, we run through Chicago's top headlines, so you can pick out what peaks your interest and explore it later on WBEZ. And you can get a taste of what else is going on around Chicago. Listen every weekday wherever you get your podcasts.

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A group of Democratic Illinois lawmakers calling for new leadership in the state house.

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Illinois House Speaker, Emmanuel Chris Welch, is in political trouble amid a mutiny within his own Democratic caucus.

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Big trade updates for the Chicago Bears.

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That list of judges, it can be overwhelming. There are several categories, from appellate to county judges. Some are elected to six-year terms, so their decisions can have a big impact.

Sasha-Ann Simons (0:52)

Hey Chicago, I'm Sasha-Ann Simons, and this is In the Loop.

We're breaking down the biggest stories of the week in our Weekly News Recap. Chicago has its first fully-elected school board, another term for Governor Pritzker, plus local races galore.

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It looks like maybe, just maybe, something is stirring in the conscience of America.

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With Juliana Stratton's victory in the US. Senate race, she and incumbent Senator Tammy Duckworth will make up a delegation unlike any other in the country.

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And for the first time, Chicago Public Schools has a fully-elected school board.

Jessica Biggs (1:35)

Families are tired of chaos and uncertainty. They want stability, and they want this board to turn its focus back to our students.

SPEAKER_7 (1:44)

So I have just one question for you, Illinois. Are you ready for the fight?

Sasha-Ann Simons (1:49)

Now let's dive into the Weekly News Recap. We talked with Sarah Karp, WBEZ Senior Education Reporter, Tina Sfondeles, Chicago Sun-Times National Political Reporter, and Brandon Pope, Fox 32 Political Reporter.

We started by talking about all things midterm elections. I asked how we're all feeling after a very busy election week. Tina, kick things off.

Tina Sfondeles (2:09)

Over-stimulated, but awake, ready for more. Sarah, too. We were just discussing this, just this ongoing, a lot of things going on.

Not totally surprised, but I guess I did think there would be the blue tsunami, the blue wave, but to the extent that it happened, it was even more so than what I had expected.

Sasha-Ann Simons (2:29)

Yeah, overstimulated is the right word. What are you thinking, Brandon?

Brandon Pope (2:33)

Your boy's exhausted, but also juiced up, absolutely. Yeah, historic night.

Not much surprises locally, but yeah, around the country, we just saw some things happen that even I didn't think were going to happen. So seeing what that means for the state of Illinois, for Chicago, and for the future of the country, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Sasha-Ann Simons (2:53)

Yeah, you, Sarah, have been, I mean, you were all over that school board race, which we'll talk about in a moment, but I mean, are you well-rested now? Because that was a lot.

Sarah Karp (3:02)

Yeah, it was a lot. I don't know if well-rested, but I'm here. I'm here, and I'm trying to think through what this all means.

Tina Sfondeles (3:12)

She was here until 2.3 in the morning on election night.

Sasha-Ann Simons (3:14)

Oh, I can believe that. That's Sarah Karp. She is one of the hardest working people in this newsroom.

Sarah Karp (3:19)

One thing is that the AP didn't call the school board races at all. So we sat here, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock updating our game of refreshing, refreshing, and they didn't call them. So we were waiting, and then we realized that they're not going to call them, then we had to get everything online.

Sasha-Ann Simons (3:35)

Yes, for sure.

Sarah Karp (3:36)

It was a little hectic.

Sasha-Ann Simons (3:37)

So as Tina referred to there, the blue wave. So far, we have 54 Senate seats, more than 250 seats in the House.

Any reactions to that? So were you surprised, not surprised?

Brandon Pope (3:52)

I expected the House to flip.

Sasha-Ann Simons (3:54)

Okay.

Brandon Pope (3:54)

I thought Senate was a possibility. I just was surprised at what was, what ended up being in play. South Carolina, for instance, did not expect South Carolina to go blue for Senate.

Texas, I had a feeling that Talarico would be able to pull it off in Texas for Senate because of the, just the bad candidate they had on the other side, on the Republican side, and Ken Paxton. But the governor situation, we were in our studio for Fox election night coverage.