Lisa Labuz
Midday Anchor
As local host of WBEZ’s Midday shift, Lisa anchors local news during Reset, 1A, Fresh Air, and Here & Now. Lisa previously was WBEZ’s anchor for Morning Edition for just over 21 years.
Lisa joined the staff of WBEZ in January, 1999. Before coming to WBEZ, Lisa worked as a reporter and host of Morning Edition for WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio and at WGLT, the NPR station at Illinois State University in Normal, IL, and did environmental reporting for The Great Lakes Radio Consortium.
Lisa lives in suburban Oak Park with her husband, Chris, daughter Nora, and family cat, Hugo. Lisa is an avid user of pens, pencils, and stationery - and is happy to recommend something for anyone who wishes they had a better pen, pencil or paper!!
WBEZ’s sports contributor Cheryl Raye Stout joined Lisa Labuz to talk about her predictions and analysis of the Bears’ draft moves.
Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi sits on the panel that could soon be in the spotlight after the release of the Mueller report.
Recognizing the bane of many a commute, Chicago-based parking app SpotHero and navigation app Waze have teamed up to install GPS beacons along Lower Wacker Drive.
An expert who tracks prison population data says he predicts the number of people incarcerated in Illinois will keep falling.
It’s been a half year since Beverly Walker stepped in to take over Illinois’ child welfare agency. Walker took over at a time when the Department of Children and Family Services was facing harsh criticism. The agency’s former director had just resigned in the midst of an ethics probe involving state contracts and several children in state care had died — including Semaj Crosby. The 17-month old was found dead just hours after her home was visited by a caseworker. Walker joins Morning Edition host Lisa Labuz to reflect on her first six months with the agency and to discuss her plan to turn things around.
Friday marks the official start of Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which will be tasked with investigating police shootings and serious allegations of misconduct like excessive force.
From property tax hikes to a mayoral race where Donald Trump became a huge issue, WBEZ looks at the results of Tuesday’s suburban elections.
Illinois finally has a spending plan. Governor Bruce Rauner signed a partial state budget last night. But the impact of the full year without a budget is still being felt, and the temporary spending plan does nothing to ease looming uncertainty. WBEZ is telling stories of people “Caught in the Middle” of the state budget impasse, and we’re checking in with some of the people we met throughout the year. In October, a program in Winnebago County that helped juvenile offenders stay out of prison and get back on the right track closed because of the lack of state funding. Many agreed the organization, Redeploy Illinois, was a program saved the state money and helped kids. John Johnson, the Juvenile Justice Coordinator for Winnebago County, joined us with an update on what’s next for the group.
Illinois has now gone a full year without a comprehensive state budget. Throughout that year, we’ve been telling the stories of people Caught in the Middle of the state budget impasse as some programs are forced to cut back- or end altogether. Now, as the state hits this grim milestone, we’re checking in with some of the people we met. In March, Northeastern Illinois University announced faculty and staff would be required to take one day off a week, and lose 20 percent of their pay. We met theater professor Angela Sweigart-Gallagher a few days before that announcement.
The state’s budget impasse means Mercedez Jones is still missing financial aid from undergrad. And that’s playing into her choices for grad school.
Illinois has nearly gone a full year without a comprehensive state budget. Last month, Cabrini-Green Legal Aid was able to raise private money to help kids visit their moms -- but it’s not clear if they’ll be able to keep doing it without state funding.
Illinois Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk says he cannot, and will not, support Donald Trump. What do other Illinois republicans think?
There’s no end in sight to the political impasse in Springfield. House Democrats late last night approved a budget for the next year, but Republicans aggressively rejected the spending plan for being way out of balance. WBEZ’s Tony Arnold reports from Springfield.
