Scott Simon
NPR’s Scott Simon talks to Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche about their new album Cruel Country, and about writing songs with uncomfortable truths.
While some cardinals have sidestepped political discussions, Cupich spoke out against gun violence on Twitter hours after the shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, spoke with NPR about how Democrats plan to secure all 50 member votes needed to pass President Biden’s $2.2 trillion social spending bill.
Lori Lightfoot says contracts with the city’s police union have been “a significant problem and challenge in getting the reforms necessary.”
The Chicago native’s beats went viral this week after videos of his trap music started circulating on social media.
In a week of record cold, Chicago resident Candice Payne rented hotel rooms for strangers living outside. Then the donations started pouring in. NPR’s Scott Simon speaks to the good Samaritan.
A gunman shot and killed three people at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Chicago this past week. NPR’s Scott Simon remembers and honors one of the victims, Tamara O’Neal.
NPR’s Scott Simon thinks about how a bit of video that seemed to capture a moment of callousness didn’t actually show everything that happened.
A new group in Illinois is hoping to reduce the number of women in prison. NPR’s Scott Simon speaks to one of the group’s members, state Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke.
The playwright and screenwriter’s first novel in 20 years is set in the Windy City of the 1920s, where the mob rules, the market for sin is thriving and the dialogue is as distinctive as ever.
Cabrini-Green was a symbol for public housing in the late 20th century until it was torn down in 2011. Ben Austen talks with Scott Simon about that history and his new book, High-Risers.
The school shooting in Kentucky that killed two students and injured several others was the 11th of 2018 in the U.S. Scott Simon wonders if school shootings have lost the power to shock and sober us.
The Hotel Group didn’t seek approval from Jane Addams’ family before naming the hotel.
Hugh Hefner created Playboy at his kitchen table in Chicago. Hefner’s magazine was blamed for (or credited with) setting off a cultural revolution in America, but within a few years he was branded a male chauvinist.
Two entrepreneurs attracted criticism after they unveiled a ritzy vending machine they named Bodega. NPR’s Scott Simon muses on the value of the brick and mortar stores that predate the machine.
Set in Nigeria in the 1980s, Ayobami Adebayo’s debut novel tells the story of a couple who desperately want to have a child, in a society where that’s what’s expected of them.
NPR’s Scott Simon speaks with Frank Farry about the crisis hotline he set up in Bucks County, Pa., for first responders. Farry says PTSD among public safety workers is an overlooked problem.
There are several portraits of former governors who’ve gone to prison in the Illinois Capitol. NPR’s Scott Simon believes Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached, should be among them — with a catch.