Tuesday, August 11, 2026

WBEZ is supported by the gynecology research lab at Endeavor Health. Period pain affects millions of people. Researchers want to learn from those experiencing period pain. The NIH-funded study wants to know whether a common over-the-counter medication can reduce period pain over time. Compensation is available. Learn more at cure period pain.org. Good afternoon. I'm Lisa Labez, and this is The Rundown. The Chicago area is relatively calm after a wild afternoon of thunderstorms, strong winds, and tornado warnings. ComEd reporting more than 260,000 customers in Illinois have been affected by power outages today. In Indiana, Nipsco says about 243,000 customers there are without power. Meantime, the National Weather Service has issued a lakeshore flood warning for Central and Southern Cook County in Illinois and Lake County in Indiana. This means flooding is already underway. or imminent along the lakeshore, wave heights could reach six feet, water levels could change rapidly. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is using his executive order pen to tighten rules on data centers. My colleague Mariah Wolfel reports the order is meant to be a placeholder as the City Council debates more permanent oversight and regulations on data centers. It states Chicago's current laws are outdated and don't account for the significant terrain on resources like water and electricity that data centers pose. The order directs the city's planning commissioner to conduct closer reviews of new data centers. projects and to consider public safety, affordability, and the environment. It also directs the city's sustainability officer to in the next three months develop new rules on air and sound pollution data centers will have to follow. The mayor is also calling on the city council to enact a temporary moratorium on data centers while new regulations are developed. And a new measure in Illinois creates new rules on how social media companies interact with minors. The Children's Social Media Safety Act restricts social media apps from using data from users under 18 years old to curate their feeds. It also restricts content from playing automatically and sending notifications at night. Author DeVora Heitner writes about technology and parenting in the digital age and spoke about this with our In the Loop program. This bill holds companies accountable and doesn't put the onus on parents. I think parents just need to 24-7 supervise their kids and very unrealistic expectations on families that have been really unfair. The bill will take effect in 2028. The Chicago sky fell to the Seattle storm last night, 9788, but there was a silver lining. Guard Dijunet Carrington scored a career high 26 points, adding six rebounds and five steals. Raining WNBA MVP, Asia Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces is the only other player to record that stat line this season. The rest of the team was not able to match Carrington's tenacity. Skyguard, Courtney Vandersluitt, says the lack of effort was evident from the tip-off. I just don't think we...

match their intensity. We didn't come out with enough of it. They dictated the pace. They dictated the physicality. They dictated the game. We were playing reactive and, you know, it kind of just set the tone for the rest of the game. The sky will be in San Francisco on Thursday night to take on Golden State. You're listening to The Rundown. Driving around neighborhoods on Chicago's south and west sides, you may notice some signs that are often wooden and hand-painted. And more or less, they read, hey, welcome to the neighborhood. Welcome to the block. These are signs for block clubs. And one curious city listener sees them all the time on her way to work. And she asked about the block clubs and the history behind them. Block clubs are a coalition of neighbors voluntarily coming together to improve their community. The work ranges from planting flowers along the curb to buying up vacant homes. They have a long history in Chicago, going way back to the 1920s. So they were not originated in Chicago. That's Professor Amanda Silickman, author of the book Chicago Block Clubs, How Neighbors Shape the City. She says a woman named Leginia Burns Hope started an organization in Atlanta where mothers worked together for the safety and well-being of their children. The idea of block clubs launched from there.

They really grew to their mature form in Chicago, especially thanks to the work of the Chicago Urban League. They are a totally key player in this story. The Chicago Urban League, a branch of the National Urban League, helped to provide housing, employment, and community assistance as black families moved from the Jim Crow South to northern cities like Chicago, Detroit, and New York during the Great Migration. The Chicago Urban League also wanted to organize block clubs. And the reason they wanted to do that was to cultivate local leadership skills and to improve the physical environment that African Americans were living in. And then also to demonstrate to white organizations and leaders in Chicago that black people would make good neighbors. Sometimes, white neighbors were hostile or moved out of the neighborhood altogether when these new families moved in. When black residents called the police, sometimes they were ignored. It made the block clubs all the more necessary for neighbors to band together to solve their own problems. Showing hands, I want to call them as I see them, the floor is open to everyone in the room. Go right here. That's Talaya Thompson, founder of the West Side Multi-Block Club Association. About 20 neighbors are gathered at the Sunrise Baptist Church on South Kilbourne to talk about their concerns, from drug use to fly dumping. One neighbor talks about her frustrations with multiple break-ins and how the police were slow to act. It took them two hours to come to my residence. to take off the police board. Neighbors bounced off ideas for solutions, like talking with the aldermen or even going to the media. They decided to table it to the next meeting. Mrs. Helen King listens knowingly to her neighbors. She's been living in her West Guardfield Park home for more than 50 years. She says block clubs were different in those early days. We lead at each other's home. Yeah, once a month. She says neighbors had no problem knocking on each other's doors, introducing themselves, and getting together. Well, we have a little refreshment, if we had issues, if we were planning anything, we would just discuss stuff that was important, you know. But now, with years of disinvestment and fewer homeowners in the neighborhood, things have changed. There's a lot of absentee landlords over here now. I doubt if I know three. landlords over here. I used to know a lot of them and the kids. Basically everybody owned their own property back there, but so many of the seniors have gone on and the kids let the property go. Block clubs in the area went dormant for several years. Thompson says it's residents like Mrs. King, who inspired him to restart this one a few years ago. He recalls a shooting outside Mrs. King's house. The 4,300 block of West Monroe, there was an incident where shooting took place on the street. Mrs. King was out in her yard. Remnants of the bullet hit you way.

and her foot while she was working in her yard. That was about three, four years ago, was it? That's the 4,300 block of West Monroe. And they still sold drugs over there. And they continue to do it. It's continued to have. I saw her hand back here. Despite the problems facing the block, Mrs. King said she would never leave. She even remembers an interaction with the police officer after an incident on her block. He told me, I miss you ever thought about moving? In other words, the heck would it? What was your response when he said that to you? I didn't curse him out. I said, I didn't curse him out. I'm not a cursor, you know? I just said. You were just like, no, I'm saying. I didn't say anything. How does that make you feel to have the police tell you? Really bad. Mrs. King says she hasn't moved out because it's her home. It's filled with memories of her children, the handiwork of her late husband. It's love. But when I come up the stairs holding on the rails, you know, my legs are not as strong. I said, wow, Harry King, you did so many beautiful jobs. That love is what block clubs today are working to protect and preserve. For Curious City, I'm Jewel Jackson.

You can hear more about Mrs. King's block and take a tour with an Englewood Block Club by listening to this week's Curious City podcast. It's available now. Weather, we had crazy weather earlier but calm now, cloudy skies for the rest of the day, a high near 80, partly cloudy and a slight chance of rain tonight, a low near 70. And then for Wednesday, partly sunny, still a chance for some rain, a high near 80. You can find the latest news whenever you want at WBEZ.org or on your radio at 91.5 FM. I'm Lisa Lobis. Thanks for listening.