Mike Stephen chews up mad hawt topix with: Miguel Jimenez community organizer for the Metropolitan Tenants Organization about rent control in Illinois; Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) about Chicago blues artist Mary Lane for this week’s edition of The Secret History of Chicago Music, and Meg Ormiston, teacher and author of NOW Classrooms. This week’s local music is provided by The Ions. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

OTL#589- Boystown’s future, Chicago News Landscape, WLLU-LP in Decatur, IL

Mike Stephen talks with:   Zach Stafford, Documentarian and Editor-In-Chief of INTO about the future of Boystown;   Emily Van Duyn, researcher and co-author of Chicago News Landscape, and   Alexander Martin, station president at WLLU-LP in Decatur, IL.   This week’s local music is powered by Devil in a Woodpile. A young Mike Stephen interviews Chicago Pride Parade participants back in 2006. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

OTL: #579- Teamwork Englewood, The Stamp King of Chicago, Chi Hack Night

This week Mike Stephen chats with:   Perry Gunn, the executive director of Teamwork Englewood;   Chicago’s “Stamp King” Charles Berg about ChicagoPEX 2017 and   Emily Drevets, organizer and Master of Ceremonies for Chi HackNight.   This week’s tasty local music was powered by WC and the Fam! Mike looks into bettering Chicago by using public data at Chi Hack Night. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

OTL: Episode #572- Fighting domestic violence, Beardsgaard Barbers grows, Local urban farming with The Gardeneers

Mike Stephen talks with:   Bethany Gomillion, Marathon Campaign Coordinator of Run Domestic Violence Out of Town and Elizabeth Gray, marathoner and domestic abuse survivor, about combating domestic abuse;   Natalie Anderson, co-owner and barber educator at Beardsgaard Barbers, about the success of this unique Batavia-based shop; and   May Tsupros, Executive Director and Co-founder of The Gardeneers, about educating CPS students on local urban farming and healthy eating   This week’s local music is provided by Fire Garden. Mike Stephen out in the field to explore the Gardeneers’ rail garden in Homan Square.   To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.