The Education Justice Project educates those who are incarcerated. (Photo credit: Mike Stephen/WGN Radio)

Mike Stephen chats with Rebecca Ginsburg, director of the Education Justice Project, about the impact of providing higher education opportunities for those who are incarcerated in Illinois and then talks with Frank Orrall, founder of Poi Dog Pondering, about nearly 40 years of making music and the band’s new album.   To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our Apple Podcasts Page, Spotify, or our RSS feed.

There is a plan to reform prisons in Illinois. (Photo credit: Mike Stephen/WGN Radio)

Mike Stephen discusses a plan to address inhumane living conditions in Illinois correctional facilities with Jennifer Vollen-Katz, the executive director of the John Howard Association of Illinois, and learns the story of the Chicago avant-garde band The Devil Bell Hippies. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our Apple Podcasts Page, Spotify, or our RSS feed.

Mike Stephen learns about the broken promises of Cabrini-Green from Better Government Association senior investigative reporter Alejandra Cancino and then gets an update on the response of state correctional facilities to the COVID-19 pandemic from Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the John Howard Association of Illinois. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our Apple Podcasts Page, Spotify, or our RSS feed.

This week we take a look at housing instability in the wake of the pandemic. (Photo Credit: Mike Stephen/WGN Radio)

Mike Stephen discusses the pandemic’s affect on housing instability with Michelle Layser of the University of Illinois, talks to the John Howard Association of Illinois‘ Jennifer Vollen-Katz about how prisons are beginning to open up to more oversight, and finds out how Burning Bush Brewery has survived the pandemic so far from owner Brent Raska. And in the OTL Wrap Party, Mike and Producer Collin recap the show, offer some takeaways, and offer words of encouragement for one another’s March Madness brackets. The local music this week comes from Cranes & Mirrors. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our Apple Podcasts Page, Spotify, or our RSS feed.