Congressional Candidate Betsy Dirksen Londrigan; Kennedy Browne Exhibit; Chicago’s Recycling Problem

On the 21st: We sat down with Betsy Dirksen Londrigan who is hoping to unseat Republican Congressman Rodney Davis in the 13th Congressional district. Plus, the Irish artistic duo Kennedy Browne joined us to talk about their first US exhibition which is at the Krannert Art Museum. And, we discuss why Chicago has the worst recycling rate of any major metropolitan area in the country. 

Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is the democratic nominee for the 13th Congressional District. The district covers all or part of 14 different counties across Central and Southwestern Illinois, including Bloomington, Urbana and Springfield.

She’s running against Rep. Rodney Davis, who has been in office for three terms. We spoke with him last week.

Betsy Dirksen Londrigan has worked as fundraiser for politicians including our current U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, as well as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. She lives in Springfield and joined us today from our partner station WUIS.

Plus --

Gareth Kennedy and Sarah Browne are Irish artists who have been working together, under the name Kennedy Browne, since 2005.

Their work focuses on stories of 21st century capitalism and in 2018, it’s impossible to tell that story without thinking about the internet, smartphones, and social media. Those pieces are part of an exhibition called 'The Special Relationship.' It’s their first display in the U.S., and it’s at the University of Illinois’ Krannert Art Museum until February 9.

Many of their pieces use the same cutting edge technology that are becoming an even bigger part of our lives, including a 360-degree virtual reality headset. Curator Amy Powell showed us around the exhibit, and the VR headset experience, earlier this month.

The two artists that make up Kennedy Browne joined us in our studios along with Amy Powell, who is the curator of modern and contemporary art at the Krannert Art Museum. 

And --

According to The Better Government Association, Chicago has the lowest recycling rate of any major metropolitan area in the entire country at 9 percent. 

Currently, the BGA is conducting an investigation into the pitfalls of a historically plagued Chicago recycling system. Specifically, they’ve been looking into one company, Waste Management, and their process of marking recycling bins as contaminated.

For more on this, Madison Hopkins shared her insights with us. Madison is an investigative reporter for the Better Government Association and has been covering this issue.

Shantanu Pai, an assistant sustainability researcher at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, was also with us. He’s also on the Illinois Recycling Association Board.