Steve Alexander

Farmer John Moody marked National Farm Health and Safety Week (September 15-21) by remembering the winter day when he drove his tractor to a pasture to feed the cows on his Crockett, Virginia, farm…

Shouts of “Blasphemy!” followed by the loud clanging of a bell are what happens when a customer orders ketchup on their hot dog at Michiganders Windy City Diner. Despite being 150 miles…

Farming is hard. Starting a farm from scratch is nearly impossible. Zemua Baptista dreamed of farming — something his father did in his native Angola. He says he “carpet farmed” as a boy, dreaming someday of being a real farmer. A state champion wrestler in Friend, Nebraska, where his father was a Methodist minister, Baptista […]

Chicago’s and WGN’s very own Orion “Big O” Samuelson is marking a milestone birthday on March 31st. It was 90 years ago on that date that “Little O” bounced into…

When Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid announced on a podcast that Taylor Swift had made homemade Pop Tarts for the offensive line, the marketing team at Kellanova that promotes the brand knew they had been handed a gift. In the audio clip below, Sarah Reinecke, VP of Marketing, Portable Wholesome Snacks / Pop-Tarts […]

Mike Builta grew up on an Illinois farm, was a proud member of FFA, and kept one foot in the furrow as he went off to the University of Illinois, earned a Master’s in Crop Science and went to work in agribusiness. He left home for his office at GROWMARK in Bloomington, Illinois, where he […]

Mike Builta grew up on an Illinois farm, was a proud member of FFA, and kept one foot in the furrow as he went off to the University of Illinois, earned a Master’s in Crop Science and went to work in agribusiness. He left home for his office at GROWMARK in Bloomington, Illinois, where he […]

Everything was going great for Erica Bethe Levin as the holidays approached. A Lincoln Park mother of two, a founder and CEO of a rapidly expanding company making food for toddlers and babies, life was busy and stress-filled, but good. There was just one thing: what she calls, “the final five to ten pounds almost […]

In the audio clip below, one of Santa Fizz’s elves helps out WGN’s Steve Alexander with some gift ideas for people who have “green thumbs,” or who want to have them. Jennifer Brennan, in addition to being an elf for WGN’s gardening guru Jim “Santa Fizz” Fizzell, is a horticultural information specialist at Chalet Garden […]

“Queen Vino” is the title Chrishon Lampley gave herself as the founder and CEO of Love Cork Screw, a Chicago-based, Black-owned, woman-owned wine company. Her website also describes her as a “badass Black woman ” who started with next to nothing after a freak flood destroyed her Chicago art and wine bar, and a decade […]