The Oh, Hello, and

welcome to Behind the News. My name is Doug Henwood.

Two guests today and moments will hear from the newly elected

socialist member of the Chicago City Council, Rosanna Rodriguez.

And at the bottom of the hour, we'll hear from Ben Fogle

on J.R. Bolsonaro's dangerous, and ludicrous early months as President of Brazil.

In recent elections in Chicago, six candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialist of America

who all identified as socialists one election to the City Council. One of the six who just

won a runoff election by a margin of 13 votes is Rosanna Rodriguez. She beat the incumbent Deb Mel who held the

seat for six years. Deb Mel had succeeded her father, Richard Mel, who held the

seat for 37 years. He resigned before his term was up, so then Mayor

Ram Emanuel appointed the younger Mel as his successor. Rosanna Rodriguez then

toppled a dynasty. How did she and her colleagues do it? Rosanna Rodriguez mentions a hunger strike to protest a closure of the Diet School.

The reference may sound a little obscure for those not versed in Chicago politics.

The full name of the school is the William H Diet High School for the Arts.

In 2015, the city moved to close it, along with 50 others.

And a 34-day hunger strike by parents and activists led to a reversal of that decision.

Right afterwards, Rodriguez mentions protests by incoming council members against TIF giveaways.

That's Chicago jargon for tax breaks given to big developers.

Okay, here's Rosanna Rodriguez.

First year, a little bit of your personal and political history.

You grew up in Puerto Rico and became a socialist there, right?

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