Marcus Leshock

01/01/2025

Here are some of the new roller coasters I’m most looking forward to riding this year! 🎢🙌

(Lauren made the mistake of asking me this question during our newscast this morning 🤣)

Marcus Leshock of WGN Morning News shares the roller coasters he's most excited to ride in 2025! They include Wrath of Rakshasa at Six Flags Great America, S...

01/01/2025

Meet Chicago’s first baby of 2025!

Scarlett Carmela Sartori was born at 12:12am at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, weighing 6 pounds and 15 ounces and 19.75 inches long.

Scarlett was born as the song “Mr. Jones” by the Counting Crows was playing. Congrats to parents Sophia and Joshua!

01/01/2025

7:15 AM UPDATE: The latest information on the mass casualty incident in New Orleans early this morning.

A man in a pickup truck drove around a police barricade and plowed through a crowd at a high rate of speed.

He then got out of the pickup and fired at officers on the scene, two officers were shot and are in stable condition.

Authorities say an explosive device has also been found.

Eight blocks around Bourbon Street are closed. The FBI is taking over the investigation.

8am UPDATE - the suspect was shot and killed by police

10 people have been confirmed dead and more than 30 are injured.

Notre Dame is scheduled to play Georgia in the College Football Playoff Sugar Bowl in New Orleans this evening. Authorities believe the game will not be affected.

We are following updates on WGN Morning News all morning. The next press conference is scheduled for 11am.

01/01/2025

Horrible situation in New Orleans this morning as a driver plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street. Reports that more than 10 people have been killed. We will have updates on WGN Morning News starting at 6am.

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Multiple people are dead after the New Orleans Police Department reports a car may have plowed into a group of people overnight on Bourbon Street. It happened around 3:15 a.m. …

01/01/2025

2024 was a great year full of challenges, some wins, some unexpected turns and a lot of fun. One thing remains the same year after year - I’m so happy to be doing life with Jonna Schlittler Leshock by my side.

Working on New Year’s Day morning means I could only hang out at the NYE party until 9pm. See you all in the morning on W-G-N.

Bring on 2025! 🎉🙌

12/31/2024

Have you watched the new season of "Squid Game" yet? I finished it and shared some thoughts, along with a video review. You can see it at the link below.

Curious to hear your thoughts about where this series is going!

Marcus Leshock shares his quick reaction after finishing Squid Game Season 2 on Netflix. The sequel to the popular series is out now.

12/31/2024

GOOD MORNING! It’s 4:28am on TUESDAY … NEW YEAR’S EVE! You’ve got Lauren Jiggetts and me on the desk 4-6am, Morgan Kolkmeyer has your forecast and Brhett Vickery is back with traffic.

Who’s up with us?!

12/30/2024

Watch my full ride on the new AquaMouse water coaster on board the new Disney Treasure cruise ship! There’s also a full front facing POV video so you can see what the ride is like for yourself.

Video here: https://youtu.be/I9cuxGuq5FY

12/30/2024

GOOD MORNING! It’s 4:28am on MONDAY. I’m back to work today on the anchor desk. Who’s up with us?

12/30/2024

Had such a great day celebrating Oliver’s birthday yesterday! 🎂 It’s not easy having a birthday a few days after Christmas, so we always try to pack in as many things as we can. Yesterday we…

🍦 Got ice cream at Sugarville
🎳 Went bowling where he tried out his new bowling ball and shoes!
🍽️ Went out to dinner where the server surprised him by having the whole restaurant sing Happy Birthday

Lots of laughs and good old fashioned family fun. Love this kid!

12/29/2024

BREAKING: President Jimmy Carter has died.

Chip Carter, son of the 39th president of the United States, said his father died about 3:40 p.m. on Sunday in his home.

Jimmy Carter was 100 years old. 🇺🇸

12/28/2024

Anybody have the winning numbers in the $1.2 BILLION Mega Millions?! 💰💴🤣

12/27/2024

It’s official: Universal Studios Orlando confirms their Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster will be closing “early September 2025 to make way for a new experience.”

The 90° lift hill and the on board music was special, but I’m ready to move on. The question is … what should be next? 🎢🤔

12/27/2024

Sports anchor Greg Gumbel has passed away. One of the great play by play broadcasters and commentators, and he was one of THE iconic voices of March Madness.

His family released a statement saying he had been battling cancer. Greg Gumbel was 78 years old. He will be missed. 🙏

12/27/2024

Last night we were downtown Chicago walking around with friends when I suddenly realized…

“Wait, the Bears are playing right now.”

It’s gotten so bad that I completely forgot my favorite team in my favorite sport was playing a game. They only play 17 of these every year. It’s gotten to a point where I don’t even feel like putting in the effort to read people’s takes on what the team needs to do, if the quarterback made any good throws, if the rookie WR is making strides - I have kind of stopped caring about any of it.

Am I alone? I don’t think so. Are the people at the Bears worried? I saw clips showing most of the seats were full last night and fans were screaming in excitement as the Bears were mounting some kind of a comeback which never came to fruition. So maybe the McCaskey family sees those seats filled and those fans yelling and shrugs all of this off.

Sure, some of those fans were yelling “sell the team.” But money is still rolling in. Football is king. Maybe they know we will be back in those seats and in front of the TV next year no matter what. But I still think the family really does care about winning. They just always seem to be one step too late when it comes to making big decisions.

Going into this season, I foolishly believed the Bears were ready to win now. I fell into the Hard Knocks hype. It’s clear that is not the case and this team doesn’t look anywhere ready to compete at a high level.

How did the Lions turn their fortunes around? They hired a young GM with great leadership skills who made some tremendous moves in their draft and found a coach with the ability to develop those players.

Do the Bears have that GM in their building right now? Are you ready for a complete tear down? Again? Do you trust the people in the organization to make the right decisions with said teardown? Is Kevin Warren the guy to manage all of that?

Bear down, indeed. 😢 🐻

12/27/2024

We had a great day as “local tourists” in Chicago! We saw Blue Man Group, did the new Flyover Chicago at Navy Pier, saw some Michigan Avenue lights then met friends for dinner at Ed Debevic’s! Sometimes it’s good to get out in your hometown and play tourist. What are your favorite spots in Chicago?

12/26/2024

Our family watched “Red One” last night. We had pretty much avoided it after hearing how bad it was when it first hit theaters. But we decided to give it a try. And it was ….. good?

JK Simmons plays a jacked Santa who gets kidnapped from the North Pole. The Rock is his top protection agent tasked with tracking him down … kind of like Santa’s Secret Service. And they need the help of this random hacker guy who’s played by Chris Evans - he’s the best part of the movie, in my opinion, a character who is there to goof on the ridiculousness going on.

This is not a perfect movie nor will it be a holiday classic for years to come, but it was nice to see a new take on Santa and everything he does on Christmas Eve. That part of the movie was fun and inventive.

One more thing. There is quite a bit of bad language in this movie. A few a-holes, s bombs, an f-bomb that’s cut off for comedic effect. Why? Was this supposed to be geared towards adults? Teens and older? Who do they think watches these movies? It’s a weird choice because that might turn a lot of people off and the language didn’t really need to be in there.

Overall I give “Red One” a Leshock Value of 7/10. Fun times.

12/25/2024

Shoutout to all of the moms and dads spending most of Christmas Day assembling all of the things Santa brought. You’re the real heroes! 🎁🎄🙌