Foxx prepares for DNC showdown Kim Foxx has a message for people planning to take to the streets when the Democratic National Convention comes to town in August: don’t. The outgoing Cook County state’s attorney told the pearl-clutching Chicago Tribune editorial board she’s scrapping her office’s policy of declining to prosecute peaceful protestors for the […] The post Kim Foxx’s DNC preparations, Uptown SRO hotel, guaranteed income appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

On Friday, November 17, members of the Berlin Union and the lawyer for the beloved Lakeview queer club met for what workers didn’t know would be their last bargaining session. Staff, party hosts, DJs, and patrons were riding the high from a successful four-week boycott. For months, the club’s owners, Jim Schuman and Jo Webster, […] The post Closing time appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

A month after the years-in-the-making Bring Chicago Home referendum failed to pass during March’s near-record low primary turnout, the City Council voted to approve a $1.25 billion bond issue to fund new and expanded housing and economic development efforts. The bond issue would use the bump in the city’s share of property tax revenue from […] The post Out with the old, in with the new appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

This story was originally published by the Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here. Robbie Johnson is raising her family’s fourth generation of children in North Lawndale. As a little girl there, she felt safe and free—but the neighborhood, she said, has changed. “It was easier for me to […] The post The neighborhoods missing from Chicago’s community safety plans appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

Disarray at the CTA The #FireDorval caucus grows larger. Governor J.B. Pritzker is the latest to call for the ouster of CTA president Dorval Carter. Although he declined to use terms like “fired”, Pritzker’s message was clear: “Changes are going to have to take place, there’s no doubt, at the CTA, and I think that’s […] The post CTA failures, Bears stadium, Mayor’s Youth Commission appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

Groups demand EPA intervention over contaminated water in prisons Formerly incarcerated people, folks with loved ones in prison, advocates, and attorneys gathered in the Loop on Monday to deliver a petition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) demanding the agency take immediate action to address contaminated drinking water in Illinois prisons.  Led by the […] The post Contaminated prison water, Howard Brown union contract, police misconduct appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

Content note: This story includes mentions of sexual assault and sexual harm. Many subjects in this story use pseudonyms to protect their privacy. The first appearance of each is denoted by an asterisk. Michael Johnston had a perfect life. A nearly 9,000-square-foot mansion in Roscoe Village. A wife and two beautiful children. A handful of […] The post Invasion of privacy appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

“From the river to sea, Palestine will be free!” “The people united will never be defeated!” “Fight back!” Boisterous chants fill the basement of Teamster City on April 13, where hundreds of people from more than a dozen states have assembled to plan a massive mobilization when Chicago takes the national stage later this summer. […] The post March on the DNC plans Chicago’s ‘largest mobilization for Palestine’ appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

Read in English. A pesar de una caída drástica en el número total de opioides recetados en Illinois, el número de sobredosis accidentales—tanto fatales como no fatales—ha aumentado continuamente en la última década, según el programa de Monitoreo de Prescripciones en Illinois y los datos del Departamento de Salud Pública de Illinois (IDPH, por sus […] The post Narcan para todos appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

If you stand in front of the flatiron-style building at 1226-1234 W. Loyola—home to 30 apartments and a trio of businesses on the ground floor—you’re surrounded by vacant lots. Across the street from that building is a vast, unpaved expanse used for parking by Loyola University that’s chained off from the neighborhood and labeled with […] The post Mission: demolition? appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more