Money, money, money After blowing past a self-imposed May 24 deadline to wrap up the state budget for the 2025 fiscal year, lawmakers closed out the spring legislative session in the early hours of Wednesday morning. It took state representatives three tries, but the House finally signed off on the $53.1 billion spending plan just […] The post Recapping the Illinois General Assembly’s spring legislative session appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

In early March, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced a $900 million plan to demolish and rebuild the crumbling Stateville and Logan Correctional Centers over the next five years. The plan sits on the back of a report by CGL Companies, a firm contracted by the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) to assess the conditions of the […] The post ‘If the culture doesn’t change, it’s going to remain the same’ appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

Abigail Stinson was called into an emergency meeting on the morning of Friday, April 19. The former manager of the Milwaukee and Damen location of the Chicago-based, high-end grocery/coffee shop hybrid Foxtrot Market logged onto the video call a few minutes late; she’d been tied up onboarding a new employee.  “There’s a cash flow issue. […] The post Outfucked appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

Advocates renew push for direct community control of police Members of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression gathered at City Hall on Wednesday, joined by allies on the City Council, to mark the introduction of a referendum that would overhaul the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). The CCPSA, created in […] The post Groups call for community control of police, City Council advances ShotSpotter proposal, police misconduct settlements approved appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

CCPSA nominees (mostly) move forward The City Council’s Police and Fire Committee on May 14 gave the nod to six of the seven candidates nominated to serve on the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). The nominees, selected by Mayor Brandon Johnson from a list of 15 people put forward by representatives from […] The post CCPSA nominees advance, Mohawk Johnson takes plea deal, First Nations Garden vandalized appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

As the pandemic first sank its talons into the service industry—closing hotels, restaurants, grocers, and retail stores—service were lauded as “essential workers.” Since then, they’ve been unionizing their workplaces at a speed the U.S. hasn’t seen in more than half a century. Between March 2022 and April 2024, about 290 workers at nine Chicago hotels, […] The post Bosses beware appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

Campus crackdowns The violence that swept college campuses from Columbia University to UCLA made it home to Chicago as police brutally disbanded Palestine solidarity encampments at the School of the Art Institute (SAIC) and the University of Chicago (U. of C.). Within an hour of SAIC students announcing their May 4 occupation of the Michigan […] The post Campus protests, sexual abuse in youth prisons, May Day for Palestine appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

When Kevin Jennings was born, he says there was just a single state in the country where being in a same-sex relationship was legal: Illinois. This was before Stonewall. Before Obergefell. Before the AIDS crisis. Before sodomy laws were struck down.  “Being LGBTQ+ is a mental illness for which you can be put in an […] The post Queer justice appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, in conjunction with a group of majority Black women alders, is calling for the creation of the Mayor’s Task Force on Missing Women. A resolution, filed with the City Council in late April, recognizes the disproportionate impact the issue of missing persons has had on Black women in Chicago. The resolution […] The post Chicago mayor, alders propose missing women task force as CPD continues to sideline families appeared first on Chicago Reader ..read more

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