features
Tipflation declining in Chicago; new ordinance to raise wages
Restaurant tips in large American cities have been on the rise since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but new evidence suggests that Americans are experiencing tipping fatigue. The tipping boom is likely coming to an end in Chicago restaurants, after the city government passed a new ordinance in October to gradually phase out tipped…
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Tip and Wage Theft Still Prevalent in Chicago Restaurant Industry Despite New Ordinance
Chicago’s City Council passed a new ordinance intended to guarantee living wages for service industry workers, but experts believe that more strict legislation is needed to safeguard against employer fraud. The Chicago One Fair Wage ordinance, passed in October, will phase out Chicago’s subminimum wages for tipped workers over a five-year period, impacting restaurants in…
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Marshall Scholar, Ethan Ostrow, aims to expand restorative justice in Chicagoland and the U.S.
After two years of leading creative writing workshops in the Cook County Jail, University of Chicago student Ethan Ostrow said there is one moment he thinks about often. He recalled how one participant shared that he had been charged with manslaughter after killing his best friend in a drunk driving accident. “Watching him blink back…
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Employment and labor
No Cash Bail in Illinois: Pretrial Fairness Act in Effect, Abolishing Cash Bail. Here’s How the Cash Bail System has Changed, and What that Means for the Accused Awaiting Trial.
Following a highly contentious election cycle last year in which Republicans used the Pretrial Fairness Act to decry Democrats as being “soft on crime,” a series of legal challenges from state’s attorneys and sheriffs delayed the law’s implementation while the Illinois Supreme Court weighed its constitutionality. In a partisan 5-2 decision in July, the court’s…
Economic Development
TCR Weekly Briefs: COVID Concerns, Internet Access For All, Emmett Till & Mother Honored
Mask Advisory Likely As COVID-19 Cases Rise As Chicago inches closer to being declared a high risk for getting the coronavirus, Mayor Lori Lightfoot urges people to get vaccinated and boosted. “If you haven’t had the COVID-19 vaccine since Labor Day, you’re not up to date,” Lightfoot said at a Thursday news conference. Lightfoot also…