Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/author/curtis-black/)
Curtis is an opinion writer for The Chicago Reporter.
Parents have warned about the risks of closing and consolidating schools for years, but officials continue with plans that jeopardize student safety.
Like Ferguson, the city is using public safety systems punitively to raise money in ways that drive poor blacks and Latinos into debt and unemployment.
After years of unfulfilled promises and inadequate housing initiatives, it’s time for elected officials to get serious about integrating the city.
Unions are facing a new political landscape, but state workers have every reason to stick with them, union leaders say.
As Rahm Emanuel courts flashy projects amid a slew of scandals, it seems the mayor is more accountable to big-money donors than to neighborhood constituents.
The Chicago Police Department fails to follow the law and its own directives to allow those in custody a phone call to a lawyer within one hour of arrest, advocates say.
Stakeholders in Illinois, around the country and across the spectrum are proposing ways for police, as first responders, to arrest and incarcerate less and help more, but additional funding is needed.
Ending the state’s flat income tax rate would reduce taxes for most while raising $2 billion in additional revenue a year, a new report says.
Organizers aim to avert gentrification brought on by the Obama library through an ordinance that would require the city and the University of Chicago to protect and support nearby residents.
Ald. Ariel Reboyras seeks to weaken civilians’ potential role in police accountability by drawing from purely advisory bodies in Los Angeles and Seattle.