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.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
School closing and opening pattern shows Chicago doesn’t have a plan
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An ideological agenda for more “school choice” seems to be driving the district’s actions rather than what’s needed on the ground.
Perspectives
Harold Washington’s legacy provided touchstones for progressive politics
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Washington died not long after winning control of the City Council and re-election. Despite the political challenges he faced, his accomplishments pointed the way toward a more inclusive and fiscally sound Chicago.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Illinois progressives turn attention to down-ballot races
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With the Democratic establishment increasingly catering to moneyed interests, a major progressive group aims to build grassroots leadership through local elections.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Amazon headquarters could make Chicago’s housing crisis worse
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The city is overdue for rent stabilization measures that would help stem gentrification and displacement.
Perspectives
How prisons inflate white voting power in downstate Illinois
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Prison gerrymandering boosts rural electorates at the expense of urban communities of color, where most inmates come from.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
The racist roots of the right-wing agenda gripping Illinois
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Historian Nancy MacLean details how curtailing public education and unions are part of a long-running libertarian movement funded by the Koch network.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
What it’ll take to root out discriminatory property taxes in Cook County
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Fritz Kaegi is challenging Assessor Joe Berrios over an opaque system found to overtax low-income neighborhoods.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Summer scandals show little has changed in Emanuel’s Chicago
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Racist emails, patronage, questionable TIF spending, school funding shortfalls, violence and youth joblessness signal how the mayor is failing to move the city forward.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Rauner’s staff shakeup doesn’t bode well for school funding reform
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In threatening to veto SB1, which would ensure public schools open on more equal financial footing, the governor takes his anti-governing approach to the extreme.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
On $15 minimum wage hike, Rauner should listen to constituents
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A bill sitting on the governor’s desk would heed the call of Illinois voters, a majority of whom endorsed a minimum wage increase in a 2014 referendum.