Alex Bailey has cycled in and out of Cook County Jail his entire adulthood. His life shows how mental illness has been criminalized, especially for black men.
Perspectives
The fight to end the HIV epidemic must happen in black neighborhoods
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Access to testing, treatment, and research needs to be improved among African-Americans, who are disproportionately impacted by new HIV diagnoses.
Perspectives
Opioid crisis ‘whitewashed’ to ignore rising black death rate
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African Americans in Illinois and other states are disproportionately dying from opioid overdoses. That contradicts the prevailing racial narratives on handling the drug epidemic punitively.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Illinois Republicans try to lay low on repealing Obamacare
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With the GOP threatening health care coverage, especially for Medicaid recipients, activists are demanding answers from local lawmakers who are quietly supporting the bills.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Emanuel’s plan could leave city retirees without health insurance
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A City of Chicago health care subsidy for retirees is being phased out at the same time as President-elect Donald Trump seeks to repeal Obamacare.
Housing
Proposed HUD ban lights up debate about smoking
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Experts and residents are divided on the benefits and fairness of a national smoking ban in public housing units.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Beyond legal protections, disability rights advocates seek economic progress
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Twenty-five years after the Americans with Disabilities Act became law, people living with disabilities continue to face high poverty rates and barriers to employment.
Criminal Justice
Police face choice of handcuffs or helping hand for mentally ill
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As first responders to emergency calls, police play a critical role in determining whether people living with mental illness receive treatment or go to jail. But too few Chicago police officers are trained to handle these mental health crisis calls.
The new treatment center
Mentally ill behind bars
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This map is a snapshot of home addresses, by ZIP code, of Cook County Jail detainees who self-identified as living with mental illness on Jan. 29, 2015.
The new treatment center
Room for a new life
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Program offers stability and independence for people with mental illness.
The new treatment center
‘Falling through the cracks’
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Advocates say closing mental health clinics may have left hundreds without help.