Perspectives
Can parks help cities fight crime?
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Some parks reduce violence in the local vicinity. Other parks attract crime. The difference has to do with how these urban green spaces are designed, programmed and managed, experts say.
Perspectives
US poverty statistics ignore millions of struggling Americans
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In the US, poverty is measured by income level. But that measure misses many other aspects of poverty – like unemployment, poor health and a lack of health insurance.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
Lightfoot administration waffles on ending driver’s license suspensions
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Ticket fine reform is coming to Chicago, but one key measure requires state legislation.
Government and Politics
Report: Chicago’s wealthy, white communities most likely to have park projects approved
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Friends of the Parks says it may seek legal action to ensure parks are funded equally.
Government and Politics
Chicago agrees to refund duplicate tickets since 1992, following lawsuit
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The suit alleges that black and brown communities were targeted with illegal double ticketing, relying heavily on data uncovered by a joint investigation by WBEZ and ProPublica Illinois.
Economic Development
Target opens stores in younger, wealthier, white neighborhoods as it pulls out of South Side
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Protests are planned for Black Friday in response to retailer closing two South Side locations.
Economic Development
Alternative energy scams hit poor blacks and Latinos the hardest, complaints show
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Thousands are misled into switching suppliers in the hopes of saving money but instead see their utility bills spike, sometimes driving them into debt.
Criminal Justice
Prostitution-loitering law likely to target women of color for arrest
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Chicago police have a record of arresting women for selling sex rather than men for buying it. A new ordinance borrows from anti-loitering measures that target black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
Perspectives: The Powers That Be
From police to schools to transit, a crisis of accountability in Chicago
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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.
Beyond 95th Street
Instead of extending the Red Line, some see promise in the Metra Electric
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Converting the Metra Electric District main line into rapid transit could be a quicker, cheaper way to improve transit on the South Side than building more Red Line stations, advocates say.