Max Green
Scabby the Rat is now common on picket lines around the world, but the balloon started in Chicago’s historically blue-collar suburbs.
Chicago ride-share drivers say Uber and Lyft aren’t delivering on their promises to workers — they want the city to step in.
Illinois legislators say a state law that puts accused sex offenders in prison indefinitely without criminal trials should change.
A company controlled by the financier and filmmaker is seeking to take control of Johnson Publishing’s extensive photo archive.
A potentially deadly fungus is spreading in Chicago-area healthcare facilities.
While federal courts weigh coal ash pollution question, Illinois environmental groups bring a new lawsuit.
A judge finds Illinois’ housing restrictions for sex offenders keep poor inmates in prison long after their sentences are complete.
In 1982, Terry Allen was charged with sexual assault, but prosecutors offered him what seemed like a way out. No time in prison. No criminal conviction. So Allen went along with it. “At the time, I thought, well that’s a good deal, and I’ll get right on out,” Allen said. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.” Allen never faced criminal trial on the sexual assault charges. He was never convicted or sentenced for the alleged crime, but has nonetheless spent almost four decades behind bars. He had agreed to participate in something called a “civil commitment,” which under Illinois law allowed for his indefinite incarceration.
A new report says groundwater near power plants across Illinois is being contaminated by a toxic byproduct called coal ash. The ash, which contains a long list of toxic metals, is left behind after the facilities burn coal for fuel. Twenty-two of 24 coal-fired plants across the state have reported groundwater contamination from the substance.
New info has a judge demanding state agencies turn over records related to the case of a man whose lawyers allege was wrongfully convicted.
The level of inequality in the Chicago region is negatively affecting economic growth, according to the executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning or CMAP. “Our region faces some challenges,” Joe Szabo said. “Our economic growth has not been as robust as our peer regions’, and clearly the level of inequality in our region is impacting our economic growth.” On Wednesday, CMAP unveiled a long-range comprehensive plan that highlights the Chicago region’s strengths and offers recommendations for how best to address some of the region’s greatest challenges over the next three decades.w best to address them.
Coal ash, a toxic material produced by coal plants, is sitting on the banks of a protected stretch of an Illinois river.
The state’s attorney general is suing the Trump International Hotel and Tower, which uses water from the Chicago River for its cooling systems. The hotel is accused of violating the Clean Water Act.
Carl Reimann’s advocates say he’s reformed, but communities have not been open to housing the paroled murderer.
The scientific analysis of Patrick Pursley’s gun was key evidence in the murder trial that put him behind bars. Nearly two decades later, an expert who initially examined the weapon said he was no longer certain that it was used in the killing. Dan Gunnell, of the Illinois State Police Joliet Forensic Science Laboratory, was one of the experts who examined Pursley’s gun in 1993. Back then, Gunnell was convinced the 9 mm Taurus semi-automatic handgun fired the two bullets that killed Andrew Ascher during a robbery on April 2, 1993 in Rockford. Despite no eyewitness testimony placing Pursley near the scene, he was sentenced to life in a maximum security prison. Pursley maintained his innocence throughout his 23 years behind bars. After numerous appeals, a judge ordered in 2011 that state police retest Pursley’s gun. After testing the gun again, Gunnell told the court that he “would not testify the same way today.” Upon review, other state experts also called the results inconclusive.
Progress on reducing poverty and racial inequality in the United States is in reverse, according to the co-author of a landmark 1968 study. Former Sen. Fred Harris co-authored The Kerner Report, which looked at the causes of civil unrest in the 1960s in major U.S. cities, including Chicago. The study outlined how federal and state initiatives to remedy inequality through social services, housing, and educational programs had failed black communities, stating, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” Harris is also co-editor of a new report out this week that says the country has remained segregated along racial lines, he joined WBEZ’s Lisa Labuz to discuss what has happened since 1968. Below are the highlights.
The DuPage County Fairgrounds have hosted the Pioneer Valley Sportsman’s Show for more than 40 years. An event slated for Sunday will be the first-ever show where semi-automatic rifles are banned from being sold or raffled off. Bump stocks -- accessories that can make semi-automatic rifles fire almost as quickly as fully automatic guns -- are also banned.