Portside

“Black, brown and poor white folks in prisons and jails are coming from communities where they are at greater risk for these social and environmental threats. Then they are being siphoned off, extracted, taken hostage and locked up in cages..."

With shootings in the city on the rise, trust in the police has nearly bottomed out.

García rejects the assessment, made by centrist Democrats like Abigail Spanberger (Va.) and Cheri Bustos (Ill.), that bold progressive stances (such as defunding the police and cozying up with socialism) cost Democratic seats in 2020.

Generations of steel and chemical manufacturing in the region have contaminated vacant industrial land that has sat dormant since the businesses shuttered. Residents are tired of being the city’s dumping ground, so they are fighting back.

On Feb. 26, 1963, Ben Lewis, the first Black elected official from Chicago’s West Side, won what was set to be his second full term on the City Council -- perhaps next stop Congress. Two days later, Lewis was found shot to death in his ward office.

A metal recycling plant is due to open on the polluted Southeast Side months after the same firm shut a metal scrapyard in a white, affluent part of town

Over 10,000 CTU members have pledged their opposition to the reopening plan put forward by the mayor and Chicago Public Schools (CPS), citing serious concerns over safety and transparency.

Can you explain “peaceful transition"? Where is the “Red Menace”? Is there a “Latin vote”? Why does “crazy” = “evil”? Another week, harder questions

The Lightfoot administration intercepted at least $27 million in 2020 from residents’ state tax refunds to collect on debt, disproportionately hitting lower income neighborhoods and communities of color.