Transforming Chicago’s most famous public housing complex will cost taxpayers $2 billion. It also came with often-unkept promises of jobs, city contracts and homes for those forced from the neighborhood.
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Posted inEquity & Economic Opportunity
Cabrini-Green Residents Were Promised 2,500 Construction Jobs. They Got 40
To quell a rising controversy 25 years ago that threatened to derail his grand plan to raze the public housing complex, Mayor Richard M. Daley made promises to the residents he was kicking out — including jobs.
Posted inOpinion
Greising: Chicago Remap Battles Endure, As Always. But This Time, It’s Black vs. Latino
The struggle for dominance in City Council this time is between Blacks and Latinos, not Blacks and whites like in the 1980s.
Posted inOpinion
Chicago Has One Chance To Get Its Gambling Mix Right. And Sportsbooks Are a Factor.
The mayor should not just shrug off casino bidder Neil Bluhm’s warnings about the effects of stadium sportsbooks. If her administration gets this wrong, the economic and reputational damage could be substantial.
Posted inABC 7 Videos
Investigation examines costly side of dead-end drug arrests
Thousands of drug possession arrests in Chicago are tossed out every year because of an unwritten rule in the courts, an investigation has found.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
The Costly Toll of Dead-End Drug Arrests
In Chicago, thousands of drug possession arrests are tossed out every year because of an unwritten rule in the courts, a Better Government Association/Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found. The cost to taxpayers? Millions. To those arrested? Jobs, housing, freedom.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Oregon Is First State to Ticket Narcotics Users, but New Reform Has Yet To Live Up To Promise
In Illinois, possession of even trace amounts of heroin residue is a felony. But in Oregon, it’s not a crime at all any more. Instead, people caught with drugs get a ticket. Oregon’s new drug reform is keeping users out of jail — but the goal of getting them help for their addictions has been elusive.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
Kim Foxx’s Ex-Trainer Caught Up in ‘Unending Cycle’ of Drug Arrests
Drug issue hits every corner of Cook County. ‘It breaks my heart,’ the state’s attorney says.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
Dead-End Drug Arrests: How We Reported This Story
The BGA and Chicago Sun-Times analyzed 280,000 total drug possession arrests made in Cook County over nearly two decades. The data used was provided by The Circuit, the collaborative journalistic enterprise led by the BGA and Injustice Watch.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
Fewer People in Cook County Are Being Charged With Crimes. Why Are Black People Making Up a Larger Share of Defendants?
An Injustice Watch/BGA investigation broke down the data on specific charges and asked experts to explain why racial disparities are increasing in Cook County criminal court.
