Stories by nick blumberg

(WTTW News)

Willis Tower Starbucks Workers Announce Plans to Unionize

The unionization announcement comes one day after Lakeview Starbucks employees voted 11-to-1 in favor of representation, according to voting results shared by organizers. On Monday, Glenview Starbucks workers announced they plan to organize as well.

(WTTW News)

Lakeview Starbucks Workers Vote to Unionize as Glenview Store Announces Organizing Effort

Workers at a Lakeview Starbucks voted 11-1 on Tuesday to form a union, according to vote results shared by organizers.

The Starbucks at Bryn Mawr and Winthrop avenues in Chicago is pictured on Oct. 13, 2022. (WTTW News)

Starbucks Plans to Shut Down One of Its First Unionized Locations in Chicago

Starbucks is shutting down one of the first Chicago locations where workers unionized – just days before the company was set to begin negotiations on a contract.

Amazon workers walk out of a Joliet facility on Oct. 11, 2022. (Credit: Warehouse Workers for Justice)

Amazon Workers in Joliet Stage Walkout Over Pay and Working Conditions

Employees at Amazon’s MDW2 warehouse in Joliet walked off the job Tuesday afternoon, saying the company has not provided a safe work environment or adequate pay.

Advocates staged a tent city in the lobby of City Hall during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's budget address on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, calling on Chicago to provide a dedicated stream of funding to tackle the problem of homelessness. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News)

Housing Advocates Stage Tent Encampment in City Hall During Mayor’s Budget Address

Chanting “Housing is a human right! Lightfoot will not stop our fight!” and “Lo-ri! We’re calling on you!” anti-homelessness activists staged a tent city at City Hall to demand a dedicated funding stream for subsidized housing, just as Mayor Lori Lightfoot delivered her yearly budget address.

The Michigan City Generating Station has been burning coal for electricity for nearly a century. (WTTW News)

Advocates Say Cleanup of Coal Ash at Northwest Indiana Power Plant Leaves Regional Water Supply at Risk

Northern Indiana Public Service Company is retiring the 130-acre Michigan City Generating Station, which has been burning coal for electricity for nearly a century. The company is also cleaning up decades of coal ash byproduct. But advocates say plans to leave some coal ash on the site puts groundwater and Lake Michigan in danger of contamination. 

Starbucks sign is pictured in a file photo. (WTTW News)

Elmhurst Starbucks Workers File for Union Representation

Employees at a Starbucks in west suburban Elmhurst say they’ve filed for union representation, joining hundreds of other coffee shops around the country and in the Chicago area.

A rendering of the planned Chicago Fire Club practice facility on former Chicago Housing Authority land. (Courtesy of Chicago Department of Planning and Development.)

Chicago Fire Soccer Facility Planned on 26 Acres of Housing Authority Land Clears City Council

The Chicago Fire’s plan is set to transform the vacant Near West Side property into practice soccer fields and a training and administrative building. The empty land was part of the massive CHA complex known as the Addams-Brooks-Loomis-Abbott homes. 

 A Starbucks worker in Edgewater participates in a one-day strike on Aug. 30, 2022. (WTTW News)

Union Backers Blast Starbucks Labor Practices During Capitol Hill Hearing

House lawmakers heard testimony Wednesday on barriers workers say they face to organizing, and what pro-business groups and Republicans in Congress call Democratic overreach.

(WTTW News)

Cyclist Struck and Killed By Driver in River West; Fifth Cyclist Death in Chicago This Year

A witness to the crash told WTTW News the man was a cyclist riding on an e-bike. The Chicago Fire Department confirmed a man in 40s was struck near Milwaukee Avenue and Morgan Street in River West and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious to critical condition, though the department described him as a motorcyclist.

Advocates rally in Roscoe Village’s Fellger Park on Sept. 7, 2022, calling on the city to include more infrastructure upgrades for cyclists, bus passengers, and pedestrians during an upcoming resurfacing of Belmont Avenue. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News)

Street Resurfacing Must Include Better Transportation Upgrades, Advocates Say at Demonstration

The groups say they don’t just want things like protected bike lanes, signal priority for buses, and other improvements to be limited to this stretch of street, calling on the Chicago Department of Transportation to “perform critical safety and quality-of-life upgrades” in the course of every major street resurfacing citywide.

(WTTW News)

Unionized Starbucks Workers in Edgewater Go on One-Day Strike

Workers at a unionized Starbucks coffee shop in Edgewater walked off the job Tuesday, protesting what they say is a pattern of the company illegally disciplining employees as retaliation for organizing. Similar charges have been echoed by pro-union Starbucks workers around the U.S. 

Starbucks sign is pictured in a file photo. (WTTW News)

Lakeview Starbucks Location Moves to Unionize

The workers at the coffee shop, located at the corner of Irving Park Road and Ashland Avenue, are seeking to join the seven other Chicago-area Starbucks locations that have so far voted in favor of unionizing. 

(WTTW News)

Edgewater Starbucks Union Vote Succeeds as Charges of Company Retaliation Intensify

The results of the election were released by organizers after a National Labor Relations Board vote count Friday morning. The Devon and Broadway Starbucks joins two others in Edgewater, and one each in Bucktown, Hyde Park, North Park and northwest suburban Cary.

Employees at an Amazon warehouse at 250 Emerald Drive, Joliet, have accused the company of a racially hostile work environment. (WTTW News)

Amazon Employees Say Company Retaliated After Charges of Racially Hostile Work Environment

Late last month, 26 current and former employees of a Joliet Amazon warehouse accused the company of allowing a racially hostile work environment. They’ve since been joined by a dozen more workers, who’ve filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

This file photo shows a southbound CTA Red Line train in Chicago. (WTTW News)

‘Our Service is Not Meeting our High Expectations,’ CTA President Outlines Plan to Address Schedule Snafus, Safety Worries

CTA President Dorval Carter on Thursday outlined a strategic plan to overhaul the transit agency’s service and bolster its role in the Chicago area’s transportation network. The CTA’s new “Meeting the Moment” initiative is aimed at moving the much-used and much-critiqued transit service into a “post-pandemic” future.

(WTTW News)

Freight Rail Merger Won’t Have Significant Environmental Impact, Federal Agency Says

The proposed merger of freight rail giants Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern – which has faced a swell of opposition – wouldn’t have major environmental consequences, according to a draft environmental impact statement released Friday by the Surface Transportation Board.

(WTTW News)

Sixth Chicago-Area Starbucks Votes to Unionize, Joining More than 200 Across US

The coffee shop, located at Lincoln and Jersey avenues on the border of North Park and West Ridge, is located in the Lincoln Village shopping center. It’s now the sixth Chicago-area Starbucks to vote for unionization – and among more than 200 around the nation to unionize so far.

File photo. (WTTW News)

Joliet Amazon Workers Allege Racist Death Threats, Hostile Work Environment in Federal Complaint

Current and former employees at an Amazon warehouse in Joliet say the mega-retailer has allowed a racially hostile work environment, including death threats against Black employees and workers who are allowed to wear Confederate flag clothing, according to a complaint filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

(WTTW News)

Surveillance, Threats and Retaliation: Local Starbucks Workers Charge Company With Slew of Labor Law Violations

Claims against Starbucks include unfairly disciplining employees who backed organizing efforts, threatening retaliation against pro-union workers and forbidding staffers from discussing terms and conditions of their employment.

(WTTW News)

‘Chicago Tonight’ in Your Neighborhood: Pullman and West Pullman

Chicago’s Pullman and West Pullman areas were once industrial communities where workers lived and worked. The neighborhoods on the Far South Side have since experienced an economic downfall, but over the years people have pushed for growth to improve the quality of life. 

(WTTW News)

After Highland Park Shooting, a Look at Local Gun Laws and Firearms Access

Just under a month ago, the Highland Park chapter of March for our Lives organized an anti-gun violence rally at Sunset Woods Park – the same location of a Thursday candlelight vigil – following mass shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo, and Tulsa among others. Attendees then marched through Highland Park, including right through the site of this past weekend’s shooting.

(WTTW News)

City Announces Plan to Upgrade All Protected Bike Lanes to Concrete Amid Outcry Over Cyclist and Pedestrian Deaths

The city plans to upgrade 15 miles of existing protected bike lanes and add 10 new miles by the end of this year, and upgrade the remaining existing lanes protected by bollards or other means by the end of next year.

U.S. Rep. Mary Miller. (Credit: Miller Campaign)

Rodney Davis Concedes to Trump-Backed Fellow GOP Incumbent Mary Miller in 15th District

U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis conceded to first-term Republican Mary Miller in the hotly contested GOP race in the 15th Congressional district, saying it’s been “the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of Illinois.”

(WTTW News)

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis Wins Over Challenger Kina Collins in 7th Congressional District: AP

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis was first elected to represent the district in 1996 and recently secured the endorsement of President Joe Biden. He’s highlighted the work he’s done in Congress to bring home resources for his constituents, but faced criticism by Kina Collins and some of her backers for missed votes and a lengthy tenure.

(WTTW News)

University of Chicago Faces Calls for Reparations Over Ties to Slavery; School Says Charges Are Misplaced

For the last several years, the University of Chicago has faced calls to make reparations for its ties to the slave trade. The university says it was a prior iteration of the school that benefited from slavery, not its current incarnation. As Chicago Tonight’s Nick Blumberg reports, that claim hasn’t quieted calls for the university to acknowledge history and make amends.