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Week in Review: Snelling’s First Public Test; Chicago Casino Finally Set to Open

The mayor’s pick for police superintendent meets the public. CPS employees ousted over charges of loan fraud. City officials eye new housing for migrants. And Bally’s gears up to open its temporary casino.

Battery Manufacturing Plant Coming to Illinois With $530M Incentive Deal

The roughly $2 billion project is set to create 2,600 jobs and begin production in 2024. The plant will produce battery cells, battery packs like the kinds used in electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage systems.

Staffer Accused of Inappropriate Contact With Minor Student Removed From Elementary School in Portage Park

In a letter sent this week, Reinberg Elementary principal Edwin Loch informed parents and families that a staffer has been pulled from the school following an allegation that they “engaged inappropriately with a student.”

Place Your Bets: Bally’s Will Open Temporary Chicago Casino at Medinah Temple at 8 a.m. Saturday

Chicagoans and tourists feeling lucky can play 800 slot games and 56 table games in the century-old Shriner’s temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave., with its distinctive domed ceilings and stained-glass windows.

Feds Pledge $1.95B to Fund Far South Side CTA Red Line Extension

Mayor Brandon Johnson said a $3.6 billion plan to build 5.6 miles of new train tracks, as well as four stations, would “right a historic wrong” and provide a “critical connection that has been missing for half a century.”

3-Year-Old Girl on Chicago-Bound Bus From Texas Died From Infection, Other Factors, Coroner Says

An autopsy shows a bacterial infection and other factors caused the death of a 3-year-old girl on a bus carrying immigrants from Texas to Chicago last month, an Illinois coroner said Thursday.

Brookfield Zoo’s Baby Giraffe Makes Her Public Debut, and She Has a Name

The zoo’s three-week-old baby giraffe is making her debut Friday and can now be seen daily, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Snelling Faces First Public Test as City Council Confirmation Hearings Loom for Police Superintendent Pick

Snelling vowed to rebuild trust between Chicagoans and the Police Department, which is struggling to reduce crime and implement court-ordered reforms designed to ensure officers no longer routinely violate the constitutional rights of Black and Latino Chicagoans.

Sept. 7, 2023 - Full Show

Meet the next top cop: a community forum for Larry Snelling, the man selected to be CPD superintendent. A preview of the Bears match-up against the Packers this weekend. And accessible art at Navy Pier.

Navy Pier Visitors Can Watch Artists Paint, Draw and Create Live in New Exhibit: ‘It Opens Up Doors’

The Women’s Live Artist Studio is a permanent art exhibition that opened earlier this summer at Navy Pier. It consists of work by primarily Black and Brown female artists from the Chicagoland area.

Four and Out with 1985 Super Bowl Bear Emery Moorehead Ahead of Chicago Bears Season Opener

The Chicago Bears kick off the season Sunday by taking on the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. Former Bears tight end Emery Moorehead, a member of the 1985 Super Bowl championship team, joined “Chicago Tonight” to preview the season.

Police Oversight Board Votes to Permanently Scrap New Chicago Gang Database

The unanimous vote by the interim Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability caps an effort that began in 2017 to stop the Chicago Police Department from using databases to track Chicagoans they believe to be in a gang.

5 Things to Do This Weekend: Field Museum’s ID Day, Printers Row Lit Fest

Dumplings, fossils and a 5K usher in the weekend. Here are five things to do in Chicago.

Trump White House Official Navarro Convicted of Contempt After Defying House Jan. 6 Subpoena

The verdict came after a short trial for Peter Navarro, who served as a White House trade adviser under President Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost.

Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh Predicts ‘Concrete Steps Soon’ to Address Ethics Concerns

Public trust in the court is at a 50-year low following a series of divisive rulings, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade federal abortion protections last year, and published reports about the justices’ undisclosed paid trips and other ethical concerns.

City Council to Reconsider Lawyers’ Recommendation to Pay $2M to Family of Man Killed by Chicago Police Officer After 2014 Foot Chase

It is unclear what prompted the decision to reconsider the proposed settlement after the Chicago City Council rejected it in July on a vote of 22-26.

Chicago High School for the Arts Educators Avoid Strike After Reaching Tentative Contract Agreement

The tentative agreement, announced late Wednesday, came just as educators at the city’s only privately managed, public arts high school were set to go on strike.

Sept. 6, 2023 - Full Show

Chicago Public Schools employees accused of loan fraud. Ambitious ideas for local public transit. And in Spotlight Politics: Mayor Brandon Johnson preps to unveil his budget proposal.

New Plan Pitches ‘Big, Bold Solutions’ to Transform Regional Public Transit in Chicago Area

Unprecedented regional coordination, $1.5 billion in new annual funding and a push to transform service and draw in more riders than ever. Those are just some of the ambitious ideas up for debate as part of an effort to create a bold new vision for public transit in the Chicago area.

Prosecutors Do Not Plan to Call Former Ald. Solis to Testify Against Former Ald. Burke

During an April 2022 court hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu called Solis one of the most significant government informants and witnesses of the last several decades. But prosecutors do not plan to call him during the trial of former Ald. Ed Burke, set to start Nov. 6.

14 Chicago Public Schools Employees, Officials Connected to PPP Loan Fraud, Watchdog Report Finds

“Pandemic relief fraud by CPS employees causes significant reputational harm to CPS and diminishes trust in the school district,” The Office of Inspector General wrote in the report.

This Summer Was a Global Record Breaker for the Highest Heat Ever Measured, Meteorologists Say

Last month was not only the hottest August scientists ever recorded by far with modern equipment, it was also the second hottest month measured, behind only July 2023, WMO and the European climate service Copernicus announced Wednesday.

‘There There,’ an Exploration of the Urban Native American Experience, Announced as 2023 One Book, One Chicago

Author Tommy Orange will take part in a discussion of his debut novel on Nov. 15 at Harold Washington Library Center. 

Chicago Chooses 10 Local Artists for New Job Training Program That Bridges Arts and Health in Communities

Ten Chicago-based artists will be taking part in a new job training program that has them apprentice at the city’s mental health clinics and become certified community health workers.

Chicago Police Didn’t Track How Long It Takes Officers to Respond to Half of 911 Calls: Watchdog

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said city officials and police brass are “ill-equipped to evaluate and improve response times, simply because, more often than not, we have no information on when the police arrive to respond to an emergency.”

Legal Fights Over Voting Districts Could Play Role in Control of Congress for 2024

Legal challenges to congressional districts also are ongoing in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. And new districts seem likely in New York and North Carolina, based on previous court actions.
 

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