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Latinos Make Huge Impact on White Sox Playoff Roster
| Acacia Hernandez
Players from Minnie Miñoso to Luis Aparicio to Ozzie Guillén have been fan favorites on Chicago’s South Side for decades. Never has the Latino presence on the White Sox roster been more important than this year, when the Sox could have seven or more players of Latino heritage starting in the playoffs.
Study: City Sees Decline in Affordable Housing
| Blair Paddock
Renters are finding fewer affordable homes and apartments as the city sees a decline in units. A new study from DePaul University shows the city experienced a 5.2% decline in affordable rental units over the past decade.
Independent Commission Unveils Proposed Ward Map, As Focus Shifts to City Council Battle
| Heather Cherone
The final map crafted by the Chicago Ward Advisory Redistricting Commission would increase the number of wards where Latinos make up a majority of residents by one to 14, while reducing the number of wards with a majority of Black voters by three to 15 wards.
Study: Black, Latino Bicyclists Face More Ticketing and Less Infrastructure
| Nick Blumberg
Cyclists of color in Chicago get a disproportionate number of tickets from police, according to reports by the Chicago Tribune. Bike advocates hope a new city initiative can help address the problem but say it’s not just about infrastructure.
Matt Nagy Makes Justin Fields No. 1 Bears Quarterback
| Associated Press
Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy has changed his mind and made Justin Fields the Chicago Bears’ starting quarterback going forward.
10 Things to Do This Weekend: Oct. 7-10
| Kristen Thometz
Jack-o’-lanterns, thousands of runners, goat yoga and a powwow usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.
Man Charged for Alleged Role in Murder of 14-Year-Old Girl, Attempted Murder of Witness
| Matt Masterson
Michael Aguirre was held without bail during a court hearing Wednesday following his arrest this week on a charge of first-degree murder stemming from the killing of 14-year-old Savanah Quintero.
Race Is on To Save ‘Primeval’ Patch of Illinois Prairie Threatened by Rockford Airport Cargo Expansion
| Patty Wetli
Conservationists are in a race against the clock to save a five-acre patch of rare Illinois prairie from being bulldozed as part of a 280-acre expansion of the Chicago Rockford International Airport's cargo operation.
Facebook Blames Outage on Error During Routine Maintenance
| Associated Press
Santosh Janardhan, Facebook’s vice president of infrastructure, said in a blog post that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp going dark was “caused not by malicious activity, but an error of our own making.”
US Records Highest Increase in Nation’s Homicide Rate in Modern History, CDC Says
| CNN
Provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, released early Wednesday, suggest the homicide rate for the United States rose 30% between 2019 and 2020.
US Woman in Bali ‘Suitcase Murder’ to be Released Oct. 29
| Associated Press
A Chicago woman convicted of assisting her boyfriend in her mother’s murder and stuffing the body in a suitcase on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali in 2014 is being released early from a 10-year sentence, a prison official confirmed Wednesday.
A Nation in ‘Peril’: Woodward, Costa Chronicle Volatile Presidential Transition
| Marissa Nelson
A new book gives an insider, blow-by-blow account of one of the most tumultuous and dangerous presidential transitions in American history, from the chaos of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to a secret six-point strategy to overturn the election results.
Opponents of Texas Ban on Most Abortions Expand Challenges
| Associated Press
The latest legal challenge came as the Biden administration waited for a federal judge in Austin, Texas, to rule on a request to halt the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions in Texas once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks.
CPS Shortens Quarantine for Students to 10 Days as Testing Struggles Continue
| Heather Cherone
The policy change, which applies to unvaccinated students and takes effect Saturday, comes after more than 15,500 students were forced to quarantine during the first four weeks of the school year, but only 1.6% tested positive for COVID-19 after being exposed to the virus, according to officials.
Biden Pushes Big Plans as Key to Avoid ‘America’s Decline’
| Associated Press
Calling opponents of his plans “complicit in America’s decline,” President Joe Biden made the case Tuesday that his ambitious social spending proposal is key to America’s global competitiveness — even as he acknowledged the current $3.5 trillion price tag will shrink.
Outage Highlights How Vital Facebook Has Become Worldwide
| Associated Press
The six-hour outage was a headache for many casual users but far more serious for the millions of people worldwide who rely on the social media sites to run their businesses or communicate with relatives, parents, teachers or neighbors.
Chicago’s Recycling Rate Remains Stuck At Less Than 9%, As Focus Turns to Composting
| Heather Cherone
Plans are underway to keep organic waste out of Chicago's landfills, officials said.
Force Expert: Rittenhouse Decisions to Shoot Were Reasonable
| Associated Press
An Illinois man who shot three people during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin last year was justified because the men confronted him and two of them tried to wrestle his gun away, a use-of-force expert called by the defense testified at a pretrial hearing Tuesday.
UChicago Focuses on the Future of Cities in a Post-COVID-19 World
| Paul Caine
The University of Chicago is bringing together researchers, practitioners, policymakers and advocates to envision a better, more sustainable future for Chicago and cities around the globe.
Ex-Facebook Employee Says Network Hurts Kids, Fuels Division
| Associated Press
Frances Haugen, testifying to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, also offered thoughtful ideas about how Facebook’s social media platforms could be made safer.
Ald. Daley Thompson Set to Stand Trial Oct. 18 on Charges That He Failed to Pay Taxes, Lied to Feds
| Heather Cherone
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who campaigned on a promise to root out corruption in City Hall, has repeatedly called for Ald. Ed Burke, the other indicted member of the Chicago City Council, to step down. But on Wednesday she stopped short of calling on the 11th Ward alderperson to resign.
October 5, 2021 - Full Show
| WTTW News
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Mayor Lightfoot at odds. Illinois members of Congress on the debt ceiling battle and more. Inside Jan. 6 with the author of the new book “Peril.” And the future of cities amid climate change.
Connecticut Removed from Chicago’s COVID-19 Travel Advisory
| Heather Cherone
The city’s travel advisory now covers 47 states as well as Washington, D.C., Guam and the Virgin Islands, officials said Tuesday.
November Trial Date Set in Jussie Smollett Case
| Matt Masterson
Former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett will stand trial on felony disorderly conduct charges beginning Nov. 29, nearly three years after he allegedly orchestrated a hoax attack against himself outside his Streeterville apartment.
Garland Says Authorities Will Target School Board Threats
| Associated Press
Attorney General Merrick Garland directed authorities to hold strategy sessions with law enforcement to address the increasing threats targeting school board members, teachers and other employees in the nation’s public schools.
Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram Suffer Worldwide Outage
| Associated Press
Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms are back online after a massive global outage plunged the services and the businesses and people who rely on them into chaos for hours Monday.
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