According to a federal complaint, James Massey posted multiple videos and messages on Facebook calling for people to gather in downtown Chicago and engage in property damage and looting last summer.

The Loop has been eerily quiet over the past year. COVID-19 has forced thousands of downtown office workers to stay home, while performing arts venues have retreated into hibernation. But many of the Loop’s small businesses and cultural institutions are still kicking. 

Officers who lounged, slept and snacked in the burglarized South Side office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in the early morning hours of June 1 as unrest swept the South and West sides of the city have been disciplined, the Chicago Police Department announced Thursday.

Businesses along the 71st Street commercial corridor experienced extensive damage and property theft in late May and early June. Six months later, it’s still difficult for some business owners to talk about the past as they look ahead to what’s next.

Mag Mile landlords dodge a new tax aimed at revitalizing the shopping strip following this summer’s unrest. Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Danny Ecker has details on this story and more.

Alds. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) and Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) said the effort to create the new taxing district to fund security, attract businesses and spruce up the streets and sidewalks was pushed through too quickly and should not move forward.

Area businesses along commercial corridors like 63rd Street and Ashland Avenue experienced extensive damage in late May and early June. Business owners and community organizers talk about what’s next. 

Commercial Avenue has long been the main business corridor in South Chicago, but in recent years the strip has struggled to fill vacant storefronts – a trend that was seriously exacerbated by civil unrest and looting this summer.

For a 121-year-old camera store in Chicago, everything changed on the night of May 30. How the third-generation owner of Central Camera is rebuilding the business after its destruction.

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown said he has consistently asked for longer sentences for the “looters, thieves and vandals” who have been arrested after breaking into businesses across Chicago in recent months.

Police Superintendent David Brown said the so-called “tabletop exercises” involved officers responding to hypothetical looting reports to test the effectiveness and quickness of their response.

City officials Tuesday defended their efforts to help Chicago’s small businesses struggling to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic and recover from unrest touched off by police brutality protests, even though only 20% of a $100 million loan fund has been spent.

Two Chicago men will face federal charges that they looted three Northwest Side pharmacies on May 31 during the protests triggered by the death of George Floyd.

Mayor Lightfoot announces a plan to prevent looting as the Chicago Police Department seeks the public’s help in apprehending additional suspects. As Election Day draws closer, the Postal Service issues a warning about mail-in ballots.

The mayor announced a five-point plan to protect businesses and better identify and respond to looting through analytics, additional police deployments and faster lockdowns in areas where businesses are being burglarized.

There’s a very real anxiety that Chicago’s main shopping districts are on the precipice of falling apart. And without the revenue generated from those areas, the city faces a potentially disastrous fiscal future.