FORGOTTEN HISTORY: 4 - The Untold Story

Is the worst behind us? What unemployment data for metro Chicago indicates

For the first time since before the pandemic, metro Chicago posted jobless rates below 4% across three consecutive months.

Chicago Sun-Times · Sep 11, 2023

CTU president defends sending her son to private school, calling it a result of ‘unfair choices’ for South Side families

The Chicago Teachers Union leader is facing backlash for the move. She says it represents a stark statement about disinvestment in public schools.

Chicago Sun-Times · Sep 7, 2023

Chicago’s Board of Ethics opened—then closed—a review of allegations against city treasurer

The ethics board doesn’t have the authority to investigate, and the case against Melissa Conyears-Ervin was closed. The Office of the Inspector General won’t say if it is conducting an inquiry.

Chicago Sun-Times · Sep 6, 2023

Chicago State’s warning of ‘significant financial strain’ during faculty strike proves no strain on big bonus for CSU president

In a recording posted last week, Chicago State Board of Trustees Chair Andrea Zopp can be heard justifying the $50,000 bonus to Zaldwaynaka Scott in part to the CSU president’s handling of the faculty strike earlier this year.

Chicago Sun-Times · Aug 31, 2023

Dying, disabled prisoners stay behind bars, despite Illinois law calling for medical release

Terminally ill or medically incapacitated prisoners can apply for early release. But the Illinois Prisoner Review Board has denied twice as many requests as it OK’d — and seven prisoners died months after their applications were rejected, an Injustice Watch / WBEZ investigation found.

Chicago Sun-Times · Aug 30, 2023

Here are 5 things to watch in the CPS year ahead

Chicago Public Schools open Monday with a new mayor and a school board who want to shake up how the school district is run.

Chicago Sun-Times · Aug 21, 2023

Illinois lawmakers drafting bill that would require lawyers for kids in police interrogations

The effort comes after WBEZ obtained footage of a Waukegan cop leading a 15-year-old to falsely confess to a shooting.

Chicago Sun-Times · Aug 15, 2023

Exodus of major, full-service grocers offering healthy variety paints a bleak picture of food access for some in Chicago

The number of Chicagoans living over a mile away from a supermarket or superstore — a major grocer — has jumped by 63% in the past decade, a WBEZ-Chicago Sun-Times analysis found.

Chicago Sun-Times · Aug 11, 2023

Veteran journalist Gilbert Bailon named executive editor of WBEZ

Bailon was most recently the executive editor at KERA, Dallas’s NPR affiliate. Prior to KERA, he spent nearly 15 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Chicago Sun-Times · Aug 11, 2023

Many more Chicago-area homes have a high risk of flooding than people realize, research finds. Here’s why.

The First Street Foundation says 172,000 properties in Cook County — 79,000 of them in Chicago — have a high risk of flooding, far more than Federal Emergency Management Agency maps show.

Chicago Sun-Times · Aug 11, 2023