Chicago folks, specifically local doulas and midwives! Have you ever worked with a client in a hospital? Been hired by a hospital directly? Know someone this sounds like? If so, I'd love to hear from you for a story I'm working on for the @chicagoreader.com! My DMs are open! Orgs are fine too!

New from me: A WTTW News analysis of CPS disciplinary records offers a rare look at employee misconduct findings & the system leaders use to punish workers. Records shed a light on a process affecting hundreds each year that many employees say remains difficult to understand, navigate or challenge.

More Than 700 CPS Employees Disciplined for Misconduct Over 1 Year, 10 Faced Allegations of Sexual Abuse

One year of employee discipline data, obtained by WTTW News, reveals more than 700 cases of misbehavior across Chicago Public Schools. Case outcomes ranged from verbal warnings and written reprimands ...

news.wttw.com

I visited a bunch of west suburban ice cream spots, for journalism

A west suburban ice cream trail that is a dare more than a recommendation - Chicago Reader

A six-stop dessert crawl for gelato, paletas, frozen custard, and more.

chicagoreader.com

CDOT lost the best of our team yesterday. We're heartbroken. In memory of Riley O'Neil, please refer to these bike racks as "Riley Racks". He led Chicago's bike parking program for several years. Our hearts are broken, but we want to make sure his legacy lives on 💙🚲 Please spread the word

IL lawmakers finally passed a bill overhauling the state's property tax sale system. Our big question: how will homeowners fare in the new system? @cb-312.bsky.social and I dug into the details for @raceandequityproject.org and @injusticewatch.org www.raceandequityproject.org/article/illi...

Illinois General Assembly votes to overhaul state’s property tax sale laws — Investigative Project on Race and Equity

State legislators passed historic reforms to Illinois’ controversial tax sales, which had led to thousands losing their homes and all of their home equity.

raceandequityproject.org

Over the past five months, a sea of rideshare drivers in yellow T-shirts flooded the Illinois state Capitol almost weekly, lobbying for the right to form a union. They may be able to do so soon, after Illinois lawmakers passed a bill giving them that ability in the final hours of the spring session.

Rideshare Drivers in Illinois Could Unionize Under Bill Passed by General Assembly

House Bill 5090 would regulate how rideshare drivers can form a union, elect union representatives and engage in union activities such as collective bargaining.

news.wttw.com

NEW: I took a close look at a buy-here, pay-here car dealer with 128 locations across the country. On the way I learned about repossession tactics, bonus incentives for in-house payments collectors & what it’s like when you’ve got no car but still owe thousands on a car loan tinyurl.com/2d5mcyxt

The Used-Car Dealer of Last Resort

Big markups and double-digit interest rates are the bedrock of Byrider’s business model.

tinyurl.com

For @chicagoreader.com , I interviewed regulars at the Harold Washington Library, including: a man who copies reference books by hand, the lawyer who patented the Pringles can, a young woman banned from the library six times. Davon Clark's amazing pics in thread. chicagoreader.com/city-life/pe...

The life and times of the Harold Washington Library - Chicago Reader

Regulars recount reading, drawing, and fighting in Chicago's beloved library

chicagoreader.com

Malik Jackson, former executive director and publisher of South Side Media Works, which operates South Side Weekly, will be the Chicago Reader's next publisher starting June 1.

Chicago Reader names new publisher

chicago.suntimes.com

new: sheriff tom dart is quietly pitching the cook county board on two new surveillance systems that could be approved as soon as thursday. dart wants $2 million for a software that uses ai to monitor the jail’s cameras for drug use and nearly $1 million for more flock license plate readers.

Cook County Sheriff’s Office pitches expanded surveillance network

Sheriff Tom Dart is quietly lobbying the Cook County board for an AI jail security system and nearly $1 million for license plate readers.

chicagoreader.com

We will celebrate our Pulitzer @chicagotribune.com with champagne and malört

Certificates of innocence give exonerees modest state compensation and the right to expunge their records. Why has Cook County's top prosecutor been fighting to block people from getting them? New from @danhinkel.bsky.social @injusticewatch.org w/@boltsmag.org www.injusticewatch.org/project/deny...

Cook County prosecutor fights to block exonerated people from clearing their names

Certificates of innocence can help exonerated people get jobs and housing. State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is making them harder to get.

injusticewatch.org

Here's an update from a chaotic scene following a car crash on the West Side in 2025. An unidentified Black man was placed in a chokehold and temporarily detained by federal immigration agents. The man told CPD he had nothing to do w/the crash or a robbery. thetriibe.com/2026/04/new-...

New details emerge surrounding 2025 incident that led to a Black man being ‘choked’ by the feds in Chicago • The TRiiBE

A newly obtained Chicago police report reveals the Black man ‘choked’ by feds in 2025 wasn’t involved in the crash and didn’t have any involvement in a robbery.

thetriibe.com

A very important personal message for you all today: No, @vimiller.bsky.social and I are NOT the same person. And the fact that y'all keep confusing us says something about Society™️ in case you need more clarification: chicago.suntimes.com/opinion/2026...

As Southwest Side neighbors were targeted or hid in their homes, Ald. Raymond Lopez repeatedly defended Trump’s immigration roundups on conservative media. We looked at Lopez’s rise and how he became a favorite in the right-wing media ecosystem. blockclubchicago.org/2026/04/14/h...

How Ald. Raymond Lopez Became Conservative Media's Favorite Chicago Democrat

As Southwest Side neighbors were targeted or hid in their homes, Lopez repeatedly defended Trump's immigration roundups on conservative and right-wing media.

blockclubchicago.org

NEW: An indefinite sentence without being convicted of a crime. Under Illinois' Sexually Dangerous Persons Act, men are detained in a southern Illinois prison, with the only way out being to complete treatment. But those inside say they just receive three hours a week. news.wttw.com/2026/04/14/n...

No Trial. No Guilty Verdict. How Civil Commitment in Illinois Can Mean Decades Behind Bars

Under two different Illinois laws, people charged with sex offenses are subject to indefinite detention. Some people who’ve only been charged with a crime — never convicted or sentenced — can spend th...

news.wttw.com

Every jailhouse lawyer knows Dee Farmer’s name, even if they don’t know who she is. What most of them don’t know is that the person who paved the road for them was a transgender woman who filed her suit from a federal prison cell, in an era when her gender identity was considered a mental illness.

In Prison, She Changed Constitutional Law. Meet the Trans Woman Behind the Case.

Farmer v. Brennan is one of the most cited Supreme Court cases of all time. Few people know just how revolutionary Dee Farmer was.

themarshallproject.org

Commercial tenants in Chinatown's storied Richland Center food court face a steep increase in monthly rents under new landlord chicagoreader.com/city-life/ch...

Tenants at Chinatown’s storied Richland Center food court brace for potential rent increases - Chicago Reader

Since last summer, Heung Seng Corporation’s staff have told tenants they will nearly double the rent on their next leases.

chicagoreader.com

Nice work in today's @chicago.suntimes.com from colleagues Stefano Esposito and photog Pat Nabong

The last man at the shoeshine stand

For 20 years, Steve Fullerton has polished and buffed the footwear of famous Chicagoans and faithful regulars from his bench in the Cook County Building.

chicago.suntimes.com

New: Chicago officials have for years resisted calls to mandate proactive apartment safety inspections, even as renters keep dying in preventable fires. The City Council just passed an ordinance directing departments to study the idea in earnest. illinoisanswers.org/2026/03/18/p...

Proactive building inspections one step closer to reality in Chicago — but questions of funding and logistics remain

Chicago took a step toward beefing up its safety oversight of apartment buildings on Wednesday following years of criticism that the city’s patchwork of reactive building inspections has cost the […]

illinoisanswers.org

NEW: @cb-312.bsky.social on the business dealings of Greg Bingham, the real estate investor who "made a fortune" taking Cook County homes through tax foreclosure and faced fraud allegations along the way www.injusticewatch.org/project/take...

The King of Liens

Tax buyer Greg Bingham has amassed hundreds of tax-foreclosed properties in Cook County since the 1990s. Along the way, he’s been dogged by allegations of fraud, an Injustice Watch investigation found...

injusticewatch.org

The National Police Index’s brand new website provides unprecedented public access to police employment records from across the United States and allows users to track law enforcement employment records across 24 states — searchable by officer name, agency, and more. national.cpdp.co/

A timeline: June 2021: Officer Noah Ball shoots at a man (no one is injured) May 2022: Ball shoots a 13-year-old boy fleeing a traffic stop, paralyzing him June 2023: COPA rules June 2021 shooting unjustified, urges Ball be fired Sept. 2023: Supt. Snelling rules June 2021 shooting justified (1/2)

Heather Cherone@heathercherone.bsky.social · 5mo ago

NEW: The Chicago police officer who shot a 13-year-old boy in May 2022, leaving him permanently paralyzed, should be fired, the agency tasked with investigating police misconduct and Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling agreed, records show. @wttw.bsky.social

A mom sues the state and prison medical provider over forced labor induction: “That was my right that got stripped away from me when I should have been able to have, you know, this baby whenever she felt like coming" ✍️ Jeremy Gorner @angieleventis.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/28/i...

Ex-Illinois inmate’s lawsuit over forced labor induction tests Gov. JB Pritzker on reproductive rights

Illinois has positioned itself as a national safeguard for reproductive rights. But a new case raises questions about how those principles are applied behind state prison walls.

chicagotribune.com

I’m zipping around town dropping off stacks of the print version of the @injusticewatch.org judicial election guide. Find them all over the dang place or online at that link. 2026primary.injusticewatch.org

new: highlands reit, a small chicago-based real estate firm, is renting an empty prison it owns in colorado to ice and private prison giant geo group. highlands is part of a network of private contractors hoping to get a cut of the $45 billion allocated to warehouse immigrants through 2029.

The Chicago real estate firm leasing an empty prison to ICE

Highlands Real Estate Investment Trust looks to profit from President Trump's anti-immigrant agenda.

chicagoreader.com

🤩 The Triibe's incredible reporters are unionizing @onetriibeunited.bsky.social 🤩 Signal your support by signing this petition asking org leadership to voluntarily recognize the union: actionnetwork.org/letters/were...

We’re One Triibe United, help us get recognized!

The TRiiBE has grown so much since its founding in 2017, thanks to the Black and abolitionist press that paved the way for us. We are a trusted news source on both the local and national levels. This ...

actionnetwork.org

onetriibeunited.bsky.social@onetriibeunited.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Sign our petition actionnetwork.org/letters/were...

Read of the day: local law enforcement arrested dozens of nonviolent protestors at Broadview over minor offenses, including jaywalking. Why is the state's attorney prosecuting them? by @minabloom.bsky.social blockclubchicago.org/2026/02/26/w...

Why Is The Cook County State's Attorney Prosecuting Nonviolent ICE Protesters?

A Block Club investigation found dozens of protesters arrested by state police are still facing criminal charges for minor infractions, such as sitting on a concrete barrier — even after Gov. JB Pritz...

blockclubchicago.org

Submissions for this year's Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize, for writers who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated, are open! The prize honors my sister, who died tragically in 2020 after many years in & out of incarceration. Please help us spread the word.❤️ truthout.org/articles/kee...

Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize

The annual prize is awarded to two writers who are currently or formerly incarcerated.

truthout.org

We’re forming a union to build a more sustainable and equitable newsroom that serves Chicago’s Black communities. ✨ You can support us by: Linktree Reading our mission statement ✅ Signing our petition ✅ Following us here and on Bluesky (@onetriibeunited) for updates ✅ Thanks for your support!