Showing posts with label Chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 05, 2023

Brandon Johnson wins Chicago mayor's race

Brandon Johnson, who campaigned on his background as a public school teacher, union organizer and Cook County commissioner, will become Chicago's next mayor after winning Tuesday in the city's runoff election against Paul Vallas.

Johnson, 46, held 51.45% of the vote Tuesday night, with 98.61% of the precincts reporting. Vallas, 69, who campaigned on a law-and-order message, held 48.55% of the vote.

Vallas conceded the race Tuesday in a speech to his team.

Shortly after Vallas' concession, Johnson thanked his opponent and declared victory in a speech to his supporters.

"Tonight is just the beginning," Johnson said. "Now Chicago will begin to work for its people."

[SOURCE: UPI]

Sunday, January 22, 2023

4 most populous US cities now led by African American mayors for the 1st time in history

ABC's Jonathan Karl sits down with Eric Adams, Karen Bass, and Sylvester Turner, the mayors of New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, on "This Week." When you include Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the four largest cities in the U.S. have black mayors for the first time.

Watch their interview below:

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Lawsuit to block Obama Presidential Center tossed out

A federal judge has dismissed the latest attempt to block construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.

Protect Our Parks filed a second lawsuit last year attempting to stop the presidential center from being built in historic Jackson Park, arguing the years-long federal review of the project's environmental impact on the site was flawed.

They also argued that state and federal regulators should have considered sites other than Jackson Park, which they argued would have been "much less harmful to protected resources."

But U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey on Tuesday ruled the city "did not abdicate control or ownership" of the Obama Center site, and that presidential centers provide clear public benefits, including "furthering human knowledge and understanding, educating and inspiring the public, and expanding recreational and cultural resources and opportunities."

Construction of the Obama Presidential Center began last summer, and is expected to be completed in 2025.

The Obama Foundation has estimated the center will cost approximately $500 million. Once it is built, the city would own the campus, but the center would pay to maintain it. The Obama Presidential Center will be privately funded, and the foundation will pay the city $10 to lease the land for 99 years.

The center will include a 235-foot stone tower housing the site's museum; a Chicago Public Library branch; a multipurpose space on top of the museum, a program, activity, and athletic center for community programs and events; a Great Lawn for social gatherings, barbecues, a nature center; and new walking and biking trails; a children's play area; and a fruit and vegetable garden and teaching kitchen.

The center will not include a formal presidential library operated by the National Archives and Records Administration. Rather, Obama's collection of presidential documents and artifacts will be stored in existing NARA facilities, and non-classified documents will be available online.

[SOURCE: CBS NEWS]

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot test positive for Covid-19

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has tested positive for COVID-19, and will be working from home.

Lightfoot announced her diagnosis in a brief statement posted to her Facebook and Twitter pages.

Monday, January 03, 2022

Rep. Bobby Rush to retire after 30 years in Congress

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) said Monday he will not seek reelection after 15 terms in Congress.

Rush told the Chicago Sun-Times he made the decision in the past several weeks and that it was a result of a conversation he had with his grandson.

“I don’t want my grandchildren . . . to know me from a television news clip or something they read in a newspaper,” Rush told the Sun-Times.

“I want them to know me on an intimate level, know something about me and I want to know something about them. I don’t want to be a historical figure to my grandchildren.”

Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers, becoming acting chairman following the killings of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in a police raid in December 1969.

Rush, 75, was first elected to Congress in 1992, said in an interview he intends to stay active in his ministry and find ways to use his remarkable life story — a trajectory from a 1960s radical to House member — to inspire younger generations.

He notably defeated then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in a 2000 Democratic primary for the the state's 1st Congressional District. He served previously as a Chicago alderman.

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Rep. Bobby Rush Statement on testing positive for COVID-19

U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) released the following statement after testing positive with a breakthrough case of COVID-19:

“Today, after being notified of a recent exposure, I tested positive with a breakthrough case of COVID-19. Fortunately, I am fully vaccinated and recently received my booster shot. I am feeling fine and currently have no symptoms. I will be quarantining and following the latest guidance from the CDC and the Chicago Department of Public Health. As COVID-19 cases rise and the Omicron variant spreads throughout the nation, I encourage everyone who has not yet done so to get vaccinated and get boosted as soon as possible.”

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Chicago to offer $2.9 million settlement to Anjanette Young over botched police raid

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is proposing a $2.9 million settlement for Anjanette Young over a botched police raid.

Alderpersons were told in closed-door briefings Sunday evening about the proposed settlement amount. Young’s and three other settlements are on the agenda for the Finance Committee meeting Monday. The other three cases have proposed settlement amounts listed, but Anjanette Young v. City of Chicago did not.

Young, a social worker, was in her Near West Side home the night of Feb. 21, 2019, when several Chicago police officers entered, announcing a raid. Young was undressed and getting ready for bed at the time, and she was forced to remain naked in front of the officers for 40 minutes as the ordeal unfolded.

Lightfoot’s office and the Law Department did not respond to requests for comment on the proposed settlement amount.

On Friday, Lightfoot’s office released a statement: “It is our expectation that on Monday, the Finance Committee will be presented with a proposed settlement for consideration regarding Ms. Young. Out of deference to that process, we will not be commenting further.”

[SOURCE: CHICAGO SUN TIMES]

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Obamas announce groundbreaking for the Obama Presidential Center

Barack and Michelle Obama announced that the groundbreaking ceremony for his long-awaited presidential library will be held on Tuesday in Chicago.

Saturday, June 26, 2021

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Mayor Lightfoot Says She Has 'Drawn A Very Tight Line' With Federal Agents

In an interview on CNN, Mayor Lightfoot told Jake Tapper she has made it clear to federal authorities that if they cross the line, she will use every tool at her disposal to stop them.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Saturday, April 04, 2020

Former Dallas police chief to head Chicago police force

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday named former Dallas police Chief David Brown to head the police force in the nation's third largest city, touting his humility and calling him “a leader who commands respect.”

Lightfoot introduced Brown as the next superintendent of the Chicago Police Department during a news conference, saying he's the right man for the job.

"We are Chicago and we deserve the best. And in this time, this moment, David Brown is the absolute best."

Brown, who was one of two African Americans named as a finalist, has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement. The 59-year-old, who retired from the Dallas force in 2016, drew widespread attention that year after five of his officers were killed in an ambush-style rifle attack and he directed officers to kill the suspect using a remote-controlled robot fixed with explosives.

Brown's experience made him the logical choice for Lightfoot. The mayor said one of the things that most impressed her about Brown was that he implemented many reforms in Dallas that the Chicago department is now trying to introduce.

Brown said his experience and devotion to his job, along with the officers in his command, would help him as a leader.

“My life and career has taken place in the city of Dallas but the call to service ... is one that is heard across the nation, and it is that call that has driven everything that I have done in my career as an officer and as a public servant,” he said.

Lightfoot said she hopes the City Council will approve Brown's appointment and that he will be on the job by the end of the month.

[SOURCE: YAHOO]

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Cook County State Attorney Kim Fox wins democratic primary

ILLINOIS-Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx survived a well-financed challenge from newcomer Bill Conway in the Democratic primary Tuesday.

Foxx was surrounded by her husband and four daughters as she took the stage to the sounds of their cheers in a downtown hotel conference room. The space was kept largely empty as a precaution due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

“I want to help make Cook County a more inclusive and thriving community, where everyone is welcome,” she said. “I pledge to keep pushing for that change, that is fair, that is just, that is equitable, that will keep our communities safe,” she said.

With about 85% of precincts reporting at 10:30 p.m., Foxx had 48% of the vote and Conway had 33%. Two other challengers were polling a distant third and fourth.

Foxx is set to face the winner of a Republican primary between former prosecutors Christopher Pfannkuche and Pat O’Brien. O’Brien had a substantial lead as of late Tuesday, winning 73% of the vote with 85% of precincts reporting.

[SOURCE: CHICAGO TRIBUNE]

Friday, March 06, 2020

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot endorses Joe Biden

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) announced Friday she is endorsing Joe Biden for president ahead of Illinois’s March 17 primary.

Lightfoot released the following statement via Twitter:

“Today, I’m proud to endorse Joe Biden for President. Joe is the best candidate to unite our country and move us past a presidency that has sought to divide us based on what we look like, what we believe, or who we love. He’s ready to lead and he’ll do it with passion and empathy,”

Friday, October 11, 2019

16 police officers participated in an elaborate cover-up after Laquan McDonald's death


"Sixteen shots and a cover-up" became a familiar chant from protesters who filled Chicago streets after 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was fatally shot by a police officer in 2014.

Now, five years later, the investigative report from Inspector General Joseph Ferguson reveals the full extent of what his office described as an elaborate cover-up by 16 officers and supervisors, including former police officer Jason Van Dyke, who fired the shots.




Wednesday, September 18, 2019

1,000 black men marched against violence in Chicago, where was the media?

Israel United in Christ Hosted a 1,000+ men march on August 31, 2019, to spread awareness of peace and unity amongst our community in Englewood of Chicago IL.

I guess it got no national because it was for a positive cause and that there was no violence so that made it not newsworthy.

Check our video of the march below:

Thursday, September 05, 2019

Chicago mayor slams Sen. Ted Cruz for his tweet about Chicago violence

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) took to Twiiter to slam Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) after the lawmaker revived an old conservative talking point that gun violence in Chicago proved that “gun control doesn’t work.”

Read her response to his comment below:

Friday, July 19, 2019

4 Chicago police fired for alleged police shooting coverup in shooting of Laquan McDonald,

Four officers accused of lying about the circumstances around the fatal shooting of a black teen have been fired by the Chicago Police Board.

The 2014 killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, which was captured on police video camera, sparked months of protests and became emblematic of longstanding police abuse in America’s third-largest city.

A jury in October convicted a white police officer, Jason Van Dyke, of second-degree murder for firing 16 bullets into McDonald, most of which struck the teen after he fell to the ground.

The Police Board said that Sergeant Stephen Franko and three other officers had exaggerated the threat posed by McDonald in order to cover for Van Dyke, according to a decision handed down Thursday.

“Their conduct is antithetical to that expected and required of a sworn law enforcement officer, who at all times has a duty to act with honesty and integrity and to accurately and completely report their observations,“ the board said in a statement.

“Their conduct is antithetical to that expected and required of a sworn law enforcement officer, who at all times has a duty to act with honesty and integrity and to accurately and completely report their observations,“ the board said in a statement.

Saturday, June 22, 2019

Chicago mayor: City won't cooperate over reported ICE raids

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) said she would take “concrete steps” to support immigrant communities after reports emerged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would begin raids this weekend to round up families who have received deportation orders.

Lightfoot said in a statement Friday that she directed Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to terminate ICE’s access to the Chicago Police Department’s databases related to immigration enforcement activities.

“I have also personally spoken with ICE leadership in Chicago and voiced my strong objection to any such raids,” Lightfoot tweeted.

“Chicago will always be a welcoming city and a champion for the rights of our immigrant and refugee communities, and I encourage any resident in need of legal aid to contact the National Immigrant Justice Center.”

The ICE operation set to begin Sunday is reportedly expected to target up to 2,000 families facing deportation orders in up to 10 cities with large immigrant communities, including Houston, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

Friday, May 17, 2019

Symphony Bufford Is Missing!

51 year-old Symphony Bufford of Chicago has been reported missing from her Gresham neighborhood, Chicago police said.

She is missing from the area of 85th and Lowe and was last seen Thursday in the 200 block of south Wacker Drive.

Police said she is in need of medication.

She is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 170 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or contact Chicago Police SVU at 312-747-8274.