The Chicago Tribune: “Who does not know that the most depraved, debased, worthless and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community are Irish Catholics?” the paper asked its readers in 1855. In a 19th century uprising, protesters and police faced off, and the city’s mayor used a downtown bridge for crowd control. Sound familiar? German and Irish immigrants were the trouble. Germans were widely seen as subversive foreigners, the

“Being a leader, especially in times like this, means knowing how to turn the other cheek, take a breath, strategize and then, in the most constructive way possible, respond. Instead, the mayor too often comes out swinging…(t)o the detriment of leading Chicago forward.”

The proposed revisions to Cook County’s ethics ordinance, which the ethics board voted to recommend in January, include forbidding both nepotism in county hiring and county commissioners from taking certain outside jobs. Now, three of the board members who crafted the reforms are gone, and their recommendations haven’t moved forward.

Almost 60 places applied for the food license while Illinois was shut down this past spring; 225 new licenses have been issued since April 1. The indoor build-out of Ursula Siker’s new deli was sidelined – so she serves her smoked pastrami as weekend takeout only. “It does give me some flexibility to be able to start serving and making income while not having to put in all the investment money into the space.”

Senate Bill 1005 passed overwhelmingly, calling for stiff penalties for anyone convicted of using social media to instigate or organize so-called “mob action.” Among the sponsors at the time were Sen. Kwame Raoul, who is now the Illinois Attorney General, and Rep. Christian Mitchell, who is now a deputy governor in the administration of Gov. JB Pritzker.

“If [the police] are still going to be in schools with the people that they target the most, that they abuse the most, then there isn’t a win for the immediate marginalized group that is most affected by the issue,” one youth activist – a graduate of Kenwood Academy – said.

The Police Department has set up the Detective Task Force on Looting with the FBI, and investigators have already begun reviewing footage from the weekend’s looting so they can find and prosecute people.

Six men were caught with guns at looting scenes, including a convicted felon and registered gun offender who prosecutors said fled in a getaway car outside the Louis Vuitton store, leaving behind his loaded handgun with an extended magazine. He was ordered held on $300,000 bail.

Organizers have been meeting with law enforcement for weeks to coordinate the march.

The backlash started after a cable news outlet ran a story suggesting race was a factor regarding which children would be able to avail of in-person learning over those who would be left to study remotely.

A national republication of our Wirepoints article.

“Keeping Chicago and its residents safe is the No. 1 job of our elected officials. The latest round of looting—and the sad fact that we have to refer to it as “the latest round”—demonstrates vividly that our elected officials are failing miserably at it. Ultimately, this particular buck stops at the mayor’s door, no matter how much she would prefer to deflect attention to the prosecutor’s office.”

Of the virtual bond hearings observed by WBEZ, more than half of the defendants had no felony convictions on their records, according to statements made by defense attorneys and prosecutors. The vast majority of the felony defendants who WBEZ has been able to identify so far live in Chicago, according to authorities.

It’s “one of the most important developments in the past thirty years in America,” happening very rapidly, but not being covered by most media.

Mark Konkol: “Gov. J.B. Pritzker is a fake friend of City Hall who’s mostly available for ribbon-cutting photo ops in African American neighborhoods. Lightfoot has a beef with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. She’s at odds with the police and teachers unions. Black Lives Matter Chicago activists attack her. The City Council’s Democratic Socialists despise the mayor.”

Amid unrest downtown, the airline’s dispatchers reported to a backup facility in Elk Grove Village. The operations center is the nerve center of the airline, dispatching and managing planes across its network.

When looting broke out downtown overnight Aug. 10, United had its next shift of dispatchers and other workers report to Elk Grove Village, where they remain, a spokesman said.

The pending cases include: an activist seen on video being punched in the face by a Chicago Police officer during a confrontation at the now-removed Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park; a woman who claims she was dragged out of her car by her hair by a police officer who knelt on her neck, and Police Board President Ghian Foreman’s claim that he was struck in the legs five times by a police baton after encountering a demonstration in Kenwood.

“It’s something I’m incredibly proud of,” says Samir Mayekar, Lightfoot’s deputy mayor for economic and neighborhood development who says the money was “not spent in vain.” He also notes that the medical equipment is being stored and can be redeployed if needed.

“These small heroics prove that not every person living in a neighborhood populated mainly by minorities wishes to burn it down. So when Chicago BLM organizer Ariel Atkins excused weekend lootings as ‘reparation,’ a quieter but even more insistent voice responded, ‘Hell, no.'”

“In a time of crisis, in one of the most racially and economically segregated places in the country, the bridges connecting north and south and linking east and west — sides of town that serve as proxies for wealth versus disinvestment — were made uncrossable, like drawbridges over a castle moat.”

The charges include one for attempted murder, 28 for burglary and looting, six for gun possession, five for aggravated battery or resisting a police officer, and one each for theft and criminal damage to property.

Says Deborah Gershbein, president of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR): “The residents are a target, the visitors are targets, and unfortunately nobody wants to be here anymore. If this neighborhood goes down and River North goes down, and the Gold Coast goes down and the Loop goes down because we have all this criminal activity, Chicago becomes like Detroit.”

An anchor of the Mag Mile mall since its inception, the retailer—unhappy with the police response to recent looting, according to a source close to the situation—now is looking to shrink or vacate its space there.

In one incident, a man was inside his home in the South Shore neighborhood when he was shot in the arm and chest; Police sources say the shots appear to have come from the back of the home. No one is in custody in any of these shootings.

Meanwhile, small business owner Mo Zahid, whose store got hit by looters on the Magnificent Mile, wonders what will happen if the looters try again. “What I think is my biggest concern is how many people participated in the looting, see it as a success.”

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown issued a stern warning: “The looters have made the point that we’re larger than you, we outnumber you, you’ve heard that in some of the crowds, we’ll be back, this kind of empty threat, we are committed to deploying our resources as large as we have to be, not only to protect our downtown but also our neighborhood retail corridor.”

Hours after the mayor’s announcement, youth activists marched to Lightfoot’s Logan Square block, again demanding the mayor defund the police department, remove all police officers from public high schools and invest in Chicago’s Black and Brown neighborhoods. “The police department is an inherently racist institution. It cannot be reformed, it must be abolished,” an activist with Pilsen Alliance said at Thursday’s march.

“I love Chicago; I will always be optimistic about the city. But I think right now there’s a lot of work to be done to restore confidence in the city,” said Evan Bern, of Pierce jewelers. The jeweler has a high-profile location on Michigan Avenue. It received relatively minor damage during the looting, but with little foot traffic on Michigan Avenue this year business is down significantly.

“The current structure doesn’t hold the superintendent accountable to the taxpayers. Changing the selection process for the top cop position would give our police leadership and residents the opportunity to develop a platform and strategy that’s approved by taxpayers necessary to tackle crime in our city,” said state Rep. LaShawn K. Ford.

The nine-mile Street Love ride is organized by youth recreation and mentorship program Boxing Out Negativity, which uses physical activity to engage at-risk youth and get them more involved in the community. Other neighborhood also are supporting the event. “When you get a credible messenger, somebody who is a role model, then you will be able to get the message across,” one organizer said.