Tony Ragucci, who resigned in 2020, admitted to getting $88,000 when he was leading Oakbrook Terrace. He pleaded guilty to fraud and tax crimes. It’s the latest conviction related to how SafeSpeed LLC dealt with some Chicago-area communities that installed cameras to record traffic violations.

In a letter sent to U.S. Attorney John Lausch the day before Solis’ deal was accepted by a judge last month, the mayor asked prosecutors to consider turning over any evidence Solis has provided on “wrongdoing on the part of any individual or individuals that may have engaged in wrongful acts with the city,” either past or present.

Thirty members of the Chicago City Council invoked a rarely used provision of state law to call a special meeting of the public body. “We understand the fears, concerns and demands for sustainable solutions addressing the violence and criminality that is increasing exponentially throughout our diverse communities,” according to the letter filed by Ald. Raymond Lopez with the City Clerk’s Office. “It is our hope that this public forum, in the absence of customary hearings, will address the people’s concerns.”

Ald. Brian Hopkins and Ald. Brendan Reilly challenegd the projections of $200 million in annual tax revenue for the city. “I don’t believe we’re going to see $200 million a year in six years from this. I don’t believe it. The numbers don’t add up,” Hopkins said. “Our hands will be tied six years from now, ladies and gentlemen. We won’t have the ability to correct the mistake we’re about to make.”

“Last year, the city had experienced 240 murders at this point. So far this year, there’s been 219 murders,” CPD Supt. David Brown said. “We’ve been at 60% or more with our clearance rate this year. That’s a high mark over the last couple of decades.”

Hinz: “Whatever you think of Ken Griffin’s politics—too conservative for my taste—you have to acknowledge his sense of timing. Griffin’s declaration that he’s tired of waiting for the city to get its public safety act together and will move Citadel’s headquarters out of town if the situation doesn’t improve is the right message at the right time about Chicago’s embattled downtown jobs base.”

The cameras would be installed “within the jurisdiction of the campus police” and “near property owned by the university,” like the Arts Incubator and L1 business accelerator, Vaughn said last week. The UChicago Police Department’s jurisdiction extends far beyond the university’s central campus,but not as far as the Arts Incubator and L1 accelerator.

The heel turn by some alderpeople prompted questions for CHANGE Illinois’ Chaundra Van Dyk. “It does leave one to wonder, what caused you to decide to go against everything that you stood for in regards to transparency and community engagement in the mapping process?” van Dyk said. “Obviously this wasn’t about communities.”

Aldermanic allies and enemies alike have condemned the crackdown as a toothless and desperate response to a deadly outbreak of youth violence in the downtown area that prompted a mass shooting outside a McDonald’s at Chicago Avenue and State Street and the fatal shooting of a teenager at Millennium Park.

Back on May 13, three nooses were hung from a tree in between Haven Middle School and Kingsley Elementary in Evanston’s District 65. The nooses were found hours after students staged a sit-in to protest the school district’s decision to transfer some teachers to different schools.

New York-based Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) says that one lesson teaches young children that “people are in ‘danger’ because of ‘whiteness,’ suggests that racism is exclusively associated with ‘whiteness,’ claims without qualification that ‘white’ people have more opportunities than ‘non-white’ people, and refers to individuals as having ‘labels.’”

“Only 5% of folks who are unrepresented win their immigration case, so we know that representation goes a long way in ensuring if somebody has the option to stay – maybe they’re married to a U.S. citizen, maybe their child is a U.S. citizen and they’re eligible for cancellation,” said said Ere Rendon of The Resurrection Project.

Near North Sider Christine Rezagholi said she doesn’t feel safe in her own neighborhood anymore. “I don’t even go out with a purse, a handbag, [I] usually wear workout clothes because I feel like I’m a target…I pay the most expensive property taxes. For what?”

Equity and Transformation (EAT), established in 2018, is a Chicago-based social justice nonprofit founded “by and for post-incarcerated people,” according to its website; The group has organized protests against police and advocates for reparations. However, it primarily focuses on achieving “social and economic equity for Black Workers engaged in the informal economy,” or African Americans who work jobs “not regulated or protected by the state,” which appears to include criminal activity.