Teresa Ging has spent 12 years operating her bakery’s storefront in the downtown loop of Chicago. She conceded that Chicago’s economy is growing but said she still wants to run her business in an area with a fully funded police force and a low crime rate. “If you can’t control the crime, [the economy] is just going to decline.”

State Rep. La Shawn Ford introduced the measure earlier this week to send a “strong message” to those involved in the city’s underground car culture, who he said have faced little consequences and “think this is a game.” His bill would give officials the ability to charge street racers and drifters with mob action, a Class 4 felony that carries a possible prison sentence of one to three years.

Americans for Prosperity-Illinois conducted a poll of 300 registered voters in Arlington Heights. They found 72% of residents support the Bears building a stadium at Arlington Racetrack, which ended nearly 100 years as a horse track when the Bears agreed to purchase it. However, 68% oppose giving the Bears tax dollars to help build the new stadium.

In Chicago, the city’s largest children’s hospital has partnered with local school districts to promote radical gender theory. Their presentation encourages teachers and school administrators to support “gender diversity” in their districts, automatically “affirm” students who announce sexual transitions, and “communicate a non-binary understanding of gender” to children in the classrooms. The objective, as one version of the presentation suggests, is to disrupt the “entrenched [gender] norms in western society” and facilitate the transition to a more “gender creative” world.

“Their failure to be proactive in addressing these issues to work proactively with law enforcement is an absolute abomination,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said of social media platforms. “These [drag races] are clear violations of the law. If these [videos] are taken down because people are watching them, then what’s the attraction of them?”

DeKalb police said the 17-year old suspect had been ordered to wear a home monitoring ankle bracelet by a Cook County judge for another matter, but when he was arrested Friday for a shooting last week, he allegedly used the ankle monitor as a gun holster. Police said the gun found on him was loaded and had an extended magazine with 20 rounds of ammo.

The union came up short in 2019 when it backed Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle against Lori Lightfoot, who won in a landslide. Still, candidates are lining up for the CTU’s endorsement, and the union has proven in other political battles that its money, army of members and influence carries substantial weight.

Chicago Police officers will get at least one day off every week under a new policy announced approximately 24 hours after Inspector General Deborah Witzburg released an analysis that determined that more than 1,000 officers were scheduled to work 11 or more consecutive days between April 1 and May 31.

Councilman Devon Reid was reviewing city codes that may be unconstitutional, and his goal was to amend any that seem inequitable or have the potential to create unnecessary interactions with law enforcement. “I wasn’t looking for this, in particular,” Reid said. “I was looking for examples that would uphold folks’ bodily autonomy. And this happened to be one that focused on issues of equality.”

“I understand that we should support those kids. They shouldn’t be punished, teased, bullied, all equal rights and stuff and we should embrace that. But this is a little bit unnecessary and radical,” said Terry Newsome of Parents Involved in Education.

“The media doesn’t tell the true story of Black Chicago,” the mayor told a group at a restaurant in the South Side 8th Ward. But African Americans have been hit hardest by a 36% increase in homicides since 2019 — when Lightfoot took office.