A $29.3 million agreement with the city for GardaWorld to build giant tent cities for migrants has been condemned by officials and advocates who said investing in Chicago infrastructure and organizations would be better. The company is among those allegedly involved in mistreating migrant children at the border in a 2022 report by the the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General. They’re also allegedly tied to a migrant labor trafficking scheme at U.S. military bases.

One month after the shooting left a 42-year-old woman wounded in her right leg and a 26-year-old woman grazed on her abdomen, Fred Waller said Chicago police still don’t know if the bullets came from inside or outside the stadium and likely will never be 100% sure. No suspects have been questioned or identified, even though the police department brought in the feds to “to kind of give us a hand in this,” said Waller.

“Chicago appears nowhere near to growing weary of its ugly crime wave. The city only a few months ago elected Brandon Johnson as mayor, even though every voter knew he was committed to a soft-on-crime agenda. So far this year, crime is up 30 percent over 2022, reports the Wirepoints weekly crime tracker. And Chicago recorded 204 murders during Johnson’s first 100 days in office.”

Launched in 2019, INVEST South/West uses public dollars to attract private investment in order to revive commercial corridors in 10 target community areas. But Chicago’s Deputy Mayor of Business and Neighborhood Development Kenya Merritt would not say what exactly Johnson’s new approach will look like. When asked what needs to change about the program, Merritt said Johnson wants to see results.

“Notably, Denver backed off from hiring GardaWorld (Chicago’s contracted tent supplier) to accommodate migrants this past summer, after some nonprofit groups with expertise in the area charged that the company lacked expertise for the situation and also had a checkered past when it came to taking care of migrants…Had Lori Lightfoot as mayor hired a private security company for $29 million to care for migrants in yurts, we suspect there would have been hell to pay from the left. Many of those groups are now inside the Johnson administration.”

William Lucina, accused of shoplifting at Michigan Avenue’s Saks Fifth Avenue, also has a pending larceny case in New York, prosecutors said.

The robberies began around 12:50 a.m. with the beating and mugging of a 78-year-old man in Lakeview. Most recently, a 42-year-old valet attendant was pistol-whipped and robbed as he worked in the 800 block of South Michigan around 1:53 a.m. They took his wallet and work radio, then fled.

The close coordination and timing suggests these perpetrators have some experience in stealing cars.

“A Chicago alderman noted that ‘none of us can say where’ the $115.2 million spent on migrants in the first seven months of this year went or where the $123 million Johnson expects to spend through Dec. 31 will go. That is outrageous.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson called the decision “an important step in protecting individuals who seek work without fear of exploitation, wage theft and trafficking…This action demonstrates how intergovernmental coordination across national, state and local governments continues to make our city a safe sanctuary to all people.”

While the policy won’t officially be approved until next week, it was enacted last month at the start of the current school year, according to Karla Kirkling, the district’s executive director of healthcare and benefits. “…(E)quitable pay family leave policies acknowledge the financial needs and challenges faced by all parents and this helps provide a safety net for families.”