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Dec 15, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Alex Keefe |Mawa Iqbal |Lauren Frost |Charlotte West
Prisioncast! is a statewide radio show and journalism project serving people incarcerated in Illinois & their loved ones with news and information. Our next show is set to air in March 2025, focusing on ideas from listeners about what it means to be “rehabilitated.” Share your ideas, learn more & get involved here.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Patrick Smith |Lauren Frost |Charlotte West |Tom Schuba
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx leaves office at the end of the month, at which time she’ll be replaced by former Appellate Court Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke. Foxx was the first Black woman to serve as the county’s top prosecutor. During her eight years in office, she approved hundreds of exonerations, helped legalize marijuana and successfully pushed to abolish cash bail. Foxx also faced near-constant criticism for her so-called progressive approach.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
wbez.org | David Struett |Sophie Sherry |Lauren Frost |Charlotte West
Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez was an “exemplary” officer who sacrificed his life while working in one of the toughest districts on the South Side, CPD Supt. Larry Snelling told a packed church Monday at the young officer’s funeral. Snelling asked Martinez’s family to look around the pews of St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel, 7740 S. Western Ave., and notice the law enforcement officers who traveled across the country to attend the funeral.
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Lauren Frost |Charlotte West |Tom Schuba |Fran Spielman
Family members of a man incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center who died during a heat wave there are suing the state’s prison system in federal court. The wrongful death lawsuit was filed Thursday on behalf of the estate of Michael Broadway, who lost consciousness in his top-level cell in June as temperatures inside the dilapidated prison reached dangerous levels, according to the civil complaint.
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Charlotte West
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Sep 30, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Sarah Karp |Nader Issa |Robert Herguth |Charlotte West
In the latest twist in the ongoing leadership struggle at Chicago Public Schools, there soon could be major turnover at the Board of Education. No resignations had been handed in to the mayor’s office as of Monday afternoon, but a source close to the board confirmed conversations are ongoing about the makeup of the board for the next few months. The exact motives behind any board members’ potential decisions to resign remain unclear and appear to be complicated.
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Sep 27, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Sarah Karp |Nader Issa |Charlotte West
The head of Chicago Public Schools is telling the mayor’s office that paying for the pending Chicago Teacher Union contract could mean mid-year cuts to programming and operations, eliminating some staff training or, as an “option of last resort,” forcing all staff to take furloughs — a move that would ultimately reduce raises negotiated in a new contract.
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Sep 26, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Sarah Karp |Nader Issa |Charlotte West
After Chicago Public Schools enrollment increased for the first time in more than a decade last year, the total number of students has gone up once again to 324,311, officials said Thursday. That’s a less than 1% increase compared to last year’s official count of 321,539 — and a drop from later in the school year, when newly enrolling migrant students brought numbers up by the spring.
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Sep 26, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Tom Schuba |Jon Seidel |Charlotte West |Erica Thompson
Many of Chicago’s top leaders are facing strong headwinds. Mayor Brandon Johnson has suffered embarrassing defeats, and he’s now trying to force out his public schools chief. The heads of the city’s transit and housing agencies have both faced calls to resign. And the police oversight boss is at the center of lawsuits alleging bias and whistleblower retaliation.
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Sep 26, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Nader Issa |Sarah Karp |Charlotte West
Chicago Board of Education President Jianan Shi said he is not expecting to take up Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez’s contract or Mayor Brandon Johnson’s loan idea at Thursday evening’s school board meeting. There has been significant anticipation that the tension at the nation’s fourth largest school system would come to a head Thursday and the meeting would prove decisive for Martinez’s future.
