Policy analysis

Chicago Tribune 

“Something needs to be done,” Jacques Wallace said of local legislators. “They can pass a bill … they can get some funding for … basic necessities like air conditioning. Because if that was the case, my mom would still be here. Or at least she wouldn’t have died from the heat.”

Photo: Sarah Macaraeg

Chicago Tribune 

Of the private schools that state records show have received Invest in Kids funds, some have policies that potentially deny entry to students who are LGBTQ, who are pregnant or have fathered a child, who are not U.S. citizens or who have certain disabilities, according to school websites or publicly available handbooks.

Photo: Creative Commons

Chicago Reader, winner of the national Sidney Award for outstanding investigative journalism

Under a controversial legal doctrine known as the “felony murder rule,” the teen’s prosecution relied on a theory of accountability enshrined in Illinois’s criminal code: that while committing a felony, a person can set in motion a chain of events that lead to the death of another person... His case was one of at least ten in Cook County in the past five years in which killings by Chicago Police Department and Cook County sheriff’s officers have resulted in felony murder charges for civilians.

Photo: Sarah Macaraeg

Memphis Commerical Appeal/USA Today

Related: At FedEx World Hub, workers fear preventable exposure | COVID-19 deaths among FedEx workers leave families, employees questioning company’s response

Interviews with multiple family members and FedEx workers, along with scores of complaints submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from across the country, reveal a pattern of allegations that there was little and often delayed communication with FedEx workers about whether they had contact with a positive colleague.

Photo: Courtesy the family of Pamela Pope

Memphis Commercial Appeal /USA Today

Explicit encouragement of vehicle attacks on protests can be seen in jokes, memes and other messaging — partly inspired by legislation proposed in Tennessee.

The proposed legislation sought immunity in civil court for drivers who injure protesters in roadways. Similar bills were introduced in a handful of states. None became law. But the bills bolstered the bravado of people with political animus towards protests nonetheless.

Photo: John Beifuss

Memphis Commercial Appeal/USA Today

The prison communications industry in 2015 was valued at $1.25 billion — a sum built off exorbitant rates charged inmates and their loved ones to connect.

But private companies aren’t alone in commercializing inmate calls. In exchange for granting monopoly rights to operate telecommunications inside a jail or prison system, local governments typically take a portion of the revenue collected off each call, in what’s known as a commission fee.

Photo: Sarah Macaraeg

Chicago Tribune

By the first day of school, Chicago Public Schools announced its “full compliance” with state PRTO (Physical Restraint Time Out) training requirements, meeting the minimum of two trained staff members per school.

Yet at least two Illinois State Board of Education investigations of improper physical restraint remain ongoing. And, according to experts, addressing CPS' misuse of restraint will require more than training. Building strong baseline student support systems, and creating prevention plans for students with a history of difficulties, is necessary to avoid the potentially lifelong impacts on students who experience the use of force by an adult at school, said Associate Dean of Loyola University Chicago’s School of Education Pamela Fenning.

“Our systems and schools are based on very punitive practices... However, there’s a degree to which we can prevent our problems by just having safe, inclusive, welcoming spaces," she said.

Photo: iStock.com/dlane39

Reveal: The Center for Investigative Reporting

CoreCivic will be paid $150 million for detaining immigrants at Cibola County Correctional Center over the course of a five-year arrangement with county officials and ICE that amounts to a no-bid contract with the federal government. 

The facility’s new role took shape after inmate deaths involving medical neglect came to light last year, prompting the federal Bureau of Prisons to cancel its contract with CoreCivic as part of a drive to minimize private prisons in its operations. That reliance conversely has grown under ICE, which commenced talks with CoreCivic to adopt Cibola soon after.

Photo: Sara MacNeil

Yes! magazine, winner of a Salute to Excellence from the National Association of Black Journalists and the Restorative Narrative award from Images and Voices of Hope

Related: 'Nothing happens to police': forced confessions go unpunished in Chicago

Reparations, the concept of offering monetary or social redress for historical injustices, has found a renewed life in American public discourse and at the heart of some social movements.

With the election of Donald Trump, it seems unlikely that reparations will move forward at a national scale anytime soon. But Chicago’s ordinance provides a model for creating reparations at the local level, even in the face of daunting circumstances.

Photo: Sarah Macaraeg