Apart from Washington, D.C., Chicago is the first American city to host the NATO Summit. As world leaders arrived for the Summit yesterday, they were greeted by thousands of protesters and just as many police officers. Chicago Police have arrested five protestors who allegedly planned to throw Molotov cocktails at President Obama’s campaign headquarters and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home.
The annual NATO summit opened yesterday afternoon in Chicago, bringing leaders from around the world to President Obama’s former home to confront questions surrounding the future of a post-conflict Afghanistan. As the two-day summit continues today, Western leaders will try to further define their path out of Afghanistan. Hassina Sherjan is the founder and country director of Aid Afghanistan for Education. David Sanger is the chief Washington correspondent for our partner, The New York Times.
In 2010, 66 children died of gunfire in Chicago, and hundreds more were injured. Staggering statistics like this show that gang violence in the Windy City has grown out of control. CeaseFire, a community organization with a public-health approach, tries to lead Chicago's youth away from a life of crime. To do that, the group employs "interrupters," former gang members who actually go to the scene of a conflict and try to resolve it in a non-violent way. And it's all chronicled in a recent documentary film called "The Interrupters."
Common rose to fame as a rapper in the 1990s, and his childhood and teenage years clearly influenced his music. He's also found success as an actor, and now as a writer — his new memoir, "One Day It'll All Make Sense," which shares the title of his 1997 album, came out yesterday.
How should the United Kingdom combat the violence that's raged across the country all week? British Prime Minister David Cameron says the country needs to learn a few lessons from America on how to fight gangs, along with possibly revoking social media and Blackberry service from rioters. What can the U.S. offer as advice for the U.K. on handling gang violence?
A heat wave is hitting much of the United States, and some states say they’ll soon be reeling from the effects of climate change. Chicago’s long-term forecast looks like a scene from a horror movie: lethal and extreme weather, including blizzards; a termite invasion, and even a 1.5 foot drop in the depth of Lake Michigan.
Rahm Emanuel won 55 percent of the vote to become Chicago's next mayor, ending the 22-year run of Richard M. Daly.The former congressman is best known for being President Obama's chief of staff. Some thought that there would need to be a run-off, but Jim Warren, Chicago columnist for The New York Times didn't think so. "He simply outworked everybody else," Warren says. And he combined that with a top-notch staff and significant advantage in resources, raising $12 million. His ties to President Obama also helped him be a bit of a celebrity. However, like in many cities, there is a huge deficit facing Chicago and Emanuel may have to face off against the unions; the teacher's union contract may be up first.
Rahm Emanuel’s bid to become the next mayor of Chicago hit another bump in the road yesterday. An Illinois appeals court ruled two to one that the former White House Chief of Staff’s name cannot appear on the ballot for the February 22nd election. Jim Warren, columnist for the Chicago News Coop and former managing editor for the Chicago Tribune. He says the ruling is ridiculous.
After 21 years in office, Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley announced on Tuesday that he would not be running for re-election this year. The announcement, made during a surprise press conference yesterday, came as a shock to Democrats and political analysts across the country.
Daley is the second longest serving mayor in Chicago history after his father, Richard J. Daley, who died in office in 1976. All eyes are on Chicago to see who will fill the political void left by Daily. Pundits and political observers are already speculating as to who will succeed Daley. Everyone from local aldermen to congressmen to President Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel are thought to be potential candidates.
In a surprising move, ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich decided he would not testify in his corruption trial. Rob Wildeboer, criminal justice reporter for Chicago Public Radio, believes this was a wise move on Blagojevich's part. "I don't know what he could say to convince jurors about those tapes," he told The Takeaway. The defense strategy has shifted from putting Blagojevich on the stand to trying to prove that the government's case is too weak to find Blagojevich guilty.
Ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is scheduled to take the witness stand this week to testify in his own defense at his federal corruption trial. In the five weeks since the trial began, prosecutors have played many recordings of the former politician using countless expletives in multiple profanity-laced tirades. Now, when Blagojevich takes the stand, law experts say he will have to win over jurors, leave behind his notoriously arrogant attitude and even admit some faults.
We're following up on a story we did yesterday, from the perspective of Chicago funeral home owner Spencer Leak Sr., about the challenges Chicago is facing in combatting gun and gang violence. On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down a Chicago ban on handgun ownership, a move that divided city residents. Some Chicagoans were thrilled, and say the ability to own a handgun makes them feel safer. Others say even more people will lose their lives. Why is gun violence such a problem in Chicago? The Chicago Police Department says that gang activity was involved in 74 percent of murders in the first five months of 2010. 80 people were shot and thirteen killed over the past two weekends in the city.
Yesterday the Supreme Court said the Second Amendment's gaurantee of the right to bear arms applies to state and local gun control laws, effectively overturning Chicago’s ban on handguns in a 5-4 decision. The ruling comes after two deadly weekends in Chicago, where over 80 people have been shot and 13 people killed in the city. For decades, Chicago’s homicide rates have soared above other U.S. cities. And gun control advocates worry that the recent Supreme Court case will escalate crime in the city and make Chicago the national epicenter of gun-related violence.
Last month, we spoke with Darell Cannon, one of a number of black men in Chicago who claim they were tortured and coerced into confessions during the 70s and 80s by Chicago Police. For men like Cannon, who spent 24 years in prison after being tortured by former police Lieutenant Jon Burge the men he commanded, justice has finally come.
Former Chicago Police Lieutenant Jon Burge was found guilty yesterday on charges of federal perjury and obstruction of justice. He could now face up to 45 years behind bars, after his sentencing hearing in November. Rob Wildeboer, criminal justice reporter for Chicago Public Radio tells us more about the case and the conviction.
The Supreme Court ruled that black candidates looking for jobs with the Chicago fire department did not wait too long before filing a lawsuit accusing the city of Chicago of discrimination. The case centers around a 1995 standardized test that the candidates scored too low on for job consideration. Attorney for the plaintiffs, Matthew Piers talks about the victory. He says that the message is that employers need to be careful about how they use standardized tests as they are often discriminatory in their results and rarely predict job performance.
After decades of claims by black men in Chicago that they were tortured and coerced into confessions during the '70s and '80s, former police commander Jon Burge now faces trial in federal court on obstruction of justice and perjury charges.
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has carefully guarded her professional and personal lives, especially since being nominated for the Supreme Court earlier this week. To get a fuller picture of the woman who could become one of the nine justices, we talk with two people who knew her as a colleague, a teacher, and a baseball fan, during her time at the University of Chicago Law School from 1991 - 1995.
Last week, a horrifying cell phone video put the Chicago Public School system under a national spotlight. It captured dozens of teenagers in a street brawl using wooden beams as weapons. An innocent boy named Darrien Albert was brutally beaten to death. He is one of five teenagers who have been killed in Chicago this school year.
This morning, Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will be having breakfast with Mayor Daley of Chicago to discuss the high levels of youth violence in the city. Linda Lutton, a reporter with WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, talks with us about school violence in Chicago.
More than a hundred members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are meeting in Copenhagen to take a look at the final four presentations from four global cities that each want to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Representatives from Madrid, Chicago, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro will each be making 45-minute presentations to the IOC members; the committee will vote in secret later this afternoon.
We talk first with Alex Capstick, BBC sports correspondent, on the scene in Copenhagen. Then it's back to our own Femi Oke, who reports that Chicago and Rio are really the only two contenders, and both cities are ready to talk a big game to go for Olympic gold. And finally, to get the mood in Chicago, we turn to Lynette Kalsnes, arts and culture reporter with WBEZ.
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