When we asked reporter Daniel Libit to follow the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial for us, we at the Chicago News Cooperative got more than we bargained for. Thankfully. (more…)

For some on the Far South Side, the name Jon Burge still elicits gasps. Diane Latiker who works in Roseland, thinks of “the boogeyman” at the mention of the former Chicago police commander who allegedly tortured crime suspects of the Area 2 headquarters for years in the 1970s and 1980s. (more…)

One sure sign of a thriving business? It spawns entrepreneurs.

Willie Montgomery sits outside the Food 4 Less store in the rough Englewood neighborhood, waiting for customers to ask him to take them and their groceries home after walking or taking the bus through dangerous streets to shop there.
(more…)

Chicago, it seems, is defined by its lines of demarcation. North Side, South Side. Cubs, Sox. Black, White, Hispanic. (more…)

Patterns emerge in the aftermath of inexplicable crimes, especially ones that involve the killing of a teenager. Typically there is grief and public outrage. Vows to fix the problems soon follow, along with new public efforts by police, politicians and concerned citizens to make children’s lives safer.

And then, just as inexplicably, the momentum to keep it fixed fades. (more…)

When a gang war reaches the point at which politicians start calling for the National Guard, then perhaps we have gotten beyond the typical run of street violence that, sadly, seems to come each spring. (more…)

It has been an emotionally charged week in the Hispanic community across this country as attention focused on Arizona’s new immigration law. There were hot moments here, as well, fueled in part by the national controversy and, this being Chicago, in part by jockeying for local political influence. (more…)

When I looked across the table at the subject of my interview, Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis, I remembered a lesson I learned during my stormy tenure as editor of the Los Angeles Times: Every editor should be the subject of news coverage. (more…)

Anyone driving down Chicago’s beautiful lakefront in the last few years has noticed a forest of new condominium towers rising in the South Loop. The neighborhood has undergone a spectacular rejuvenation. Some of the buildings are impressive both in their size and their architecture. Who lives there, one wonders? Apparently someone very lucky.

Well, maybe not that lucky.

(more…)

As we worked on the final edits on our lead news story today, we had a slight time management problem on our hands. You see, reporter Meribah Knight was in New York, spending most of the day in a jail.  A few hours went by when we could not reach her by phone. And all the time I was thinking: This is just the sort of reporter we should be working with. (more…)