Lonzo Murrell, from left, Bernard Watkins and Glenn Ford, all of Chicago, chat at the 'Ain't She Sweet Cafe'.
Bonnie Trafelet/Chicago News Cooperative

Margo Strotter considered herself proof that the revival of Bronzeville was under way. She opened a sandwich and smoothie bar at 45th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in early 2006 and waited for other businesses, inspired by a booming real estate market, to follow her lead. (more…)

Although it was defended as an essential crime-fighting tool, there were few cases — and even fewer convictions — under the recently rescinded city ban on handgun ownership.

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Harold D.Shepard, President of ABC Data Entry, Inc., is a disabled Vietnam veteran that owns his own business.
Jose More/Chicago News Cooperative

Veterans with service-related disabilities who own businesses will have a better chance to win Cook County government contracts under legislation to be introduced this week by a county commissioner. (more…)

Mayor Richard Daley, left, after talking with Police Superintendent Jody Weis, right, at the end of a special session of the City Council to approve a new city ordinance on gun ownership, Friday July 2, 2010.
Jose More/Chicago News Cooperative

Click here to see year by year arrests and convictions under the city’s 28 year old handgun ban.

Mayor Richard M. Daley has long insisted that the city’s restrictive gun laws — including the handgun ban that was essentially nullified recently by the United States Supreme Court — have been a key crime-fighting tool. (more…)

Tory Moore, was a 'perma-temp,' one of thousands of workers in the Chicago area'•s massive warehouse complexes near Joliet.
John Konstantaras/Chicago News Cooperative

Tory Moore worked at the same packaged-food warehouse in Kankakee for six years, but he was denied a loan and apartment rentals after being told he did not have a real job. (more…)

The Perks Keep On Flowing
Charge It To My Card: Search the Water District’s Expenses

For more than a decade, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago has been paying a number of employees more than the market rate, documents obtained by the Chicago News Cooperative show. (more…)

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Executive Director, Richard Lanyon, right, walks with Dr. Cecil Lue-Hing, left, a former district employee who was honored at a recent board luncheon at Rosebud on Rush.
John Konstantaras/Chicago News Cooperative

Charge It To My Card: Search the Water District’s Expenses
Despite Revenue Shortfall, Water Agency Continues to Pay Above Market

Working for the public agency that handles Cook County’s storm water and wastewater often involves unglamorous trips into the cavernous Deep Tunnel or to the malodorous sewage treatment plant in south-suburban Stickney. But duty has also called district employees on trips to Thailand, Denmark, the Greek islands and some of Chicago’s nicest steakhouses — all at the taxpayers’ expense. (more…)

Therasa Zito manages the domestic violence court advocacy program (DVCAP) of the Jane Addams Hull House Association.
Jose More/Chicago News Cooperative

For any first-time visitor, Cook County’s Domestic Violence Courthouse — with its unmarked hallways and frequently abandoned information desk — presents a navigational challenge. For an abuse victim, who may be terrified and injured, the blank walls and empty corridors are just the first bewildering step in a long, convoluted and impersonal process. (more…)