Latest news with #IllinoisAnswersProject
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why some Chicagoans struggle to find financial freedom
CHICAGO (WGN) — Achieving economic mobility has become difficult for many Chicagoans. That's among the key findings in a recent and wide-ranging series of stories from the Illinois Answers Project. The Chicago-based nonprofit examined why many residents are struggling to find financial footing and the successes and failures of some government efforts to help them. WGN interviewed one man who shared his story, detailing how crime in his West Side neighborhood almost derailed his dream of home ownership. Bryan Ramson purchased a four-flat in Garfield Park in 2019. He renovated the property and rented the units. But he ran into issues with drug dealers near his home. 'What we found is that there was basically lawlessness in front of our house,' Ramson told the Illinois Answers Project. He acknowledged that others may have backed down or bailed. But he chose to take action, in what could be a model for other homeowners facing similar challenges. Ramson worked to organize a block club, beautify the neighborhood and even got elected to the 11th Police District Council. Over time he says those things have made a difference. Besides violence, the Illinois Answers Project examined how other factors such as medical debt and the high cost of child-care impact economic mobility. To read more, visit Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
13-05-2025
- New York Times
Finding Stats, and Stories, About ‘Crime-Free Housing' Laws
I met Catherine Lang at a Starbucks in Tinley Park, Ill., one day last summer. We exchanged niceties, acknowledging that it was, in fact, a bit weird to tell one's story to a total stranger. Then she shared with me, in great detail, how crime-free housing policies had changed her life. In 2021, when Ms. Lang was 31, she was arrested and charged with driving drunk. The police told her landlord that, because of her arrest, she would need to be evicted from her apartment in Tinley Park within a few weeks. Months later, a jury found her not guilty. But by then, Ms. Lang had moved into her parents' home a town over and was saving up to buy a place of her own. She was done with renting — it no longer felt safe, she said. For Ms. Lang, it seemed the interview was an opportunity to share her side of the story. For me, it was the culmination of months of reporting. It was the first time I had been able to sit down in person with someone who had found themselves on the wrong side of what are known as crime-free housing laws, local laws that can penalize renters for contact with law enforcement. In an investigation published today, The New York Times and The Illinois Answers Project found that, from 2019 to 2024, there were more than 2,000 cases across 25 Illinois cities in which city officials told landlords that their renters were in violation of crime-free housing ordinances. These ordinances are meant to keep neighborhoods safe by evicting dangerous criminals. But more than 1,300 cases, we found, were based on misdemeanors or noncriminal offenses. We found nearly 500 cases in which tenants — and sometimes, entire households — had been evicted from their homes between 2019 and 2024, in many cases for minor crimes or allegations that had not been fully investigated or that had gone unproven. The idea for the story came across my desk almost two years ago. I received a tip from a lawyer about a woman who was suing the village of Richton Park for evicting her under crime-free housing laws after she called the police to report a shooting on her block. At the time, I thought her story would be one of very few. But when I dug into crime-free housing policies in Illinois, I learned that housing advocates, who say the ordinances disproportionately affect people of color and low-income residents, had been trying to compile enforcement cases in the state for more than a decade, to little avail. Most of them told me it was difficult to track down people who had been affected by crime-free housing enforcement. I spoke with lawyers who had helped their clients sue cities over particularly egregious cases. One woman was threatened with eviction after her son's friend gave the police her address as his residence when he was arrested on shoplifting charges. Each story made me more eager to find a systematic way to track crime-free enforcement cases in Illinois. I looked at every city in the state that had a law written into its municipal code that penalized landlords or tenants for contact with law enforcement. Fifty-five of those municipalities had crime-free housing programs that were run by the city or local police departments, which trained landlords to closely monitor criminal or nuisance activity in rental properties. I filed records requests in every one of those towns. Thirty cities denied or did not respond to requests made through the Freedom of Information Act, or said they did not keep records of ordinance enforcement. When municipalities did respond, the records often included enforcement letters informing landlords of criminal or nuisance activity, eviction case records and internal reports from city and police officials. The records were a start, but they were often incomplete or had been redacted to exclude tenants' names and demographic information. The advocates were right: It was difficult to get in touch with people personally affected by crime-free housing. Tenants often left their homes after receiving a 10-day notice from the city or their landlord, leaving no paper trail. When they were evicted through a court order, eviction records typically did not cite crime-free housing as the basis for the case. And, in many cases, the pain and embarrassment of losing a home was just something people did not want to talk about. I drove around the suburbs of Chicago, knocking on doors and leaving fliers on porches, asking if people felt they had been wrongly evicted and offering my contact information if they wanted to share their story. I spent hours at courthouses taking notes on eviction and criminal cases. And I sent dozens of direct messages to people on Facebook and Instagram. Ms. Lang was the first of what would be a number of other interviews. We cataloged dozens of cases in which tenants had had their housing threatened over offenses committed by someone other than the leaseholder. I spoke with tenants who had been forced to live in their cars or crash on friends' couches while they tried to find a new place to live. I also spoke with supporters of crime-free housing programs who pointed to the hundreds of cases in which tenants had been flagged for repeat problems or dangerous and violent behavior. The main arguments for strengthening crime-free housing programs hinge on a belief that cases like the hundreds we found were the exceptions, not the norm. Crime-free housing was intended to keep neighborhoods safe. Our investigation contributes to a conversation about whether that model, which can sweep up people not yet proven guilty of alleged crimes, is doing more harm than good. Reporting for this article was supported by a grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Funders have no control over the selection and focus of stories or the editing process and do not review stories before publication. The Times retains full editorial control of this story.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Yahoo
Gun that went missing after buyback in 2023 linked to 3 separate Chicago shootings
CHICAGO — Gun buyback programs aim to take firearms off the streets by offering cash for guns, but one weapon has reportedly ended up back on the street, raising concerns. It's estimated that the Chicago Police Department has taken thousands of guns off the street. There's a system in place to log and destroy the guns that are turned in. The Illinois Answers Project and Sun Times led an investigation into what happened at a south side gun buyback in 2023 when the gun went missing. A group of reporters have been able to match the missing gun to shell casings at three different Chicago shootings. Casey Toner with the Illinois Answers Project says the internal affairs investigation into the gun was closed. 'They closed it and basically said there was a Sargeant responsible for overseeing it. That officer was given a one-day suspension,' Toner said. 'But that's not the case. Now we are learning the investigation is ongoing.' A short audio clip details part of the questioning by investigators trying to piece together how the .45 caliber Glock disappeared. Investigator: Again, in your opinion, you think it was lost in the station? Officer: Yes Investigator: Okay and when you found it, when you discovered the error, who did you tell? Officer: I told everyone in the office. I asked, 'where's the Glock?' Toner has unraveled details about the moments before the gun went missing. 'The investigation said there may have been a cleaning lady there as well, but it was almost all police officers,' Toner said. 'Those were the people that were processing the gun, those are the people who were admiring the gun when it came in.' Crystal Reynolds who spoke with the Sun Times discovered that the gun was used during a shooting outside her building. The bullets luckily missed her. 'I was kind of shocked and disappointed… how many more guns have been put on the street again,' Reynolds said in an interview with the Sun Times. It's not clear how the gun wound up back on the street. Since then, there have been some changes to the way guns are recorded once they are turned in. It may be some time before the full investigation into what happened is done. WGN did reach out to the Chicago Police Department about the Illinois Answers Project report that was released. They have not yet responded. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Yahoo
Guns turned in to buybacks turn up at crime scenes, joint investigation shows
CHICAGO (WGN) — The Chicago Police Department has used gun buybacks to get thousands of firearms off the street, but at least two of them have resurfaced at crime scenes, a joint investigation between the Illinois Answers Project and the Chicago Sun-Times found. One high profile case involved a Glock that was turned in at a St. Sabina Church event in 2023. 'When that gun was on the desk, and it was surrounded by police officers, police officers were looking at it, and talking about good this Glock looked, and then the Glock disappeared. And then one year later it turned up in the hands of a teenaged boy, and that is the center of the story we wrote that takes a longer look at buybacks in Chicago,' reporter Casey Toner with the Illinois Answers Project said Friday on the WGN Evening News. A second instance involved a gun that was turned over in 2007 but appeared five years later at a deadly police shooting in Cicero. Toner said the Chicago Police Department has acknowledged the problem but did not say 'how they planned to improve the process.' Watch Toner's full conversation with WGN's Patrick Elwood and Lourdes Duarte in the video attached to this article. The investigation is published on the websites of the Illinois Answers Project and the Chicago Sun-Times. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Daywatch: Hundreds of misclassified properties fixed
Good morning, Chicago. Nearly half a billion dollars in taxable real estate value has been added onto the Cook County rolls after the county assessor fixed hundreds of mistakes identified in an investigation by the Illinois Answers Project and Chicago Tribune. The corrections come as Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi's office in recent months audited key records tied to thousands of properties across the county following last August's report, which found the office had misclassified and undervalued properties by missing new construction and significant property improvements. In all, using publicly available sales and satellite data, the Tribune and Illinois Answers found the office had failed to accurately assess at least 620 new or renovated properties during the 2023 tax year. In some instances, Kaegi's office assessed mansions as vacant lots and missed the bulk of two new subdivisions in a far south suburb. Read the full investigation from the Tribune's A.D. Quig and Illinois Answers Project's Alex Nitkin. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including Mayor Brandon Johnson doubling down on outreach to Black Chicago, a proposal to fix the Tokyo Series and a look back at a place found on no modern Chicago maps: Kilgubbin. Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History Mayor Brandon Johnson has made weekly rounds with Chicago's Black media outlets and embarked on a 'Faith in Government' tour this year, arenas where he's evidently felt more comfortable antagonizing naysayers and casting his dust-ups as part of an existential battle against a political establishment that doesn't want Black Chicagoans to prosper. The strategy, while not wholly new for Johnson, comes as the Black and progressive bases that formed his road to victory in 2023 show early signs of eroding. Gov. JB Pritzker's proposal, which is now incorporated into bills introduced in both the state House and Senate, would require school districts to adopt guidelines to prohibit students from using cellphones during instructional time, while providing secure and accessible storage for the devices, before the 2026-27 school year. In February, slow zones covered some 30% of the rail system, up from 13% five years earlier. Slower trains mean slower trips for riders, yet another source of frustration the CTA must contend with after years of complaints about service, conditions and safety. It is also one more hurdle for the CTA to overcome as the agency faces ridership that has still not returned to prepandemic levels, talk of transit reform in Springfield and looming local and federal financial concerns that could affect funding for work to bring trains back up to speed. In just a few months, more than 30,000 other immigrants in Illinois may be uninsured once again as Gov. JB Pritzker has proposed eliminating funding for the program that began in 2022 for noncitizen immigrants ages 42 to 64. While coverage would continue for noncitizen immigrants 65 and older, cutting the program for the 42-to-64 age group is a significant piece of Pritzker's plan to balance a $55.2 billion state budget proposal. The governor estimates it will save $330 million as costs are rising and growth in income and sales taxes is slowing, developments that continue to strain the state's finances and force difficult decisions to ensure the state lives within its means, Pritzker has said. For decades, Marian 'Cindy' Pritzker, the matriarch of one of Chicago's wealthiest and best-known families, was a mainstay in Chicago's philanthropic, cultural and civic communities. Pritzker, who was 101, died Saturday, according to a family spokesperson. She was Gov. JB Pritzker's aunt and had homes in the Streeterville neighborhood and Rancho Santa Fe, California. The University of Chicago is among over 50 higher-education schools under investigation for alleged racial discrimination as part of President Donald Trump's effort to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which his administration says exclude white and Asian American students. Trump Justice Department sends letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson about alleged antisemitism on campuses Candidates to be the next mayor of Arlington Heights all want to bring the Chicago Bears to the village, under the right circumstances — but they differ slightly on the details of how to make that happen. The three candidates spoke to a packed auditorium at the Village Hall Thursday, vying to succeed Mayor Tom Hayes, who is retiring at the end of his term this spring. From the Editorial Board: Our endorsement for Arlington Heights mayor The Chicago Bears aren't the only NFC North team that invested in the line of scrimmage during a whirlwind start to the NFL's new year, writes Brad Biggs. They're just the team that has done the most work in the trenches after a 5-12 season, the sixth time in the last 11 years they finished last in the division. Illinois coach Brad Underwood said he loved the location of his team's NCAA Tournament draw Sunday evening. The Illini earned the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region and will play their first-round game at 8:45 p.m. Friday in Milwaukee. That means Illini fans can drive to the team's fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance in a matter of a few hours from Champaign — and less from Chicago. Underwood said he's excited to play in 'Big Ten country' in Wisconsin. Major League Baseball needs Japan as its closest friend and most avid consumer of MLB products, including jerseys, caps, bobbleheads and Topps cards, writes Paul Sullivan. Playing an actual series in Japan every year makes a lot of sense, and it probably should always feature the Dodgers as one of those teams for at least the length of Shohei Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million contract. But opening day? Chicago Cubs experience electric atmosphere in 3-0 exhibition loss to Hanshin Tigers Photos: Chicago Cubs lose 3-0 to Hanshin Tigers in exhibition game at Tokyo Dome Kilgubbin won't be found on modern-day maps of Chicago, but there once was a place known by that name — a settlement of Irish immigrants on the city's North Side. In the 1850s and 1860s, Kilgubbin was often mentioned in the pages of the Tribune and other Chicago newspapers. The name became symbolic of slums where poor Irish immigrants lived in ramshackle shanties, squatting on property they didn't own. Crowds began forming early Saturday morning in downtown Chicago to kick off the city's St. Patrick's Day weekend, with thousands lining Wacker Drive from Wolf Point to DuSable Lake Shore Drive to watch the traditional dyeing of the Chicago River. Despite the cold and snow, South Side Irish Parade organizers estimate 77,000 turn out
