A.D. Q&A with A.D. Quig

If you read Crain's, you've probably spent a good amount of time thinking about the future of work – e-commerce, automation and telecommuting. Even if you don't spend much time thinking about it, it's abundantly clear that covid has rapidly accelerated those trends. Remote schooling and telehealth became necessities. Online shopping that might've been limited to clothes or homewares pre-covid exploded, with more people getting things like groceries delivered much more often. And there's a heightened awareness of the importance of lower-wage work classified as “essential” during the pandemic. That's why last year, the Illinois General Assembly created the “future of work” task force – a mix of current and former state officials, union folks and business representatives – to look into “how the state can best produce a broad-based post-pandemic recovery, confront the worsening crisis of poverty and create high-quality jobs for all.” A.D. Quig's two guests this week participated in the task force's work: Professor Bob Bruno, director of the Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Harish Patel, from the advocacy group Economic Security for Illinois. They discuss the findings of the report, including the highs and lows of the state's current labor market, whether we might see more union agitating to boost conditions for frontline workers, and whether the business groups that participated in this task force think the recommendations are a good idea.

The Chicago Reader is one of the city's best-known free papers and one of a few remaining alt-weeklies to survive the media crunch that killed dozens across the country. Until recently, the Reader seemed like it was about to go under, too. Our guest this week is the Reader's publisher, Tracy Baim. She's been in the Chicago media world since she was a kid. Her mother, father and stepfather were all in the biz. Fresh out of college, she founded the LGBTQ publication the Windy City Times. In 2018, she stepped in to lead the Reader. And what a ride it's been. When print advertising from bars, restaurants and venues dried up in the early COVID days, the paper survived thanks to a federal PPP loan, another loan from the city, a series of innovative fundraising measures and leftover investment from the paper's co-owners, lawyer Len Goodman and real estate developer Elzie Higginbottom. But in recent months, a spat with Goodman almost brought the Reader down. He wrote a column detailing his concerns about getting his daughter vaccinated for covid. It led to an uproar and an outside fact-check that found several errors. Editors wanted a correction, an editors note, or for the story to get taken down. Goodman cried censorship, and the fight hit pause on the paper's transition to nonprofit status, a transition that would have allowed for money from foundations and philanthropists to flow in. In this episode, Baim brings us behind the scenes of that tussle, explains where the Reader goes from here, and forecasts what a broader shift to nonprofit status for legacy media means--for example, is the Sun-Times/WBEZ merger good for all the other, smaller independent publications dotting Chicago? And is there a way for Chicago foundations to pool their money for media in a way that spreads the wealth to smaller outlets?

Chicago's Office of the Inspector General has published many blockbuster reports over the years. Its job is to investigate corruption, misconduct, waste, fraud and abuse big and small. In recent years, it's found a culture of sexual harassment in the Chicago Fire Department, blasted the Chicago Police Department's response to summer looting in 2020, and helped U.S. Attorney John Lausch secure indictments of City Council members. But despite its importance to chipping away at city waste, the office's top post was left vacant for roughly eight months. Deborah Witzburg, this week's guest, was confirmed to take over in late April. She headed up the IG's public safety section starting in the Spring of 2020, but left when the last IG, Joe Ferguson, announced he was stepping down. She wanted the job. And she got it. But what's she in for? It's no secret that Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Ferguson had a rocky relationship in the last few months of his tenure. She suggested Ferguson wasn't staying in his lane and hadn't delivered on all of the investigations he said he would. We'll talk to Witzburg about whether she thinks the IG's office swerved out of its lane while she was there, how she plans to counter the “trust deficit” that's built up among citizens after years of Chicago corruption, and what it's like being the first woman to lead the office.

When the U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion leaked suggesting Roe v Wade would be overturned this summer, immediate reaction came from the political sphere. What did President Biden say? Gubernatorial candidates? Pro- and anti-abortion groups? And what did this mean for Illinois as a so-called abortion access oasis? But reaction from the medical community trickled in slower. This episode presents a conversation A.D. Quig had with the CEO of the American Medical Association, Dr. James Madara, last Thursday. It was supposed to be a sit-down in front of AMA staff marking the organization's 175th anniversary, but it came shortly after the draft opinion leaked. Dr. Madara was surprised about the leak and its contents, which would have major consequences for practicing doctors and patients alike. In a statement last week, the AMA said the ruling, as drafted, amounted to government interference in the patient-physician relationship, a dangerous intrusion into the practice of medicine, and the potential criminalization of care. There are Roe implications beyond abortion in the draft, Madara warned, including simple conversations between doctors and patients about whether there are handguns in the home. Madara discussed what the AMA plans to do if the decision does go through this summer. He also addressed the drop in trust in physicians following the covid pandemic; physician burnout and a looming doctor shortage; progress the AMA is making in its racial equity pledge; and whether the country has made as much progress as he thought it would following passage of the Affordable Care Act.

The name of this week's guest, Chad Williams, might ring a bell if you've followed the lengthy debate about how the Chicago Police Department is meeting its reform mandates as part of the consent decree. Williams made a splash when his letter resigning from CPD's audit division was made public in the Chicago Tribune in November. In it, Williams accused department leadership of pursuing superficial compliance with the court-ordered reforms. Their aim, he says, was to get better media coverage by “checking boxes” instead of creating lasting cultural change. Shortly after sending it, he was formally accused of “failure to promote the policies and goals of the department.” In this interview, he says that accusation came from top CPD brass as retaliation. This is the first time Williams is speaking out since he left the department. He offers new revelations about what happened during his three years at CPD. For one, he says CPD purposely buried reports his division completed, including about the use of dash and body cameras and administrative tickets. They've left others, including policies for treatment of juveniles under arrest, unresolved. Regarding that ticket report? He says senior reform leadership told him they wouldn't turn it over to the consent decree monitor because it made the department "look bad." Williams also says hiring plans were held up by the current first deputy in the department, who he says had no business getting involved in auditing. He's referred a complaint about that alleged interference with the city's Inspector General.

This week, we examine the state of the Loop. If you read Crain's, you know the recovery is… uneven. Let's take a quick look at some headlines at chicagobusiness.com about the Loop area office scene, in case you missed them: Downtown office vacancy jumps to another record high... Louis Vuitton's Mag Mile landlord ready to cash out... Chicago Law firm Skadden starting a new lease with about half the space... you get the picture. The Chicago Loop Alliance reports as of March, hotels are only 52% occupied compared to 2019 levels. CTA ridership overall – which passes through the Loop regularly – was 44% of what it was in 2019… Similarly, Metra ridership as of February was even lower: just 22% of 2019 levels. According to the city's violence reduction dashboard, year to date, violent crime victimizations in the Loop are up 200% compared to last year, and last year was bad. All that said, there are reasons for hope. Our guest this week, downtown Alderman Brendan Reilly, says there's a good-news metric that isn't regularly reported: how packed his own schedule is with meetings about business relocations, new buildings and creative ways to transform the Loop. Reilly's represented the 42nd Ward since 2007. That includes most of the downtown, River North, Streeterville and the Mag Mile. He gives his diagnosis of the Loop – the good and the bad – plus major issues facing it in Council, including crime and his grade of Superintendent David Brown's tenure; his pushback to the city's casino selection process; and how mayor Lori Lightfoot stacks up with other mayors he's worked with.

Last week, dignitaries from across the city and state celebrated the late Mayor Harold Washington, whose 100th birthday would have been April 15. Top Washington aides like Jacky Grimshaw and Josie Childs; contemporaries like Congressmen "Chuy" Garcia, Bobby Rush and former Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Evans and the Rev. Jesse Jackson; and top elected officials like Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and current Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot all celebrated Washington's life and legacy at his namesake library downtown. Hanging over all of it? Politics, of course. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has yet to officially declare her reelection bid, but is raising money, staffing up her campaign, and so far, playing defense. Other candidates to become Chicago's next mayor in 2023 are already lining up. Businessman Willie Wilson and current Ald. Ray Lopez are both running. Congressman Mike Quigley is polling. Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and state Rep. Kam Buckner both say they're contemplating a run. Any number of spoilers could jump in over the coming months. On this week's show, we're talking lessons in tough campaigns and leadership with Marilyn Katz. She was a media consultant for Harold Washington's historic run in 1983. A progressive activist throughout the late '60s, she joined the rainbow coalition of Washington backers, helping deliver captivating ads that brought him over the finish line in the 1983 primary against Jane Byrne and Richard M. Daley, and then the general election against Republican Bernie Epton. She'll share her memories of that campaign and Washington's leadership style when he took over the 5th floor at City Hall, and what lessons Lightfoot might take from him to hold on to her seat.

What if you skipped half the meetings you were supposed to attend for work? A third? A quarter? Could you still be effective? Would you still know everything you needed to do your job well? To earn your full paycheck? That's what you should ask of your elected representatives, too. On this week's show, we're digging into an investigation that Crain's, WBEZ and The Daily Line published this week about how often members of Chicago City Council show up. There's good news: aldermanic attendance improved since the last term that ended in 2019. Back then, the average alderman attended only 65 percent of all the meetings they were supposed to – that includes committee meetings where the real sausage-making happens, and the full City Council, where things get final approval. This time, the average alderman attended just over 80 percent of required meetings. That's a big jump, but still represents hundreds of absences. And the lowest-ranking alderfolks – including one under indictment and two running for higher office – showed up less than 60% of the time. Along with reporters Erin Hegarty and Alex Nitkin of the Daily Line and WBEZ's Claudia Morell, A.D. Quig sorted through nearly 11,000 records from May of 2019 through the end of 2021 to get you these answers. On this show, we take you behind the scenes of our reporting process. We wrote three stories for this analysis: one breaking down the numbers, where you can look up how you're alderman did; another about whether virtual meetings are here to stay – and the drawbacks to it; and a third about what we called do-nothing committees, ones with big budgets and important mandates, but that meet rarely. We break down what our findings say about how Council works… and doesn't. You can read all three stories, for free, at chicagobusiness.com, wbez.org and thedailyline.com. We all want to hear from you, too. How does this change your opinion about your alderman or alderwoman? What else do you want to know? We're here to listen and eager to report more. Until then, let's get to it. Here's A.D.'s conversation with The Daily Line's Alex Nitkin and Erin Hegarty and WBEZ's Claudia Morell.

As Chicago emerges from its most violent year since the 1990s, year-to-date crime statistics for March show a slight drop in shootings and murders, according to the Chicago Police Department – with the biggest drops in the city's 15 most violent community areas. But our guest this week argues something has been amiss in Chicago for about 30 years. Professor Jens Ludwig, who helps lead the University of Chicago's Crime and Education Labs, and the National Bureau of Economic Research's working group on the economics of crime, points out that Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago all had similar crime rates in the 90s. But while L.A. and New York have seen their crime rates tumble, Chicago's hasn't. Many of the conditions that existed back in the 90s — the fact that we're surrounded by places where it's easier to get guns, our gang structures and our segregation — are the same. Ludwig discusses his theories about the origins of that split. He also explores whether bail reform or the state's criminal justice overhaul, the SAFE-T Act, contributed to the recent surge, and how the interrupted school year might be impacting carjackings now, and potential violence in the future.

As Illinois lawmakers edge toward the end of spring session and head into campaign season, talk of potential bills to address a rise in crime is heating up. Democratic lawmakers, fearful of polling that shows violence is a top concern for voters, have discussed legislation cracking down on ghost guns, organized retail theft and carjacking. Gov. Pritzker's budget includes increases to state police and witness protection, as well as grants for anti-violence programs. Republicans, meanwhile, are pushing for bills that boost funding for police, set a minimum 10-year sentence for anyone convicted of selling a gun to a felon, and automatically transfer cases of aggravated carjacking or armed robbery that involve a minor to adult court. But this week's guests – Soledad McGrath and Vaughn Bryant – are wary of knee-jerk reactions to an increase in violence. McGrath is executive director of the Neighborhood Network Initiative at Northwestern University, which has studied the outcomes of several anti-violence programs operating in Chicago. Bryant is the executive director of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, a coordinator for many anti-violence groups. MPI is a division of Metropolitan Family Services – it focuses on helping people that have experienced the highest levels of gun violence in the city. That help involves things like violence interruption and street outreach; behavioral health and help finding jobs or getting into school; expunging criminal records; and working with cops to help them better understand the communities they police. Early analyses of these programs show some positive results. Northwestern's analysis of CP4P, which Bryant's group helps organize, found that fatal and non-fatal gunshot injuries among participants were 20% lower 18 months after they joined and roughly 30% lower two years after. Arrests were 17% lower two years after joining, too. This conversation explores what programs are working – including efforts to enhance community policing with the Chicago Police Department, a big upcoming test for anti-violence work in North Lawndale, and why both guests are urging patience when thinking about solutions to crime.

Illinois' political world was rocked on March 2, when U.S. Attorney John Lausch announced a 22-count federal racketeering indictment against former House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. The charges allege Madigan oversaw a criminal enterprise to preserve and enhance his political power and finances, reward allies for their loyalty, and generate income for members and associates through illegal activities. Based on other indictments and reporting, it was clear Madigan had been in the feds' crosshairs for some time, but it was never clear when they might strike… or even if they could. For so long, Madigan had been seen as un-topple-able, or too savvy to say or do anything that could get himself in trouble. Madigan, meanwhile, has maintained his innocence. Here to discuss all things Madigan is Chicago Tribune reporter Ray Long, author of a new book: The House that Madigan Built: The Record Run of Illinois' Velvet Hammer. Long is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist who has covered the state Capitol, City Hall, the courts and the county, two governors who went to prison and a state senator who went to the White House. Long has covered Springfield for 40 years. The book offers a play-by-play of how Madigan accumulated power over his decades-long career: how he helped keep the Chicago White Sox from moving to Florida, a sneak-attack tax hike under the name Operation Cobra, and the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich. It also explores how Madigan pushed job recommendations at Metra, how his position impacted the political aspirations of his daughter, Lisa Madigan, and the beginning of the end of his tenure atop the House. Long talks about all of that, as well as if he believes the Chicago Machine is now, effectively, dead; the difficult task the feds have in proving the difference between routine politics and a criminal offense; and what really motivated the Velvet Hammer.

March in Cook County this year marks the official start of primary season and, for many, the due date for first installment property taxes. We talk both primary and property taxes with Larry Rogers Jr. In his private life, Rogers is a successful trial attorney at Power Rogers LLP. In public life, he's a Democrat and the current longest-serving Commissioner on Cook County's three-member Board of Review. That's the second stop for property owners looking to appeal their assessments and hopefully knock down their tax bill. As of this recording, Rogers is free and clear to win another term – nobody's running against him in the primary, nor have any Republicans filed who might take him on in the November general election. And that gives him a lot more space to voice his criticisms. And wow, does he. In this episode, Rogers lets loose on a long-simmering tension between his office and Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi. And he gets awfully close to endorsing Kaegi's likely primary opponent, Kari Steele. He says Kaegi's dropped the ball implementing a new computer system to help with assessments, that bills are likely to be months late this year and that, overall, Kaegi has fallen short of his promises to reverse spiraling values in the South suburbs in Rogers' district. We spoke with Kaegi on this podcast back in December – please check that episode out for additional context and insights. We'll also have Kaegi's response to some of Rogers' points on our website – that's chicagobusiness.com/juice. On this episode, Rogers also addresses scandals at the Board of Review, including an FBI investigation involving alleged bribes for lower valuations, a report from the county's inspector general warning about improper political influence, and why Rogers is okay taking donations from property tax attorneys.

Chicago is in its second week without an indoor mask mandate or vaccine requirement to get into certain bars and restaurants. COVID cases are under 200 per day. Our test positivity is under one percent - a number we haven't seen since last summer. We're in a new era of the pandemic, officials have said, one in which we learn how to live with the virus and work to keep healthcare settings from getting overwhelmed. But at this time two years ago, the city was only testing about a dozen people per day. Reporters were scrambling to understand the personal details of each and every new positive case. This week, our guest is Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady, who was confirmed by the City Council in January of 2020, weeks before the first COVID mitigations swept the city and state. Governor J.B. Pritzker declared a state of emergency on March 9, closed bars and restaurants on March 16, and barred gatherings of more than 50 people a day later. Dr. Arwady discusses how much politics infused the debate around pandemic response, how history will remember Chicago's handling of the virus, and her department's controversial equity play, limiting vaccine access to the city's hardest hit areas.

This week, to close out Black History Month, we're talking Bronzeville. The Black Metropolis south of the Loop along the lakefront has a rich history of culture and entrepreneurship. It's been home to great writers, artists, musicians, politicians and intellectuals. Now it's the subject of a new limited series from Crain's. Hosted by Crain's residential real estate reporter Dennis Rodkin, the debut of Crain's Four-Star Stories takes a look at the neighborhood's recent real estate transformation. It charts Bronzeville's history –– from the influx of Black Southerners during the Great Migration, through different eras of racial segregation, the rise and fall of its public housing towers, and the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway, to today, when some of the neighborhood's 3,000 vacant lots are being turned into new housing worth upwards of half a million dollars each. Rodkin and Sherry Williams, founder of the Bronzeville Historical Society, discuss what they are seeing on the ground in the neighborhood. Williams also explains her own family history coming to Bronzeville, and what she hears from her friends and neighbors about the booming real estate market. Both Rodkin and Williams also describe which Bronzeville real estate projects to watch for in the coming years.

This week's guest has been behind the scenes in Chicago politics for years, but just out of the frame. He's crossed paths with Rod Blagojevich and Jesse Jackson Jr., worked on the Clinton/Gore campaign in the same political organization as a young Don Harmon and Phil Rock. But for the bulk of his career, he's worked for the Obamas, starting as a paralegal to Michelle Robinson at the law firm of Sidley Austin - not long before she and a hotshot Harvard grad named Barack Obama got married. About 20 years after first meeting the Obamas, Michael Strautmanis is now very much in the frame as executive vice president of civic engagement at the Obama Foundation. He discusses not only the progress on the Obama Presidential Center's construction in Jackson Park and the foundation's fundraising efforts, but also concerns around housing affordability nearby, what it's like as a guy who grew up mostly on the North Side to be handling a project with a big South Side impact, and how the foundation might play a role in addressing gun violence. Strautmanis also talks about what it takes to be a good “fixer” – a political problem solver – and the biggest political mess he ever had to clean up. Remember that beer summit back in 2009?

Each fall, Chicago media report a consistent trend – declining enrollment at Chicago Public Schools. Of those who left by the start of the 2022 school year, about 18,000 moved to a school outside Chicago, 3,000 transferred to private schools, 2,000 dropped out and 1,400 opted for home schooling. Overall, CPS's net loss of students was 10,000. This year's drop came in the wake of COVID upheaval at the district, including a protracted fight between the teachers union and the district over the safety of in-person instruction. But a new report finds there are much larger forces at work, and it's not just impacting big cities like Chicago. The report comes from Kids First Chicago, a group founded by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago that's dedicated to advocating for parents, particularly on the city's South and West Sides. The report identifies three key drivers of the enrollment slide at CPS. One, people are having fewer kids overall. Two, the growth of Latino families is slowing. Three, there is an accelerated out-migration of Black families. The solutions aren't clear in this report – Kids First is embarking on a second installment that includes input from parents. The authors do suggest there are opportunities to win families back, but it's likely a decades-long quest that will take a big change in policy approach beyond the walls of the district itself. This episode is a two-parter. The guest in the second segment discusses rising enrollments at Catholic Schools. This fall, Archdiocese of Chicago schools saw the student headcount climb for the first time in at least three decades. It jumped by nearly 7% across 157 schools. At a portion of Chicago schools that are getting extra financial support from the philanthropic group Big Shoulders Fund, numbers are up by ​​8%, with pre-k enrollment increasing 28%. The first voice you're going to hear is Hal Woods, chief of policy at Kids First Chicago. The other voice you'll hear in the first conversation is Daniel Anello, Kids First's CEO. Later, you'll hear from Joshua Hale, president and CEO of Big Shoulders Fund.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's budget proposal likely will be a key plank of his re-election platform. Not only does it contain goodies for everyday Illinoisans – a property tax rebate for roughly 2 million people, plus a one-year break on grocery and gas taxes – the governor says it demonstrates he's made good on a pledge to dig the state out of the financial morass of the budget impasse during Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration. Here to analyze that budget is Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a government watchdog group founded by the Commercial Club of Chicago. Msall worked for Governors Jim Thompson and George Ryan on economic development issues, and has deepened his knowledge during his time at the Civic Federation. Republicans in the general assembly and the gubernatorial primary say the governor's proposal is an election year gimmick that doesn't fix the state's structural issues. Msall agrees, but only in part. There are goodies, yes, but he gives the proposal good grades on addressing the state's bill backlog, pensions, rainy day fund, and likely, its unemployment insurance fund. But there are warnings: the state needs more transparency around its infrastructure plans; the budget doesn't restart a stalled conversation on larger property tax reform; and there might be challenges in getting this budget through a general assembly who might be eager to spend, rather than stowing money away.

This week, we go back in time with the makers of the documentary Punch 9 for Harold Washington. The film examines the incomparable former Mayor of Chicago's time in office. Pulled from Congress, Washington became Chicago's first Black Mayor in 1983 thanks to a multiracial coalition of progressives who campaigned hard on his behalf. He took over after one-termer Jane Byrne and after decades under Richard J. Daley's leadership. The film includes archival footage and candid interviews with a cavalcade of notable Chicagoans: the Reverend Jesse Jackson, late civil rights historian Timuel Black, late educator Conrad Worrill, the Chicago Sun-Times' Laura Washington, plus contemporaries like Chuy Garcia, Luis Gutierrez and David Orr – as well as staff, supporters, and opponents, like former 33rd Ward Ald. Dick Mell. Mell was one of the leaders of the Vrdolyak 29, the mostly white City Council members who opposed Washington at every turn, kicking off the infamous Council Wars. If you need a reminder, Washington beat both Byrne and Richard M. Daley in the 1983 primary, then faced Republican Bernard Epton in the general. The film explores the racial animus Washington was up against as a candidate – when Epton used the slogan “before it's too late…” – and then as mayor, alongside the segregation and discrimination Chicagoans of color experienced. It also explores the kind of city Washington wanted to build before his sudden death in his office in 1987. Work on the film kicked off in 2015 and it debuted for select public audiences this past fall. Director Joe Winston and producer Sonya Jackson talk about how Washington paved the way for candidates of color, what parts of his legacy endure – and what is still left unfulfilled.

Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board and chair of the Cook County Democratic Party, has been at the center of local politics, power and policy for years, so she has a lot of critical issues to discuss, from COVID struggles at the county's health system and what suburbanites are getting for their federal relief money to three major retirements among county commissioners and what the party might do to replace them, and her worries about big money – specifically Ken Griffin's money – in politics. Preckwinkle also provides an update on the ongoing spat that's pitted county officials against Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown: the source of the surge in violence locally. Lightfoot says she's gotten nowhere in efforts to address what she says is the big problem: electronic monitoring. That's just garbage, Preckwinkle says, pointing to low arrests and a historic mistrust of cops in neighborhoods. But there's some room for optimism there as well, which she discusses. Also on the agenda: Preckwinkle's thoughts on guaranteed basic income, and why she thinks one of her riskiest political moves – raising the sales tax – was worth it.

This week's guest is Austan Goolsbee, a former economic advisor to President Barack Obama, a frequent contributor to the New York Times, and currently the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. As the pandemic has surged, Goolsbee's been keeping a close eye on the major questions confronting our economic future: inflation, supply chain and the future of work. We recorded on the afternoon of Jan. 14, when Chicago and Illinois seemed to be showing a dip in COVID cases, but already, the economic signs for January were pointing downward. Goolsbee says the severity of any economic turndown – like it has during the entire pandemic – will rely on our handling of the virus itself. He discussed whether pandemic changes – like remote work, the great resignation, and a reconsideration of a just-in-time global supply chain – might stick. He also explored whether federal relief is acting like it should, and whether the Build Back Better bill is necessary to cushion the blow from future crises. Goolsbee also talked about what kind of Chicago mayor his neighbor Arne Duncan would make. And Goolsbee explains why he believes cities will recover post-pandemic… if crime can be brought under control.

Chicago Public Schools families have logged four days of canceled classes and counting this month. Citing the December COVID surge, the botched rollout of take-home testing over the holidays, and low numbers of families opting for their kids to be regularly tested or to get their shot, the Chicago Teachers Union voted last Tuesday to work remotely through January 18. The city called that vote an illegal work stoppage. The district canceled classes and blocked union members from accessing their work. This is the third standoff Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has had with the union. The mayor and her public health commissioner and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez have insisted schools are just as safe as, or even safer than, staying home. This week's guest, Stacy Davis Gates, the vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, responds to the mayor's charge that the work stoppage is a political play. She also discusses whether this learning interruption will send CPS families packing for private schools or the suburbs, her own family's experience of instability in the district and her possible interest in running for mayor in 2023.

Chicago is poised to end 2021 with more than 800 homicides, the most violent year in a quarter century. Discussing the rising violence is Susan Lee, chief of strategy and policy at Chicago CRED – an anti-gun violence organization. CRED works with men at risk – of being shooting victims or becoming a shooter themselves. It connects them with cognitive behavioral therapy, life coaching and job opportunities, conducts street outreach to defuse conflict and broker peace agreements between rivals, and advocates for more funding for programs like theirs. Preliminary studies suggest CRED and similar organizations, like READI and Communities Partnering for Peace, are working. A Northwestern University analysis of CRED's impact starting in 2019 shows program participants were potentially 50% less likely to be shot and and 48% less likely to be arrested. That work is, again, preliminary, but in a span of crime like Chicago's experienced recently, it's worth doubling down on, Lee argues. A.D. Quig talked with Lee on Dec. 13 not only about her work at CRED, but also her brief time as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's deputy mayor for public safety. Lee left after a little over a year amid a rash of other high-profile exits in the city's public safety space, and has since been critical of the city's response to the spike in homicides and shootings. Lee talks about what she believes is driving that surge, how it compares with – and outstrips – other big cities, and what a shallow bench of public safety policymakers means, long term. Lee also discusses why she believes 2022 is a turning point year, as the city invests tens of millions in anti-violence efforts.

After roughly three years of upending the Cook County Assessor's office, Fritz Kaegi is in re-election mode. He's responsible for setting the values for 1.8 million parcels across the county, which help determine local property tax bills. He came into office on an ethics crusade, pledging to end patronage while also fundamentally rejiggering how the office values big commercial buildings. He's got early reports that indicate his values are closer to the mark. But politics is never that simple, and he's got challenges on multiple fronts. One is an opponent in June's democratic primary, Kari Steele, who argues his reforms have destabilized the business environment. He's facing similar criticism from some big building owners who have seen assessed values jump in some cases by more than 70 percent, putting a bigger share of the county's property tax burden on their shoulders. And he's seeing some of his numbers get knocked down by the Board of Review, a three-member body that hears property tax appeals. Kaegi's walking a fine line with the BOR. He's criticized their practices – saying they've undone a surprising number of his decisions compared to other jurisdictions – and their policies, including that members haven't barred donations from property tax attorneys. This episode digs into why, despite those criticisms, Kaegi won't be using his bully pulpit to elect other like-minded officials to the Board of Review. A.D. Quig spoke to the Cook County Assessor on December 9, fresh off a hearing with the Chicago City Council's Finance Committee. That hearing was called by an alderman who said Kaegi engineered “a deliberate shift of tax burden” that was harming economic activity in the county. But it ended up as a lovefest. A.D.'s conversation with Kaegi starts there.

On this week's episode of A.D. Q&A, Dr. Emily Landon, a professor and the medical director for infection prevention and control at UChicago Medicine, describes what we know – and don't yet know – about omicron. "On paper, it looks like a superpredator," Landon says of the variant, which appears more transmissible and less susceptible to vaccines. It will take days or weeks to know how it affects more vaccinated populations. "What we need to know is how fast this spreads and how well it does in, basically, a cage match against delta. Then how effective vaccines really are with it." Ideally, omicron may be very spreadable and include a sickness equivalent to the cold, giving plenty of people natural immunity. But right now, "we really don't know" if omicron will be a superpredator, a "nothingburger," or more likely, Landon says, something in between. Landon discusses what the new variant may mean for the return to the office many hoped for at the start of 2022. She also shares what grade she'd give Gov. Pritzker for his handling of the virus, areas where they've disagreed, and why she still thinks hosting Lollapalooza the way the city did was a bad idea.

Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois has been a national media fixture for more than a year – a Republican ushered into the U.S. House during the Tea Party wave, he turned into a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and “The Big Lie” about election fraud. He was one of ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump and one of only two to create a special committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. More recently, he was one of only 13 to vote for the infrastructure bill. Kinzinger has long been rumored to want to run for higher office. He threw jet fuel on those rumors when he announced in late October that he wouldn't be running for the House again. Now the speculation centers around whether he'll run for U.S. Senate, Illinois governor, or even President. A.D. Quig talks with Kinzinger about what's next for “Country First,” his political action committee that's raising money and making endorsements across the country, his thoughts on whether the Senate is as toxic as the House, and as you might've heard last week, how he thinks he would fare in the governor's race. Kinzinger addresses all of that, plus whether fences have been mended with the family members that disowned him, whether corporate America is sticking to its political promises, and what the Virginia gubernatorial race tells us about the GOP's embrace of Trump.

While we're thinking about big Thanksgiving meals, few folks in Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration have more on their plates than Samir Mayekar, deputy mayor for economic and neighborhood development, a.k.a. the mayor's business guy. He's a Day One Lightfooter who came from the tech world, running a Bronzeville-based lithium battery materials startup called NanoGraf. Now he's the go-to in the administration on a series of key agenda items: the Chicago casino, the city's post-COVID recovery, development programs like Invest South West, and keeping a watchful eye on the city's growth sectors like film, life sciences, and food innovation. It's a lot to juggle, made all the more difficult during a pandemic that has at times made the Loop a shadow of what it once was, hobbled tourism and transit, and contributed to an increase in crime levels the city hasn't seen since the 90s. A.D. Quig talked to Mayekar about all of that, plus the Bears' future in Chicago, Mayekar's recent time on paternity leave, and a “lasagna” of programs to help struggling Loop buildings find new life.

In the latest census, the overall share of the Latino population across Illinois grew to 18.2 percent, up from 15.8 percent a decade ago. Their share of the voting-age population grew to 11.2 percent, up from 8 percent. Meanwhile, Chicago has been solidified as a city roughly equally divided between white, Black and Latino people. With Chicago's Black population on the decline, Latinos are now the second-largest racial or ethnic group, and could surpass the city's white population in the coming decades. With that in mind, Latino groups and elected officials are pushing for more representation--whether it's a lawsuit challenging the number of Latino-influence districts in the Illinois General Assembly, aldermen pressing for more majority Latino wards and Latinos in the top levels of government, or a new Latino influence district in Congress. A.D. Quig discussed the current state of play with Jaime Dominguez, an associate professor at Northwestern University who focuses on race and ethnicity, urban, Latino, and Chicago politics. They discussed the shifting ideological dynamics and the balance of power in the City Council, how the grip of the Democratic Party has slipped among Latino voters nationally, and the difference between symbolic and substantive representation of Latinos.

After more than a decade away, Pedro Martinez rejoined Chicago Public Schools as CEO with an overflowing inbox. A safe reopening amid the pandemic was first and foremost, but testing was low, and so was the number of eligible kids who were fully vaccinated. There were kids who couldn't get to school, thanks to a shortage of bus drivers. And there were dirty classrooms, thanks to a shortage of custodians. A.D. Quig spoke with Martinez on Nov. 3 – before the departure of CPS' facilities chief over those dirty classroom, and before the district announced Nov. 12 would be a day off so CPS families and kids aged 5-11 could get their COVID vaccine. COVID aside, Martinez needs to address continued falling enrollment, relations with the Chicago Teachers Union after the 2019 strike and a budget that faces an uncertain future after federal relief dollars run out. And there's more to do. Building on what he did running one of San Antonio's school districts, Martinez hinted he wants to relieve pressure on CPS' booming magnet schools – and offer better options to kids closer to their homes. Following reported abuses at the Chicago Park District, and years after CPS weathered its own sexual abuse scandal, he says he wants to get tougher laws and reporting requirements in place. He also wants to restore trust with the union, says Mayor Lori Lightfoot gets a bad rap, and argues the fight over an elected school board is not over.

As Chicago closes the book on a pandemic-fueled violent summer, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx explains her progressive approach to prosecutions: fewer felony drug and shoplifting charges, and more emphasis on gun violence. Foxx, the county's lead prosecutor, goes in-depth on the controversies that have kept her office in the headlines, including the sometimes-rocky relationship with city and suburban police, a public disagreement with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Superintendent David Brown on the initial charging decision in a recent West Side shooting case and Foxx's ongoing commitment to bail reform.

As the Chicago City Council takes up Mayor Lori Lightfoot's $16.7 billion budget proposal, A.D. Quig asks, Does this budget set the city up for a roaring recovery? Are we spending money on the right programs? She discusses the budget's economic implications with Justin Marlowe, Professor at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy and associate director of the school's Center for Municipal Finance. He is an expert with UChicago's Urban Network.

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Matteson), discusses how her leadership of the Democratic Party of Illinois will carve a new path from predecessor Mike Madigan, her relationship with Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the outlook for President Biden's legislative agenda in the 2022 elections, and her hopes for new congressional maps.

Every Tuesday, A.D. Q&A will bring listeners in-depth interviews with newsmakers, policy wonks and politicians… a mix of the big headlines and the critical issues facing our city and state. The goal is to help listeners understand the inner workings of government, give them context for the hot-button issues dominating the news, and introduce them to the powerful people steering our city and state. We hope it's entertaining… illuminating… and helps listeners understand what's going to happen next. The first episode launches the week of October 18 and will be part of Crain's new daily politics newsletter, Juice, available at chicagobusiness.com.