Podcasts about chicago newsroom

The former Chicago Newsroom host returns for a delightful conversation with Ben about nothing less than the future of journalism. As well as whatever else is on the minds of these two old goats. It's the long awaited return of the journalistic legend we call: "Young Kenneth Davis!"

Ken Davis is a long time Chicago media guy who hosted the respected weekly news summary, Chicago Newsroom. Professor Simon Balto is a historian and author of Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power (Justice, Power and Politics). He is also writing a book on Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton.  

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is our first guest on this final Chicago Newsroom. She talks about the personal impact on her life as she realized that she was almost certainly going to win. She discusses her relationship with the police, and tells us she believes that despite her frosty relationship with the police union, they will be able to forge a labor contract. She says the police academy legislation has been completed, so it will be built despite her objections before the election. But, she says, she may be able to influence the project in some significant ways. She also predicts that, despite the CTU's endorsement of her opponent, she will be able to reach a contractual agreement with the teachers. She says that she feels the rank-and-file teachers supported her in large numbers, and that their support will be helpful in the future. We're also joined by WLS-AM morning news host John Dempsey, who talks fondly about his lengthy career in both public and commercial radio, much of it with CN host Ken Davis. They discuss the stratification of electronic media and the partition of audiences into interest groups. Our final guests are two great friends of Chicago Newsroom, A.D. Quig and Heather Cherone of the Daily Line. They help us evaluate the first ten days of the Lightfoot administration - and the mad dash toward the close of this Illinois legislative session, which seems poised to hand major victories to Governor Pritzker and his Democratic majority. This program was produced by Chicago Access Television.

On this penultimate episode of Chicago Newsroom, we invite three friends of the show to share their memories and observations about the current political and professional scene. Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Hal Dardick tells us that Lori Lightfoot, with her remarkable mandate, has a short, but powerful window in which to initiate significant change in Chicago government. Carol Felsenthal, prolific author, blogger and journalist, speculates on Rahm Emanuel's post-city hall professional life, Donald Trump's pardoning of Conrad Black and her belief that Scott Waguespack will claim the chairmanship of the Finance Committee. NBC 5 correspondent Phil Rogers talks with us about the current state of local television news and how he began his Chicago career in journalism by covering the Flight 191 disaster 40 years ago for WBEZ. This program was recorded by CAN TV.

Flint Taylor discusses his new book The Torture Machine, which details fifty years of police abuse of power, on this week's show. He discusses his early involvement with the murder of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark on December 4, 1969, and how he and other young Northwestern law students, having recently founded the People's Law Office, visited the murder site and gathered evidence that would ultimately lead to revelations that that police and law enforcement organizations had conspired to murder the Black Panther leaders. He also discusses in detail his thirty-year involvement with the discovery of systematic torture sessions in the basement of CPD's "Area 2," and the role played by a parade of mayors, police superintendents, states' attorneys and other officials in covering up the torture. We’re also joined by “Live From the Heartland” host Thom Clark. Thom was co-founder in the 1970s of the Community Media Workshop, whose purpose was to open up access to Chicago media for community organizers and others whose voices were rarely heard. Thom appears on this show as a co-host to help lead the discussion. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television.

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Alderman of the 35th Ward, is our guest this week. He was, until the recent election, the only Democratic Socialist in the City Council, but he will soon be joined by five others, thereby creating a six-member Progressive Caucus. Ramirez-Rosa discusses the Emmett Street Project, which, when built, will house 100 affordable units, many of them 3-bedroom. It's a dramatic departure from other large rental projects in his ward, which are generally small apartments renting for the highest possible market price. He tells us that, although he thinks Alderman Scott Waguespack would make an excellent Finance Committee Chairman (Replacing the disgraced Ed Burke), he believes that Tom Tunney (44) has the votes and will probably become Chair. Despite having introduced the proposal for CPAC, a reorganization plan for oversight of the Chicago Police Department, he indicates that Lori Lightfoot's plan, the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, might be more acceptable to the majority. He describes it as something like the Affordable Care Act - a compromise plan that can garner the votes needed to pass. Speaking of the plan to build a nearly 100-million dollar police academy on the west side, against which he cast the Council's only dissenting vote, he observed that it's fascinating to see how many major projects in Chicago boil down to big real estate deals. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network.

After 9 years as Host, Ken Davis announced that he is ending his Chicago Newsroom on CAN TV. Join us as we look back at the highlights with the man himself. It's our dear friend Kenny D, Ken Davis on this Saturday Ben Joravsky BOUNS interview!

Brought to you by the new One Central development deal! William Barr Testimony Day 2 (without William Barr) ANOTHER new 2020 POTUS candidate, Pritzker's graduated tax plan makes it through phase one, In These Times Writer Miles Kampf-Lassin and ProPublica Investigative Journalist Mick Dumke talk Lightfoot and Ben asks the Biden question, pension talk and more with Union Man Jeff Johnson and we remember Mayor Rahm with the Chicago Newsroom's Ken Davis. Download Thursday's Ben Joravsky Show!

Professors Mary Patillo (Northwestern) and Stacey Sutton (UIC) speak with us this week about the many ways in which the City of Chicago exacerbates poverty with its injurious, escalating fines and punishments. At the municipal level, we cite the example that a person can receive a $200 fine for not purchasing a $100 city sticker. The fine doubles to $400 if not paid, and can easily lead to booting and impounding of the car. When one's car is a lifeline to employment and education, its loss can be crippling. On the state level similar situations occur with violations that can also lead to probation and even prison time, all for the failure to pay fines or fees. We discuss the myriad ways in which minority populations, particularly African-Americans, have never had equal access to capital in the form of proper mortgages and bank loans, and how this inability to access wealth has held an entire segment of our city in poverty for generations. This program was recorded by Chicago Access Network Television.

Aneel Chablani, the attorney from the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights who filed suit to invalidate the TIF funding for Chicago's Lincoln Yards project, is one of today's guests. He's joined by Brenda Delgado, Board President at Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education. They assert that tax increment funding for a project in such a wealthy community victimizes less affluent populations across the city since it deprives schools, law enforcement and smaller development projects from access to city-based funding. If their suit succeeds, it will cancel about 1.3 billion in city funding that would have been used largely to reimburse the developer for the construction of critical infrastructure such as bridges, streets, lighting and other amenities. But hey insist they don't want to cancel the TIF program itself. They want to force a re-write of the TIF legislation so that it would be more directly beneficial to economically under-served communities and projects. If you want to understand how a big city works, you pretty much have to understand its demographics first. Chicago's demographics are fluid, bordering on chaotic. According to Rob Paral of Rob Paral and Associates, Chicago's loss of African American population is historic. There's been almost as much out-migration as there was in-migration during the mid-century 1900's. Further, our Spanish-speaking population is down slightly, due mostly to reduced immigration. The Latino population, Paral explains, saved Chicago from significant declines in population during the last half of the 1900's because their immigrants compensated for the loss of whites and blacks. Chicago, he says, has been an incredibly efficient "processor of immigrants," but that era may be coming to a close. A couple of interesting nuggets: Mexican families are experiencing dramatic declines in fertility rates, down significantly from the eight-children families of a generation ago, and that means fewer immigrants for us. And that popular view that many of Chicago's black out-migrants went to Atlanta as isn't necessarily true. They went to Atlanta's suburbs. Atlanta, like Chicago, is experiencing dropping declining black population. This program was recorded by Chicago Access Network Television.

Communications consultant Peter Cunningham, Chicago Newsroom producer David Resnick and Openlands CEO Jerry Adelmann appear on today's show. Cunningham says of Tax Increment Financing that it's been proven not to work in blighted regions- the very areas they were designed to help. He also tells us that Chicago's dropping population is a significant issue, because it affects tax policy, education planning and almost every other aspect of City management. In the second segment Jerry Adelmann tells us that he's optimistic about the Lightfoot administration's commitment to environmental issues, and says that Chicago's urban forest is in a serious state of decay. He also discusses a number of open-space initiatives with which his organization is involved, including Treekeepers, which trains residents in basic arboriculture so they can perform volunteer work caring for neighborhood trees. This program is a production of Chicago Access Network.

The Klonsky Brothers - Fred and Mike - join Ken Davis for a conversation about the incoming Lightfoot administration and the controversy that erupted over the Lincoln Yards/78 TIF vote in City Council yesterday. Both insist that the Mayor-Elect did not "cave" to pressure from Rahm Emanuel, and that she will have many opportunities to put her imprint on the projects as they get constructed over the years. They also discuss Governor Pritzker's efforts to pass a graduated, or "Fair" tax through the legislature and a perception some have expressed that, since the tax requires a Constitutional amendment, legislators who oppose the current pension provision could amend it "while they're in there." Their weekly radio program/podcast "Hitting Left With the Klonsky Brothers" airs on Lumpen Radio WLPN-FM 105.5 (and live streaming) on Fridays from 11 AM to noon. This program was recorded by CAN TV.

Three of Chicago's most knowledgeable observers of the mayoral political scene convene this week for a conversation about the Lori Lightfoot landslide. Panelists include Delmarie Cobb (the Publicity Works); Bruce DuMont, host of Beyond the Beltway; and the Daily Line's A.D. Quig. We discuss the factors that led to Lightfoot's overwhelming victory, the challenges she faces with labor contracts, the raising of revenue for pensions and other needs and the curious fact that she drew strong support from just about every economic, racial and philosophical corner of the city. We also discuss the critical issues she faces with the Chicago Public Schools and Police Department. This program was produced by CAN TV.

Sarah Karp, WBEZ education reporter, tells us about her most recent story in which she dissects CPS' claim that graduation rates are quickly improving in the city's public schools. A major part of the success, Karp reports, is the use by CPS of commercial "alternative schools" that take at-risk students from traditional high schools. The curriculum, she tells us, is considerably less challenging, sometimes consisting of little more than sitting in front of a laptop for to or three hours a day. There are serious questions about how meaningful a high school diploma from one of these schools can be in today;'s complex job market. Nevertheless, there is good news to report, because the overall graduation rate has risen by more than ten percent in just five years. Jawanza Malone, Executive Director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, echoes concerns about the value of this "alternative" schooling, and laments the fact that these troubled, at-risk teens are not being given a higher level of more intensive instruction. Malone tells us that displacement and gentrification are already serious problems near the site of the Obama Center, as real-estate speculators are flooding in to buy inexpensive properties before the Center opens. Malone Says that what's needed is a comprehensive community benefits agreement that would stipulate compensation for people who are displaced and standards for property preservation. He says that KOCO has not taken a position on whether a location in the park or in the community is preferable, but he says that putting the OPC in the neighborhood would be highly disruptive,with potentially 800,0000 visitors annually coming into a residential community. Malone says that, no matter where people stand on the controversial Presidential Center, the one thing he believes everyone agrees on is that there's no need for a Tiger Woods-designed PGA golf course in Jackson Park.

Audrey Henderson, writing for Next City, has surveyed the current status of the Obama Presidential Center development. As Chicago prepares to install a new Mayor, there's renewed emphasis on the demand for a Community Benefits Agreement, something the Obama Center developers have so far refused to accept. We also discuss plans to eliminate seven blocks of Cornell Drive, the lawsuit seeking to prohibit construction in Jackson Park, the proposed "world-class" golf course and significant concerns about displacement and gentrification. In our second segment, business writer Robert Reed (Chicago Magazine)talks about the serious implications for Boeing in light of the Company's role in the development and deployment of the 737-Max and possible legal troubles for the company. We also discuss casino gambling, and how it's losing its luster in the face of stringent Internet competition. Reed says the hope that tax revenue from casinos may help bridge the infamous pension gap may be seriously overblown. And he tells us that the business community in Chicago is staying largely on the sidelines in the Mayoral race, because they see Preckwinkle as an energetic taxer and Lightfoot as an unknown quantity. This program was produced by Chicago Access Television.

Maya Dukmasova (Chicago Reader) and Paul Vallas join Ken Davis this week for separate conversations about the April 2 Mayoral election. Dukmasova says that twin votes taken yesterday in the City Council tell a lot about the way some alderman facing runoffs are reading their electorates. In several notable matchups, aldermen who would never normally vote against the Mayor's key initiatives did so yesterday because they believe they're facing strong progressive trends in their wards. But Dukmasova also reports hat there is a perceptible split among progressives when it comes to supporting either Toni Preckwinkle or Lori Lightfoot. Paul Vallas, the former City budget director and revenue director who ran for Mayor in this round, tells Ken that there are a couple of ways in which the City could defeat the crushing pension obligation the City faces. The issue, he explains, is not that the City is paying too much in pensions. It's that the City has chronically underpaid its loan repayments over the years and today the pension debt alone is fully ten percent of the City's budget. Vallas offers several prescriptions, including working with the State to assure the prompt delivery of funds Vallas says are due the City of Chicago but are not being paid. Vallas believes that, using a number of financial processes in tandem, the City could get out from under this crushing debt in four years. This program was produced by Chicago Access Television.

Willie Wilson and Ja'Mal Green, both former contenders for the Mayor's office, appear in separate conversations this week about the upcoming election that will settle once and for all who's about to be our new Mayor, Treasurer and, in about a dozen Wards, the next Alderman. Wilson tells us that he's about to endorse in the Mayoral race, which can be significant since about 60,000 Chicagoans voted for him, mostly in the City's black communities. Although his decision won't be announced until Friday, he drops broad hints when he criticizes Preckwinkle for her association with Joe Berrios and for the failed "soda tax." Wilson says that Berrios inflicted severe damage on low-income communities, African-Americans in particular, by assigning higher tax rates to poorer communities than to the City's highest-income areas. He also describes his own personal journey, in which he came to accept that gays and lesbians should be judged by God, not by mortals such as himself. He says he has spent a great deal of time in his communities attempting to persuade ministers that they shouldn't judge others by their declared sexual preferences. Ja'Mal Green didn't make it into the election itself, in part because Wilson challenged his petitions. Green talks with us about the petition process and how it discriminates against those who don't have expensive lawyers and consultants to navigate the approval process. Green says he isn't pleased with either of the remaining candidates, because Preckwinkle imposed the soda tax and other regressive taxes and Lightfoot was not respectful of the young activist community while she was head of the Police Board. However, Green says he intends to endorse a candidate before the April 2 election. In the meantime, he's busy working with the newly-reconstituted Bernie Sanders campaign, he tells us. This program was produce by Chicago Access Television.

Bruce DuMont (Host, Beyond the Beltway), Jacky Grimshaw (former advisor to Harold Washington), Bill Ruthhart (Chicago Tribune)and the Daily Line's AD Quig join Ken Davis for a wide-ranging conversation about Tuesday's municipal election. They consider whether the twelve losing candidates will endorse either Lori Lightfoot or Toni Preckwinkle and what the political composition of the City Council might be after the runoffs. They also ponder whether Chicago has advanced beyond the Council Wars period, since many white people voted to elevate two African American women to the mayoral runoffs. This program is produced by Chicago Access Television.

WGN-TV's Tahman Bradley and the Daily Line's Heather Cherone join Ken Davis for a final analysis of next week's municipal election. They agree that Chicago should brace itself for a long night next Tuesday because the two candidates emerging in the Mayoral runoff might not be known for a week or two if neither commands a clear, decisive victory. This is due in large part to the fact that more than sixty-thousand mail-in ballots have been requested, and they won't be counted until after election day. So, if the top vote-getters fail to score enough votes to make the potential mail-in vote irrelevant, we'll all have to wait - possibly two weeks - until the mail-in votes are counted. In addition, there are as many as a dozen hotly contested Aldermanic races, many of which could also end up in a runoff - all of which adds to the intrigue of Chicago's second-only runoff-style election. This program was produced by Chicago Access Television.

Melissa Sanchez (ProPublica Illinois) and Elliott Ramos (WBEZ) join Ken Davis for a discussion about their multi-part, multi-platform series of investigations about spiraling fines and impoundments in Chicago. These City policies, they report, are driving thousands of Chicagoans into bankruptcy and creating intractable indebtedness. They reveal that 67,000 cars were booted in Chicago in 2017 alone simply for failure to pay City sticker fines and non-moving violations such as expired license plate stickers. They discuss the fact that, as the City has raised penalties for these infractions since 2007, Chapter 13 bankruptcies have risen from 1,000 to more than 10,000, and that individual debt to the City has risen from $1,500 to $3,900. This program was produced by Chicago Access Television.

Chicago Newsroom 2/5/19 by

Ken Davis is joined by mayoral candidate La Shawn Ford. He shares his observations about the current economic and social issues facing Chicago, the police code of silence, the need for a massive infusion of funding for affordable housing and the ways in which he, as mayor, could influence business and banking executives to re-think how they invest in Chicago's neighborhoods. It's time, he says to move away from machine politics and the thinking of the past. This program was produced by Chicago Access Television.

Ken Davis is joined by Chicago Reader columnist Ben Joravsky, who was fired last month from his highly-acclaimed radio show on WCPT for what he believes are political reasons. They discuss the upcoming Mayor’s race, candidate by candidate, and speculate on the relative strengths of the candidates believed to be current front-runners. This program was produced by CAN TV.

Ken Davis is joined by mayoral candidate Bill Daley. They discuss his recent proposals to reduce the number of local school councils from about 500 to 60, and his assertion that the City Council should be reduced from 50 to 15 aldermen. He also proposes a hybrid school board, composed of four mayoral appointees and three members chosen from the local school councils. With respect to retirees,S he says he wants to see a revision to the Illinois Constitution that would allow negotiations which could eventually lead to the reduction of certain retiree benefits, such as the 3% compounded cost of living adjustment. This program was produced by CAN TV.

Ken Davis is joined by Mayoral candidate Amara Enyia. They discuss her vision for Chicago’s education, policing, housing and finance. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Daniel Kay Hertz, author of The Battle of Lincoln Park. They discuss the profound impact that urban renewal had on the mid-century development of Lincoln Park, when early artists and rehabbers began reconstructing dilapidated brownstones and Victorians in the Old Town Triangle. Although the process began almost a hundred years ago, the patterns of displacement and gentrification are almost identical to those being criticized today in Pilsen, Logan Square and along the 606. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by the BGA’s Casey Toner and WBEZ’s Miles Bryan to discuss “an American Suburb2018: Dolton Illinois.” In their joint reporting, they chronicled the rapid decline of that south suburb over the past 20 years as thousands of jobs evaporated and people who didn’t have the resources to move away got stuck with financially underwater houses, the inability to pay property taxes and the increasing number of shallow-rooted renters occupying formerly abandoned housing units. Toner and Bryan tell heartbreaking stories of schools that can’t maintain academic standards, a police department that can barely staff its shifts, unpaid municipal water bills and a town council that’s deteriorated into shouting matches and recrimination. Although the story is about Dolton, it can easily be about a number of Chicago suburbs, they tell us, because for the first time last year, poverty in American suburbs has eclipsed that in cities. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot. They discuss her recent filing of petitions and her strong confidence that she’ll survive challenges and appear on the February ballot. She discusses the corrosive effects of aldermanic prerogative, which she blames for the total lack of affordable housing construction in 22 of 77 community areas. She speaks forcefully about the vanishing middle class in Chicago and the serious need for a wide range of affordable housing options. She says she opposes further closing of public schools, despite their declining enrollment. She says she’s not sure a publicly-owned bank would work, but she’d study it. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by the Chicago Rehab Network’s Executive Director David Jackson. They discuss yesterday’s City Council action which sought to create pilot programs in Pilsen and Little Village that could stem the rapid gentrification and Hispanic displacement in both communities. The Council also re-established the Department of Housing, which had been disbanded in 2008 (although with considerably less funding than it had a decade ago.) They discuss the effect on affordable housing that the loss of Amazon might trigger in Chicago, and the long-term result of Mayor Emanuel’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance, which collects fees from developers who opt not to include affordable units in their buildings. In the second segment, The Better Government Association’s Madison Hopkins tells us about her investigation into the multiple failures of the City’s Blue Cart recycling program, which is turning in the worst recycling rate of any major American city and is mired in charges that a private contractor, Waste Management, is incentivized to reject carts-full of recycling, because then city crews haul the content away, often to landfills owned by Waste. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Do you really want to know what happened in Tuesday’s mid-term elections, and why? Join guest host Bruce DuMont and his stellar guests Delmarie Cobb and Ray Hanania on this week’s Chicago Newsroom. You’ll learn who got elected and why and you’ll also hear about the next big election in Chicago – the race for Chicago Mayor. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Jamie Kalven has played a significant role at every phase of the LaQaun McDonald shooting investigation. He was able to meet first with a critical eyewitness to the crime. He was first to obtain the autopsy report, which he says was almost as effective as having McDonald himself as a witness. And finally, Kalven played a major role in forcing the dash-cam video to be released to the public. As our guest today, he looks back at the Van Dyke verdict, which he considers fair, and sets the stage for the upcoming “conspiracy” trial of the officers who were at the scene with Van Dyke on the night of the shooting. Kalven takes us for a brief, live tour of their new Citizens’ Police Data-base Project web site, which includes registries for nearly a quarter-million accusations of police misconduct between the early 1960s and 2016. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Guest host Kitty Kurth talks environment and science today with Howard Learner of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, and Monica Metzler of the Illinois Science Council. They offer advice to Chicago’s next mayor and other elected officials about how to make the city, and the region more environmentally friendly and how the intersection of science, technology and public policy can be used to attract and to retain business and technology concerns to the city. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Robin Amer, creator and host of USA Today’s new podcast series “The City”. She discusses the histories of two massive construction debris dumps that were created in Chicago during the 1990s, one in West Lawndale and another near Addison and Western. Both spurred strenuous community outrage, but both were resolved differently. Amer also tells the nuanced story of Bill Henry, the Alderman of the west-side 24th Ward, who was accused of taking as much as $5,000 a month in bribes to allow the dumping, and the protracted legal battle to evict the dumper, John Christopher, through years of court battles. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Sylvia Ewing and Marilyn Katz, two prominent, deeply experienced Chicago political consultants and activists. They discuss the impending elevation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and the conclusion of arguments in the Jason Van Dyke trial. They also share some behind-the-scenes stories about the Chicago Mayor’s race. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Delmarie Cobb (The Publicity Works), Marj Halperin (Democratic Analyst for WGN TV’s Morning News) and Indivisible Chicago’s director Darcey Regan. They react to the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings as Christine Blasey Ford is testifying. They also share their opinions on next spring’s Mayoral race, the aldermanic races and the ongoing Jason Van Dyke trial. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by The Tribune’s City Hall reporter Bill Ruthhart, and in the second segment, newly appointed Chicago Teachers’ Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates. Ruthhart shares his observations about the February Mayor’s race in the aftermath of Mayor Emanuel’s announcement that he’s not running again. He tells us that, as of this morning, there are fifteen candidates that have formally announced their candidacy, three who are formally considering it, and another group of people who’ve been “mentioned.” Davis Gates talks with us about organizing teachers and staff in the city’s charter schools, the challenges of running a public-sector union in the post Janus era, and the pressure for the union to announce an endorsement in the Mayor’s race. It’s too early for an endorsement, she says, because the union is focused on the upcoming governor’s race, where defeating Bruce Rauner is a major priority for the union. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Sun-Times’ Kathy Chaney, former State Senator and City Clerk (and 2011 Mayoral candidate Miguel Del Valle, and the Daily Line’s A. D. Quig. They discuss the impact that Jason Van Dyke’s decision to accept a jury trial will have on the trial itself, as it begins Monday. They also discuss the current status of the Chicago Mayor’s race, the impending announcement of an agreement for a consent decree for police reform, and President Trumps’ tweet that three thousand people did not die in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Mayoral candidate Troy LaRaviere, who was the first announced candidate in the now hyper-crowded race. They discuss policing, crime, economic development, privatization of school services, the Obama presidential center and public transportation – and LaRaviere gives his evaluation of Rahm Emanuel’s tenure in office. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by business journalist Robert Reed to discuss a variety of topics related to the economic, physical and social changes occurring in Chicago. They talk about the upcoming mayoral election, and some speculation in the press that Mayor Emanuel may be seriously considering not running for a third term. They discuss the rapid modernization of O’Hare, the suburb-city divide, and the potential for the “Manattan-ization” of Chicago. They also discuss the possible issuance of “pension obligation bonds” to hopefully stabilize the pension funds, and the possibility that Tronc, and with it the Chicago Tribune, might be bought by the same investors who bought the Los Angeles Tribune from Tronc in the first place. In the show’s second segment, Ken speaks with WBEZ’s Kristen Schorsch about the rapidly escalating costs for “uncompensated care” at the Cook County hospitals (Stroger and Provident.) In the past two years, care for which the hospital is not paid back has doubled, to a level that’s projected to hit a half-billion dollars in 2018. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by the Chicago Tribune’s Hal Dardick and the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability’s Ralph Martire. They discuss Mayor Emanuel’s proposal to sell up to ten billion dollars’ worth of low-interest bonds and dedicate the proceeds to the four city pension funds. There’s a range of opinions on the effectiveness and potential danger of such a financial scheme, but Martire is cautiously in favor. Dardick reports that a major issue is finding a way to assure that the funds can never be tapped in the future for other purposes, thereby robbing the pension funds and increasing the debt for future generations to pay. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Mayoral candidate Ja’Mal Green. They discuss a wide range of topics, including the pending consent decree for police reform and the appropriate role of police in combating violent crime. They also discuss Pat Quinn’s campaign for mayoral term limits, Mayor Emanuel’s proposal for retiring pension deficits with bond funding, rent control, gentrification and funding for Chicago’s public schools. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined in the first segment by Kim Wasserman, Director of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. They discuss the group’s initiatives to persuade the City to conduct a full re-evaluation of the neighborhood’s industrial corridor, and ways to stimulate sustainable, meaningful employment within Little Village. They have expressed public concerns that, as the North Branch Industrial Corridor in Lincoln Park transitions into offices, residences and recreational spaces, many of the less-desirable, polluting industries will be driven into their neighborhoods and others further from the central core. The second segment features a discussion with Chicago Tribune writer and critic Chris Jones, who has written a series of recent columns about the possible revival of Chicago’s Uptown Theater. Shuttered for over thirty years and severely deteriorated, the building was once among America’s largest movie palaces, featuring “an acre of seats.” Jones says that a confluence of demographic and economic change in the neighborhood, combined with strong interest from city government, has drawn interest from the City’s most influential business leaders, including Jam Productions. They appear to believe that their $75 million plan to reopen the theater has a better chance to succeed than the dozen-or-so schemes that have failed over the decades, and that they may actually have the money to accomplish it. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Northwestern University School of Law’s Sheila Bedi, The Chicago Reporter’s Jonah Newman and Black Lives Matters Chicago’s Jonathan Projanski. They discuss the City’s recent release of a draft consent decree covering police reform in Chicago. They talk about the fact that community organizations won the right to participate in the drafting of the proposed decree, and their concern that many of the recommendations their groups proposed did not make it into the final draft. They also discuss the role of the Chicago police union in opposing many of the group’s proposals and speculate that, even if the ultimate federally-monitored decree is accepted by the judge and assigned to a monitor, the process of reforming the CPD will take many years, perhaps decades. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by 45th Ward Alderman John Arena. They discuss reports that the City and the Police Department may be close to an agreement that would produce a consent decree for police reform in Chicago, but there still may be disagreement about whether officers should report each time they point their gun at a citizen. They also discuss recent reports that the city has collected more than $660 million this year in TIF proceeds, and efforts on the part of the Progressive Caucus to regulate the ways in which the funds can be expended. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Chicago Mayoral candidate Garry McCarthy. They discuss his tenure as police superintendent from 2011 to 2015 and his assertion that Chicago has to completely reform it’s economic, educational and law enforcement policies. He also discusses his difficult relationship with Mayor Emanuel, and his dismissal following the Laquan McDonald shooting. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, who’s spearheading a petition drive to impose a mandatory two-term limit on Chicago’s mayor’s office. Quinn claims that he’s well within the time-frame for gathering the 40-to-50-thousand signatures he needs to get his initiative on the November ballot as a binding referendum. If it achieves 50%-plus-one positive response, Rahn Emanuel will be prohibited from appearing on the ballot next February. Quinn also discusses Bruce Rauner’s role in the Janus v. AFSCME case, which, decided yesterday by the Supreme Court, restricts the way unions can fund their operations by prohibiting the collection of “fair share” payments from non-members. Quinn also says he doesn’t favor clemency for Rod Blagojevich unless and until he expresses remorse for his crimes. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by two powerful advocates for union representation in the public sector as it faces strong opposition from the Supreme Court. Robert Bruno of the University of Illinois’ School of Labor and Employment Relations and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ Public Affairs Director Anders Lindall discuss the current state of collective bargaining in Illinois and in the United States. A Supreme Court ruling on Janus v AFSCME is expected at any time, and it’s virtually assured that the Justices will side with the plaintiff. The effect of such a ruling, our guests say, will be to force the 23 states which allow collective bargaining to become de-facto “right-to-work” states. The case was brought here in Illinois. Bruno and Lindall say that while the ruling will have its intended effect on unions at least initially, there is a possibility that the attack on union organizing may energize those who’ve benefited from union representation but not bothered to become union members, to do so. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by The Chicago Tribune’s Juan Perez, Jr and Jennifer Smith Richards, two reporters with the on-going “Betrayed” series, which details a decade of sexual abuse at Chicago Public Schools. They tell us that there are serious issues with the way that reports of sexual abuse are handled at CPS, in that all staff are “designated reporters,” and are mandated to contact DCFS before their own supervisors. There are also, they report, critical issues with Illinois’ State’s child protection laws with their weak background check requirements and their failure to legally prohibit sexual contact between school staff and students who are 18 or older. They outline the “dual role” the CPS Law Department has had as both a collector if information and, at times, a prosecutor of its students. And they point out that Nicholas Schuler, the CPS Inspector General, will now be tasked with investigating both current and past cases for the school system. In the second segment, Davis is joined by the BGA’s Alejandra Cancino, who, along with Odette Yousef of WBEZ examined “thousands of public records” to conclude that the CHA has been negligent for years in the inspection, operation and maintenance of its more than 150 elevators. Firefighters have been called to their buildings hundreds of times to free trapped people from jammed elevators just in the past couple of years. Some buildings, she tells us, date from 1956, but have never had their elevators’ mechanical systems upgraded or replaced. Coincidentally, shortly before the BGA/WBEZ story published, the CHA announced a $25 million contract to renovate all of its elevators by 2020. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Mayoral candidate Dr. Willie Wilson. Wilson is highly critical of Mayor Emanuel, who he accuses of handing out contracts and opportunities to his friends and associates while ignoring minority communities. Wilson says he favors an elected school board and strong community participation in the management of the police department, a department that he’d split into four separate entities, each with its own superintendent. He says he’d re-open the 50 schools Emanuel closed in 2013, converting them into training schools for the trades. He tells us that he sees no need for new taxes, including the graduated income tax, because the budgets can be balanced with existing revenue. He says he approves of ex-governor Pat Quinn’s petition drive to term-limit the Mayor’s office, and pledged that he’d limit himself to two terms if elected. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Ken Davis is joined by Lauren FitzPatrick, education reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, and Sarah Karp, education reporter at WBEZ. They discuss yesterday’s announcement by Mayor Emanuel that he intends to bring four-year pre-K classes to every CPS elementary school in the next several years, and the free pre-K that already exists at Oscar Mayer school, which serves some of Chicago’s wealthiest residents. They also discuss the recent report by the University of Chicago on the aftermath of CPS’ closure of almost 50 elementary schools in 2013. The report concludes that the process “caused large disruptions without clear benefits for students.” Lauren FitzPatrick brings us up-to-date on her report about filthy conditions in the schools since the hiring of two private contractors, and Sarah Karp explains her ongoing reporting about cuts in Special Education, a story that resulted in the state taking control over the management of the program. This program was produced by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).