NEWS & POLITICS
Our in-depth reporting and investigations keep you informed
Displaced during Pride Month
Ahead of a planned construction project, the city closed a Logan Square homeless encampment that was a haven for queer Black residents. With support from the community, residents now work to rebuild elsewhere.
In Yorkville, Democrats and Republicans are fighting three massive data centers, and it might be changing how they see each other
As Illinois communities fight hyperscale data center projects from Joliet to Coal City, a group of Yorkville residents is finding unlikely common ground across party lines.
A heated rivalry between sports and politics
Chicago LGBTQ+ hockey players push back on discriminatory rules.
Big Payback People’s Assembly calls for overdue reparations for Black Chicagoans
Hosted by Equity and Transformation and the Movement for Black Lives, the event brought hundreds together to define the future of Black liberation and economic justice.
Quantum Crossroads
A series examining the impact of the quantum computing megadevelopment in South Chicago
In Yorkville, Democrats and Republicans are fighting three massive data centers, and it might be changing how they see each other
As Illinois communities fight hyperscale data center projects from Joliet to Coal City, a group of Yorkville residents is finding unlikely common ground across party lines.
The faces of quantum
The people and organizations behind the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, phase one of the quantum computing megadevelopment in South Chicago
‘What does real investment look like to you?’
The Southeast Side People’s Assembly brought residents together to discuss community needs as developers push forward with the construction of a $9 billion quantum computing center.
The reader investigates
Sheriff Tom Dart’s wandering eye
The Cook County sheriff is quietly lobbying the county board to expand surveillance both inside the jail and out on the streets.
Cook County state’s attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s complicated relationship with the Pretrial Fairness Act
Illinois abolished cash bail and drove down the population at the Cook County jail. Under the county’s top prosecutor, it’s rising again.
‘An impossible situation’
Beginning January 1, the City of Chicago will ban unhoused people on the sex offense registry from seeking shelter on public buses and trains.
Everything in News & Politics
ICE deported them. Cook County prosecutors still want them arrested for missing court.
Cook County prosecutors are asking judges to issue warrants for people who were no-shows in traffic court — because they had already been deported.
Hyde Park Academy students sound alarm on removal of Peace Room from high school
Students and organizers said the principal removed several resources, including the Peace Room, an arts space, and the Freedom Store, from the school following a town hall.
Cook County expands Flock license plate reader network
The Cook County board approved Sheriff Tom Dart’s $1 million request to expand his license plate reader network, even as his office admitted it used the controversial technology for years without an active contract.
Online affordable housing pilot advances to City Council for a vote
The portal has been years in the making, as housing advocates from various groups have been campaigning for a streamlined process to help renters find affordable units since 2021.
Data centers are cropping up all over Illinois. How do they work?
What you need to know about the hyperscale data centers coming to the midwest
The last days of Legion Park, before the city swept it
On Chicago’s northwest side, a community of unhoused people fought the city to stop the closure of their Legion Park encampment. Despite the loss, their story serves as a blueprint for resistance.
One Fair Wage: Separating fact from fiction
An effort to phase out the subminimum wage in Chicago was a done deal—until it wasn’t.
The faces of quantum
The people and organizations behind the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, phase one of the quantum computing megadevelopment in South Chicago
Teaching for justice
As President Trump targets DEI and culturally responsive education, the Teachers for Social Justice curriculum fair invites educators to share what the rest of the country is being told to stop teaching.
The workers at the world’s largest library association have a story they want to tell
The workers at the nationwide nonprofit headquartered in Chicago are set to vote on April 24 to recognize their new union.
‘We’re standing in the middle of something that should have always existed’
The long-awaited Chicago South Side Birth Center breaks ground on the far south side.
Community members, legal advocates speak out over pending charges against Broadview ICE jail protesters
Governor J.B. Pritzker has encouraged people to peacefully protest President Trump’s mass deportation efforts. In Cook County, more than one hundred people have been arrested by Illinois police, and more than 20 still face criminal charges, for doing just that.
From steelworkers to care workers
A new hospital that will rise from the former South Works steel mill promises more jobs and better care, but it might be a symptom of, rather than a treatment for, decadeslong economic decline.
Evanston faith leaders denounce Chicago real estate firm for contracting with ICE
Interfaith clergy and immigrant rights advocates announce a national campaign targeting Highlands REIT, which plans to lease a private prison facility in Colorado to ICE.
One TRiiBE, divided?
After two terminations and a public Instagram dispute, the last two eligible employees at Chicago’s celebrated Black-owned newsroom head to a union vote on March 25.
The fight over Illinois’s data center boom is coming to a head
From Joliet to Chicago’s southeast side, residents are pushing back against a wave of proposed data centers. A new state bill could change who has power in those negotiations.
If you’ve read this far, you really love the Reader.
Our newsletters deliver the inside scoop on everything Chicago straight to your inbox.
What are REITs—and what do they have to do with immigration jails?
Real estate investment trusts, explained
‘What does real investment look like to you?’
The Southeast Side People’s Assembly brought residents together to discuss community needs as developers push forward with the construction of a $9 billion quantum computing center.
The death of diversity
Universities—in Illinois and across the U.S.—fall in line amid Trump’s attacks on higher education.
Gasoline and slot machines
Chicago’s 2026 budget opened the door to slot machines in city bars and restaurants—but video gambling might not be all it’s cracked up to be.
Catholic clergy gain access to Broadview ICE facility—when no one is there
A federal judge ordered immigration authorities to allow religious leaders inside the facility for Ash Wednesday.
The Chicago real estate firm looking to profit off Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda
Highlands Real Estate Investment Trust is leasing an empty Colorado prison to ICE and GEO Group.
Illinois officials decry proposed cuts to HIV care
President Donald Trump wants to strip hundreds of millions in public health funding from four states led by Democratic leaders—including $8 million from Illinois.
Righting systemic wrongs of Illinois prisons
For decades, the state has offered limited avenues for rehabilitation and shorter sentences. It’s time lawmakers fix it.
No contest: Cook County judicial primary elections draw dwindling field of candidates
For the second straight primary season, more than half the races for Cook County circuit judge on the March 17 ballot are uncontested, with just 45 candidates vying for 28 open seats.
Quantum leap or community crossroads?
A planned quantum computing campus and innovation district on the former U.S. Steel South Works site promises jobs and investment, but residents and organizers have concerns around how, and whether, the $9 billion project should move forward.
Pandora’s box
The science behind quantum computing—and what the U.S. military wants to do with it
Chicago housing workers call the city’s encampment closures ‘unconscionable’
Public encampments provide resources and community for people experiencing homelessness, but city crews repeatedly evict residents and leave them with nowhere else to go.
Greg Bovino is back
Plus: city budget negotiations come down to the wire and the chief judge’s plan to “humanize” Cook County’s youth jail.
