1. How Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Has Heightened the Barriers to a Black-Brown Coalition
In neighborhoods with few jobs, the belief that immigrants are taking them finds purchase. In These Times looks at how the message is received in Chicago.
2. Remembering America’s Lost Buildings
Five architecture professors were asked which buildings they wish were still around. Two were in Chicago, including “a mecca for black Chicago.” The Conversation looks back.
3. Nathaniel Mary Quinn Transforms His Fractured Past into Arresting Art
As a kid, he traded drawings for protection in the Robert Taylor Homes. It got him a scholarship to a private boarding school—at which point his family abandoned him. His art reflects the comedians whose humor got him through. Chicago magazine profiles the painter.
4. Years Late, with Big Gaps, CHA Nears End of Housing ‘Transformation’
By the end of the year, the agency says it will have replaced all 25,000 units that were lost after demolishing its high-rises. Residents, aldermen, and the feds say the plan is far from complete. The Sun-Times takes stock.
5. Authorities Launch Investigation of ‘Unethical’ Offshore Herpes Trial Backed by Peter Thiel
A former filmmaker, a Southern Illinois professor, and the famous venture capitalist are in the spotlight for an experiment being done in St. Kitts and Nevis. The Daily Beast and Kaiser Health News follow its path.
6. Chicago Shootings Are Surging Again. But a Bill to Inspect Gun Stores Sits on the Shelf.
It would require inspections, employee background checks, and video monitoring. But it’s stuck in the legislature. The Trace checks on its status.
7. Black Students Declining at Chicago’s Top Public High Schools and in CPS Overall
In 2000, the city’s five highest-rated high schools were about a quarter black. Now they’re less than 14 percent, as white enrollment has surged. The Metropolitan Planning Council runs the numbers.
8. A Brief History of Milwaukee Avenue: the Chicago School and Sullivanesque Style
The influence of the two aesthetics can be seen up and down one of the city’s main streets, from the Flat Iron Arts Building to Schurz High School. Chicago Patterns takes a tour.
9. Can Shooting Hoops Keep Gang Members from Shooting Each Other?
The Battle of the Blocks tournament seems to work. But funding is hard to come by. The Reader checks it out.
10. CPS on Pace to Become a Majority Latino School District
They’re 47 percent of public-school students in the city, up from 35 percent in 2000. But there aren’t more students: the cause is an African-American exodus. WBEZ examines the trend.