features
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. On paper, Cook County circuit judges have great jobs. They make $258,000 a year, hold extraordinary power, and almost never get fired or…
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Truth-in-sentencing costs Illinois thousands of years — and billions of dollars
Prison reform advocates in Illinois are backing a law that would roll back truth-in-sentencing
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Remembering the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson Sr.
A letter from The Chicago Reporter’s publisher Dr. Ebony Only announcing the passing of Reverend Jesse Jackson.
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Employment and labor
IDOC’s controversial health care provider is out. Will people in IDOC finally receive the care they need?
After decades of protest from activists, change is coming to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) health care system. A June 23rd memo announced that the IDOC is abandoning contract negotiations with Wexford Health Sources, who had won a ten year, $4 billion dollar contract renewal at the end of 2023. Now as IDOC initiates…
Economic Development
Tip and Wage Theft Still Prevalent in Chicago Restaurant Industry Despite New Ordinance
Chicago’s City Council passed a new ordinance intended to guarantee living wages for service industry workers, but experts believe that more strict legislation is needed to safeguard against employer fraud. The Chicago One Fair Wage ordinance, passed in October, will phase out Chicago’s subminimum wages for tipped workers over a five-year period, impacting restaurants in…