As abolitionists across the United States push for decarceration, a backlash has emerged in the form of new prison construction, demonstrating the resiliency of mass incarceration. Several new women’s prisons are being built despite a growing chorus of voices arguing that prisons only inflict more harm on women who have already endured abuse and trauma. Last year, a new prison to hold nearly…
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After years of organizing by a coalition of transit, environmental, and community organizing groups, the Chicago region’s transit system began an important new chapter on September 1 as the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA). The new system was created by the NITA Act, which was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in December 2025. The new legislation raises $1.5 billion in new revenue and creates…
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The road from public ownership of a municipal water system to privatization is a one-way street paved with regret. Once public ownership is lost, it’s a rarity to recover control. Bolingbrook, Illinois, has been trying to for the last 15 years. Missoula, Montana, is one extraordinary success story, but it took sustained public support, political will across administrations, costly decades in the…
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The Department of Justice is attempting to sabotage a reparations initiative that compensates victims of historic housing discrimination in Evanston, Illinois. For decades, Black residents of Evanston were subjected to redlining and other forms of housing discrimination, which prevented them from obtaining bank loans to purchase property. “Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century…
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On June 1, the Illinois legislature passed a tax on the digital advertising revenue of tech companies like Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet (parent company of Google). Big Tech resisted the measure and will likely challenge it in court. Nevertheless, several analyses show the tax may generate $800 million annually, a number that could increase with time as revenues from digital advertising are expected…
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On Tuesday, the Trump administration filed a motion to join a lawsuit attempting to block the U.S.’s first and only reparations program. The federal government is supporting a 2024 lawsuit by right-wing group Judicial Watch, which argues that the Evanston, Illinois reparations program violates the rights of non-Black residents. In a court filing on Tuesday, the Department of Justice…
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