Commentary
-
The Case for Chicago’s Public Health Vending Machines
•
On November 2, 2023, the Chicago Department of Public Health launched its first Public Health Vending Machine at Harold Washington Library as part of a one-year pilot program aimed at providing harm reduction and opioid overdose prevention supplies. This pilot program deploys a total of five Public Health Vending Machines…
-
Clean energy tech is struggling. Can catalytic capital save the day?
•
As climate change proliferates, companies are looking to decarbonize, fueling investments in clean technologies. Venture capital investors (VCs) poured over $12 billion into clean energy start-ups in 2022, a six-fold growth from 2019 when the broader VC funding fell 53% year-over-year. But VCs focus only on a small subset of…
-
Cui Prodest? The Victims’ Justice Ordinance and Chicago’s Future
•
With her poll numbers falling in the lead-up to the Chicago Mayoral election in 2021, an embattled Lori Lightfoot sought to appear “tough on crime” by proposing the Victims’ Justice Ordinance, one of the most controversial civil asset forfeiture laws ever put forward in Chicago’s history. Despite the fact that…
-
Upholding Democracy: January 6, Colorado, and Trump
•
In December 2023, Colorado decided to ban former President Donald Trump from primary election ballots due to his role in the disturbing events that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The decision was later overturned in March 2024, when the Supreme Court unanimously decided to restore Trump…
-
Democracy in Peril: Biden and the 2024 Presidential Election
•
This article was co-authored by Natalie Reyes. Despite signaling to aides in 2019 that he would almost certainly not seek re-election in 2024, 81-year-old President Joe Biden is doing exactly that. Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, Biden has positioned himself as the…
-
From Gang Rule to Iron Fist: Questioning Progress in Bukele’s El Salvador
•
Significant sums from a secret government fund? CHECK. Calling for occupation of the Legislature by security forces? CHECK. Intimidation of local journalists using death threats and imprisonment? CHECK. Nayib Bukele’s reign as president of El Salvador has exhibited all the fixings of an authoritarian regime. Embracing this image, Bukele openly…
-
Two Years after Dobbs: My Body has Always Been Inherently Political
•
Isabeau Dasho is the assistant director of the Harris Writing Workshop. I was born and identify as female and as such have had to endure a cascade of experiences that have proven time and time again that this world wasn’t intended for me. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a…
-
Teachers Wanted: A Nationwide Staffing Crisis Impacts Illinois
•
The teacher shortage is a crisis unfolding at the district, state and federal levels, worsening student learning and threatening the stability of schools– with no end in sight. In Illinois, 5,300 classroom positions went unfilled in 2022, the highest percentage of unfilled positions on record. Reporting midway through the 2023-2024…
-
We Don’t Need More ‘Terror on Repeat’
•
Co-authored by David Chrisinger, Executive Director of the Harris School of Public Policy Writing Workshop and advisor to the Chicago Policy Review. In the first two months of 2024, more than 5,000 Americans were injured or killed by guns in various forms of violence, including more than 50 mass shootings.…
-
Beyond Borders & Budgets: Chicago’s Path to Compassion Amid the Migrant Crisis
•
In recent months, Chicago has been at the epicenter of a significant humanitarian challenge. Over 35,000 migrants have arrived in the city since August 2022, many on buses from Texas. This influx has stretched the city’s resources thin, particularly its shelter system which is struggling to accommodate the increasing numbers…
-
America Is Leading the Global Arms Trade, but at What Cost?
•
For decades, America’s war-profiteering companies have pocketed billions of dollars by selling weapons that directly fuel ethnic cleansings and genocides globally. The United States is home to four of the five largest private arms companies in the world: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and Raytheon. These firms, which make up…