The good news is that we’re back to seasonally appropriate weather. The bad news is that it’s Monday. Start the workweek right with these local stories.
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Andrea Kersten, chief administrator of Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, appears on “Chicago Tonight” on June 28, 2023. (WTTW News)
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The leaders of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, an agency tasked with investigating misconduct by Chicago police officers, refused requests from the city’s watchdog to reopen five probes into a wide range of police misconduct. These cases were closed by COPA during a push to clear a massive backlog, records show.
In each of the five cases, Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg informed COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten that the agency had erred when it closed those cases because they involved serious allegations of police misconduct that were not eligible to be closed as part of what COPA called its Timeliness Initiative.
Some backstory:
A 2017 probe by the U.S. Department of Justice found that Chicago police officers were rarely held accountable for misconduct because of badly broken systems as well as a “code of silence” among officers that allowed them to act with impunity.
CPD has fully complied with just 7% of the court order known as the consent decree designed to require the police department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers, according to the latest report to the federal judge overseeing the reform effort.
What’s happening next:
Witzburg told the City Council’s Ethics and Government Oversight Committee on Sept. 9 that she is auditing the initiative and expects to weigh in soon on COPA’s decision to close 675 police misconduct probes that were more than 18 months old.
Another 188 cases were reviewed, but kept open, according to data provided by COPA to WTTW News.
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A file photo of the southern border. (CNN)
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A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research challenges the narrative that immigrant communities fuel crime in the United States. The study includes 150 years of data and says that immigrants have consistently been incarcerated at lower rates than U.S.-born citizens. This information comes when so-called “migrant crime” has become a major talking point this election cycle.
Let's dig a little deeper:
Chicago has seen more than 47,000 asylum seekers arrive in the past two years. These individuals, many of whom are fleeing gang violence, economic instability and food insecurity, have borne the brunt of major scrutiny and fabricated stories about them perpetuating violence in their new hometown.
While there has been an increase in migrant arrests in Chicago, the vast majority of these run-ins are for non-violent offenses such as traffic violations and theft, according to an analysis by the Chicago Tribune.
“There’s a disconnect between what the data shows and what people think,” said University of California Davis economics professor Santiago Perez, who co-authored the study. “Crimes committed by immigrants get more media attention, and people remember those stories more.
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Elijah Jones (Credit: Jeff Sciortino)
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Youthful out-of-town actor Elijah Jones landed his first role in Chicago at the Tony-winning Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and he's cast as Henry V, the titular character in Shakespeare's history play about the war between France and England. As you'll be able to tell from this charming Q&A Jones did with Marc Vitali, the Juilliard-trained Pennsylvania native exudes charisma.
While you should click here to read the entire chat with Jones, here's a sample answer about Jones’ first impression of a Chicago-style hot dog.
"Somebody did take me to get my first Chicago-style hot dog. It was excellent, OK? I was a little nervous, because I don’t know that all these things belong on a hot dog. But y’all swear that this is good, so I tried it, and it lived up to the hype."
“Henry V” runs through Oct. 6 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier.
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Back in the Day: September 23, 2014 - ‘David Bowie Is’ Exhibit Opens at MCA
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“David Bowie Is” (Credit: WTTW News)
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The English rock star and fashion icon David Bowie wasn’t a Chicagoan, but he spent a month living in the city in 1980 when he starred in a production of “The Elephant Man” at the Blackstone Theatre (now the Loop’s Merle Reskin Theatre). He attended the now-closed dance club Neo and the city’s museums (his review of the Museum of Science and Industry? “Like a paean to General Motors. Quite ghastly in its corrupt values,” he told Rolling Stone). But on this day 10 years ago, the city paid tribute to the music legend with a fantastic exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art called “David Bowie Is.” Curated by the Victoria and Albert Museum, it was the “first retrospective of the extraordinary career of David Bowie” that included more than 400 objects from the David Bowie Archive like handwritten lyrics, costumes, exclusive photos and rare performance footage from his illustrious career. Bowie died in 2016, but “David Bowie Is” eventually embarked on a worldwide museum tour, ending its run in 2018 at the Brooklyn Museum.
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Other News From Around Town:
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How do you feel about the new stadium proposals from the White Sox and the Bears? Tell us what you think.
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
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