This Thursday, WTTW News sits down with Marcel Brown for his first interview. Plus, all the stories you need to know about today as a curious Chicagoan.
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Marcel Brown appears on “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” on Sept. 25, 2024. (WTTW News)
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Marcel Brown was just 18 when he was arrested in 2008 for a murder he did not commit. He was coerced into making a false confession in connection to the killing and spent nearly 10 years in prison. Though he received a 35-year sentence in 2011, he was released in 2018 after the Cook County state’s attorney dismissed all charges. The following year, he was given a certificate of innocence and sued the city. This month, a jury awarded him $50 million, setting a new city record for such a
case.
On “Chicago Tonight,” Brown sat down for his first interview alongside his lawyer Jon Loevy to talk about his journey and the $50 million verdict.
On his 34-hour interrogation, when CPD officers deprived Brown of food, sleep and access to a cell phone:
“I was very, very wronged over three days, and that took a toll on my mental (health). Fighting with the detectives, with the mind games they were playing, was probably one of the worst experiences of my life.”
On reentering society after 10 years:
On what's next:
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Juliet Silvestre, left, a first-year plumber apprentice, and Samantha Johnson, a third-year plumber apprentice. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
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While there has been some progress in more women going into the trades, there’s more work that needs to be done to help women stay in these industries. Factors like a lack of respect, discrimination and harassment have led some women to consider leaving the trades, according to a 2021 report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, which surveyed over 2,600 tradeswomen and non-binary tradespeople across the U.S.
WTTW News reporter Eunice Alpasan talked to several working women about their careers and the issues they face.
Some background:
Women in trade careers might also be without paid parental leave or struggle to find child care that accommodates a nontraditional work schedule.
Difficulties finding child care and lack of support during pregnancy and parenthood were some reasons some parents considered leaving the trades,
A majority of mothers with children under 18 surveyed, about 60%, have not considered leaving the trades.
A choice quote:
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A file photo of Chicago's Chinatown community. (WTTW News)
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At least five women in Chicago’s Deering Police District have fallen victim to a so-called “blessing scam” that’s targeted the city’s elderly Chinese community. All five cases follow a similar formula: A victim is approached on the street by two to three scammers who gain their target’s trust before inviting them to participate in a cleansing or blessing ceremony to stave off a future misfortune.
The ceremony requires the victim to place money and belongings in a bag, which they’re not supposed to open for several days or tell their family or friends about. Once they go to open the bag, they find that it’s empty and all they’ve been left with is “blessed water.”
Here's what to know:
One victim lost $30,000 — her life savings — and gold jewelry that has been in her family for generations.
The perpetrators still haven’t been identified but photos show the scammers as two to three women, aged 30 to 40 years old, wearing hats, long-sleeve shirts and N95 masks.
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Back in the Day: September 26, 2014 - The Aurora Air Traffic Control Center Fire
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On this day 10 years ago, a man who was employed as a contractor by the FAA, walked into the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center facility in Aurora. There, he cut telecommunication wires and using gasoline-soaked rags set a fire. He then attempted suicide. The damage from both the fire and cut wires shut down all the radar and communications systems and crippled air traffic for days in and out of O'Hare and Midway airports. All in all, just under 2,000 airline flights were grounded. The air traffic
facility was shut down more than two weeks and it caused the FAA to reassess its backup systems. Federal prosecutors estimated the damage at over $100 million. The man who set the fire survived and in 2015 was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison. This random act exposed the “Achilles' heel of America's air traffic control system.”
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On the Artbeat with Marc Vitali
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Aurora Penepacker (left) and Evan Tyrone Martin in "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812" at Writers Theatre (Liz Lauren)
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You know it, I know it, and they know it in New York and London – Chicago is one of the greatest theater cities on the planet. With the fall theater season rolling, now is your chance to play an important guest-starring role, “Audience Member.” Here’s an all-stage edition of “On the Artbeat.” If money is tight, half-priced tickets are often available through Hot Tix.
“Misery” – A deranged fan imprisons her favorite author in an isolated cabin and, boy, does she love company. Stephen King’s thriller was made into a 1990 movie and then a Broadway play. Now it launches the season of American Blues Theater in their new home on Lincoln Avenue. You’d have to hobble me to keep me from seeing this show.
“Blue Eyed Soul Sung by Brown Eyed People” – Jackie Taylor’s Black Ensemble Theater spotlights well-known soul music sung by people who listeners often assume are Black. Here, those songs are performed by brown-eyed folks with golden voices in the signature BET style. If they don’t include at least one Hall & Oates song, I’m filing a formal complaint.
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” – This original play tells the story of the son of Harry Potter at Hogwarts, and it has a rep for being an effects-filled spectacle that pleases the Potterheads. Chicago is the launch pad for the North American tour when it opens this week at the Nederlander Theater. Somehow – sorcery perhaps – outspoken author J.K. Rowling hasn’t yet slaughtered her cash cow.
“Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1912” – A 2012 musical with a cult following and a couple of Tony Awards, the Midwest premiere at Writers Theater has earned stellar reviews. Coming from an unusual source – it’s based on one section of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” – the show ponders the meaning of life amidst a scandalous love affair. (No spoilers please – I’m seeing it this week.)
“The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk” – Just one more week to experience the great romance of an artistic power couple – Marc Chagall and his wife Bella, a poet. These creative partners survived in a world of tremendous upheaval with their love intact. The show prepares a feast of inventive stagecraft with a score inspired by klezmer music. At Skokie’s Northlight Theatre through Oct. 6.
The Cubs lost last night. With their playoff hopes fading, the defeat hands the NL Central title to the Milwaukee Brewers.
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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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5:30 PM | 10:00 PM
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
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