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It’s Tuesday. Read the headlines from WTTW News on policing, public schools and the Printers Row Lit Fest.
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(WTTW News)
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Attorneys for the city of Chicago are negotiating a “global settlement” to resolve 17 lawsuits naming eight members of a Chicago Police Department tactical team repeatedly accused of improperly stopping and searching Black men downtown, court records show.
U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia Kendall signed an order on July 27 giving U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth Jantz the authority to craft a “global settlement” of 17 cases which accuse the officers of violating drivers’ civil rights between 2023 and 2024. Jantz held the first closed-door negotiation Monday.
Chicago taxpayers have already paid more than $382,000 to defend the lawsuits that could be resolved through the global settlement, according to records obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
More context:
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability warned in December 2024 that more than 50 traffic stops made by eight members of the 18th District Tactical Team resulted in a troubling pattern of undocumented and unprofessional stops of Black people in Lincoln Park, West Town, Old Town, River North, Streeterville, the Gold Coast and parts of Logan Square. Five members of that tactical team were stripped of their police powers, records show.
The Chicago City Council must approve — or reject — city lawyers’ recommendation to pay more than $100,000 to resolve a case before a trial. Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry has the authority to approve settlements of less than $100,000. Richardson-Lowry told alderpeople in November that she was exploring ways to settle all lawsuits alleging misconduct by the same officer in one fell swoop.
Taxpayers will spend $101.3 million this year to resolve 184 lawsuits filed by Chicagoans who were wrongfully convicted based on what they allege was fabricated evidence gathered by former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts, who was convicted in 2013 of taking bribes, and other officers, as part of the city’s first-ever global settlement.
The 18th District tactical team members have been named in at least 28 lawsuits filed by Chicago drivers who said they were improperly stopped and searched near the North Michigan Avenue shopping district because they are Black, according to an analysis of court records by WTTW News.
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The Printers Row Lit Fest will be held Sept. 12-13, 2026. This year’s event brings together more than 200 nationally and locally acclaimed authors, journalists, poets, screenwriters, booksellers and storytellers. (Courtesy of Printers Row Lit Fest)
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The 41st annual Printers Row Lit Fest, a celebration of literature, ideas and civic dialogue, returns next month.
This year’s event brings together more than 200 nationally and locally acclaimed authors, journalists, poets, screenwriters, booksellers and storytellers. This year’s featured headliners include Chicago best-selling author Scott Turow and PBS NewsHour co-anchor Geoff Bennett, who recently authored, “Black Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to ‘90s Sitcoms.”
The festival will be held Sept. 12-13 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. along Dearborn Street between Ida B. Wells Drive and Polk Street. It is free to attend.
Festival programming includes author conversations, panel discussions, book signings, writing workshops, children’s programming and new, used and rare booksellers. Presentations include topics that cover fiction, history, politics, journalism, mystery, horror, memoir, poetry, food, dance, young adult and cultural criticism.
This year’s schedule also includes Eve Ewing, author of “Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism,” Omar El Akkad, author of “One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This.” The festival opens with author Dolen Perkins-Valdez discussing her novel, “Happy Land.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and journalists are also on this year’s lineup:
Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Royal Pratt, Andrew Carter, Laura Rodriguez Presa, and Erika Slife
Heather Ann Thompson, author of “Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage.”
John West, author of “The Internet Will Die, and So Will You: On Learning to Live in Our Digital Age.”
Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of “The Sympathizer” and “To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other.”
Other journalists and cultural voices set to make an appearance include Scott Simon, longtime host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, Michael Gebert, author of “The Chicago Way: An Oral History of Chicago Dining,” and New York Magazine’s The Cut senior writer Bindu Bansinath, author of the novel, “Men Like Ours.”
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Demonstrators march in Chicago on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, to show their support for removing police officers from schools. (WTTW News)
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Chicago Public Schools principals and staff this week will begin training as the district is set to implement its holistic safety plan citywide — more than two years after police officers were removed from district campuses.
CPS and its partner organizations last week published a new implementation guide for the Whole School Safety plan as the district this year is set to implement that model across all schools citywide.
“Our goal is for every school to create a Whole School Safety Plan that promotes safety through policies and practices supporting the physical, behavioral, and social-emotional well-being of all students,” CPS Chief of Safety and Security Ronan Shableski said in a statement.
Some backstory:
Chicago’s Board of Education voted in July 2024 to officially remove all resource officers from the city’s schools following a student-led push in 2020 from teens who believed the presence of police in schools had a disproportionately negative impact on Black students and strengthened the school-to-prison pipeline.
That same year, CPS launched a steering committee comprised of district officials, students, parents and community-based organizations, which led to the development of the Whole School Safety plan.
The Whole School Safety model seeks to develop a culture of safety that gives students access to trauma-informed care, restorative justice, emotional support and trusted relationships to protect and nurture their overall well-being.
Already, that framework has been implemented in 275 schools.
The University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research and the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital found that removing police from schools did not lead to increased disciplinary issues, nor did it make students and staff feel less safe.
The consortium this year released a new study, which found the Whole School Safety plan could serve as a replicable model for school districts across the country.
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More From WTTW News:
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A pair of storms on the front and back ends of July made for a wetter month than normal, according to a National Weather Service summary. Those storms did provide relief from the extreme heat at the beginning of the month, which boosted July’s average temperature to 76.8 degrees, or 1.4
degrees above normal.
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Back in the Day: August 4, 1991 - City Sets Record For Most Homicides in a Single Day
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On this day 35 years ago, Chicago set a tragic record when 13 people were killed in the city. At the time, the total was the highest ever recorded according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab, which tracks data going back to 1961. In 1991, Chicago would go on to record 927 murders, with August being its deadliest month on record with 120 homicides. On May 31, 2020, the city would top the horrific number with 18 people killed in 24 hours. Last year, the city tallied its lowest homicide total since 1965 with 416 killed.
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This Week’s Staff Recommendations
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Every Tuesday, WTTW News staffers share their favorite things about Chicago. This week, it’s Jared Rutecki, reporter for WTTW News, on the video games he loves playing at home in the city.
Jared Rutecki: When the real world feels on the brink of collapse, video games can make a great escape hatch. Here are five titles worth disappearing into.
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Coal Supper/Panic’s 2024 comedy-adventure puts you in control of a tiny yellow salesman in a fictional English town. He jumps and slaps his way through solving various local problems.
Packed with wonderfully weird and raunchy British humor, it features arguments over head shapes, shops devoted to butter, fish and cigarettes, and other “essentials” of modern life. You can finish it in a few hours, but it’s strange enough to keep replaying.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
This is part two of Square Enix’s remake of the beloved 1997 role-playing game. Because the original was written in the ’90s, the story might feel dated: An evil corporation extracts the planet’s energy and wealth with little concern for public well-being. Tough to imagine today, obviously.
It’s a huge, polished world with plenty to explore, battle and emotionally invest in. With part three expected in 2027, there’s time to catch up before the next boss fight.
Nom Nom Galaxy
It may sound weird, but your mission is soup.
Released in 2015, this tower-defense/resource-management game has you invent recipes, build factories and distribute soup for profit while pretending sustainability has a seat at the table. It’s full of jokes about ruthless companies, awful incentives and cutthroat business. Even intergalactic soup has shareholders.
That description undersells how addictive it can be.
MLB: The Show
Whether you run a franchise or create a player, this game rules. Career mode lets you fly through a game in minutes, which is ideal for anyone who loves baseball but also has errands.
The minor league teams are half the fun. The Rocket City Trash Pandas are heavyweight champions of sporting nomenclature, but the Southern League has other contenders including affiliates of the Cubs and White Sox.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Beautifully animated and deeply engaging, Team Cherry's Metroid/Castlevania-style sequel is a joy to play. Some sections are tricky, but the game rewards patience and the abilities you learn along the way.
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What’s your favorite bookstore in Chicago? Tell us why.
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
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