Happy Mexican Independence Day. Today, we take a deeper look at a potential wrongful conviction settlement 33 years in the making and the environmental controversy surrounding Trump Tower's impact on the Chicago River. 

City Lawyers Recommend $11.6M Settlement to Wrongfully Convicted Man

Chicago City Hall. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

Facing a fiscal crisis, Chicago officials have frozen hiring across most city departments and are preparing – as Mayor Brandon Johnson warned – to make painful sacrifices.

That means Monday’s meeting of the City Council’s Finance Committee promises to be especially difficult, as alderpeople will have to weigh recommendations from the city’s lawyers to pay nearly $15 million to resolve four lawsuits that allege Chicago Police officers committed a wide range of misconduct.

The largest settlement up for vote would pay $11.6 million to Anthony Jakes, who spent 20 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of a 1991 murder based on a confession coerced by Chicago police detectives trained by Jon Burge, city lawyers recommended. Jakes was just 15 when he was arrested. 

Here's the backstory: Jakes is the latest in a long line of Black men to sue the city after facing racist abuse and physical violence at the hands of detectives trained by Burge. City officials have acknowledged that Burge and his disciples tortured and beat more than 100 Black men, from the 1970s to the 1990s.

The cost of resolving police misconduct lawsuits has long been a source of political heartburn for members of the Chicago City Council, which must ratify all settlements of more than $100,000. Conservative alderpeople say the city’s lawyers and their colleagues are too eager to settle cases before trial. According to the alderpeople, that encourages those guilty of criminal wrongdoing to sue the city in the hopes of an easy payday.

However, progressive members of the City Council see the expense as perhaps the most visible cost of the fact that city officials have yet to put an end to decades of scandals, misconduct and brutality. 

Alderpeople were given a stark reminder of the potential cost of not settling just one week ago. A federal jury ordered the city of Chicago to pay $50 million to a man who was wrongfully convicted of a 2008 murder and spent 10 years in prison, setting a new city record for a wrongful conviction case. —Heather Cherone

How Trump Tower Violated Environmental Regulations, Likely Killed 'Thousands' of Fish

Trump International Tower and Hotel on the Chicago River. (Alexandre Fagundes / iStock)

Every day, the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago draws in millions of gallons of water from the Chicago River to cool the building’s HVAC systems. It does so despite not having obtained the proper permits to pull in water or to discharge it, nor were the required studies conducted to minimize the impact on aquatic wildlife. Because of this, thousands of fish are estimated to have been sucked into the system.

A Cook County Circuit Court Judge ruled last week that the Trump International Hotel and Tower is a “public nuisance” that violated and is in violation of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. This marks a victory for Friends of the Chicago River and the Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club, which kickstarted a legal odyssey against the building six years ago. 

What’s next? 

• There will be a hearing in November where parties are expected to outline the process for potentially assessing a penalty and for deciding what remedies need to be installed on the tower. 

• They’ll need to mitigate both the hot water being discharged back into the river (the hot temperatures are harmful to fish) and to keep fish and other wildlife from being pulled into the intake. 

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Also From WTTW News: 

• A man shot Sunday during a fight on the grounds of Humboldt Park was one of four people killed by gun violence over the weekend in Chicago. In total, 30 people were shot in 27 separate incidents this weekend.

• Donald Trump was the subject of an apparent assassination attempt at his Florida golf club, the FBI says. The former president was unharmed in the incident. 

• We profiled a growing voting bloc that could play a role in November’s election: Latino Evangelicals.

• Marc Vitali writes about an exciting opportunity for Chicago photography students. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is hosting a competition and entries are open now

• A new initiative offers free mental heath support to Chicagoans who've lost a parent and Eunice Alpasan has the details. 

September 16, 1994 - Bulls Sign Ron Harper

In 1994, the vibes around the Chicago Bulls were uncertain. Sure, the team had recently completed its first three-peat of the decade, winning the NBA Finals in 1991, 1992 and 1993, but Michael Jordan had retired to play baseball and the team lost to the New York Knicks in the conference semifinals. Without their franchise star, the Bulls leaned on Scottie Pippen and needed help. So, they signed free agent guard Ron Harper to a $19.2 million, five-year contract to fill out the roster. Harper would play for the Bulls until 1999, winning three championships and starting 80 games during their record-breaking 72-10 season in 1996.

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Other News From Around Town:

• There’s another South Loop sports bar, says Block Club Chicago. The Staley is now open from former Chicago Bear Israel Idonije and chef Stephen Gillanders in the Michigan Avenue storefront previously occupied by Kroll’s. 
  

• Chicago Reader writer Leor Galil has an excellent oral history of Ragamala, the city's all-night marathon of Indian classical music. 

   

What's your favorite Chicago park? Tell us why. 

Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. 

• We dig into the big budget gap facing the city of Chicago.  

5:30 PM | 10:00 PM

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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry