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It’s Tuesday. Yesterday brought record-high temperatures and the midterm elections are three weeks away. Catch up with our 2026 Voter Guide and watch the WTTW News Gubernatorial Forum with JB Pritzker and Darren Bailey tonight at 8 p.m. |
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Paige McCulloch-Burton was attacked while working as a CTA bus driver. (Dan Lambert / WTTW News) |
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Paige McCulloch-Burton had long been interested in driving a bus.
Her grandfather worked as a CTA bus operator, and after earning her commercial driver’s license, she followed in his footsteps in February 2025. After just a few months on the job, McCulloch-Burton was physically attacked by a man who boarded the bus she was operating.
CTA failures to maintain the onboard security system meant that police were unable to fully investigate the assault, records show. And McCulloch-Burton said the transit agency subsequently pushed her out of a job she loves after failing to properly accommodate and care for her post-attack. Now, she’s speaking out in hopes it will improve conditions for other operators.
“I hope to see a change,” she said. “I hope to see CTA treat their employees more like family, because every day we get up and we put our lives on the line.”
More context:
On May 24, 2025, McCulloch-Burton was driving a bus on CTA’s #82 route, heading south on Homan Avenue. As she approached the stop at Jackson Boulevard, a man in a ski mask boarded the bus and physically assaulted her.
When a CPD detective tried to obtain the surveillance camera footage after the attack, CTA security services told him the hard drive was “defective,” according to emails provided to WTTW News.
“There was no video for the date and time of the incident,” the detective was told, prompting him to close the investigation into the assault, according to the emails.
McCulloch-Burton said it took about a month to begin receiving workman’s comp payments from the transit agency. She says the injuries she suffered during the attack have left her in chronic pain and suffering from PTSD.
In June 2026, she was no longer an employee of the CTA, a termination McCulloch-Burton learned about when a COBRA packet arrived in the mail in March of this year.
When she called to confirm she’d been fired, McCulloch-Burton was told a letter had been sent to her in the mail. But she said she gets an email from USPS alerting her to which letters and packages she’ll receive each day, and never saw anything from CTA.
Nora Leerhsen, CTA’s acting president, has frequently mentioned employee safety as one of the agency’s top priorities. The agency has touted a decrease in crime across the system, as well as the rollout of new Chicago Police Department and Cook County Sheriff’s missions on buses and trains and at stations and stops. But McCulloch-Burton still thinks the agency could do more, citing other recent violent attacks on the system that have drawn widespread attention. |
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Tattoos by Tony Uno of UpRise Tattoos were featured during “The Living Canvas” tattoo exhibition on Nov. 1, 2025. (Courtesy of Khalil Jones) |
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Chicago tattoo artist Nelson Aviles has attended tattoo conventions for much of his career.
But over the years, he said that despite the opportunities that can come with conventions, he also began to notice a “commercial noise” at the events that he felt led to artists and their artwork being overlooked.
“Over the years, the community aspect, the artistic aspect became a little diluted, and I saw a need for a different type of platform, something that represents the art in a more focused spotlight and shares the story of the clients and the artists that wear the artwork and made the artwork,” Aviles said.
Aviles, a tattoo artist at Black Atlas Studios in Pilsen, started a nonprofit and hosted an inaugural tattoo exhibition last year that aimed to bridge the gap between the tattoo industry and the traditional art world.
The next “Living Canvas” event will be held Friday at the Bridgeport Art Center.
At the event, featured tattoo artists from the Chicago area will bring clients to model their tattoos, and artists will have an opportunity to do a presentation and Q&A. Attendees will also be able to speak with the client models and ask them questions about their tattoos, Aviles said.
The formal event will have a jazz band, living paintings, tattoo artist seminars, tattoo giveaways, tarot readings, a live piercing demonstration, food, and photo opportunities. It will feature 15 artists with a range of art styles, such as realism, abstract, illustrative black work and traditional.
Through the event, Aviles aims to make the case that tattooing can be fine art.
“It’s a very strong community, and all I’m doing is taking that and putting it into the spotlight,” Aviles said. “All of this is for the community, all of this is for helping artists who I feel like are underrepresented through tattoo conventions, through reality TV shows, through stigmas of what the tattoo industry is, and putting them into this fine art context.” |
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(WTTW News) |
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A Chicago police officer who repeatedly used racial slurs while on duty should be fired, the agency tasked with investigating police misconduct and former Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling agreed, records show.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability determined that not only did Officer John Kaporis repeatedly use anti-Black and anti-gay slurs while on duty on April 12, 2022, he used a racial slur to refer to a Black dispatcher after being sent to investigate a car crash, a finding endorsed by Snelling, according to records obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Kaporis, who had been a police officer for more than 26 years at the time of the incident, was captured using the slurs by the in-car camera system of his police vehicle while patrolling alone, records show. The video was randomly reviewed by a supervisor, who reported Kaporis’ decision to use an anti-Black slur three times in less than 20 minutes to investigators, records show.
Kaporis “blatantly and repeatedly used vulgar homophobic and racist language, despite policy dictating that supervisors may randomly audit these videos,” COPA concluded. “This lack of deductive reasoning poses an impediment to achieving CPD policy and goals, and the use of slurs brings discredit upon CPD. The officer stated racist and homophobic comments out loud, on duty, with visible CPD insignia, and when he knew (the in-car camera system) was working. This is not only an explicit violation of CPD policy, but it presents a concern regarding Officer Kaporis’s ability to engage in unbiased policing.” |
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More From WTTW News:
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Back in the Day: October 13, 1998 - Northwestern University’s John Pople Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry |
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On this day 18 years ago, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Northwestern University professor John Pople. The accolade was “for developing computational methods making possible the theoretical study of molecules, their properties and how they act together in chemical reactions.” The Nobel committee also awarded the prize to chemist Walter Kohn, an Austrian-American professor at UC Santa Barbara, "for his development of the density-functional theory." The British-born Pople began his academic career at Trinity College in Cambridge, moved to the U.S. in the 1960s to teach at Carnegie Mellon University, and ended his career at Northwestern University, where he taught from 1986 until he died in 2004. |
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This Week’s Staff Recommendations |
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Every Tuesday, WTTW News staffers highlight their favorite things about Chicago. This week, it’s newsletter producer Josh Terry on Rogers Park.
Josh Terry: This past August marked my 17th year living in the city. Since I was born in Michigan, I still can’t claim to be a Chicagoan, but this place has felt like home ever since I set foot in Rogers Park as an incoming freshman at Loyola University. I lived in that neighborhood for seven years. I stuck around after graduating college because I loved the diversity (the Rogers Park Business Alliance estimates that roughly 80 languages are spoken there), its many “best-kept secret” beaches and the bars and restaurants.
It’s been a decade since I’ve been a local and many of my former haunts are now closed (RIP Uncommon Ground, the Heartland Cafe, Noon Hour Grill, SB Kebab and Thai Spice), but I try to visit as often as I can. Here’s where I take a trip down memory lane.
Cunneen’s Bar
After graduating, I moved around the corner from this classic neighborhood dive with cheap pitchers of beer, a Richard Daley clock, a pool table and a fantastic vinyl collection that, depending on your bartender, will get a few spins throughout the night. 1424 W Devon Ave.
BopNGrill
This Korean burger joint opened in the neighborhood my junior year and I was immediately floored by their kimchi fries, their flagship BnG burger and more. I’ll never forget walking by and spotting Guy Fieri filming an episode of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” soon after. 6604 N. Sheridan Rd.
Taste of Peru
Open since 1998, this Latin American staple has the best seafood, a cozy home-cooked vibe and generous portions. 6545 N. Clark St.
The 400 Theater
I christened my first weekend in Chicago a midnight screening of a Quentin Tarantino film at this divey neighborhood theater. I’m excited it’s relaunched with new ownership and hope they keep the charm. 6740 N. Sheridan Rd.
Hartigan Beach
I’m expecting angry emails from locals for blowing up the spot, but I lived next door to this beach in my undergrad years. It’s perfect and never too packed (except on the first nice day of the year by students). 1050 W Albion Ave. |
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What’s the best place in the Chicago area to celebrate fall? Tell us where and why. |
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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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Want more WTTW News content? Follow WTTW on Instagram to check in with us daily, go behind-the-scenes, and more. |
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry |
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