Good morning, Chicago. Today at 5:30 p.m., WTTW and community nonprofit My Block, My Hood, My City are presenting "The State of Our City: A WTTW News Town Hall." A live audience will have the chance to ask questions of Mayor Brandon Johnson and other community stakeholders. Watch live on television or our website.
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A file photo of prison cells. (txking / iStock)
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Dré Patterson recalls his cellmate smoking “openly, back to back, for hours on end,” with smoke encircling his head. Patterson, who doesn’t smoke, has seen the K2 — or synthetic marijuana — epidemic firsthand inside the Illinois Department of Corrections, he wrote to WTTW News from the Big Muddy Correctional Center.
He said the prevalence of the drug is “tragic to bear witness” to. He’s seen correctional staff walk through plumes of smoke, giving warnings to “get that under control.” He’s also witnessed individuals handle a paper drug, skin to skin, and not be affected.
What Patterson has seen isn’t isolated to his own facility. Correctional workers and Republican lawmakers have said exposure to synthetic cannabinoids, specifically, have led to hospital visits and have impacted facilities across the state.
The data: It’s unclear how many drugs are entering IDOC through mail. According to data obtained by WTTW News, from January to mid-December, of the 779 synthetic cannabinoids found, the “point of discovery” for 188 were by mail. 410 were discovered “in cell” and 156 were discovered “on person.” That data also showed there were 419 suspected overdoses of synthetic cannabinoids. 229 of those were “staff exposures.” As of Nov. 30, there were 28,991 people incarcerated in IDOC facilities.
What's next? In October, IDOC signed a contract with communications company ICSolutions, which gives the agency the ability to scan and digitally deliver mail. The department is still determining how this technology will be utilized.
To get to the root of the problem, there need to be conversations around people as the source of contraband, said Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the John Howard Association, a prison watchdog group.
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(Courtesy of Northwestern University)
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Fears and frustrations linger among university researchers around the country, including in the Chicago area, whose research work is now in limbo as the President Donald Trump administration aims to cut what it deems as “wasteful” federal spending.
“There's just a lot of uncertainty and frustration,” said Northwestern medical social sciences researcher David Victorson, who receives federal support from the National Institutes of Health for his research on improving the quality of life and well-being of cancer patients.
NIH serves as the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. Last fiscal year, the agency awarded more than $1.2 billion in funding to Illinois, most of which went to universities, but also to hospitals and other research labs.
Despite the Trump administration pulling back on its federal funding freeze directive earlier this week, the administration said it would still review and eliminate federal funding spent on diversity, equity and inclusion, transgender rights, climate science and environmental justice, which Trump targeted in an array of executive orders he signed his first week in office.
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Some Little Village business owners say sales have declined amid fears of immigration raids. (WTTW News)
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Latino neighborhoods in Chicago are on edge amid increased reports of immigration raids by federal law enforcement agents. The reports are sparking fear in communities like Little Village and Back of the Yards. According to the Chicago Police Department, nearly 100 people have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement; however, it remains unclear how many of those individuals had criminal records. WTTW News spoke with business owners about the impact they are seeing here.
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Back in the Day: February 3, 1809 - Congress Establishes Illinois Territory
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On this date 216 years ago, the 10th United States Congress passed legislation that was an act “for dividing the Indiana Territory into two separate governments,” establishing Illinois as a territory. This new land encompassed present-day Illinois, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Kaskaskia was designated as the territorial capital. At the time, the land was home to Native Americans and just “12,000 Euro-Americans resided in the territory.” There’s an
alternate universe where places like Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee are all part of Indiana but that didn’t happen. Illinois would officially become a state in 1818.
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The Week's Civic Events and Meetings |
Every Monday, WTTW News highlights the best ways to get involved with local government.
City Council
On Tuesday at 10 a.m., a committee will meet to review safety strategies for outdoor events like festivals. On Friday at 11 a.m., the Committee on Finance will hold a subject matter hearing on municipal depositories, or the banks the city does business with.
City Club of Chicago
As the annual Auto Show nears, the City Club of Chicago is hosting a panel discussion on “The State of the Auto Industry in Illinois” on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at McCormick Place, 2301 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Non-member tickets are $95.
Commission on Chicago Landmarks
On Thursday at 12:45 p.m., the commission meets in City Council chambers for their regular meeting. On the agenda is a recommendation to nominate Our Lady of Lourdes Parish/Pentecostal Church of Holiness, 4208 W. 15th St., to the National Register of Historic Places.
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Chicago Restaurant Week is here until Sunday. What is your favorite memory of trying out a local
restaurant? Tell us where and what you ordered.
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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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