Chip Mitchell

@chipmitchell1.bsky.social

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WBEZ Chicago reporter on public safety and health.
https://www.wbez.org/staff/307/chip-mitchell
Mobile/Signal: 312-286-9986.

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1/6 The Pennsylvania shooting that injured former President Trump increases chances of violence at the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago, a security expert tells @WBEZ.

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Chip Mitchell

I keep saying that this what the US should do...subsidized housing, English language classes, job training or US certification in their current careers, etc. A welcoming fast track to residency and look how quickly we could grow the tax base (and better than forced birth of current citizens).

Colombia has received four times more Venezuelans than the United States. But that small and relatively poor South American country has offered the migrants paths to formal employment, health care, education and citizenship. We went to see the integration. www.wbez.org/immigration/...

What Colombia can teach Chicago about managing a migrant wavewww.wbez.org The small, relatively poor South American country has received four times more Venezuelans than the United States but offers a path to integration. We went to see it.

Our story now includes four AUDIO reports, each around 7 minutes. Tap the red “Listen” buttons spread out at the story page. Or find the “Listen” buttons listed together at the WBEZ home page under “Special Report.” If you have time for just one, go here: www.wbez.org/immigration/...

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To better understand our migrant influx here, @chipmitchell1.bsky.social went to Colombia, to see what lessons can be learned from the country, which has taken in about four times as many Venezuelans as the U.S. www.wbez.org/immigration/...

1/3 After Eileen O’Neill Burke’s 1,556-vote win in the Cook County state’s attorney primary, the union leader for 10,000 #Chicago cops hails those “who took our advice and pulled a Democratic ballot, contrary to what you may have done for [other] primary elections by pulling Republican ballots.”

1/2 A Cook County judge is letting Chicago cops who face the most serious misconduct allegations have their cases decided by a third-party arbitrator. But the ruling won’t entirely please the Fraternal Order of Police lodge battling for that right. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...

s3.documentcloud.org

1/2 Here is WBEZ's full story on what led to police misconduct investigator Lorenzo Davis's firing and his nine-year battle against the city of Chicago for emotional-distress compensation. (He long ago won $751,470 for lost wages and benefits.) www.wbez.org/stories/cour...

1/5 BREAKING: An Illinois appellate court is upholding a $1.1 million jury award for a former police misconduct investigator who refused to cover up findings against some Chicago cops who shot people. WBEZ’s 2021 reporting on Lorenzo Davis’s award: www.wbez.org/stories/whis...

Whistleblower Who Sought Tougher Police Oversight Awarded $1.1 Million For Emotional Distresswww.wbez.org A Cook County jury’s award rebuffs an appellate ruling that left the whistleblower with $100,000 for that harm.

Appeals court upholds $1.1 million for investigator who refused to change findings on CPD shootingswww.wbez.org Lorenzo Davis was fired in 2015 from his job as a supervisor of Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority, now known as COPA.

BREAKING: The largest 25 individual funders of Eileen O’Neill Burke’s bid to be Cook County’s top prosecutor include no African Americans and no women, a WBEZ analysis of her Illinois campaign filings has found. www.wbez.org/stories/eile...

Nearly all of state’s attorney hopeful Eileen O’Neill Burke’s big funders are white menwww.wbez.org The ex-judge’s top 25 individual donors include no African Americans and no women, a WBEZ analysis of her Illinois campaign filings finds.

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Howard Brown Health has been hit with a formal complaint and hearing notice from the National Labor Relations Board over bad faith bargaining. #Chicago

Howard Brown Health Hit With Complaint From National Labor Boardnews.wttw.com The move comes seven months after the NLRB found merit or partial merit in the Howard Brown Health Works United’s allegations. This complaint reiterates those allegations, including declaring an impas...

1/3 ICYMI: Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart faces a federal lawsuit brought by two University of Chicago undergrads who led writing workshops in the massive jail he oversees. The students claim he violated their First Amendment rights.

1/4 BREAKING: With two weeks of balloting to go in Cook County’s Democratic primary for state’s attorney, both candidates are now on TV with attack ads. Let’s sample both sides right now! 🧵

ICYMI: Chicago murders keep dropping. February had 31 — 8 fewer than February of last year. The numbers have been trending down for more than two years. Car jackings this year are down 35% from last year. But robberies are holding steady. And murders remain up from 2004-2015 levels.

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Murder is down 21.7% in 113 cities with data available through at least January. Still too early to know likelihood it will persist through the year, but does portend a massive national drop this year. Down 21% in 48 cities with data at least through Feb 20.

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Eileen O’Neill Burke, who faces Clayton Harris III in the Cook County Democratic primary, has received hundreds of thousands from conservatives. @chipmitchell1.bsky.social reports

O’Neill Burke widens fundraising lead in race to replace State’s Attorney Kim Foxxwww.wbez.org Eileen O’Neill Burke, who faces Clayton Harris III in the Cook County Democratic primary, has received hundreds of thousands from conservatives.

Conservative donors in finance are dropping six-figure political donations on Cook County state’s attorney candidate Eileen O’Neill Burke this week, helping her open a gaping lead in fundraising for the March 19 Democratic primary. www.wbez.org/stories/onei...

BREAKING: A Cook County judge lifts his freeze on #Chicago Police Board steps in serious cop-discipline cases, a short-term win for the city and a setback for the Fraternal Order of Police, which is fighting to bypass the board and contest firings and suspensions in private arbitration.

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WBEZ's @chipmitchell1.bsky.social required a “yes” or “no” from Eileen O’Neill Burke and Clayton Harris III on topics ranging from gun possession to prosecutor unionization.

The Democrats running to replace State’s Attorney Kim Foxx answer five key questionswww.wbez.org WBEZ required a “yes” or “no” from Eileen O’Neill Burke and Clayton Harris III on topics ranging from gun possession to prosecutor unionization.

Just a few months ago, the Fraternal Order of Police warmly thanked Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for dropping the city's opposition to an annual police pension hike and for agreeing to double some annual pay raises scheduled for cops. This week, the union sent this to its 10,000 members.

Cook County state’s attorney hopeful Clayton Harris III has to decide how closely to align with exiting leader Kim Foxx, who has helped forge criminal-justice reforms but drawn fierce criticism. @WBEZ’s Michael Puente and I profile the candidate and his donors. www.wbez.org/stories/cook...

State’s attorney candidate Clayton Harris III pledges to ‘chart my own course’ despite being party pickwww.wbez.org Harris insists he doesn’t have to choose — and neither do voters — between outgoing leader Kim Foxx’s progressive policies and a safer county.

Former Illinois appellate justice Eileen O’Neill Burke says her decades in the criminal justice system make her fit to be state’s attorney. Her critics say that record reveals poor judgment. WBEZ’s Anna Savchenko and I profile the candidate and her donors. www.wbez.org/stories/cook...

Eileen O’Neill Burke says she’s running for state’s attorney because ‘our justice system is not working’www.wbez.org The former judge says her decades-long track record makes her fit for the role. Her critics call it her Achilles’ heel.

1/2 An Arizona @NAACP branch is blasting a decision not to bring criminal charges against a suburban Phoenix police officer who fatally shot Amarion Hope, 17, a Chicagoan suspected of shoplifting. On Feb. 21, 2023, the teen was running away from the officer, who had tried to handcuff him.

BREAKING: Chicago’s City Council rejects letting the union for rank-and-file cops bypass the Police Board and contest their most serious discipline in private arbitration. The 32-18 vote sets the stage for court fights over the board’s authority and about back pay for recently disciplined officers.

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Breaking news: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has drafted plans to release thousands of immigrants and slash its capacity to hold detainees after the failure of a Senate border bill that would have erased a $700 million budget shortfall.

After border bill failure, ICE considers mass releases to close budget gapwww.washingtonpost.com Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to slash the number of immigrants in detention because it is running a $700 million budget deficit.

1/5 A decision by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to disconnect Shotspotter in September is not quieting debate about the gunshot-detection system. Studies by the city’s inspector general and Cook County state’s attorney have found that the system rarely leads to evidence of gun crimes.

BREAKING: An Illinois bill backed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker would require a lawyer for kids under 18 during a police interrogation — after a WBEZ lawsuit won release of a video showing a suburban detective extracting a teen’s false confession to a shooting. www.wbez.org/stories/lawy...

Bill backed by Pritzker would require a lawyer for kids under 18 during interrogationswww.wbez.org The legislation follows a WBEZ lawsuit that obtained video showing a suburban Chicago cop coaxing a teen’s false confession to a shooting.

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The Cook County Jail population has shrunk dramatically, but costs have not. Why? @chipmitchell1.bsky.social digs in www.wbez.org/stories/cook...

Cook County’s jail population has shrunk by 58% over the past decade, but the massive reduction hasn’t led to big savings for taxpayers or a major boost in funding for crime prevention, a WBEZ analysis of county budget records has found. www.wbez.org/stories/cook...

The Cook County jail population has shrunk dramatically, but costs have not. Why?www.wbez.org Sheriff Tom Dart cites pay hikes for corrections employees and the expense of managing detainees with addiction or health issues. We analyzed the numbers.

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over 3,000 Chicago municipal ids were issued in this january. that's a lot more than previous january's but is similar to the rate of issuance at the end of 2023. observablehq.com/@fgregg/chic...