Police and prison abolitionist, philosopher, and Black Lives Matter Chicago organizer Kofi Ademola sits down with our publisher, Mike Fourcher. In a broad-ranging discussion, Ademola describes his views on economic development, gentrification, prison, poverty, and violence–and responds to our interview with FOP President Dean Angelo, who suggested police are under attack and care more about black lives than black politicians.

Got comments, questions, or suggestions? Please send us an email: [email protected]. 

Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s office has whittled down its candidate pool for the new deputy tasked with auditing the city’s police accountability system and will have an appointee to introduce at the next City Council meeting, a spokesperson for Ferguson’s office confirmed to The Daily Line. The new division is also rolling out its website Friday, which will include data on the number of CPD officers on the force and which divisions they work in.

Business at the Cook County Board flew by Wednesday, with all the action–including President Toni Preckwinkle’s post-meeting press conference–wrapping before 2:00 p.m. Commissioners unanimously passed an ordinance adding “immigration status” to the list of protected classifications in the Cook County code, an extension for an electronic monitoring contract for the Cook County Jail, and a resolution condemning hate speech and actions.

Since the city’s beefed up Affordable Housing Requirements took effect in October of 2015, Chicago has collected more than $41 million in in-lieu fees from developers, representing a third of total ARO funds raised since the program’s inception in 2003.

A $36 million contract for electronic case and docket management services in the offices of Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown is on today’s new items agenda at the County Board. A resolution urging the governor and the general assembly to approve a property tax freeze is also up–though whether it’ll be debated on the floor or quietly referred to committee is unclear.

 

The county’s Bureau of Asset Management has a new leader: Ann Lata P. Kalayil, whose first day was yesterday. She is a longtime Obama supporter who has been active and influential in local Asian political circles for decades.

Just two Cook County Committees meet today. One meets in executive session and the other only features two appointments from President Preckwinkle. While Tuesdays are normally reserved for consent calendar items, none were posted online. Several other committees meet tomorrow, and again on March 22.

The question of how and why Chicago Public Schools are not fully funded was laid at Gov. Bruce Rauner’s feet Monday afternoon by a newly-minted Grammy winner, Chancellor Bennett, more widely known as Chance The Rapper.

After receiving more than 400 responses to its preliminary draft on its new Use of Force policy–many of which appeared to be antagonistic, either claiming the department was “pandering” to reformers at the expense of police officers, or that the policy could be strengthened–the Chicago Police Department is going back to the drawing board. The Department issued an updated draft Monday and is again soliciting comments from the public over the next ten days.

Dean Angelo, President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, the union that represents all rank and file members of the Chicago Police Department, spoke with Mike Fourcher about reform in the wake of the Department of Justice probe, how aldermen have dropped the ball in at-risk communities, and the union’s collective bargaining agreement with the city, which expires this summer. Angelo, currently serving his first three-year term as union president, and campaigning for re-election claims Chicago police are unbiased about who they serve and "we go" to serve communities regardless of the circumstances. Ballots for the union campaign are due later this month and Angelo is up against his predecessor, Mike Shields and three other candidates.

Got questions or comments? Send us an email: [email protected].

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Happy Saturday!

We’re trying something new this week: an overview of the five biggest things that happened in Chicago and Cook County over the last week. Like it or don’t like it? Drop me a note: [email protected] I’ll read it personally and pledge my undying gratefulness to you.

Chicago Clerk Anna Valencia told The Daily Line in its weekly podcast interview Wednesday that the city is pressing forward with its municipal identification program despite concerns from immigrant advocates that the data collected could be a honeypot for federal immigration officers.

[Subscribe on iTunes, Soundcloud, Google Play and WGNPlus to hear the interview Friday morning.]

Brian Miller, Cook County Comm. Larry Suffredin’s longtime Chief of Staff, is on today’s ballot for Evanston’s mayoral election. It’s a nonpartisan consolidated primary election, and Miller has the first position on the ballot. His four challengers include Mark Tendam, Gary Gaspard, Steve Hagerty, and Jeffery P. 'Jeff' Smith. Miller is also 9th Ward alderman in Evanston, and was past president of the Democratic Party of Evanston.

Suffredin’s son, Tom Suffredin, is also running for 6th Ward alderman in Evanston in the April 4 Consolidated General Election.

Five Fourth Ward candidates face off in today’s special aldermanic election to fill the vacancy left by Ald. Will Burns. Burns exited the City Council a day shy of one year ago to work for Airbnb, kicking off a somewhat closed-door process to find his replacement. In April, a five-member selection panel hand-picked by Mayor Rahm Emanuel presented three finalists out of a crowd of 18. Shortly after, the mayor announced Sophia King as his choice. She was unanimously approved by the City Council and sworn in on April 14.

In a desperate move to obtain funding for the remainder of the school year, Chicago Public Schools filed a motion for preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against Gov. Bruce Rauner Monday. The injunction (via The Sun-Times) asks the Court to take swift action in deciding the two count racial discrimination case filed by the district and five parents of CPS students against the Governor, the State Board of Education, and Comptroller Susana Mendoza. Without an injunction, the district said it could resort to ending the school year on June 1 instead of June 20.