Joseph Wallace, Gizzell “Gizzy” Ford, Ja’hir Gibbons, Semaj Crosby, A.J. Freund. What do they have in common? All of them were murdered and before their deaths, all of them were the subjects of investigation by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).

Now add to that list Kerrigan “Kerri” Rutherford, age 6 from Montgomery, Illinois. Her mother and stepfather have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with her July 2^nd death, which Kendall County authorities allege was the result of the couple having given Kerri enough of a prescription drug, olanzapine, to kill her.

Many families are suffering a Covid-related loss of income but so are many of the people who provide them with their homes. In this Covid era, the cost of providing housing has increased while rental income has declined due to the inability of many tenants to pay their rent.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “mom and pop” landlords own more than half of all rental units nationwide (22.7 million out of 45.8 million). Here in Chicago, where small two- to six-flats and courtyard buildings make up so much of the fabric of Chicago’s neighborhoods that percentage is much higher.

Even though our communities would collapse without their work, as a society, we don’t treat Black women as essential.

The pay gap for Black women has only narrowed by nineteen cents from 1967 to 2018. Black women are paid, on average, thirty-eights cents on the dollar less than white men. This loss represents $1,962 per month, $23,540 per year, and a staggering $941,600 over a 40-year career. Ultimately, this affords Black women less opportunity to build wealth and economic security for themselves and their families.

We should stop teaching history in our schools. The way history is now being taught leads to a racist society, perpetuates white privilege, and overlooks the contributions of women and minorities. I ask the Illinois State Board of Education and school districts to immediately remove history curricula, books, and materials that unfairly communicate history until suitable alternatives are developed.

We are building on the 1991 Black History mandate, HB 2859, a law introduced and enacted by the late Illinois State Senator William Shaw. In 2018 I introduced and passed Illinois House Resolution 1098 which created the Black History Curriculum Task Force. We have already started the process to collect data about every Illinois school district's Black history curriculum to be able to improve the curriculum, but we can no longer ignore the contributions and struggles of all minorities.

As a Black man, a husband and father raising his three Black children in the Austin neighborhood, and a former teacher of Black students, the murders of Black people at the hands of the state continues to shake me to my core. I feel sad, hopeless, desperate, fearful for my family and community.

Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Rekia Boyd, Bettie Jones, Laquan McDonald. How is it possible that these lynchings--broadcast across the world in real time--have not already led to transformative change for the Black community?

Promoters of the “Tax Hike” Amendment aren't telling voters something very important about this new tax hike on the ballot in November.

They're claiming it'll only affect “the wealthy.” But that's highly misleading. In fact, it's downright disingenuous.

The truth is, we – as Illinois voters – aren't voting on the tax rates.

Today is a national day of strikes, walkouts, and worker actions to demand race and economic justice. The workers of SEIU Local 73 are standing in solidarity with workers across the country who are uplifting Black Lives Matter.

Most Black Americans live with a legacy of 400 years of slavery, 100 years of Jim Crow, decades of racial housing and education segregation and more. The unfair criminal justice system did not begin with the police murder of Laquan McDonald and it will not end with the police murder of George Floyd. Their murders and the murders of hundreds of other black men at the hands of police are a byproduct of a criminal justice system that is inherently unfair to black and brown Americans.

Rising in swells from oceans of anger toward and fear of the police are cries to defund, dismantle, and decommission the Chicago Police Department. Rallying cries, however, do not make for effective policy, and the paroxysm of violent crime in which Chicago finds itself is no time to put at risk the pursuit of accountable, constitutional policing in order to keep people safe.

The way we talk and write about the notion of defunding as Chicago grapples with a crisis of confidence in its police department may well determine whether this moment is an opportunity for real reform, or a morass out of which overcorrections emerge which are no less damaging for being well intentioned.

As Illinoisans finalize their taxes for the July 15 deadline, there’s hope that this will be the last Tax Day we’re forced to file under our state’s current broken tax system. That’s because the Fair Tax is on the ballot for voters to approve this November. The Fair Tax would update our outdated system to one that lifts the burden off our middle and lower-income families by requiring the wealthiest Illinoisans to pay their fair share.

Following the Chicago region’s third straight wettest May on record, communities are grappling with how to address increasingly frequent and costly urban flooding. From private property owners to state leadership, the reality is that everyone can and must play a role. That’s why in May the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) updated an ordinance that enables an innovative new tool to help manage stormwater in Cook County while benefiting property owners and encouraging economic development.