“Gun Smoke” doesn’t have anything on Cabrini-Green this summer. On June 13, gunslingers dueled in the streets and sheriffs tried to restore order in the North Side development.

Not all the victims of terror are people who were hurt on Sept. 11.

Just weeks after the infamous terrorist attack, the current head and Executive Director of the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention, Debbie Bretag, gave a speech at the opening of her group’s convention. “Getting back to normal should not be our goal,” Bretag said. “Rather, changing what has been considered to be normal and acceptable must be our mission.” Read more »

The violent death of 10-year-old Rita Haskins on May 3 was heart breaking, unconscionable and unnecessary. Rita was a sweet, loving, inquisitive, caring child, a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a student, a friend, a neighbor and a child of God.

As regular readers know, I have been writing lately about the high cost of medicine and how it is affecting not just our seniors and Medicaid recipients but also the working poor who are struggling to stay off the welfare rolls.

I know a young mother who makes minimum wage, has three children and no health insurance? Yeah, they can always go to Cook County Hospital. But not the way people used to. Now, even the folks at Cook County Hospital want to know how they are going to be paid. This situation is scary for a lot of people and I mean those with and without the Medicaid card. Read more »

The Chicago Housing Authority announced in June that they would meet with former residents who didn’t receive the contract, which gives them the right to return to their old neighborhoods. A number of residents who moved between October 1999 and March 2001 did not receive the Relocation Rights Contract, which gives them the option of returning to a mixed-income community after they are built on the site of old developments.

Under the CHA Resident Relocation Rights contract, all residents who were lease compliant in October 1999 have a right to return to a new or rehabbed unit after redevelopment. Residents who relocated with Housing Choice Vouchers (formerly known as a Section 8 voucher or certificate) in late 1999, 2000 and early 2001 did not receive a Relocation Rights Contract because the contract was not put into effect until March 2001. Read more »

Many U.S. government policy makers seem to be getting their information on the lives of welfare recipients from science fiction television rather than real life. Their welfare reform proposals appear to be something straight out of the ‘twilight zone.’ And there appears to be a ‘lost in space’ mentality when it comes to financial and food assistance, training and education, housing, childcare and health care.