The [Wednesday] Papers

"An unprecedented analysis by the Chicago Tribune of every police shooting from 2010 through 2015 . . . found that foot chases played a role in more than a third of the 235 cases that ended with someone wounded or killed," the paper reports.

"About half of the pursuits began routinely - as police attempted to stop or question people for curfew violations, public drinking, thefts, disturbance calls or other minor offenses, the Tribune found. According to the analysis, nearly a quarter of those killed by police during foot chases were struck only in the back, a factor often cited later in civil rights lawsuits questioning the threat actually posed to officers."

This is good work. Go read it.

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"Experts say changes in how and when officers are allowed to chase suspects on foot will likely be an outcome of the ongoing probe by the U.S. Justice Department of the Chicago Police Department. At least a dozen previous Justice Department probes of police departments over the past two decades have called for establishing specific guidelines on foot chases, and other cities have implemented policies on their own following controversial police shootings involving foot pursuits.

"Federal investigators will be particularly interested in how police shootings have disproportionately affected minorities, according to the experts. While African-Americans made up 80 percent of all those shot by police in the six-year span examined by the Tribune, an even higher number of those shot during foot chases - 94 percent - were black, the Tribune found."

Money Matters
"Consider Waukegan and Stevenson, two Illinois school districts separated by 20 miles - and an enormous financial gulf," AP reports.

"Stevenson, mostly white, is flush with resources. The high school has five different spaces for theater performances, two gyms, an Olympic-size pool and an espresso bar.

"Meanwhile Waukegan, with its mostly minority student body, is struggling. At one school, the band is forced to practice in a hallway, and as many as 28 students share a single computer.

"Last year, Stevenson spent close to $18,800 per student. Waukegan's expenditure? About $12,600. And the gap has only been getting wider."

I've been reading this story my whole life. Not only hasn't it changed, it's gotten worse.

"In the years following the 2008 financial crisis, school districts serving poor communities generally have been hit harder than more affluent districts, according to an Associated Press analysis of local, state and federal education spending.

"The result has been a worsening of America's rich schools, poor schools divide - and its racial divide, because many poor districts are also heavily minority. It also perpetuates the perception that the system is rigged in favor of the haves, at the expense of the have-nots."

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Go read the rest - the further comparison between Waukegan and Stevenson is as stark as it gets.

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The problem exists within school districts too, not just between school districts. For example, just see Tuesday's item Priming Payton's Pump.

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A 10-Point Plan To Reduce Chicago's Violence
We need to break out of the same stale solution narratives - Call out the National Guard! Mandatory minimums! Family values! - and, as our writer Steve Balkin puts it in this piece, reconfigure the policy handles. Amen.

Why Are Police In Public Schools?
Harmful to children, unfair to cops.

A very interesting read. I learned some things, and I'm pretty sure you will too.

Wait Till They Start Killing In Beverly Hills Like You Do In Chicago
Jesus cursed a fig tree, people. Now run tell that.

One of the greatest things I've seen lately. Enjoy.

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BeachBook

Phyllis Schlafly Was A Feminist.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

And @nickbilton has a great paragraph on how Silicon Valley pets itself https://t.co/9lUsJ9lsZB pic.twitter.com/X1EoUNAiSk

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 7, 2016

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Journalism. pic.twitter.com/iyQpXyHkj1

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) September 6, 2016

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Anti-journalism.

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