By Laura Janota/Roosevelt University

A groundbreaking documentary photo exhibit that sheds new light on protest movements in Chicago between the late 1940s and early 1970s will be presented this fall from Sept. 17 to Dec. 19 at Roosevelt University’s Gage Gallery.
The exhibit features the work of Art Shay, one of the world’s great living photographers. Shay opened his mammoth archive in Deerfield to Roosevelt University historian Erik Gellman, whose research focuses on 20th Century protest movements in America.
“The provocative photos in this exhibit, most of which have never been seen before, are likely to change what we know and how we think about protest movements in Chicago,” said Gellman, the show’s curator. Gellman spent the last year culling photos from Shay’s archives.

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Posted on September 5, 2015

They’re For Sanders

“Punk rock icon Henry Rollins joins Jesse Ventura on Off The Grid to talk the state of politics today, the 2016 elections and why Bernie Sanders has their vote.
“Plus, Rollins sounds off on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, why he had to ‘clean up after Bush,’ and the death of protest music.”

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Posted on September 3, 2015

By The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Florida Case Allowing Unconstitutional Mobile Phone Tracking Needs Review By High Court
Americans have the right to expect that digital records of their daily travels – when they left home, where they went, and how long they stayed – are private information, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said in an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court of the United States.
Weighing in on one of the most important digital privacy rights cases of the year, EFF is asking the court to hear arguments in Davis v. U.S., a federal criminal case from Florida that examines whether police need a search warrant to obtain historical cell site location information (CSLI).

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Posted on September 1, 2015

By CAN TV

“Now in its fifth year, SlutWalk Chicago gathers at Water Tower Place to fight rape culture and challenge mindsets of victim-blaming and slut-shaming.”

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Posted on August 27, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

A police chief, a city editor and Dean’s Place. Plus: Stick To The Coffees And Teas That You’re Used To; The Buffalo News’s Bullshit; The New Star Wars Museum; and Stop Tweeting Prideful Pictures Of Your Punny Print Pages!

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Posted on August 25, 2015

By Carlos Barria/Reuters
When I arrived in New Orleans after the 2005 hurricane, which caused flooding in 80 percent of the city and killed 1,572 people, the scene was quietly apocalyptic. There was dark water all around, empty highways, bodies wrapped in plastic.
The calm before the storm, the saying goes. But for many survivors of Katrina, it’s the calm after the storm that truly haunts.

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Posted on August 25, 2015

By Michael Grabell/ProPublica

With income inequality and economic fairness at the center of national discussion, workers’ compensation provides the perfect lens for examining how the social compact has changed. It is one of America’s first safety net programs. And unlike other laws, it spells out a company’s responsibility for its workers.
The American workers’ comp system was born in the early 1900s as a “grand bargain” forged by business and labor as awareness grew about the grisly workplace accidents that came with industrialization. Workers gave up their right to sue their employers – even in cases of gross negligence – protecting businesses from lawsuit judgments that could bankrupt them. In exchange, workers were promised medical care for their injuries, enough wages to help them get by while they recovered and compensation for permanent disabilities.
But as a ProPublica investigation has found, state after state has been dismantling its workers’ comp system, denying injured workers help when they need it most and shifting the cost of work-related disabilities onto public programs like Social Security Disability Insurance.

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Posted on August 24, 2015

By Matt Farmer

Today is Day Six of the Dyett Hunger Strike. Twelve Chicago activists have put their bodies on the line to persuade the suits at City Hall and Chicago Public Schools that the now-shuttered Walter H. Dyett High School, 555 E. 51st St., should be reopened as a neighborhood high school, and not as a politically-connected charter or contract school.
By stepping up their fight for quality public education, the Dyett 12 join a venerable list of Chicago’s social justice reformers.

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Posted on August 22, 2015

By Marcelo Rochabrun/ProPublica

David Simon’s new HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero, which premiered last Sunday, is the harrowing tale of a hopeless battle. Based on a nonfiction book of the same title – written by former New York Times reporter Lisa Belkin – the show dramatizes the real fight that took place 25 years ago in Yonkers, New York, after a federal judge ordered public housing projects to be built in the wealthier (and whiter) parts of the city.
In an interview with ProPublica, David Simon discussed the legacy of the Yonkers crisis and what desegregation is all about. The transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

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Posted on August 22, 2015

By The Fight For $15

Workers from five continents, elected leaders from around the world testify before Brazilian Senate at first-ever global hearing on McDonald’s ‘race to the bottom’
Citing a pattern of illegal behavior that is undercutting Brazil’s workers and economy, Brazilian leaders Thursday called for major investigations into McDonald’s that will place the fast-food giant under the microscope in its most important Latin American market.
Brazilian Labor Ministry prosecutor Leonardo Mendoca announced the formation of a task force to investigate extensive allegations of labor law violations by McDonald’s throughout Brazil, which could find the company in breach of a national accord it signed in 2013 pledging to respect the country’s labor laws. Mendoca also said Brazil’s new prosecutor general would continue to support enforcement and investigations involving McDonald’s.

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Posted on August 21, 2015