Dick Allen (Photo Credit: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum/X). Former Chicago White Sox slugger Dick Allen has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Though Allen had only spent three of his 15 Major League Baseball seasons on the South Side, he left an indelible mark on the franchise.  Thanks to the Classic Baseball Era Committee, Allen and fellow slugger Dave Parker will be bestowed baseball’s most hallowed honor. This 16-member body considered eight players whose primary contributions to the game occurred before 1980.  It’s a posthumous

The quest for redemption is a journey as old as time. The Parable of the Prodigal Son teaches us that no fall from grace is irredeemable. But for many of the 1.2 million incarcerated Americans, redemption remains a distant hope, an unreachable shore. Upon their return home, they can face burdens like shame, blame and guilt, along with the diminished prospects of enjoying a normal life where finding sustainable employment and affordable housing remains elusive. Jesse Jackson Jr., once a rising star in the Democratic Party and a proud

Ralph Clark, CEO of SoundThinking, spoke exclusively to The Chicago Defender about the technology’s value and the implications of the council’s decision (Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons and soundthinking.com). Earlier this week, the City Council overwhelmingly voted to grant Chicago police superintendent Larry Snelling the power to renew the city’s ShotSpotter contract. This move defied Mayor Brandon Johnson’s wish to terminate the controversial gun detection technology. Not long after that vote, Johnson vowed to veto the measure that passed 33-14, calling it illegal because, in the words of Corporation Counsel Mary

As the city explores alternatives, Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood shares the Johnson Administration’s vision for investing in people and improving first responder technology (Photo Credit: Chicago Mayor’s Office). With Chicago pulling the plug on ShotSpotter, what will replace it? The city recently opened bids from vendors offering alternative first responder technology to replace the acoustic gun detection technology. Chicago isn’t the first city to scrap ShotSpotter and resort to alternatives. For what life could look like post-ShotSpotter, one could look at cities like Seattle and Portland

ShotSpotter and Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood (Photo Credits: chicagojustice.org and Chicago Mayor’s Office). Chicago officially ended its contract with ShotSpotter, fulfilling Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign promise. Depending on who you talk to, ShotSpotter’s end either means that police response to shootings will be hindered, ultimately leading to an uptick in crime, or without it, Black and Brown communities won’t be overpoliced. The city is doing away with a technology whose effectiveness has been questioned. Mayor Johnson recently issued a request for information (RFI) for the city to

Turner Drew Language Academy students celebrate teacher Alicia Carlisle’s Golden Apple Award (Credit: Tacuma Roeback).  Grade school children at the Turner Drew Language Academy on the South Side held pom poms or signs that read “#TeachGolden” but barely held onto their excitement over what would transpire at the school gym. As soon as the door flipped open and first-grade teacher Alicia Carlisle stepped into the room, it all came to a glorious head. They and staff members erupted. They cheered, shrieked, clapped and/or jumped because Carlisle, one of their