Category: Chicago, Illinois Local News

Alaina Harkness, the executive director of the water tech nonprofit Current, appears at a Chicago news conference on Jan. 30, 2024, with Gov. J.B. Pritzker. (Dilpreet Raju / Capitol News Illinois)

A Chicago organization focused on drinking water sustainability will receive a $15 million federal grant over the next two years for a project aimed at jumpstarting a regional clean water industry. 

The U.S. National Science Foundation awarded the grant to Current Innovation NFP, a nonprofit “innovation hub” whose mission is to “solve pressing water challenges caused by climate change and pollution.” It will receive one of 10 inaugural NSF Engine awards aimed at using science and technology to drive regional economies.

Current’s Great Lakes Water Innovation Engine, also called Great Lakes ReNEW, includes more than 50 regional partner organizations from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. 

Between the partner organizations – which range from nonprofits to educational institutions and for-profit companies – the project aims to train 500 people for jobs related to water technology within the first two years. 

While the initial grant covers two years, it could grow to an eventual $160 million investment over a 10-year period so long as the project progresses towards its goals.

At an announcement Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the federal funding a “win for our economy and for our environment” as climate pressures continue to mount.

“Fresh water is drying up. Nations across the globe are grappling with unprecedented water shortages, and over time, it will become the world’s most precious resource,” he said.

Great Lakes ReNEW will develop methods for selectively separating wastewater molecules to retrieve different minerals used in the production of electric parts. 

“Our advantage in the Great Lakes region is that we are home to one-fifth of the planet’s freshwater,” Pritzker said.

Current, which will lead the regional project, aims to launch and invest in dozens of water tech companies while using a testbed for those companies to develop technologies that aim to attract water-intensive manufacturers.

The end goal is a circular economy centered on refining wastewater, removing chemicals such as PFAS — sometimes called ‘forever chemicals’ — while retaining minerals like cobalt, lithium and nickel. These minerals are necessary when producing rechargeable batteries, most of which are currently produced overseas, making them valuable to domestic tech companies.

Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Board president, said the investment will benefit communities affected by environmental racism.

“We simply will not survive if we don’t invest in clean water,” she said.

The Great Lakes hold about 90% of all fresh water in the United States and the National Science Foundation estimates 40 million people rely on the lakes for clean drinking water.

Alaina Harkness, executive director of Current and principal investigator of the project, said water scarcity is something to tackle as early as possible.

“Today, we waste too much of our water and the valuable materials it carries – materials that we need to power the electrification of our society,” she said.

Harkness said the environment and economy have always been inextricably linked.

“No economy or society is sustainable beyond the ecosystems and natural resources we all rely on,” she said. “We don’t have time to waste, we do have two years and $15 million to show meaningful, measurable progress on new science to extract valuable minerals from our wastewater.”

Harkness said the project will “help address both our environmental and economic challenges, generating solutions to planetary concerns while creating good jobs and opportunities for people to build wealth and stability.”

Within the two-year period, it also plans to engage 1,000 youth across the region in STEM-related programs. 

Crafting sensor networks that can detect real-time information on chemical levels in water will be another short-term aim, said Junhong Chen, co-principal investigator and lead water strategist at Argonne National Laboratory based in Chicago’s western suburb of Lemont.

“The breakthroughs will play a pivotal role in securing our domestic supply chain, supporting electrification and advancing our clean energy future,” Chen said. “While it might sound like science fiction, I assure you it is not.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

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Hundreds of high school students across Chicago walked out of their schools Tuesday to call for a cease-fire in Gaza.

The City Council is expected to debate a delayed resolution Wednesday that would call for a cease-fire after more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed and the release of hostages taken by the militant group Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 Israelis.

Participants in the student-led protest — which started at noon and convened at City Hall in the afternoon — said they want their local alderpersons to know that many high schoolers are opposed to continued U.S. funding of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The walkouts are meant to be “pro-peace and pro-humanity,” said the high school senior who led the planning of the protest. They asked not to be named out of fear of online attacks and retribution that

other Palestinian students have faced

.

“We hope they know that the Chicago youth has spoken loud and proud, and that as representatives of our wards they should do a better job in representing our beliefs and what we stand for,” the student leader said. “We hope that our effort to fulfill our civic duty as high school students that may not yet be able to vote is recognized, and also that our voices are heard and represented.”

Organizers said they expected around 2,000 students from 15 or more schools to walk out Tuesday, including Lincoln Park High School, Curie Metropolitan High School, Jones College Prep, Taft High School and Von Steuben Metropolitan Science High School.

Keffiyehs, scarves that represent Palestinian culture, were scattered throughout the crowd of more than 150 students who walked out of Lincoln Park High School, down Lincoln Avenue and toward the office of 43rd Ward Ald. Timmy Knudsen, who has opposed a cease-fire resolution.

Two friends, one donning a black keffiyeh and one donning a red one, said they participated in the Lincoln Park walkout to demand a ceasefire.

“Even though we are in a place where we’re safe, Palestinians wake up every day wondering if they will die,” said a sophomore, 16, who didn’t share her name for fear of retaliation.

The two said they wanted to use their voices to stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves.

“We all have the privilege of knowing we’re going to wake up safe, so we’re using our voices,” said her friend, a 17-year-old junior.

Some Palestinian students reported receiving emails and social media messages calling them Hamas supporters for participating in the cease-fire walkout. At one school, the Anti-Defamation League said an antisemitic picture was sent in a school chat.

But students said they’ve received mostly neutral to positive feedback from administrators and staff. And most students interviewed said they felt safe and expected peaceful interactions among classmates even if their views diverged.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in an interview Tuesday with the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ that he supported the student walkout.

“I’m incredibly proud of our students for exercising their constitutional rights to be able to speak out and speak up for righteousness and speak out against injustice,” he said on City Hall’s fifth floor as the students demonstrated downstairs in the lobby.

Johnson became the first major city mayor to call for a cease-fire last week along with the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. All eyes are now on the City Council’s debate Wednesday.

“As far as the City Council is concerned, they’ll have to make their choice, and each individual gets to decide if they’re going to call for peace,” Johnson said.

Chicago Public Schools officials said students have a right to demonstrate for causes they support. They reiterated that students should respect each other and avoid harmful language. The district said outside groups are prohibited from joining student demonstrations.

“We are a district that is committed to student voice and student participation in civic life and democracy, but harassment, discrimination and bias-based harm have no place in our school communities,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez wrote in an email to families.

Some kids who participated in the walkouts said one of the goals was to educate classmates and politicians who may be confused about the war or don’t have the context of Israel’s 56-year occupation of Palestinian territories and the 16-year blockade of Gaza.

“Students are seeing how much money our government spends on war, and we’re all scared about college debt, and we’re scared about health care … and we feel the government should be helping us, but instead we’re sending billions of dollars a year to fund wars we shouldn’t be participating in,” said another organizer who also asked not to be named.

“Alderpeople really need to think about young people more and how they receive our actions, because we’re the people that are going to be voting for them next,” the organizer said. “If somebody could so easily dismiss this and not call it a genocide, what does it say about them as a person? And that’s some of the characteristics youth are looking for in politicians. We don’t want to see any hypocrites.”

Some students said it’s been particularly distressing to see the continual killing of Palestinian children their age. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in November that “Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children.”

“They value our lives a little less,” said a Taft High School student who asked for their name not to be published.

“Thousands and thousands of children [have been killed]. It would basically take like [three] of our Taft High Schools — that’s how many kids we would need to fit all these children,” the student said.

The student said it’s been jarring to see the immediate support for Ukraine at the onset of Russia’s invasion, while solidarity with Palestinians has been harder to find.

“It’s kind of sad that we still have to show people that we’re human, too,” the student said. “But I think it’s necessary, and it’s an effective message for people within the community to know that the next generation does care, and our lives also matter, and our opinions matter, too.”

In Archer Heights on the Southwest Side, about 70 to 80 students from Curie Metropolitan High School walked out of class at noon chanting slogans and carrying signs denouncing Israel and supporting Palestinians.

“We strongly believe that we are the future and we are the new upcoming generation and need to continue to demand for a ceasefire and we demand change,” the student leader said.

Another student, a junior, said there are innocent people on both sides of the war in Gaza, and that’s why there needs to be a ceasefire.

“We don’t want more war. We want people to stop the war and act peacefully, and this why we’re asking for a ceasefire,” the student said.

“We have the ability to say something. If we have to be out here walking every single day, we’re going to do that.”

Those protesting planned on meeting other Chicago high school students at a rally at City Hall this afternoon.

Michael Puente is a member of WBEZ’s Race, Class & Communities desk.

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams is expected to miss at least two more weeks with an injured left foot.

Williams’ foot issue prevented him from playing Sunday in a 104-96 victory at Portland. The Bulls announced Tuesday that the 6-foot-7 forward has acute bone edema and will get reassessed in about two weeks.

Williams, 22, is averaging 10 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 27.3 minutes this season.

In a unanimous, bipartisan vote, the Illinois State Board of Elections agreed to put former President Donald Trump on the March 19 GOP primary ballot, saying it lacked the authority to decide whether he was disqualified from holding the presidency under the U.S. Constitution’s “insurrection clause.”

Guided by past Illinois Supreme Court rulings that prevent it from deciding complex constitutional issues, the board in an 8-0 vote rejected an objection to Trump’s appearance on the ballot on grounds that he “knowingly” filed a false statement of candidacy saying he was qualified to hold the office of the presidency.

The decision by the board, made up of four Democrats and four Republicans, is expected to be appealed in court by the group of five voters who filed the objection to Trump’s name appearing on the ballot over his role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The objectors cited provisions of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, a post-Civil War amendment that says those who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution “as member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state,” shall not be able to serve in Congress or “hold any office, civil or military” if they have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution.

The challenge was backed by Free Speech for People, a group that has mounted similar 14th Amendment challenges to Trump’s candidacy in states around the country.

The board’s decision came after a hearing officer, former Republican Kankakee County Circuit Judge Clark Erickson, issued an opinion saying that he agreed that Trump had engaged in “insurrection” but that the board was prevented from considering constitutional analysis.

GOP board member Catherine McRory voted to allow Trump’s name on the ballot, but said, “I wanted to be clear that this Republican views that there was an insurrection on Jan. 6.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he manipulated, instigated, aided and abetted an insurrection on Jan. 6,” she said of Trump. “However, having said that, it is not my place to rule on that today” because of the lack of “jurisdiction to rule on that fact.”

rap30@aol.com

ostevens@chicagotribune.com

On a break from his work as an FBI bomb technician, Jim Rudisill reflects on his explosive role in one of the most significant legal cases involving military veterans in recent memory.

“More than a little humbling,” Rudisill said. “It was very moving. I was very proud to be able to represent the veterans’ community – especially the post-9/11 veterans’ community – in this cause.”

Rudisill is taking on the Department of Veteran’s Affairs in the Supreme Court, claiming the VA shorted him out of benefits he earned on the battlefield.

Rudisill joined the U.S. Army in 2000, and served for two years, then went to Appalachian State University under the G.I. Bill.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he joined the Army again. This time, he served one combat tour in Afghanistan — and two in Iraq. 

In 2005, he was wounded in roadside bomb attack in Iraq, and had to be medically evacuated from a combat zone to Balad Air Force base.

“Part of looking for IEDs is a lot of times, they find you, you don’t find them,” Rudisill said.

Rudisill was recognized with the bronze star. After six years in war zones, he decided to leave the Army and return to civilian life.

“Getting out of the Army was hard,” he said. “One of the hardest parts about coming home was losing soldiers to suicide.”

He said the problems he witnessed among the veteran community were heartbreaking.

“Losing soldiers to addiction, that was very difficult,” Rudisill said. “There’s a lot of guilt that goes along with that. You ask yourself, is there something that I could have done to make a difference?”

He found an answer in his faith and committed to return to the military as a chaplain so he could help guide his fellow soldiers through their struggles.

“One thing that helped me more than any group therapy session or trying to have someone talk me through my own issues, was just being in the presence of others,” he said. “Letting them see you out there in the field covered in mud just like they are, suffering just like they are with weight on your back and weariness in your knees.”

He planned to go to graduate school, using a generous new G.I. Bill, the one congress passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He was admitted to Yale Divinity School, and he expected to use the post-9/11 G.I. Bill to pay for the Ivy League graduate degree.

But, when he applied to the VA to use the benefits he earned, he was denied.

They said because he had already started using the previous G.I. Bill – known as the Montgomery G.I. Bill – he had to continue under that one, which doesn’t provide nearly as much money.

“That prevented me from pursuing that goal,” he said.

Rudisill earned benefits under two separate programs during separate and distinct periods of service in the military, a situation that raised the question of how the benefits can be combined.

Under federal law, higher education payouts for veterans are capped at 48 months.

The peacetime Montgomery G.I Bill functions kind of like “financial aid.” Veterans pay into the program and receive a check that can be used for tuition for up to 36 months.

The much more generous post-9/11 G.I. Bill is more like a “full scholarship.” It pays colleges and universities directly for tuition, fees, books, and housing.

Rudisill used about 25 months of his Montgomery G.I. Bill benefits to earn his bachelor’s degree. At the time, the post-9/11 bill didn’t even exist.

But when it came time for grad school– he wanted to use the better benefits.

Here’s where it gets complicated. The Department of Veteran’s Affairs denied the post-9/11 benefits, saying since Rudisill had already started using the less generous Montgomery benefits, he had to exhaust the remaining 11 months before he could switch to the post-9/11 benefits.

The difference in money put Yale out of reach, and the dream of attending the prestigious divinity school was lost in the VA’s byzantine bureaucracy.

“It was really confusing and that’s why I reached out to my attorneys,” he said.

His attorney, lawyer Misha Tseytlin, a Chicago-based partner for the global law firm Troutman Pepper, had experience arguing before the Supreme Court – and took the case pro bono.  

“The VA’s decision is based on a misreading of the statutory text,” Tseytlin said. “These are truly life changing benefits.”

The legal battle would take nearly as long as Rudisill’s time in uniform – eight years through the lower courts — working all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. In that time, Rudisill, now 43, aged out of active service as a chaplain.

“I was upset that I was not being allowed to utilize the funds that I earned,” he said.  

In a brief filed ahead of arguments at the Supreme Court, VA secretary Denis McDonough said:  “There is no dispute that veterans who wish to use all 36 months of their Montgomery benefits can do so. What congress was giving veterans was a choice; but the fact that this choice came with consequences or fewer options than Mr. Rudisill would have preferred is not at all ‘hard to fathom.’ that is what congress routinely does.”

During oral arguments – justice Brett Kavanaugh seemed skeptical: “It’s not a revocation of your entitlement.” Kavanaugh said to Tseytlin.  “After you use up your Montgomery, the thing that caps you is the — is the 48-month limit. So, you still can get your post-9/11 after using up Montgomery.”

While Chief Justice John Roberts signaled his agreement with Rudisill.  “It seems to me to be a pretty raw deal to say you’re going to lose – you’re entitled – if you hadn’t done anything other than the 9/11, you’d be entitled to this, but because you served additional time you don’t get the whole 9/11, you’ve got to exhaust this less generous plan first,” Roberts said.

Listen to the oral arguments here.

Attorneys general from the District of Columbia and 33 states – including Illinois’ Kwame Raoul – have signed a brief in support of Rudisill’s position.

The case has vast implications … if the court were to decide in favor of Rudisill, 1.7 million veterans could be eligible for more benefits. 

“This feels like I’m serving my fellow veterans by pushing this forward,” he said.

For Rudisill — who dreamed of serving his country, and later wished to bolster soldiers’ spirits on the battlefield – the most important impact of his military career may come in court.

“I did earn these benefits, but yes, this case has taken on a seriousness much deeper than me on my own,” he said.

An incident involving a female student in a hijab, an Islamic headscarf, being attacked by a male student at Glenside Middle School in Queen Bee District 16 in Glendale Heights, is being investigated by the district and police.

The attack happened Thursday and was caught on students’ cellphones and shared widely on social media and WhatsApp. The video shows a male student grabbing the female student by her head and holding her in a headlock before shoving her to the ground near a set of lockers.

On Monday afternoon, the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which had previously warned of an increase in bullying, harassment and discrimination incidents against Muslim students over the last couple of years, called on law enforcement to investigate the attack.

District 16 Superintendent Joseph Williams called the events “extremely upsetting” but said the investigation does not suggest that the attack was fueled by bigotry.

“This is a serious disciplinary incident and we’re handling it as such, but we have no evidence that this was some act of intolerance related to a matter of faith,” Williams said Monday. “This type of behavior is aberrant; we completely won’t tolerate it. Our duty at this point is to protect the child through what happened, and then respond within the limits of the law, understanding that everybody here is a child.”

Though Williams could not share the identity of the female student, he noted that she is one of 91 students in the district who are new to the country.

“We have 52 languages spoken in a student population of about 1,700. We embrace it as a gift and it is a strength of our community,” he said. “It’s a multifaith, multicultural community and it’s brilliant, so things like this hurt.”

Williams said the district notified the Glendale Heights Police Department, which has initiated an investigation into the attack. “We can report that we have identified the students responsible for this attack,” Williams said.

According to CAIR-Chicago, the student’s family came from Saudi Arabia and has been in the United States for two months.

In the footage, a crowd of students can be seen watching the events unfold but none are seen intervening.

Williams said that while the behavior of the other students was deeply distressing, within minutes, a teacher responded to the female student in distress and called the administration for help.

A member of the school’s administration then responded and cleared the scene, and made sure the student was physically safe, Williams said.

“At this time, we are working on our No. 1 priority, which is to support the student to whom this happened,” Williams said. “We will make sure that the school is safe for them, and will always continue to be and also hold the individual or individuals responsible for this behavior fully accountable.”

In a statement, CAIR-Chicago also called on the school and the district to effectively address the larger culture of bullying, which has become an intractable phenomenon.

“Bullying involves more than the perpetrator, bystanders who watch and accept, or even reward this behavior, make it possible for the bully to carry out their attack,” CAIR-Chicago’s operations manager and former CPS school teacher, Maggie Slavin, said in a statement. “In this case, we see bystander students reinforcing the terrible ambush, filming it, and even gloating about it on social media. This larger culture must be addressed.”

Williams said the district will investigate every possibility, considering the culture and climate of schools across the country.

“We’re not immune, just like any other school, seeing as, unfortunately, this happened,” he said. “But in our case, we will accept responsibility for the safety of the child and also to hold the … individuals accountable. It just cannot happen again.”

Williams said the district is in communication with leaders from Muslim Society Inc., a mosque down the street from Glenside Middle School, as it ensures the well-being of the female student and her family.

Glendale Heights police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

zsyed@chicagotribune.com

Jan. 29, 2024 – Full Show