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Friday, April 26, 2024
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Alden Loury

Data Projects Editor, WBEZ/Columnist, Chicago Sun-Times

Elections
How Eileen O'Neill Burke won the razor-thin primary for Cook County state's attorney
The neck-and-neck Democratic race between O’Neill Burke and Clayton Harris III was marked by huge margins at the precinct level, data show.
By Alden Loury and Michael Puente | WBEZ
 
An affordable housing development at 5150 N. Northwest Hwy. in Jefferson Park.
Columnists
Housing loss, rising rents, evictions: How Chicago's homelessness problem evolved
No matter the vote on Bring Chicago Home, Chicago has to grapple with the lack of housing that lets everyone along the economic spectrum afford a place to call home.
By Alden Loury
 
A pedestrian is reflected in a glass window on which is a sign about rentals in downtown Chicago.
Housing & development
Nearly half of Chicago renters spend too much for rent and utilities
Chicago mirrors a nationwide trend in which more renters are spending at least 30% of their income on utilities and rent.
By Alden Loury and Emmanuel Camarillo
 
People walk down the sidewalk and sit on chairs on 75th Street Boardwalk, with business signs in the background.
Columnists
Black Chicago is still waiting for investment: ‘There’s so much potential’
The pace of declining Black spaces in Chicago is speeding up, Alden Loury writes. Despite the decline, there’s a market waiting for the investment that will keep Black residents in place and draw others back to the communities they’ve called home.
By Alden Loury
 
Alden Loury in a red hoodie and black jacket in front of the Grand Canyon.
Columnists
A solo trip to the Grand Canyon was what I needed for a fresh outlook in 2024
With time and space to reflect on our lives and to take account of what we’ve endured and who we’ve become, we can start to see ourselves better, Alden Loury writes.
By Alden Loury
 
A young Black man is shown in a crowd protesting in the Loop for higher wages in the fast food industry.
Columnists
Black employment in Cook County is sandwiched between hope and reality
Jobs can be a source of inspiration, but opportunities are diminishing for young Black people in the Chicago area, Alden Loury writes.
By Alden Loury
 
A police vehicle sits outside the Holstein Park Field house in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood.
The Watchdogs
Chicago’s armed robberies surge, in five charts
In the five months since July, the city has seen the sharpest spike in robberies in 20 years, driven by crimes committed with a weapon.
By Alden Loury
 
Jeremiah Watson stands for a photo near the Citgo at 76th and S South Chicago on the South Side, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. Watson was robbed as he walking to the Citgo Gas Station in October.
The Watchdogs
Chicago is seeing largest spike in robberies in over 20 years, analysis shows
Nearly 4,900 robberies happened between July 1 and Nov. 26, a more than 55% increase compared to the previous five months. That’s the largest percentage increase in robberies between consecutive five-month periods since at least 2001.
By Sophie Sherry and Alden Loury
 
Richard C. Jackson sits in the driver seat his vehicle outside his Bellwood home, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Bellwood, Ill. Jackson has been pulled over numerous times since moving back from serving in the Navy back in 2012, with the latest happening in June of 2022 where an officer pulled him over for not wearing a seatbelt. | Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Columnists
Racial profiling isn’t just a traffic thing. For Black people, it’s everywhere
The racial inequities in traffic stops, with Black motorists far more likely to be stopped than whites, are not the only evidence of racial suspicion and profiling that Black people experience, Alden Loury writes.
By Alden Loury