Informed Opinion Online
Chicago can take several steps to address these inequities and ensure the cannabis industry lives up to its potential as a driver of social and economic justice. One key measure is creating additional equity licenses specifically for individuals disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition. These licenses should offer significantly reduced application fees for applicants who meet specific criteria.
While public health failures have always existed in Chicago, COVID-19 drew specific public attention to the lack of transparency and the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities. In 2022, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office stopped publishing data on COVID-19 outbreaks, concealing crucial information about the virus’s impact on vulnerable populations.
AI is revolutionizing education by leveraging real-time student data to enhance both teaching and learning. It works by analyzing details like how long a student spends on a question, how often they access help, and their overall performance, to create a “student model” that helps predict future performance and identifies the most effective teaching strategies. These models create personalized learning tracks, such as customized practice problems, that are tailored to each student’s current understanding and areas of struggle.
Chicago has a transit access problem. If you go to the North Side, you’ll find there are 55 CTA train stations (“L” stops) for the 25 community areas that make up the region. A few miles down in the South Side, you’ll find there are just 29 CTA train stations for its 42 community areas; 25 of those areas have no stations at all. This discrepancy in rail service leaves thousands of South Side residents without the easy, reliable rail access North Siders can take for granted. An obvious, albeit partial, solution lies in the existing Metra Electric (ME) line, which offers a much-needed track – figuratively and literally – to improving transit access in Chicago.
My feeling of being neglected by the University with respect to my experience with crime near campus certainly didn’t imbue a rosy perception of the administration’s concern for my well-being. While its current efforts to market the University’s safety programs are crucial to promoting various crime mitigation initiatives, improving communication and transparency between the administration and its community will instill greater trust and reassurance.
With large grocery stores making an exodus from Chicago communities, neighborhood residents face increasing instability in food access. The city has an opportunity to reverse this trend with the creation of city-owned grocery stores.
Personalized default diagnoses — nudges — provided by AI can help improve health outcomes in Chicago and the world.
A unioinzation surge is underway among Chicago’s cultural workers. These emerging unions can only succeed with more balanced legislation that protects and prioritizes the rights of workers: a rebalancing that would be brought by the passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. Workers at the Museum of Science and Industry, workers who have tirelessly brought memorable experiences and quality education to people from around the world for decades, deserve to have sufficient protections for their right to collectively negotiate with their employers.
Over 1 in 5 (more than 70,400) students within Chicago Public Schools (CPS) are classified as English Learners – meaning that over a fifth of CPS students are enrolled in bilingual education programs. Yet despite the urgent need for robust and effective bilingual education services, bilingual education in Chicago is struggling, and has been for some time.
The subminimum wage and the accompanying reliance upon tipping for income can harm workers by lowering their overall pay and reducing their power in relation to managers, business owners, and customers.