Archive - Midwest
The Financial Catastrophe That Coronavirus Brought to Small Towns
The federal government has abandoned America’s small towns as the coronavirus depletes their budgets. It’s flood season and local leaders have no idea how to help residents through natural disasters. “We do not see how we will survive,” one told us.
More Than 1 in 5 Illinoisans Living in State Homes for Adults With Disabilities Have Tested Positive for the Coronavirus
In Illinois, at least 355 people who live in state-run homes for adults with disabilities have tested positive for the coronavirus. “They don’t know why their family has stopped coming to visit,” a relative said.
A Nurse With One Lung Had COVID-19. Other Nurses Saved Her.
In the coronavirus era, nurses are called heroes. Sometimes, the lives they save are those of other nurses.
Families of Special Needs Students Fear They’ll Lose School Services in Coronavirus Shutdown
In letters to parents of special education students, some Illinois school districts are asking them to accept scaled-back remote learning plans or waive their rights to “free appropriate public education.”
COVID-19 Killed at Least 25 Residents of One Illinois Nursing Home. The Family of One Victim Has Filed a Lawsuit, Alleging Negligence.
The family of a Bria of Geneva resident who died from the coronavirus in April claims in the lawsuit that the nursing home failed to adequately test residents and staff, and didn’t isolate infected residents in time to protect others.
The Big Empty: How Corporate Headquarters Have Abandoned America’s Suburbs
As companies increasingly relocate to urban centers, sprawling, once-trendy corporate campuses like Sears’ and Kmart’s have been left crumbling in the suburbs.
Sears Helped Build a Giant Entertainment Arena. Now, a Suburb Pays Millions to Keep It Running.
A Chicago suburb is on the hook for millions to operate the Sears Centre arena — an amount that in some years accounts for as much as 14% of its budget.
Nearing Bankruptcy, Sears Claimed Fast-Food Workers and Baristas as Employees to Keep Tax Breaks
Politicians who helped draft Sears’ tax deals said they were designed to retain thousands of corporate jobs. Contractors, landscapers and temporary employees who worked in Sears’ buildings were never meant to help the company qualify for tax breaks.
The Sears Headquarters Deal Cost Taxpayers $500 Million. 30 Years Later, There’s Little to Show for It.
Was the multimillion dollar deal to keep Sears in Illinois worth it? An economic study commissioned by ProPublica and the Daily Herald suggests it wasn’t. Here’s why.
How We Reported on the $500 Million Sears Deal
To investigate the Sears deal, ProPublica and the Daily Herald reviewed thousands of pages of records, court filings and internal Sears documents. We also commissioned an economic study to examine the long-term effect of the tax deals.
Sears’ Headquarters Was Supposed to Turn a Sleepy Suburb Into a Boomtown. It Never Happened.
To lure Sears into a Chicago suburb, officials crafted the largest tax break package ever awarded to a company in Illinois. It resulted in revenue shortfalls, disappearing jobs and unexpected tax burdens, a Daily Herald and ProPublica review showed.
A Quarter of the Residents at This Nursing Home Died From COVID-19. Families Want Answers.
Within three weeks, the Bria of Geneva nursing home went from one case of COVID-19 to two dozen residents dead and at least 75 infected. Delayed testing and gaps in nursing home data obscures the true toll of the crisis.
These Companies Got Millions in Tax Breaks to Bring Jobs to Youngstown. They Created Next to None.
When the American steel industry collapsed, few places were hit as hard as Youngstown, Ohio. Desperate for investment, officials awarded millions in property tax breaks to companies promising new jobs. But those efforts have largely failed to deliver.
Why a Struggling Rust Belt City Pinned Its Revival on a Self-Chilling Beverage Can
Welcome to Youngstown, Ohio, home of Chill-Can, the self-chilling beverage container you’ve probably never heard of. Officials have gambled millions of dollars and demolished a neighborhood for the product. Not one job has been created yet.
COVID-19 Took Black Lives First. It Didn’t Have To.
In Chicago, 70 of the city’s 100 first recorded victims of COVID-19 were black. Their lives were rich, and their deaths cannot be dismissed as inevitable. Immediate factors could — and should — have been addressed.
Early Data Shows Black People Are Being Disproportionally Arrested for Social Distancing Violations
Crowds of mostly white protesters have defied Ohio’s stay-at-home order without arrest, while in several of the state’s biggest jurisdictions, police departments have primarily arrested black people for violating the order.
¿Qué pasa cuando los obreros que hacen jabón de manos contraen COVID-19? Protestan.
Después de que una trabajadora en una fábrica de productos de belleza cerca de Chicago muriera por COVID-19, sus compañeros armaron una protesta. Pero no solicitaron ayuda de OSHA. Solicitaron ayuda de un nuevo defensor: la fiscalía general del estado.
In Chicago, Urban Density May Not Be to Blame for the Spread of the Coronavirus
The communities hardest hit by the coronavirus in Chicago are low-density black and Hispanic neighborhoods, including ones where economic decline and population loss have caused more people to live in the same household.
