Residents of Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood have struggled for years to halt and reverse the neoliberal assault against the open-enrollment Dyett High School. A Request for Proposals process for Dyett, whose own rules were violated by Chicago Public Schools (CPS), was the proverbial last straw. In response, twelve activists launched a liquid-only hunger strike on August 17, 2015, not to conclude until a number of demands for reopening and restoring the school are met.
Labor Day 2015 marks the 22nd day of the Dyett 12 hunger strike. The hunger strike has galvanized the community, earned local and national media coverage, and widespread buzz on social media. At least three of the Dyett 12 have received medical care during the hunger strike.
Officialdom's response has been lukewarm: Mayor Emanuel agreed to a meeting with Dyett 12 activists, and was chased off the stage of a budget hearing by activists. On September 3, 2015, CPS announced that Dyett will reopen as an open-enrollment, arts-themed high school. The Dyett 12 have rejected the proposal, saying the proposal doesn't fulfill public demands, and have vowed to continue the hunger strike.
Additional Coverage: Democracy Now! | Teachers for Social Justice coverage | Labor Beat (video): The Fight for Dyett High School, 4th Quarter | Think Progress | The Real News Network | The New York Times
Rahm Emanuel has been declared 
For the first time since Chicago switched to non-partisan mayoral elections in 1996, Chicago will have 
Chicagoans have taken to the streets to protest the effective acquittal of police officers in Ferguson, Missouri (in the Michael Brown case) and New York City (the Eric Garner case).
September, 1, 2014 marks Labor Day in the United States, and it also marks the debut of the 100th episode of Chicago Independent Television, the monthly TV program of Chicago Indymedia. The 100th episode debuts at 11PM on September 1, 2014 on 
After 20 months in jail, three NATO defendants -- Brian Jacob Church, Jared Chase and Brent Betterly -- finally go to trial in the coming days on trumped-up, politically motivated accusations and a ‘crime’ wholly created and instigated by undercover cops engaged in police entrapment. In the run-up to the May 2012 NATO meeting in Chicago, officials militarized the city and clamped down on the freedom to protest. A linchpin in officials' justification of that state repression was the arrest and demonization of the NATO defendants, just days before the biggest purveyors of violence in the world -- NATO officials -- gathered in the Windy City. Opening arguments reportedly scheduled now for January 21. 
From the newswire - The blog of the website Privacy SOS featured a blogpost headlined "Is Facebook going to let cops block you from posting about protests?", with a particular focus on the Chicago police. Quoting from the post:
In a victory for free speech, activism, and education rights, an Illinois appellate court supported the free speech rights of a Chicago professor after her university tried to slander her using an Illinois law intended to shield citizens from powerful interests.
On the evening of Friday, August 16th,