Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, October 9, 2016.
- Weather: A pleasant day with a bit of rain possible
It will be relatively warm again Tuesday, with a high of 71 and a low of 61. A rain shower is possible in the afternoon. [AccuWeather]
- Chicago Police Department using social media strategy to repair broken image
The Chicago Police Department is relying on its social media accounts to improve its image and show a different side of the police force. The new strategy started in mid-September, when the police began posting more on Twitter and Facebook—including daily Facebook Live videos that show cops “meeting with residents, walking the beat and working crime scenes,” according to DNAinfo Chicago. “We want the public to know what we do on a daily basis,” News Affairs sergeant Bob Kane told the news site. “It shows that we’re approachable, that we’re doing good things and we’re listening.” [DNAinfo Chicago]
- Black and Latino candidates were discriminated against in CPS job-screening process
Chicago Public Schools has admitted using a job-screening process that discriminated against black and Latino candidates from 2012 until earlier this year. As discovered by WBEZ via a Freedom of Information Act request, 74 percent of white applicants advanced beyond the screening conducted by a private company, while only 58 percent of Latino candidates and 45 percent of black candidates went on to the group of potential hires. Officials didn’t have an explanation for the disparity. “Obviously, when we saw the data it was troubling, which is why we sought to reverse that policy swiftly,” CPS education chief Janice Jackson told the station. [WBEZ]
- Ken Griffin donates $2 million to Illinois GOP statehouse races
Illinois Republicans are trying very hard to win more Illinois General Assembly seats in the November election in order to take away the Democrats’ supermajority. Billionaire Ken Griffin, a major contributor to Governor Bruce Rauner and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, recently donated $2 million to GOP house minority leader Jim Durkin’s campaign account to fund legislative races. Illinois’s $14 million spent on TV ads for statehouse candidates leads the nation, according to the Center for Public Integrity. [Politico]
- Pope Francis promotes local Catholic archbishop Cupich to cardinal
Chicago archbishop Blase Cupich has been promoted by Pope Francis to cardinal, one of the highest titles in the Catholic Church. “I would have to say as I reflect on it, while I’m pleased with this, I don’t feel any different,” he said after Sunday mass at Holy Name Cathedral. [Tribune]
- Constructing the Red Line underneath the river was no easy feat
Thousands of people ride the Red Line underground into the Loop every day without thinking about the fact they’re traveling underneath the Chicago River. The tubes underneath the river were built nearly eight decades ago, and even by modern standards it was a major feat of engineering, according to DNAinfo Chicago. “This is the only time an engineering project of this magnitude and complexity has been done in Chicago,” Bruce Moffat, a transit historian and the manager of signage and wayfinding for the CTA told the news site. [DNAinfo Chicago]