Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, April 12, 2016.
- Weather: The coldest day of the week
Tuesday will be the coldest day of the week, with a high of 48 and a low of 35. At least it’s supposed to be sunny. [AccuWeather]
- City Council approves two more wrongful-death settlements
Chicago has spent millions of dollars on lawsuits and settlements involving the police over the past few years, and now the city is going to spend a few million more. The City Council finance committee approved settlements in the wrongful-death lawsuits of Justin Cook and Philip Coleman. Video of police officers using a Taser on Coleman and dragging him out of a jail cell was released last year. [NBC Chicago]
- Ex-con former congressman Mel Reynolds arrested at Atlanta airport
Disgraced former politician Mel Reynolds was arrested in Atlanta Monday as he stepped off a plane from Johannesburg, South Africa, after failing to show up for a hearing in an ongoing tax-evasion investigation. In the mid-1990s Reynolds served two years in prison for statutory rape and other sex convictions in the case that forced him to resign from Congress. Released on his own recognizance, he is scheduled to go on trial May 2. [Chicago Tribune]
- A very young person is suspected of stealing phones in the Loop
Police are warning Chicagoans about a string of robberies in the Loop targeting pedestrians’ smartphones and headphones. The robbers have been sneaking up behind unsuspecting people on the sidewalk or on a CTA platform and grabbing their belongings. Authorities believe one of the suspects is between ten and 12 years old. [DNAinfo Chicago]
- Comedian Andy Richter remembers Dennis Hastert’s creepy locker-room shower chair
Conan O’Brien sidekick Andy Richter, who was a student at Yorkville High School year during Dennis Hastert’s time as a wrestling coach and civics teacher, confirmed one of the allegations against Hastert. The former U.S. House speaker allegedly put a La-Z-Boy-style chair in the boys’ locker room so he could watch students shower, according to a court filing by prosecutors. Richter remembered the chair, saying on Twitter that he had heard it was “purportedly ‘to keep boys from fighting.'” [CBS News]
- Independent journalist Jamie Kalven says gun violence has made Chicago “a broken city”
Gun violence and a lack of trust between police and citizens have made Chicago a broken city, says activist and journalist Jamie Kalven, whose FOIA request helped secure the release of video showing then-Chicago Police Department officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shooting Laquan McDonald not once, as originally claimed, but 16 times. Kalven discusses the problems facing Chicago in an in-depth interview with political strategist David Axelrod on the U. of C.-cosponsored podcast the Axe Files. [CNN]