Meribah Knight, Hunter Clauss and Rebecca Vevea were all accomplished reporters with the Chicago News Cooperative when it suddenly closed its doors last week. On today’s show, it’s an all-former-CNC-reporter panel.
Meribah Knight, whose beat was the homeless, talks about the status of the City’s ten-year plan to eliminate homelessness. We’re in year nine right now, and homelessness is, without question, on the rise. While the City has had some success creating residential developments for the chronically homeless, the real problem today is young people and the working poor who are living with relatives, in vehicles and in substandard housing. In fact, the number of homeless students attending CPS schools continues to rise.
Rebecca Vevea covered one of the most interesting periods in the modern history of CPS with the appointments of Rahm Emanuel’s Board and CEO J.C. Brizard. She talks about the Mayor’s new initiative to build six-year tech schools within five CPS high schools, and the CTU’s proposals for vastly increased resources for the schools.
Hunter Clauss fills us in on the NATO/G-8 summit and the closing of Chicago’s two remaining coal-fired power plants. And all three kick around the real meaning of Google’s new privacy policy. Is it possible that younger users are less perplexed about on-line privacy than their elders?