Chicago Reader print issue of October 24, 2024 (Vol. 54, No. 4) by Chicago Reader

THIS WEEK

IN THIS ISSUE

Letters

04 Pocket election guide Early voting 04 Editor’s Note Full-of-it-moon

FOOD

& DRINK

06 Sula | Feature Justyna Haluch is the zapiekanka queen of Schiller Woods.

07 Reader Bites Pepperoni, hot honey, and ricotta pizza at Novel Pizza Cafe

NEWS & POLITICS

08 CTA Why haven’t riders returned to the Blue Line?

10 Brown | Police How to ﬁle a complaint against a Chicago police oﬃcer

ARTS & CULTURE

12 Exhibition Carlos Flores brings a slew of community programming to Marquette Park.

13 Exhibitions of Note A solo show at Arts Club and three local artists at Old Friends

THEATER

16 Previews Two South American companies in the Destinos festival tackle environmental themes.

FILM

17 Feature Programmer John McDevitt recommends movies that combine horror with fetish, kink, leather, and BDSM.

19 Moviegoer The horror, the horror

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

20 Feature Alex E. Chávez of Dos Santos transforms tradition on his debut solo album.

25 Shows of Note Previews of concerts including the Closed Sessions 15th Anniversary, William Elliott Whitmore, and Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn.

30 Gossip Wolf The Eﬃgies release a ﬁnal album with late front man John Kezdy, and south-side hardcore upstarts Si Dios Quiere drop their debut full-length.

CLASSIFIEDS

29 Jobs

29 Professionals & Services

29 Auditions

BACK

31 Savage Love Slow minds and fast hands

ON THE COVER

ILLUSTRATION FOR THE READER BY JOE MILLS

MORE FROM MILLS CAN BE FOUND AT JOEMILLS.COM OR ON INSTAGRAM @JOEMILLS2

COVER PULL QUOTE SAID BY GABRIEL CONTRERAS HERNÁNDEZ IN “TODAY WE ARE ALL PARTICIPANTS” BY ALEJANDRO A. RIERA, P. 16.

Above: Vintage League of Women Voters poster

Le : Voter registration at 1973’s Black Expo in Chicago DOCUMERICA / NATIONAL ARCHIVES

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BREAK CYCLES TO BUILD FUTURES

EDITOR’S NOTE Reader Letters m

Re: “Scrapyard dead,” written by Paul Dailing and published in the October 17 issue (volume 54, number three)

Get ready for Tue 11/5

The next election in the City of Chicago allows you to vote on statewide referendums, county positions, judges, school board members, and of course, the president. Go to the URL chicagoelections.gov for polling place information.

Early voting

Chicago residents can vote early from October 21 through November 5. And regardless of where you live in Chicago, you can vote at any early voting site citywide. Same-day registration is available at each early voting site, as well as each site open on Election Day. You’ll need two forms of ID (a lease, passport, or debit card are some of the acceptable identifying items) and one must include your current address.

Chicago’s early voting hours

Mon-Fri 9 AM–6 PM

Sat 9 AM–5 PM

Sun 10 AM–4 PM

Two more locations available for early voters are the Board of Elections early voting supersite (191 N. Clark and CBOE offices (69 W. Washington, sixth floor)

Supersite and CBOE (open October 28 to November 4)

Mon-Fri 9 AM–7 PM

Sat 9 AM–5 PM

Sun 10 AM–4 PM

Election Day voting hours

Tue 11/5 6 AM–7 PM

Vote by mail voters can return their signed and sealed ballot envelope through the U.S. mail or drop in a secured drop box at early voting locations. The deadline to apply to Vote by Mail for the upcoming election is October 31 by 5 PM. Go to chicagoelections.gov for a full list of early voting sites. v

Honorable mention: Dunning Sanitarium. The graveyard spanned beneath the Read Mental Health Center, Oak Park Avenue, and the current Ta Academy. Plenty still there —Kevin Cunningham, via X

Re: “Chicago alt-country eccentrics

Souled American play their ﬁrst shows in 13 years behind two overdue reissues,” written by Leor Galil for the October 17 issue

Made it from Wisconsin. Very excited to see this! First time to see them since the Rough Trade era, at the Gallery and Trito’s —Tad Neuhaus, via X

Find us on socials: facebook.com/chicagoreader twitter.com/Chicago_Reader instagram.com/chicago_reader threads.net/@chicago_reader linkedin.com search chicago-reader

The Chicago Reader accepts comments and letters to the editor of less than 400 words for publication consideration. m mail@chicagoreader.com

With apologies to Snoopy (and his creator, Charles M. Schulz), it was a dark and stormy night. Our last issue’s release date (we’re on the street on Thursdays, as you hopefully know!) coincided with a full moon that happened to also be a supermoon (which are so named when a full moon coincides with the moon being at the point in its orbit within 90 percent of its closest approach to Earth). Last week’s full moon is sometimes called the Hunter’s Moon, as it’s the time of year when hunters would traditionally have been most active. The moon seemed to hang in the night sky as my neighbors and I sat in uncomfortable silence in my backyard.

We had started a bonﬁre, which is a regular social moment for all the folks who live in my building, and were gathering burnables. Several of us had taken advantage of the spell that my colleague Charli Renken created for our Occult Issue and had intentions on paper ready to burn.

The ﬁre was burning away and then I spotted the kindling box. Being that we don’t live in the forest, our kindling is usually the same as our paper recycling—letters, envelopes, and newspapers. Wait. Newspapers?!

Yes, dear readers, I have some issues. And that night’s biggest issue was that I hadn’t yet read several of the papers in my neighbors’ burn piles. So instead of jumping into the gossip-ﬁlled conversation about a friend of a friend and their victory in the realm of insurance claims, I spent a full hour holding up my phone as a ﬂashlight and speed-reading through back issues of South Side Weekly , Hyde Park Herald , the Sun-Times , and one Sunday Chicago Tribune

When I looked up, a friend was throwing my box of old letters and cardboard into the fire, and I realized that there were several back Reader issues mingled in. And this is why I save multiple copies. And we archive at the o ce. And the libraries save us too. But I still felt an impulse to jump in and grab them. After said friend pushed me away from the fire and my legs reminded me that I’m no longer a young person who can move around like an idiot at will, I remembered the full moon and made a wish for more newspaper, more media, and more friends around fires discussing the news that’s most important to us. Read on for this week’s latest! v

—Salem Collo-Julin, editor in chief m scollojulin@chicagoreader.com

A group of workers in New York’s produce

some days the future looms ahead and nothing in the world can take my mind oﬀ you every thought nostalgia like bittersweet static.

when I watch the sunsets coral skies have turned to rust and the moon brings night early.

I wonder if you watch the same skies or I cross your mind and the whole world reminds you of me.

as the months mount up the future before me brightens like snow glare and I wonder what’s ahead.

sometimes I still feel it summer warmth of your presence coral-colored echoes ringing in my chest slowly fading in the future’s glare.

me da ganas de soñar aunque solo pa’ recordar tu calor. pero el futuro llama y el pasado permanece

ecos de coral desvaneciendo ante el futuro siguen sonando en mi pecho.

By Nati

Koraltik

sekin tōnalli

mōstla onkah tēmahmawtik noīxtēnno wān yontlen pan tlāltikpaktli weli nēchkāwaltia nimitsnewilia nochi nonewilistli iknōmati iwki tsopēlxokok estatikoh.

kēmman niktlachilia tōnalkalakilistli koraltik ilwikatl eltok tepostlālloh wān nimān mētstli kiwāllika yowalli.

niknewilia

tlan ta tiktlachilia sēnkah ilwikatl so nikpaxaloa pan motsontekwich wān nochi tlāltikpaktli mitsillāmikiltia tlen na.

nōke mētstli pōxtok ne mōstla noīxtēnno na eli achiyok petlāni iwki setl īpetlāni wān na niknewilia tlen noīxtēnno.

kēmmantsin na nikillāmiki motōna xōpantik

koraltik ekoh

tlatsīlini pan noyōlīxko yōlik īxpoliwi mōstla īpetlāni.

nēchnekiltia nitēmiki

maskeh san para nikillāmiki motōna. sanpampa mōstla nēchnohnotsa wān achtiwiya mochipa

koraltik ekoh īxpoliwi īīxtēnno mōstla achiyok tlatsīlini pan noyōlīxko.

P. Tōnatiuh Cortés, aka Nati, is a multidisciplinary artist from McKinley Park. His work is informed by Mesoamerican/Abajeño culture and often focuses on spirituality, nostalgia, and futurism. Nati’s practice is primarily illustration, but includes writing, sculpture, and fashion.

Poem curated by Casey Cereceda. Cereceda is an educator and musician living in Chicago, IL. Originally from South Florida, he ﬁnds inspiration from his childhood. A recurring theme in his work is identity, and how his has been shaped by places of origin and formative experiences related to ethnicity, masculinity, and spirituality.

A weekly series curated by the Chicago Reader and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation.

Fall Hours

Wednesday, Friday, Saturday: 11:00 AM–5:00 PM Thursday: 11:00 AM–6:00 PM

Good Dress Book Launch

Join us for a poetry reading featuring Good Dress author and VS podcast co-host Brittany Rogers, followed by a conversation with Kush Thompson. November 2, 2024 at 2 PM

Learn more at PoetryFoundation.org

and maple London Fog Dust of cardamom on top

FOOD & DRINK

Justyna Haluch is the zapiekanka queen of Schiller Woods

The 28-year-old food truck operator and caterer has a lock on the supersized Polish French bread pizza.

By MIKE SULA

When Justyna Haluch first started selling zapiekanki, she tried to fancy them up with marinara sauce.

“We don’t want dry baguettes,” she recalls. But her customers, raised on the original template for Polish French bread pizza, decisively rejected her attempts to upgrade this seminal street food.

“A lot [of] people say, ‘Hey, it’s not Polish. Why you put the marinara on it?’ They want ketchup. We take out the marinara and the people [are] happy.”

Haluch, who’s 28, is the founder of I Love Grill & Lemonade, a food truck and catering operation whose most visible day-to-day presence is in a parking lot on Irving Park Road at the entrance to Schiller Woods-East forest preserve. But since 2018, she’s been a reliable fixture at outdoor weddings, parties, and festivals all over the state and beyond, selling an array of Polish and American fest foods. During the holidays, she hits the Christmas markets with traditional Polish cookies. In 2021, she won the “Best Taste of the Fest” trophy for her pierogi at Pierogi Fest in Whiting, Indiana.*

Most days the truck is open for business at the park by 11 AM, manned by her cousin Damian Haluch, selling sausages, fries, nachos, lemonade, and eight varieties of “zapiekanka XXL,” supersized versions of this iconic fast food. In its most traditional form, it’s a crusty, toasted baguette layered with sauteed button mushrooms, blanketed in melted cheese, and garnished with green onions and squiggles of thin, sweet ketchup.

I know what you’re thinking, Chicagoans. But ketchup is essential on zapiekanki— even for haters. “You gotta have the weird Polish ketchup,” says Reader Eastern European culinary consultant Patryk Carwinski, a sworn enemy of his birth country’s innumerable varieties of tomato-based condiments. “Only time it’s acceptable.”

Zapiekanka, which translates to “that which was put into the oven” (and can also refer to other kinds of baked dishes), first appeared in Poland in the 1970s during a period of relative prosperity, when French bread and other foreign foods started showing up and a small degree of private enterprise was indulged by the ruling socialist Polish United Workers’ Party.

Still, meat was in short supply. Along with bars, converted trailers began popping up on city streets selling sandwiches topped with cheap, available, and ﬁlling ingredients like cheese and mushrooms. Things took a considerably more dire turn in the 80s when economic crises resulted in

food shortages, but zapiekanki endured as a ubiquitous, cheap, ﬁlling fast food.

In its most traditional form, it’s a crusty, toasted baguette layered with sauteed button mushrooms, blanketed in melted cheese, and garnished with green onions and squiggles of thin, sweet ketchup.

“A meal without meat was, for a long time, incomprehensible,” says historian and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Dan Pogorzelski. “Ketchup, cheese, mushrooms, onions, and bread [were] all things that were plentiful during a time of chronic shortages. It was a slick way to market a vegetarian alternative for a meat-loving part of the world.” Zapiekanki began to fade in the 90s as Poland transitioned into democracy and all sorts of foreign fast foods and hangover helpers began to appear on the streets. But eventually, zapiekanki came back, riding a wave of Com-

The I Love Grill & Lemonade food truck; a portrait of Justyna Haluch; the fully loaded miesna, or meat-lovers zapiekanka ALAN KLEHR FOR CHICAGO READER

Haluch serves eight varieties of “zapiekanka XXL,” supersized versions of the iconic fast food. ALAN KLEHR FOR CHICAGO READER

GRILL & LEMONADE

Schiller Woods-East

Irving Park Road

773 - 849-9913

facebook.com/people/I-Love-Grill-Lemonade-Llc/ 100062998853058/

munist nostalgia that swept the country and “gave impetus to people looking to reinvent and update these traditions,” says Pogorzelski. Higher quality ingredients appeared on zapiekanki, including marinara sauce and even meat.

This was in the o ng before 15-year-old Haluch arrived in Chicago in 2012. She found work in a series of delis, but she eventually followed the lead of a friend with a food truck, ﬁrst selling lemonade at festivals from a giant inﬂated anthropomorphic lemon, then stationing a pair of converted trailers selling Polish food in hardware store parking lots. (Google Maps still locates a now-shuttered ILG&L trailer at the Melrose Park Menards.) By introducing marinara on her zapiekanki, she was following prevailing trends back home, which wasn’t appreciated by the steady stream of general contractors who stumbled across her trailers.

Nevertheless, she won them over with ketchup, and they followed her to Schiller Woods when she won a Park District contract three years ago. There she focuses on zapiekanki built on 18-inch toasted baguettes custom-made for her by Franklin Park’s Il

Mulino Di Valenzano Bakery. Each one is topped with sauteed mushrooms, a thick blanket of blended mozzarella and Monterey Jack, scallions, and a glistening zigzag of mild Kotlin-brand ketchup. From there they’re bulked up with a succession of Polish meats from Northstar Foods in Elk Grove Village, though she o ers a few fusion varieties featuring beef, chicken, or gyros meat. But the pinnacle of Haluch’s craft is the meat-lovers, or miesna, featuring Polish ham, crumbled bacon, and crispy, charred chunks of kielbasa.

Most days beginning at 11 AM, when the truck isn’t attending to festival crowds, a parade of burly, fatigue-clad dudes in work boots pull into the lot for 18 inches of toasted cheesy fuel—but on the weekend, more family-oriented crowds arrive for zapiekanka picnics in the park.

Haluch’s other truck, a white step van adorned with vividly colored images of wycinanki ﬂ oral prints, is reserved for catered events, at which Haluch will dress your zapiekanka XXL with any kind of sauce you want: garlic, spicy mayo, Thousand Island, and yes, even marinara.

Through November 15, Haluch will donate $1 from the sale of each zapiekanka to the breast cancer charity United Colors of Pink. v

*I only recently learned about Haluch from a post titled “Zapiekanka XXL - Polish food truck” at LTH Forum.

m msula@chicagoreader.com

FOOD & DRINK

You can walk into Novel Pizza Cafe hungry and walk out with a pizza pie and a matcha latte. Yes, co ee drinks and pizza go together.

The small, unassuming pizza joint in Pilsen is inspired by the owners’ Filipino and Mexican heritages. While the south side has many classic pizza spots, Novel elevates the experience. Novel serves pizza with a variety of toppings, like giardiniera and longanisa, and Four Letter Word co ee drinks are available until they close at 9 PM.

listed on the menu). The tavern-style thin crust has more than a cracker crunch, and the pie oozes and bubbles with mozzarella. The honey mixed in with the pepperoni and ricotta creates layers of sweet and salty that land hot on the tongue. The entire pizza has a soft beginning with a crunchy ﬁnish.

As a fan of real Chicago-style pizza, I opt for the 16-inch tavern classic. My squarecut order for ’za leans more traditional and includes pepperoni, hot honey, and ricotta (similar to but not exactly the Hot Pep

Tavern-style pizza is historically known as bar food. While Novel isn’t barlike inside, its storefront has a similar intimate atmosphere that says, “Let’s grab a slice on the way home.” With no online or phone ordering and no delivery, Novel is consistently bustling. Expect long waits and long lines—and more than a few salivating mouths. —S. NICOLE LANE NOVEL PIZZA CAFE 1759 W. 19th, $34.50, novelpizzacafe.com v

Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at fooddrink@ chicagoreader.com.

Pepperoni, hot honey, and ricotta pizza at Novel Pizza Cafe

NEWS & POLITICS

Blue line blues

Why haven’t riders returned to the westbound Blue Line since the start of the pandemic?

By REEMA SALEH

When Raunel Urquiza takes the Blue Line into the Loop, the train often feels empty. On the days he rides from Austin, he sees fewer people coming in from the west suburbs and the city’s west side. “It keeps you on your toes if you’re going to work by yourself or not getting on with other people,” he says. One morning, he saw feces on the platform. Another time, he saw a passenger in his car pull out a knife. These experiences have made him more cautious when getting on the morning train.

“I could see why people don’t take the Blue Line as much. Even if you’re going into the United Center or to the city, people do that in the evening hours or on the weekends, and that’s not when it’s reliable,” Urquiza says. “Past Western, it’s a di erent level of service. It becomes slower.”

Blue Line ridership to Forest Park has seen one of the weakest recoveries of any route on any CTA line since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Regional Transit Authority. As of May, the route saw just 46

percent of its 2019 riders return, compared to 59 percent overall—the weakest recovery agency-wide other than the Yellow Line.

When the pandemic hit, ridership plummeted. Three years later, factors like remote work and competition with other forms of transportation, from rideshare to biking, are contributing to a slow recovery. But two things are potentially keeping former Blue Line riders from returning, according to experts and commuters: slow service and perceptions of safety.

Mia Almond used to take the Blue Line everywhere. She rode it daily on her commute from suburban Maywood to her high school in the city. She left the state for college, but since she moved back in 2023, she feels like some things have changed for the worse.

“The number of times I’ll be coming from downtown—especially when there’s just the UIC-Halsted trains that are running—that I’d have to wait an extra 15 to 20 minutes for the next one that’s going to Forest Park. I hate

that,” she says. “I get there’s more ridership between those areas, but then you miss out on a whole other population that needs to get to where they need to go, which sucks.”

Much of the corridor is made up of slow zones. A CTA train at top speed can reach up to 55 miles per hour, but in slow zones, speeds are limited to 15 to 35 miles per hour. In practice, trains sometimes move no faster than six miles per hour, according to Felicia Matthews, a CTA spokesperson.

What causes slow zones? Quite simply: old tracks.

The westbound Blue Line was built in 1958, at a time when railroads sandwiched between highways were the hottest fad for urban planners. As the tracks aged, slow zones have become necessary to keep passengers and workers safe, Matthews stated in an email.

“While CTA has performed routine maintenance and made modest improvements over the last six decades, the infrastructure is far beyond its useful life and needs replacement or significant upgrades to properly address the issues impacting day-to-day service,”

Matthews wrote.

Additionally, a decades-long drainage issue along the Eisenhower Expressway has made the tracks more prone to ﬂooding damage.

Slow zones ﬁrst appeared along a stretch of Blue Line tracks in 2011. But they’ve more than doubled between 2018 and 2019—then they grew even more during the pandemic. As of September, almost three-quarters of the Blue Line was designated a slow zone, primarily west of the UIC-Halsted stop.

Slow zones can create service disruptions and longer wait times between trains, discouraging riders from continuing to take public transportation, says P.S. Sriraj, director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois Chicago. A 2016 study he copublished found that, between 2007 and 2009, slow zones on sections of the Blue Line reduced ridership as passengers began to look for more reliable alternatives.

“Wherever slowdowns were prevailing, the ridership base was going to be eroded because people would move to better and more reliable forms of transportation choices at their dis-

The Blue Line has struggled with slow service and low ridership in the years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

posal,” Sriraj says. “Now, you are seeing more of those slowdowns on the Congress branch of the Blue Line. That just was bound to happen because the network, not just the Blue Line, has issues pertaining to track and maintenance.”

“If it takes longer, then the user might be alienated because they might find another service o ering that might be faster and more competitive to the transit,” he adds.

It’s made commutes longer, compounding chronic service delays brought on by the pandemic. “Over the last decade, we have seen travel times on the Forest Park branch extended by nearly ten minutes,” says Brandon McFadden, an organizer with transit advocacy group Commuters Take Action, “and they continue to get worse as time goes on.”

W. Robert Schultz III, an organizer with the Active Transportation Alliance, believes track and maintenance issues have deterred riders over the past few years. “We have to continually invest and keep things in good repair. And unfortunately, that hasn’t happened with certain sections of our CTA rail system,” he says. “If the track speed isn’t there, and it’s a ecting the frequency, all those things start to cascade upon one another. And the situation has gotten worse over the years.”

Replacing the tracks is a several-hundred-million-dollar e ort e ort—part of the CTA’s Forest Park Branch Rebuild project. Last year, the agency began construction on tracks closest to the Loop, temporarily shuttering

the Racine stop and halting service between UIC-Halsted, the Illinois Medical District, and LaSalle.

Many Blue Line trains now run so-called “short turns” at UIC-Halsted, where Forest Park–bound trains end there before heading back toward O’Hare. The modiﬁed route allows for more frequent service on the northwest side, says Kate Lowe, an urban planning and policy professor at the University of Illinois Chicago—but that service often comes at the expense of west-side commuters.

“It’s almost like it was designed for me,” Lowe says, “because the last stop is my stop. But I don’t think this system should be designed around me or people like me who have a lot of flexibility in our schedules and a lot of ability to pivot to other modes if there are service problems.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the CTA $111 million to replace around two miles of track between the Kedzie and Pulaski stops. That work is expected to begin in the summer of 2027. The CTA is still working to secure funding for the rest of the project, which is expected to cost about $3 billion.

But Lowe fears that slow service and less frequency will deter west-side ridership before those repairs happen, likening it to a negative feedback loop. “The emptier the train gets, the more people opt out.”

When you walk home alone at night, do you prefer the bustling street corner with lots of foot tra c or the deserted alley shortcut with no one around? I always pick the former—sticking to busy streets makes me feel safer. It’s not likely that I’ll be the victim of a crime, but in the rare case it happens, I’d want people who might think about hurting me to be scared o by potential witnesses.

It’s commonsense advice that feels silly to write down. But it’s also something that governs people’s decision to tap into the turnstile.

Violent crime on the CTA rose during the pandemic, reaching a peak not seen since 2011, according to WBEZ. It’s also been trending downward since 2021, indicating that higher crime might result from sharp decreases in ridership brought on by the pandemic.

making it feel less safe for the passengers who remain.

“There are ‘captive riders’ who have to use it because they have no other options, even though they are afraid,” Loukaitou-Sideris explains. “And then there are a number of people for whom transit is one of many options. If they are afraid, they are absolutely not going to use transit. . . . Transit agencies are going to lose mostly people who have options, and that’s why they really need to do something about safety.”

“The emptier the train gets, the more people opt out.”

For Schultz, with the Active Transportation Alliance, safety concerns are a symptom of declining service. Transportation advocacy groups like his and the Metropolitan Planning Council have lobbied for the CTA to create a transit ambassador program to serve as additional eyes and ears among train cars and help passengers in need of support.

But fear of something happening still lingers in many people’s minds. In September, a man was charged with murdering four passengers as they slept on a Blue Line train headed to Forest Park. Ethan Ramsay, who takes the Blue Line to his job at Austin Coming Together, now checks in more with friends and coworkers.

“When those folks were killed on the Blue Line, even though I knew that was a unique outlier, I could feel myself [getting] more anxious. Even though I knew that just because that happened didn’t mean my experience on the Blue Line had changed; my relationship to safety has changed,” he says.

What makes people feel safe on public transit is a complicated issue. Is it private security? AI-powered gun detection technology?

The answer might be more people.

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, an urban planning professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, describes it as a herd effect, where people feel safer because they know others are around to witness potential crimes or possibly intervene.

Public transportation experts are fond of the death spiral metaphor, where fewer riders paying into the system leads to less revenue and less service, in turn, pushing more riders away from the system.

But perceptions of safety and ridership can also spiral down together. Riders with other transit choices, like cars or rideshare services, can simply opt out of riding the Blue Line,

Transit ambassadors are unarmed civilian employees who act as a roving help desk for passengers. They typically undergo deescalation training, learn how to administer Narcan, and notify the proper authorities of medical emergencies or dangerous activity. Cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Cleveland have launched similar programs as an alternative to increased security.

“Even if you know social services and deescalation, it doesn’t help if we don’t have enough shelter beds, basic housing, or other services and things that people need. So transit ambassadors won’t solve the problem alone, but I think it’s part of making the system more user-friendly,” Schultz says.

Matthews, the CTA spokesperson, wrote in a statement that security teams and customer service agents assigned to each station handle the same duties as transit ambassadors. But as Blue Line customers contend with slow zones and spotty service, fewer people choose to take the train in the first place. It becomes a self-fulﬁlling prophecy.

“I think if service continues to be slow and infrequent, there’s a notable risk of continued ridership decrease,” Lowe says. “The real solution is rebuilding the tracks and increasing frequency. That’s the longer-term solution to a negative downward spiral of ridership.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

NEWS & POLITICS

POLICE MISCONDUCT

How to ﬁle a complaint against a Chicago police ofﬁcer

Breaking down police accountability—from COPA to the CPD

By DMB (D-M BROWN)

Whether an o cer roughed you up at a protest, made an inappropriate comment when they pulled you over, or has a history of domestic violence, there are many reasons you might want to ﬁle a complaint against a member of the Chicago Police Department (CPD). Fortunately, there’s a system to do that.

COPA, explained

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), established in 2016 by a City Council ordinance, is Chicago’s independent police oversight body. COPA replaced the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), which operated from 2007 to 2017.

Community members criticized IPRA for consistently ruling in favor of police o cers; they saw the agency as insu cient and partial to the CPD. COPA was created with a larger budget and more independence to improve efﬁciency in its investigations, which are carried out by a team of investigators. The body also makes policy recommendations to improve the CPD and reduce police misconduct. Chicago residents ﬁle their grievances with COPA.

How to ﬁle a complaint

There are multiple ways to submit a complaint against a police o cer.

However you file, try to include as much information as possible about the incident, including the date and time, location, and names or identifying features of any o cers involved. Any supporting videos or photos of the incident can be emailed to copa-info@ chicagocopa.org.

There is no time limit to file a complaint, except in cases concerning excessive force. In those instances, charges must be ﬁled with the Chicago Police Board within ﬁve years of the date of alleged misconduct.

COPA offers translation services for nonnative English speakers upon request.

Phone call: You can contact COPA by phone at 312-743-2672 or TTY 312745-3598. The lines also accept voicemails 24/7.

In person: If you wish to contact COPA in person, you may visit their office on the fourth ﬂoor at 1615 W. Chicago between 9 AM and 7 PM. You can also file a complaint with a desk sergeant at any CPD district office, who will forward your submission to COPA.

Mail: To file a complaint by mail, send a letter to COPA at:

c/o COPA Intake Section 1615 W. Chicago Fourth ﬂoor Chicago, Illinois, 60622

Online : You can submit your concern online through COPA’s complaint intake form. Online complaints can be filed anonymously. But, your anonymity may limit the amount of information sta ers can collect and use during an investigation.

What happens next?

A airs (BIA).

COPA investigates verbal abuse, coercion, death, or serious injuries while in custody; domestic violence; excessive force; improper search and seizure; firearm or taser discharge; sexual misconduct; a pattern of misconduct; and unlawful denial of access to counsel.

Complaints that fall outside those categories will be forwarded to the BIA, which investigates criminal misconduct, operational violations, theft of money or property, planting of drugs, substance abuse, residency violations, and medical roll abuse.

Within five days of filing a complaint, the city will mail you a letter clarifying which

COPA will mail you and any o cers involved a copy of their findings in a final summary report. Should COPA suggest disciplinary action, the police superintendent will review the case. If the superintendent disagrees with either the findings or suggested discipline, a member of the police board will step in and side with the CPD or COPA.

Officers can also dispute the results of a misconduct investigation. Depending on the officer’s rank and the severity of the allegations and suggested discipline, cops can seek a ruling from an independent arbitrator or, for the most serious allegations, from the police board. The entire process can take years.

oversight body will oversee the investigation.

After you submit a complaint, COPA sta ers will determine whether it falls within their jurisdiction or with the CPD’s Bureau of Internal

If COPA handles your case, an investigator will call you and other witnesses to follow up on your submission. If your case is sent to the BIA, a BIA investigator will be assigned to the case, collect evidence from you and others, and ultimately send the ﬁndings and recommendations to the CPD.

At the conclusion of a COPA investigation,

Even if the superintendent or police board decides not to pursue discipline, having a public record of COPA’s investigative ﬁndings is still useful. That ﬁnal summary can serve as a compelling tool for seeking action in other ways, be that meeting with your alderperson or exploring other legal avenues. v

m dmbrown@chicagoreader.com

ARTS & CULTURE

Giving f lowers

With “diversión,” Carlos Flores tends to Marquette Park.

By LUZ MAGDALENO FLORES

As artists are we automatically flower planters in our communities or do we learn to give back to them through practice? I ponder this on my way to experience “diversión,” the offerings that Carlos Flores has organized during his Anchor Curatorial Residency with the Chicago Park District. When I think of the work Flores has planted, Erykah Badu’s “Apple Tree” lyrics come to mind: “I have some food in my bag for you. / Not that edible food, the food you eat? / No, I have some food for thought. / Since knowledge is infinite it has infinitely fell on me.” By inviting a carefully curated handful of art practitioners and land workers to lead moments of skill sharing and reflection, and with the spirit of play in mind, “diversión” gives us the opportunity to listen to the ecosystem and the teachings that artists have brought—some in wheelbarrows—to Marquette Park.

Luz Magdaleno Flores: When did the idea for this exhibition and programming series come to you? How long have you been thinking about “diversión”?

Carlos Flores: The diversion [in English] part of it comes from everything else that you learn when you grow up, right—when you get to understand systems and disinvestment.

But [we] also have moments where we divert those things, re-center ourselves and get to know ourselves and our family, experience joy, and also use those moments to kind of get us de-numbed from this capital, this grind, this incessant extractive force that is [part of] our lives. That’s like a hot kind of take on the duality of the word. I’ve been thinking about it and living it my whole life.

One of the ongoing themes in my practice is thinking, “How do we create experiences that allow us to break out of this?” Are you familiar with the term “allostatic load”? It’s a sociology term, but essentially an allostatic load means the additive sum of stresses that envelops someone, and it’s something that I was kind of numb to growing up.

I was born in Mexico. My family—when I was around six—moved to Little Village. I’ve lived in Little Village up until the last three years. I was lucky enough to take advantage of the low interest rates and buy myself a little casita in Archer Heights. In Little Village, you grow up—I use a metaphor of—almost like laying in a bed of nails. There’s all these equally pressing pressure points, right? You have— at least in my situation, as a citizen—you’re reconciling overpolicing, gentriﬁcation, police violence, immigration status. And then, if that wasn’t enough, you also have some of the

R“DIVERSIÓN”

Through 11/1: Mon–Fri 9 AM–9 PM, Sat–Sun 9 AM–5 PM, Marquette Park, 6743 S. Kedzie, linktr.ee/anchorcuratorialresidency, free

highest asthma rates in the city because of the egregious environmental racism. Parallel to that kind of disinvestment is the fear of being displaced or just kicked out of your house for whatever reason.

That’s the allostatic load of living in Little Village. You see your life as normal. Because you see it at the same frequency every day, it feels normal to you. If you go outside of that community, you begin to question, “Hey, you know what? The air here doesn’t smell like sulfur every day. Was I living in a false reality?” With my practice, I try to create programs with a curator or an artist where I want viewers and participants to break out of that.

My role speciﬁcally for this residency was to create experiences that really de-numb you from very, very rough truths. Or maybe get you to know your body a little bit better, slow down, take a break and look at [the] microbiology of the water of the park, or screen printing, or learning about ethical storytelling and radical listening. There’s a diverse bandwidth and spectrum of activities. There was a very intentional element of the curation.

Let’s take it back to your art practice. I talked to Selva, one of the artists from Marimacha Monarca Press who is in this exhibition, and they were fond of your wheelbarrow art practice. They compared it to an art performance on wheels. You have a history of giving artists this concept and letting them construct their own iteration. When did that idea start and did that act of diversion inform this exhibition and series of events?

So the title of that work is Porta(til) . The real background for that work, the deep contextual inspiration for that, was the idea to commandeer these historically Catholic tools for conversion. Missionaries in the 17th century cargaban [carried] these portable altars that would mesmerize and instantly help convert people with a moment of awe. If you look at the materiality of the wheelbarrows, they’re made from wood, but also communitycollected bandit signs. Bandit signs are yellow corrugated signs that you see plastered on the intersections of all the southwest of the city. They’re like, “We buy your houses.”

“We’ll take over your mortgage papers.” These are very predatory signage—both in intention, but also materially, visually, right? They use the loudest color yellow. I’m both hoping to flip the tables on historical tools of extraction towards placemaking, I

then invite other artists to finish and interpret their own.

You call yourself a flower farmer and I want to shine a light on what that might mean? My interpretation of it is that you are literally planting in el parque, you’re bringing more than flowers, but also giving flowers back to the land by caring for the parque in a way that it doesn’t always get cared for, like bringing artwork to it or creating visibility for the people who care for the land on the south and west sides.

That’s a very kind interpretation. When I said that I was lucky to buy a home three years ago, I was most excited to garden. I’ve been a lifelong earthkeeper and I’ve had a garden everywhere I’ve been. . . . I’ve killed all the grass, every little inch of grass in my front lawn and the back of my property, and turned it into a small-scale ﬂower farm where I grow mostly ﬂorals from Mexico and Central America: dahlias, cempasúchil [marigold], but also native plants from the midwest like liatris [blazing star].

You have a handful of events coming up as part of “diversión” programming. Are you particularly excited about one of them?

I’m excited for all the workshops. Both the installations and also the programs are stemming from the community, from this relational process over the last year and a half of building relationships and trying to really support the forms of creative expression that matter most to neighbors and park community. I just wanted to say that in case it was not apparent enough, that’s a big important part. . . . We also have a birders of color group getting together. I’ve never birded in a group before, so I’m looking forward to that! Silvia Gonzalez is leading a Portals of Abundance workshop. There’s a few more, including a closing event, that is gonna coincide with Marquette Park’s yearly tradition of hosting a Día de los Muertos festival.

Marquette Park has one of the biggest Arab American populations in the city and in the nation. A lot of that demographic is Palestinian American. So we’re doing an impromptu wheat-pasting workshop [on] October 26. There’s still a lot happening. I’m very excited for all of it. v A longer version of this piece appears online at chicagoreader.com.

m letters@chicagoreader.com

From a workshop led by Bee Rodriguez as part of “diversión” programming RUBY QUE

ARTS & CULTURE

OPENINGS

RAdrift in recombination

Work by three local artists at Old Friends points to the absurdity of the present.

“Ambulance Chase,” set in the young Old Friends gallery in Roscoe Village, memorializes a world drowning in an inﬁnity of recombined images and information. The works on view are monuments to the delirious, placeless, ravenous absurdity of the present, foreign yet tantalizingly familiar as they collapse past into present.

With this crisis as the pretext, relic becomes the a ereﬀect, perhaps most evident in the polished ham cans of Michelle Grabner. Estranged from their legacy as iconic American staples of holidays past, the empty aluminum shells are revitalized with silver-leaf dressing and suggestively peeled half-open. The splendent sculptures invite a distanced reﬂection on the peculiarity of canned meat, the remnants of tradition, and the bizarre attraction to be found in the refuse of it all.

Nearby, shimmering paintings by Jonathan Worcester vibrate with hues from a more recent past, reminiscent of the bubbling techno-futurist Y2K aesthetic of the late 90s and early 2000s. Swirling aquamarines, hot pinks, and neon yellows stretch like patterned clothes over a body—as the palette and ornamentation might suggest—yet the constructions are distinctly architectural, erected as thick, stacked slabs on the gallery walls.

Meanwhile, Peter Fagundo coalesces portraiture, photography, and abstraction into meta-paintings of smaller sub-paintings, resulting in works that recall these art historical traditions even as they evade them. Revisitations of Helmut Newton’s provocative and intimate photographs fade out of view as bright abstractions vie for attention. Their positions, suspended in luminous monochrome backgrounds, level these past aesthetics onto a single plane.

Together, the artists’ works become concatenating monuments that synthesize a unique collection of sensibilities, only available now in the post-postmodern era. The skillful connection of these pieces by curator Bianca Bova perfectly encapsulates the strange and frightening beauty of an atemporal present adri in recombination, where everything and nothing is recognizable.

—NATALIE JENKINS “AMBULANCE CHASE” Through 11/16: Thu–Sat noon–6 PM, Old Friends, 3405 N. Paulina, oldfriendsgallery.com/exhibitions/ambulancechase

R At the Arts Club, Haegue Yang collapses the 3D world

For the ﬁrst time, the artist displays only ﬂat works.

Is 2D inferior to 3D?

A 2021 study found that “3D objects are more readily perceived than 2D images” due to the cognitive understanding that we can interact with “real things.” Similarly, we may ﬁnd ourselves more attracted to a sculptural object in front of us versus something twodimensional hanging on a gallery wall.

Seoul-born artist Haegue Yang is known for her large-scale sculptures and site-speciﬁc installations. Her exhibitions always incorporate 2D elements, though they are more or less doomed to be overshadowed by her chimeric creatures, sonic sculptures, and representative totems—even the geometric walls set up to add more complexity to gallery spaces.

Until now. For the ﬁrst time, Yang displays 58 ﬂat works—from seven series—at the Arts Club of Chicago. Without the noise from the sculptures, they form an intrinsic map that introduces the audience to Yang’s conceptualization process.

Trustworthies abstractions made from security envelopes and other materials, were part of Yang’s 2011 exhibition at Aspen Art Museum. The abstractions resemble aerial maps, except without the irregularities of natural landscapes. This directs the viewer back to the question: how do we fold the land into neat triangular packets and ﬁt them in a frame?

These ﬂat works also continue to evolve on top of their 3D counterparts. When looking at the “Mesmerizing Mesh” series, we immediately notice traces of her 3D creations, including Yang’s renowned sonic sculptures. But we also see diﬀerences: more vibrant colors rarely seen in her metal sculptures, more intricate details of shamanistic totems, and more complicated structures and layouts—they inspire you to think about what Yang could make next.

The 2D foreshadows. The 3D manifests. —XIAO DACUNHA “HAEGUE YANG: FLAT WORKS”

Through 12/20: Tue–Fri 11 AM–6 PM, Sat 11 AM–3 PM, Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario, artsclubchicago.org/exhibit/haegue-yang-flatworks v

World premiere by NGOZI ANYANWU OCT 24 – DEC 15, 2024

Directed by AWOYE TIMPO

Featuring Ensemble member JON MICHAEL HILL with BRITTANY BRADFORD

Installation view, “Haegue Yang: Flat Works,” Arts Club of Chicago MICHAEL TROPEA

Support Illinoisians aﬀected by breast cancer with your purchase of a $200,000! Bingo Tripler

Instant Ticket from the Illinois Lottery

In 2006, the Illinois Lottery made history when it launched the Ticket for the Cure (TFTC), the first-ever specialty lottery ticket in the United States where 100 percent of profits were dedicated toward breast cancer research, awareness, and education. Initiated by Senator Mattie Hunter and Senate President Emil Jones Jr., the Instant Ticket became a model for creating other specialty tickets across the country dedicated to various worthy causes. In 2011, the TFTC was renamed in honor of former Illinois Lottery superintendent Carolyn Adams, who helped write the legislation for TFTC before passing away from breast cancer at age 44. Since it was first introduced, the ticket has raised more than $16.5 million in grant funding for medical research centers and community organizations across the state, which the Illinois Department of Public Health distributes. In 2024, the Illinois Lottery introduced a new joint specialty ticket, the $200,000! Bingo Tripler Instant Ticket, where a portion of the profits raised go to ten worthy causes, including breast cancer research, awareness, and education, along with nine other important causes. The ticket, which has a bright, lemon-yellow color, costs $5 and is available for purchase at more than 7,000 Illinois Lottery retailers throughout the state. Visit the Illinois Lottery website for more information, and read on to learn about ELLAS, an initiative of Chicago non-profit the Resurrection Project that supports Latina women who have been affected by breast cancer.

Breast cancer is among the top health concerns of our times. According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women living in the U.S. will be diagnosed with the illness over the course of her lifetime, and one in 40 will eventually succumb to the disease. But while breast cancer impacts every community, it doesn’t impact every community equally. Disparities in healthcare, education, and income can lead to delayed diagnoses and treatments and are associated with poorer health outcomes.

Twenty years ago, ELLAS founder Araceli Lucio was volunteering with the Pilsen non-profit organization the Resurrection Project (TRP), when that reality hit close to home. The organization was formed in 1990 with two main pillars: affordable housing and immigration (it has since evolved to offer a holistic approach to community services). A formerly undocumented person herself, Lucio was motivated to work closely with undocumented women, and she was providing education about breast and cervical

cancer when she discovered that many of them were unaware of where they could turn for screenings, treatment, and other support. “I was very surprised that a lot of women in our community didn’t know that there were programs available that oﬀer free mammograms, regardless of their immigration status.”

When she spoke to her mother about it, she was heartbroken to ﬁnd out that even though she’d already passed her 50th birthday, her mother had never received a single mammogram. “I was so sad because my mom has a lot of family members with breast cancer, and [she] never shared the story of my aunt [who had] breast cancer—and also because my mom never told me ‘You have to do your breast exam’ or ‘Go to the doctor and ask for a mammogram,’” Lucio said. “So that got me more engaged in supporting and educating women in my community.”

Lucio recruited a couple of women who had survived breast can-

This sponsored content is paid for by Illinois Lottery

cer to speak at her presentations. She noticed they drew a strong response from their audiences. “A lot of women showed more attention when survivors talked to them because they were like, ‘Oh, she’s my neighbor, and I didn’t know that she was a breast cancer survivor.’”

She also got a glimpse of how much language barriers impacted members of her community when they did engage with medical professionals and institutions. “A lot of [women] told me, ‘I don’t know too many services in my community that are in my language. Every time that I go to the doctor, they just have pamphlets or information in their oﬃces in English—there’s nothing in Spanish,’” Lucio said.

At that, Lucio began connecting with healthcare institutions and taking women from her community to various support groups and other activities around the city. But soon, demand proved

From the ELLAS 2024 Walkathon. Photo by Rick Rosales

so strong that she had to come up with another solution. She decided to start a group in Pilsen that could bring survivors together and raise breast cancer awareness and support in the Latine community. But she didn’t have any funding, and with her part-time schedule, she hadn’t been able to establish close connections with healthcare institutions or professionals who were willing to engage with such a grassroots group (at that time, TRP did not yet have a healthcare focus).

“So, what I decided was, ‘We are going to create our own support group to share our stories, [we’ll] invite survivors and have a gathering here and have a good time. And then we’re gonna see what we can do.’” She started hosting arts and cra s workshops, and raising donations for members to purchase post-mastectomy bras. Word spread and the group began to grow. Then Lucio began training survivors in the group to become community health workers, telling them, “Even if you don’t know how to read or write in English or in Spanish, you have your story and the power to do presentations and share your story with the community.”

That initiative turned into ELLAS, an acronym for En La Lucha de Sobrevivir (in the ﬁght to survive).

“When I started, there were only three survivors. Right now we have 59 survivors who are very active and very involved, and 16 of them are community health workers,” Lucio says.

Together, they’ve provided breast cancer support and education for thousands across Chicago’s Latine community. They’ve also partnered with diﬀerent consulates and embassies, as well as support groups like Gilda’s Club Chicago and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, to spread their message further.

Ever had a mammogram

All the while, they’ve continued to host social events and fundraisers, such as the ELLAS 2024 Walkathon, which took place in October.

The funding ELLAS receives through the Illinois Lottery’s specialty ticket program will enable them to continue their mission of breast cancer education, support, and connection for Chicago’s Latine community and beyond, allow them to provide stipends for the community educators, host more workshops, and produce brochures and other materials.

“Thanks to the support from the ticket, we are going to save more lives of women and continue to empower women in our community, and empower survivors to advocate for other survivors,” Lucio said. “I think that will make a lot of diﬀerence in our community.”

For more information about ELLAS visit ellastrp.org.

This sponsored content is paid for

From the ELLAS 2024 Walkathon. Photo by Rick Rosales

THEATER

FESTIVAL PREVIEW

‘Today

we are all participants’

Two South American companies tackle environmental themes in Destinos.

By ALEJANDRO A. RIERA

Last February, in what Chilean president Gabriel Boric described as “the worst fire in an urban area in the last 30 years,” a forest fire swept through the coastal city of Viña del Mar in the Valparaíso region after days of extreme heat, leaving more than 130 people dead, at least 370 missing, and thousands homeless. According to UNICEF, almost 160,000 acres had burned, more than 36,000 of them in Valparaíso. Astillero Teatro director Gabriel Contreras Hernández had to evacuate the area, as did the music director for their most recent creation, La Memoria de los Sésiles; the instruments used to compose and play the music for this play were lost in the fire.

La Memoria de los Sésiles had opened months before the fire; now “the fire came to confirm this need to be able to understand from another place the relationship that we have with nature. [For Chileans], the experience of seeing the work after going through the forest fires is reconfigured,” said Contreras Hernández during a recent conversation in Spanish via Zoom. “Why? Because there is an experience that is traumatic. And, of course, it becomes a universal experience because today we are all participants.”

La Memoria de los Sésiles is one of two plays from South America that tackles our relationship to the environment that the seventh Destinos: Chicago International Latino Theater Festival will be presenting for the next two weekends at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Written by Nicolás Cancino-Said and directed by Contreras Hernández, the play uses the language of family theater to tell the story of an old hermit named Sacha who, alongside a young environmentalist named Tujo, goes on a journey in search of the last living tree roots to help give birth to a new forest. The story is told using masks, lighting (including laser), and songs.

AZIRA’I: UM MUSICAL DE MEMÓRIAS

10/24 –10/27: Thu-Sat 7: 30 PM, Sun 3 PM; Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand, clata.org and chicagoshakes.com, $ 35 general, $ 30 students/seniors. In Portuguese and Ze’eng et’é with English supertitles, recommended 15 +

“Trees have many benefits, right?” said Contreras Hernández. “They are capable of absorbing the carbon dioxide of 18 cars in one day. They can reduce the temperature of a territory from 86 degrees Fahrenheit to 74. Nature as something beneﬁcial for life is something that I think we still don’t understand as humanity. What [the] play aims to do is to generate a reflection that poses transversal questions in children, in parents, in grandparents, in teachers, [and] that allows them to rethink this relationship that we have with nature.”

Although it’s the second part of a trilogy

about the environment, La Memoria de los Sésiles works independently from the two plays that bookcase it: Puerto Seco: Once upon a time the Sea and Derrumbe. Both plays are also aimed at a family audience. “It’s called a trilogy because it focuses on the three di erent landscapes that make our country,” explained Contreras Hernández. “The ﬁrst one [Puerto Seco] focuses on the relationship between communities and the sea. And Derrumbe will focus on the relationship between the mountain range and the water pollution that comes with the extraction of minerals from these mountains.”

This presentation as part of Destinos will be Astillero’s ﬁrst trip abroad as a company, followed by a trip to Costa Rica to participate in that country’s nationwide International Arts Festival. They have already received invitations from Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. “The possibility of being able to internationalize our work is a desire that we have had for a long time,” said Contreras Hernández.

LA MEMORIA DE LOS SÉSILES

10/31 –11/3 : Thu-Sat 7: 30 PM, Sun 3 PM; Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand, clata.org and chicagoshakes.com, $ 35 general, $ 30 students/seniors. In Spanish with English supertitles, recommended 6+

The second of the two plays, Azira’i: um Musical de Memórias , presented by Sarau Cultura Brasileira—a Río de Janeiro–based organization that for the last 32 years has produced plays, concerts, and exhibits, along with producing albums and publishing books—takes audiences deep into the Amazon’s rainforests. Directed by Denise Stutz and Duda Rios and cowritten and performed by Zahy Tentehar, the one-woman play explores Tentehar’s relationship with her mother, Azira’i, the first woman shaman who later held the title of Supreme Shaman among the

Azira’i died in 2021 right in the middle of this project’s creation. She communicates with her mother every time she performs; her mother is always there,” said Moreno in Portuguese. “So, it’s very brave of her to expose herself, basically, to say such personal things every night. It’s important that the public has this contact with a different kind of spirituality. The show is very ritualistic.”

That sacred, spiritual connection between the shaman and nature became an important aspect of the play after it premiered. At one moment in the show, the image of a large ﬁre is

Tentehar-Guajajara peoples in the state of Maranhão in the northeast of Brazil.

“This project began when we were working on another production, Macunaíma by Mário de Andrade, who is considered the father of [Brazilian] modernism. Zahy was invited to put together the cast for this play. When she told us her life story, we and Duda Rios, who also directed Azira’i, decided to work on the script for this play. We felt it was important to tell this story, because it’s the story of our ancestors, it’s a story about our mothers,” said Andréa Alves, director and cofounder of Sarau, during a Zoom call with Leila Maria Moreno, project director of the company, and Fernanda Chazan, marketing and planning assistant, who served as interpreter when needed.

“It’s a very special, very sensitive performance, and [Tentehar] does cry every time she performs. When she began to work on this play alongside Duda, when she started to think about it, her mother was still alive. But

projected behind Zahy. “Zahy comes from this reality in which there’s no di erence between man and nature. The trees are her relatives, the river is her relative,” said Moreno. “The Indigenous people are, to this day, responsible for the preservation of up to 80 percent of the nature we still have on land. They have models of civilization that are more sustainable and integrated with nature, because humans are part of nature.”

The play is spoken both in Portuguese and Zahy’s native tongue, Ze’eng et’é. “There are more than 270 indigenous languages in Brazil, and even Brazilians who live in the city know about them. Language is an important channel to transmit knowledge. It’s an information channel,” said Moreno. “So it’s important for us to bring these stories through theater, to preserve and to share this experience and keep these languages alive.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

L: Zahy Tentehar in Azira’i; La Memoria de los Sésiles ANNELIZE TOZETTO; ASTILLERO TEATRO

RFETISH FILM FORUM 2024

Through 12/2024, age 18 +, Leather Archives & Museum, 6418 N. Greenview, single ticket $10, members and students $ 8, double feature $15, members and students $12 leatherarchives.org/events/2024 -fetish-film-forum

Kinky horror ﬁlms ﬁnd pleasure in pain

Fetish Film Forum programmer John McDevitt recommends their favorite movies that combine horror with fetish, kink, leather, and BDSM.

By CHARLIE KOLODZIEJ

Spooky, scary skeletons . . . in leather?

Yes, of course, says John McDevitt, kinky movie buff and film programmer of the Leather Archives & Museum’s Fetish Film Forum. Now in its second year, the forum hosts monthly screenings of films that, through their visuals or storylines, pay homage to kink and leather culture. Past ﬁlms have included camp classics like Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) and lesser-known favorites like 1974’s The Night Porter. Just in time for Halloween, I sat down with McDevitt to get their recommendations for kinky horror movies that are sure to get your blood pumping—in more ways than one.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity, and it may contain movie spoilers.

Charlie Kolodziej: For the October lineup of Fetish Film Forum, there [was] a double feature of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser [1987] and Tony Randel’s Hellbound: Hellraiser II [1988]. When I think fetish and horror, the Hellraiser franchise feels like a no-brainer.

John McDevitt: When I ﬁrst started passing out postcards for year one of Fetish Film Forum with Hellraiser on the bill, many people kind of looked at all of the choices and said, “I understand why you chose all of these ﬁlms for a series about fetish, kink, leather, and BDSM. But why Hellraiser?”

I was really perplexed that it was such a surprising choice to people. I was honestly worried that it was too obvious. On its face, and also under the surface, the film is very much about fetish, kink, leather, and BDSM. The Cenobites [the ﬁlm’s big bads] are dressed head to toe in fetish gear, and they’ve kind of built a life on exploring pain as a form of pleasure. It’s very sadomasochistic, not just in their visual aesthetic, but also in how they conduct themselves, and what their goals are as these strange, otherworldly beings who just

want to explore pleasure in all its forms.

What other recommendations do you have for movies that blend fetish and horror that aren’t being shown at Fetish Film Forum this year?

One of my favorites that I haven’t programmed yet for Fetish Film Forum is a Japanese ﬁlm called Blind Beast from 1969. It is a dreamy, visually stunning film about an artist who abducts a model to use her as inspiration for his next masterpiece. She develops Stockholm syndrome, and they become entangled in games of sadomasochism. The art direction is phenomenal—there are three-dimensional, giant eyes and breasts and lips. It’s so surreal, and I would highly recommend that one.

If you’re a fan of Stranger Things , which might be surprising to bring into a conversation about kinky horror films, I would say A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge [1985] is required viewing. Stranger Things’s later seasons are very strongly modeled after A Nightmare on Elm Street, and I think it’s one

of the ways that the series signals the queerness of Will’s character before it graduates from subtext to text.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 is about Freddy possessing a teenage boy to make him murder people in the real world. What makes it so kinky is there’s this phenomenal dream sequence in the ﬁlm where the main character dreams about his gym teacher as a leather daddy at a leather bar. It is spectacular.

It’s deﬁnitely my favorite in the franchise and maybe one of my favorite horror movies, period. I remember there is also a scene where the same gym teacher is, like, magically tied up bondage-style, completely naked, and then is basically spanked to death—it’s amazing.

Along the lines of some of the more popular horror films that people may not remember are so kinky is the film From Beyond [1986], which is kind of a spiritual sequel to Re-Animator [1985].

From Beyond is about a scientist who opens

a gateway into a parallel universe. It’s very much a creature feature with so many spectacular special e ects. In one of the subplots of the film, the character played by Barbara Crampton discovers a secret sex dungeon in the scientist’s house, and she really gets into it. She dresses up in the gear and looks at herself in the mirror and is completely feeling it. One of the lesser-known slashers of the 80s is Hide and Go Shriek [1988]. The ﬁlm is about a group of young people—teenagers or twentysomethings—who break into the department store that’s owned by the parent of one of these kids. They go there at night to play an epic game of hide-and-seek and to have a lot of sex with each other.

There’s something interesting that happens at the beginning and end of this film. At the beginning, there’s the custodian at the department store. He seems to live in the basement and has a box with fetish gear in it. The villain does wind up dressing in fetish gear and kind of chasing these young people around the department store in a really zany fashion.

Sounds kind of Scooby Doo-esque.

It’s an incredibly silly ﬁlm.

Another one is Return of the Living Dead 3 [1993]. It’s one of my favorite three-quels of horror cinema. The main characters are a young couple who get in a motorcycle accident. The girlfriend dies and the boyfriend discovers a chemical that can bring her back to life as a zombie.

The conflict of the film is that she has a growing appetite for brains, and the boyfriend is trying to kind of protect her, to hide her from the authorities and to find ways to feed her. What’s really neat is that, over the course of the film, she discovers that inflicting pain on herself curbs her appetite for brains. What she ultimately does is pierce herself in outlandish ways over her entire body: running shards of glass through her skin, giving herself all of these additional piercings. It really is kind of like a sadomasochistic fantasy that you’re beholding on the screen. It’s really, really stunning.

It would also be really fun to do a triple feature, specifically with Phantom of the Paradise [1974], The Crow [1994], and Blade [1998]. All three of these films have antiheroes dressed in black leather, and at least in my world, all three of them are iconic horror films.

Phantom of the Paradise is possibly my favorite Brian De Palma movie. This is the same

A still from From Beyond (1986) EMPIRE PICTURES

director as Carrie [1976], and it’s one of his earlier, lesser-known ﬁlms. It’s about this songwriter who has his ideas stolen by a big music producer and also has his face burned in a record press. So he dons a new costume that is skintight, head to toe, black leather, and this humongous owl-shaped metal helmet. It’s almost kind of pet play-esque too, with his owl helmet.

Could you say more about why Blade falls into the horror-erotica crossover?

I think that that ﬁlm is very much about the hotness of Wesley Snipes in all black leather. That’s how it was marketed even: this is a hot dude in leather—be into it.

I will also throw David Cronenberg’s Shivers [1975] out there as a recommendation. It’s about this kind of new experiment in high-rise living where everything is included in the building. A parasite is released in the apartment building [and it] begins to infect more and more people. The e ect of the parasite is that it brings all of the sexual urges that you have to the surface. What’s so powerful and horrifying about the ﬁlm is that some of the sexual urges that rise to the surface are beautiful and ﬁne, and some of them are very much not, and everything pulls together into a kind of giant orgy. It’s wild.

I also wanted to ask if you’ve ever seen Cruising [1980], with Al Pacino?

Yes! It’s totally a horror movie if you ask me.

I saw it recently, and I was like, “Oh, this is way more of a slasher film than I thought it was.” Could you tell me a little bit about why you think it’s a horror movie, and why it’s fetish aligned?

Cruising is very much about the queer and kink underground of New York City in the late 70s, early 80s. There is an interesting arc of the main character, the police o cer, who goes undercover posing as a gay man visiting many leather bars, possibly hooking up with many of these men. Just [a] spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen it and don’t want to know the film’s ending—there is a possibility at the end of the film that he is one of the film’s

killers. I think the ﬁlm does intend, in part, to ask the question: if you spend enough time with something, will it rub off on you? Will you become the thing that you’re spending time with? That’s happening on two di erent [levels], with this character, both his posing as a gay man and becoming deeply involved in queer and kink culture, and his investigating the crimes of a serial killer.

I know there were a lot of films on your list that we didn’t get the chance to talk about, and I can think of many others that fit the horror-fetish brief. Why do you think kink and leather culture are so often aligned with horror in films?

Truth be told, when kink, fetish, leather, and BDSM are portrayed in horror films, most of the time it is a negative depiction. I mean, these are communities that have historically been vilified. I do think, for filmmakers, it can be this easy and lazy signal to the viewer that this person is a villain, which is really unfortunate.

I think that horror films are also deeply, deeply compassionate in many instances. They empathize so deeply with the characters who su er, with the victims of a slasher killer or what have you. I just think it’s so brave and so beautiful that horror films are willing to face that su ering, are willing to face that pain or express it. There’s something kind of revolutionary about it.

I do think that sometimes BDSM is also about discovering pleasure in pain. I think there’s a parallel to be drawn there between horror films and BDSM both being about embracing the full spectrum of human experience—the pleasure, the pain, and everything in between. v

The Chicago Marathon and the Music Box of Horrors 24-hour horror movie marathon—which, as luck would have it, usually occur within a week of each other every year—actually have a lot in common. Both require traversing long distances, one literally, the other through a genre as nuanced as it can be bloody. For both, it’s important to dress comfortably and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. At some point throughout its duration you might regret ever being born—or maybe that’s just me. Because similarly to how I can’t undertake an athletic event like I used to (my phrasing of “athletic event” may have hinted at that fact), I am also not the nocturnal creature I once was. Overall, though, like I’m sure it is for those who actually run in a real marathon, it’s extremely rewarding just to participate, and even more so to ﬁnish.

Alas, I must disclose here that I didn’t complete the Music Box of Horrors this year. (In fact, I’ve only done it all the way through just once, the event to which I attribute the start of my lower back pain.) But I did make it through 14 hours, which—I mean, I can barely run one mile, so if I ran 58 percent of a marathon, I’d still be pretty proud. Anyway, what I saw I really enjoyed. The programming is always top-notch, but this year it felt especially well situated. The festivities kicked o with Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber’s silent short Suspense (1913), accompanied by Maxx McGathey, who, in celebration of the film’s protoslasher ambiance, evoked the musical stylings of John Carpenter. It was cool for that and the fact that Weber was one of the ﬁrst women ﬁlmmakers, as programmer Will Morris (a festival stalwart whose love for cinema comes out of his pores) made sure to illuminate beforehand.

There is, unfortunately, a dearth of older horror films directed by women. (With the exception of one or two contemporary films, all of the films shown during Music Box of Horrors are consid-

FILM

A still from Possibly in Michigan (1983)

ered revival screenings.)

This year, short films helped represent those unfortunately few and far between ﬁlmmakers; in addition to Weber’s film, Cecelia Condit’s Possibly in Michigan (1983) was also shown. If you’re not familiar with it, the video achieved viral popularity in 2015, an unlikely proposition for any kind of experimental video art, much less one from that long ago. To describe this singular object would be to debase it, but it’s an easy Google search away for anyone curious.

In terms of supplementary material and experiences, I quite enjoyed the video tribute to Roger Corman—featuring Jack Nicholson, from a 2011 documentary, crying and calling the producer-filmmaker his lifeblood—before Corman’s 1963 film The Haunted Palace. I also liked Ron Oliver’s prescreening introduction and postscreening discussion around his 1990 film Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (which is apparently referred to as the Blue Velvet of high school horror movies). Oliver was a riot—he wrote the film as well as directed it, and it was easy to connect his real-life wit to the dialogue. He also told a wild story about having gone to dinner with the CEO of LIVE Entertainment whilst trying to get the film developed; the CEO brought along his wife and their two sons. Oliver would find out just a little bit later that the couple had been murdered—they were José and Kitty Menendez.

Of the new-to-me films, I enjoyed Omar Ali Khan’s 2007 Pakistani horror ﬁlm Zibahkhana, and of those I’d seen before, I have to say that Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) is infinitely watchable. I’m already excited for next year, for which I’ll proclaim to want to do the entire thing and then probably not. Honestly, though, seeing how far I can push myself is part of the fun. Until next time, moviegoers. —KAT SACHS v

The Moviegoer is the diary of a local ﬁlm bu , collecting the best of what Chicago’s independent and underground ﬁlm scene has to o er.

MUSIC

Alex E. Chávez transforms tradition on his debut solo album

The Dos Santos front man reckons with political, personal, and musical border crossings on the kaleidoscopic Sonorous Present.

By SANDRA TREVIÑO

Artificial intelligence and social media are flooding our information environment with slop, misinformation, and lies, and politicians and talking heads either can’t cut through the noise or don’t want to. This makes it refreshing—and in some cases urgently necessary—for musicians and artists to speak their truths about social and political issues.

In the past few months, I’ve seen Frenchborn Chilean singer and rapper Ana Tijoux and Los Angeles indie-pop group Muna raise fists in solidarity with Palestine, while Senegalese star Tukkiman and Chicago performance poet Avery R. Young have addressed anti-immigrant narratives. Local playwright Rebeca Alemán, founder of Water People Theater, put a spotlight on femicide in this fall’s production of her most recent play, The Delicate Tears of the Waning Moon . When these statements of principle also facilitate introspection and healing, it’s especially inspiring—and that’s what Alex E. Chávez has done with his meticulously crafted solo debut, Sonorous Present.

Chávez is best known as front man for kaleidoscopic local Latine rock band Dos Santos, but he’s also a scholar—specifically an associate professor of anthropology at Notre Dame—and this pursuit is reflected in the ambitious aesthetic and conceptual underpinnings of the new record. Its mournful, defiant, gorgeously multifaceted songs combine son jarocho, huapango, nueva canción, ranchera, Cuban batá, psychedelia, jazz, new wave, synth ambience, R&B, postpunk, spoken word, and more—all held together by a connective tissue of field recordings he made while writing his 2017 book, Sounds of Crossing: Music, Migration, and the Aural Poetics of Huapango Arribeño (Duke University Press).

The album digs into “the sonorous politics of borders,” to quote its promo materials, and “elaborates on the deep and multitudinous

pectedly during the making of the record.

Chávez didn’t set out to make a solo album, but the idea for Sonorous Present crept up on him through his other work. It emerged shortly before COVID lockdowns, while he was doing events to promote Sounds of Crossing. “I was doing kind of a hybrid presentation. It had some conventional elements of giving a talk, but within that, I would also do a little storytelling and reading from some of the scenes in the book and also play music—just me, like a solo thing,” Chávez says. “It was this mix, a kind of platica/poetry/ music kind of presentation. I did it a number of times, but again, it was just me alone.”

In his scholarly work, Alex E. Chávez is a theorist of the sounds of borderlands. TREYLEGIT

possibilities of grief and healing through verse, melody, and ethnographic songwriting.” It addresses ruptures and losses and the ways we survive them—and not just the large-

scale breaks caused by borders. Sonorous Present also speaks to Chávez’s private griefs: he lost his older sister as a kid, his mother passed away in 2009, and his father died unex-

Chávez wanted to perform the pieces he’d developed with an ensemble, so in spring 2019 he reached out to fellow musicians and artists to turn those one-man presentations into a full-band concert. “And that’s how that happened, and I only did it once,” he says, laughing. “I did it at the Hungry Brain, and a lot of the folks that ended up on the record joined me for that performance. It was inspiring because it allowed me to exist in a creative space that embraced all these aspects of what I do.”

Over the next four years, the music that ensemble developed would grow into Sonorous Present , which came out October 18 through Los Angeles label Artivist Entertainment. Among the folks who’d been part of the show and appear on the album are vocalist Laura Cambrón, a veteran of the Mexican folk scenes in Chicago and LA; two local jazz musicians, saxophonist Nick Mazzarella and bassist Matt Ulery; LA singer Juan Rivera, who’s active in Mexican regional music; Chicagoborn R&B and neosoul keyboardist Cole DeGenova; Austin- based poet Roger Reeves; and Dos Santos drummer Daniel Villarreal.

As the project grew, it accumulated even more talent. Ramón Gutiérrez of Veracruz son jarocho band Son de Madera and his daughter Lucía Gutiérrez Rebolloso both add vocals, as does rapper-singer Aloe Blacc. Other contributors include Chicana singer and feminist music theorist Martha Gonzalez and her partner, Chávez’s old friend Quetzal Flores. As the music evolved, it transformed Chávez.

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continued from p. 20

Chávez was born in 1982 in Midland, Texas, to immigrant parents from the north central Mexican states of Zacatecas and Querétaro. He’s a fourth-generation musician, and his father played and toured in onda grupera bands and released music through Tejano label Freddie Records.

In Chicago you might see Chávez in Dos Santos or with all-star Latine electro band Caramelo Haze. In other places, you might encounter him playing traditional son jarocho, collaborating with the Los Sundowns (the duo of Villarreal and Texas guitarist Beto Martinez), or producing albums for the likes of Los Angeles rapper Olmeca and Mexican greats Guillermo Velázquez y Los Leones de la Sierra de Xichú.

He’s analytical as well as intuitive in his explorations of traditional and experimental music, finding enlightening ways to connect contrasting sounds. After that show at the Brain in 2019, he knew he wanted to do more, but COVID lockdowns forced him to pivot to studio work. “I was like, well, let me just skip to making the album,” Chávez says.

“While I was in Austin going to school, I was also playing with a lot of musicians from California who played son jarocho and traditional music like mariachi and huapango,” Chávez says. “I was drawn to that music, because I

“But I knew, long story short, that if I did that, I was not interested in just going into a studio and documenting what we did live. The whole point of doing it live was to grow it and see what happens. The next best thing was to do a record but bring in someone to produce it and to help think about things di erently.”

To do that job, Chávez brought in Flores, a Los Angeles–based Chicano musician and activist and cofounder of Artivist Entertainment. Flores is his most important collaborator on Sonorous Present: he not only plays guitar, jarana, and requinto but also produced the whole album.

Chávez has known Flores for almost 20 years—they met in Austin in the early 2000s, while Chávez was still in college. What brought them together, appropriately, was the latest upwelling of the transnational movimiento jaranero, catalyzed by the Zapatista rebellion that began a decade before.

’92 urban rebellion, in the wake of Rodney King, then you get the ’94 Zapatista context and uprising—all these young Chicano and Chicana musicians are inspired by these political movements,” Chávez explains. “In this post-’92 context in LA and this other kind of renaissance in Chicano music, this son jarocho stuff is kind of at the center.”

In the early 2000s, Flores and Gonzalez would often travel through Austin with Quetzal to perform at SXSW and other festivals. Chávez met them through mutual friends, and they hit it o immediately. A couple years later, in 2006, when Chávez and several classmates organized an encuentro in Austin, he made sure to invite Quetzal.

understands how to immerse yourself and understand its value as a steward of tradition or someone indebted to it, while at the same time understanding that, ‘Yeah, but that’s not me.’” Chávez was also conﬁdent that Flores would grasp why the project needed to take this path. “He would get this other aspect, the scholarly thing, the anthropology thing, the more ethno graphic thing,” Chávez says, “where I want to think about these issues but make it sound meaningful.”

Coming into the sessions, Chávez had some ideas brewing and a few pieces he’d already recorded. But he didn’t treat any of that as a template—he presented material to Flores with an open mind. “This is kind of true to the form of what the composition is, but I want to reimagine it,” he’d say. “And I don’t want to play it like this. What are your thoughts?”

was already playing huapango and doing the huasteco and arribeño thing. I always appreciated son jarocho, but it wasn’t part of my musical heritage. So I started to learn with them, playing jarana. And to give you context, we’re barely a decade removed from the EZLN in 1994, when they take up arms. That inspires, in a way, this moment of transnational music making in the jarocho universe from Veracruz to East LA.”

Flores’s band Quetzal, which he’d started in 1993, traveled with other LA musicians to the Mexican state of Chiapas to have meetups (“encuentros jaraneros”) with their counterparts from Veracruz. In 1997, Flores founded the cultural collective Big Frente Zapatista, which later that year organized one of the ﬁrst such retreats in Oventic, a Zapatista community in the Chiapas jungle.

“Quetzal and all those folks, the Ozomatli folks, all that whole scene, in the ashes of the

“We brought them in—Quetzal and a bunch of East LA jarocho musicians and Son de Madera from Veracruz and some huapangueros from Texas—we brought them all together,” Chávez says. The ﬁve-day meetup o ered the opportunity to discuss politics and music, particularly the kind of music that pushes boundaries and traditions. “We had platicas and concerts and a big fandango, and it was amazing. It was at the height of the movimiento jaranero, when I met Quetzal Flores, and he and his music and Martha and everybody had a big impact on me.”

Chavéz didn’t even consider someone else to produce Sonorous Present , though he’d never worked with Flores on a recording project before. “He was the ﬁrst person I thought of, because I knew what I was going to try and do,” Chávez says. “I was going to pull deeply on traditional music. And that means di erent things to me, not the least of which is that I also like to push at the boundaries of what tradition is.”

He knew Flores would feel the same way. “He can do tradition, but he’s also like, ‘Yeah, fuck that,’” Chávez says, laughing. “Flores

The composition that evolved into the Sonorous Present track “Refugios,” for instance, is a traditional son jarocho—upbeat, fast, joyful. “But the way it is on the record is completely different,” Chávez says. Gonzalez provides guest vocals, and her poignant voice provokes a feeling of loss and yearning, caught in the pain of grief. Along with DeGenova’s churchy, swooping Hammond organ, it gives the song a soulful vibe.

“For me, it sounds old-school, like an almost Chicano rock or doo-wop, something from the 50s or 60s, with its slow arpeggio and organ,” Chávez says.

The whole record is deliberately suffused with sadness and melancholy. “I think I leaned into it harder because of COVID,” Chávez says. “When we finally got to Chicago to track a bunch of stu with people, we were all masked, and there was no vaccine. We were testing and being careful, but it was terrifying!”

Chávez thinks the album’s aura of bereavement comes in part from that global trauma. “There are very personal stories around that

Sonorous Present addresses ruptures and losses and the ways we survive them—and not just the large-scale breaks caused by borders.

Jennifer Kotting’s cover art for Sonorous Present

THEGREENPAGES

Chicago’s dispensaries, products, and resources for the cannabis consumer

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continued from p. 22

for me, but I think that remembering and mourning is something, right now, that we all need, even though there’s maybe a reluctance to acknowledge that,” he says. “I think we’re all a little traumatized after COVID, and once it was ‘over,’ then we just went straight back to the pachanga! We never . . . nobody’s talked about this!”

He laughs, but not because he’s joking. “We have not processed this as people. We just kind of went back to normal, and I kept thinking, ‘But wait, hold on, everybody lost somebody or knows somebody who has.’ And we were just terrified. It’s heartbreaking. I definitely did lean into the sadness, because I was sad and because I felt I needed to.”

Chávez also realized while making the album that he was still processing a more specific grief. The first single he chose to preview Sonorous Present was “Cómplices de Luto,” which he wrote in the wake of his mother’s passing. It’s a gentle huapango that accompanies the soothing singing of Chávez and vocalist Laura Cambrón with a string arrangement by Matt Ulery, creating the feel of an enchanting, shimmering lullaby.

“Writing through those feelings was necessary in my own grieving,” Chávez says. “Relatedly, in the video—directed by Estudio Pneuma in collaboration with Celestial Brizuela—the sense of longing is represented by the butterfly encountered by a figure who is crossing the desert border, the river, and the threshold between life and death.”

Chávez’s father, José Guadalupe Chávez, died on August 30, 2022. The emotional shock couldn’t help but color the music. “This kind of loss wakes you up to who you are,” Chávez says. “I needed to be honest about that and not look away.”

The third single from Sonorous Present , “Catalina” (with backing vocals by Lucía Gutiérrez Rebolloso), continues in this vein. “‘Catalina’ is dedicated to my late older sister,” Chávez wrote on Instagram. “She was murdered at age 18—a victim of domestic violence in 1993. I’ve forever regretted the last words we spoke—it was a silly argument. We were kids. Her life was cut short minutes later in our home. She was a light. And not a day passes without her on my mind, her laughter in my ear. May her memory be a blessing.”

The other weight that Chávez has asked his new album to bear is the antiimmigrant fervor in the U.S.—though the language used by the right is more dehu-

manizing and apocalyptic, the underlying biases have been thoroughly normalized by Democrats and Republicans alike.

Last month, Chávez released the second Sonorous Present single, “The Shadow,” which features Flores on traditional requinto jarocho and a midsong recitation by Roger Reeves. He

The other weight that Chávez has asked his new album to bear is the anti-immigrant fervor in the U.S.

weighed in on Instagram then too, referring to a memorable line that Reeves delivers in a short video piece about the making of Sonorous Present directed by Chicago filmmaker Osvaldo Cuevas.

“Anti-immigrant rhetoric has a long history in this country,” he wrote. “It has been my life’s

work and art to ﬁght against this violence. I was reminded of this in the classroom in the wake of anti-Haitian racism trivialized by dog and cat memes. There is something at stake in what I write, teach, and create, or as my brother Roger Reeves says in our documentary, ‘We make a music built of our discontent, as well as our love.’”

Chávez chooses to see that rhetoric’s long history as a way to maintain perspective. “These narratives and discourse do the cultural work of perpetually positioning migrants— particularly from Latin America and the global south—outside the boundaries of national belonging,” he says. “These ways of speaking are part of a well-worn genre in U.S.-American racial talk that has produced ‘the savage’ or ‘illegal’ in the American racial imagination—an otherness necessary to the project of white supremacy.”

Because this language is so old, the ﬁght to uproot it is just as well-established. The current moment isn’t as exceptional as it might feel. “Always historicize,” Chávez says. “We can’t a ord to have amnesia about these politics and policies. We need to always acknowledge how they have been a long-standing part of ‘America,’ and that there have always been struggles against them. This is how we challenge conventional narratives—to think deeply about them, rather than engage in hyperbole.”

In this way Chávez infuses his music with more than just anger and pain—there’s also love and hope. You can see it in the community of collaborators Chávez has chosen, the artists and compañeros he describes as “luminaries from the worlds of traditional Mexican son, jazz, and R&B.” You can see it in the delicate artwork that accompanies the album and in the picturesque videos.

You can hear all of it—a complex yet lucid amalgam of found sounds and emotions, a fresh take on “Americana” in the transcontinental sense—on Sonorous Present. v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Alex E. Chávez presented the live premiere of Sonorous Present in Los Angeles in March. TREYLEGIT

THURSDAY24

Closed Sessions 15th Anniversary See Pick of the Week at le . Featuring performances by DJ Muggs, BoatHouse with Defcee, GreenSllime, SolarFive, Recoechi, DJ Rude One, DJ Ca$h Era, and DJ RTC. 7 PM, Avondale Music Hall, 3336 N. Milwaukee, $30. 18+

Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn 8 PM, Maurer Concert Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, $30, $28 members. b

Lots of performers say they’re pursuing their own path in defiance of the crowd, but Dawn Richard makes a better claim than most. The singer and songwriter came into the spotlight in 2004, when she auditioned for Sean Combs (then known as P. Diddy) on the MTV reality show Making the Band 3 , landing a coveted spot in pop girl group Danity Kane. The following year, Danity Kane signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records, and they released a couple albums before dissolving in 2009. (Richard took part in both subsequent reunions, the latest ending in 2020.) Richard quickly found her voice as a solo artist, releasing a series of increasingly experimental R&B concept albums, including the high fantasy Goldenheart (2013) and the exploration of her New Orleans roots Second Line (2021). Last month she ﬁled a lawsuit against Diddy, alleging the hip-hop mogul subjected her to verbal, sexual, and labor abuses.

Now Richard has made another musical le turn. Her new album, a collaboration with New York multi-instrumentalist Spencer Zahn titled Quiet in a World Full of Noise , is a sparse, piano-driven eﬀort, ﬂoating somewhere between ambient quasiclassical and jazzy neosoul. The music pulses and breathes, highlighting Richard’s remarkable husky alto as she channels jazz, gospel, and blues, slurring and moaning her way into and around the lyrics. Though I miss the extroverted reach of Richard’s Recommended

CLOSED SESSIONS 15TH ANNIVERSARY

Featuring performances by DJ Muggs, BoatHouse with Defcee, GreenSllime, SolarFive, Recoechi, DJ Rude One, DJ Ca$h Era, and DJ RTC. Thu 10/24, 7 PM, Avondale Music Hall, 3336 N. Milwaukee, $30. 18+

I’M NOT SURPRISED that Closed Sessions landed a west-coast star as big as Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs to headline its 15th-anniversary party. The Chicago label has done impressive work not only flying the flag for midwestern hip-hop artists but also establishing their work as part of a larger continuum, connecting MCs and producers throughout the country who are inspired by their reverence for the culture’s history. Tonight’s bill is otherwise full of local artists whose careers are intertwined with the Closed Sessions story. Loquacious lyricist Defcee will revisit his partnership with producer BoatHouse, which has already produced one of the best Chicago hip-hop albums of this decade, 2022’s For All Debts Public and Private. Last month, multifaceted rapper, producer, and DJ GreenSllime (who appears on several Closed Sessions releases)

dropped a collaborative album with Chicago rapper-producer Iceface, the foggy, cerebral Wolves Eat Goats. Rapper and producer SolarFive (who collaborated with local producer Custom Made on last year’s Paved With Good Intentions) has helped shape the city’s indie hip-hop scene with the beat collective OnGaud. Veteran producer DJ Rude One is still plugged into newer voices on the scene; last year he released a full-length with outre Rochester MC RXK Nephew (The ONEderful Nephew), and he’s previewed the brand-new Closed Sessions album Upper Space with a regal single featuring Roc Marciano (“Elegant”) and a loose-limbed thinker with Valee (“Frosted Flake”). DJ Ca$h Era, DJ RTC (aka Closed Sessions cofounder Alex Fruchter), and the label’s newest signee, self-assured rapper Recoechi, round out the lineup. —LEOR GALIL

Emily How COURTESY THE ARTIST

Clockwise from top le : DJ Muggs, DJ Ca$h Era, DJ RTC, and Recoechi

PHOTOS COURTESY CLOSED SESSIONS

MUSIC

2010s work, it’s hard not to be inspired by her refusal to stay in any box, whether imposed by the industry or herself. “You’ve danced with the devil and lost your way,” she sings on “The Dancer.” Even if she was forced to do the ﬁrst, she never did the second. —NOAH BERLATSKY

FRIDAY25

Emily How Rain Garden, Joe Glass, and Grey Slush open. 6:30 PM, Subterranean (downstairs), 2011 W. North, $13. 17+

Like many musicians of her generation, twentysomething Peoria singer and guitarist Emily How (aka Emily Hough) grew up enamored with Taylor Swi —her ﬁrst performances were restaurant cover sets of Swi ’s songs. These days, How isn’t quite so squeaky-clean or hyperfocused. She and her bandmates (bassist Brenton Engel, drummer Matt Filarski, and guitarist Jacob Hill) combine indie rock, Americana, alt-pop, and grunge, and How steers the emotional core of the music with her sweet, slightly scuffed-up voice. On her 2022 debut EP, Flight Behavior, she moves between cool and damaged (“I Miss U Say It Back”) and wistfully lovelorn (“Ladybug”). Last year’s “I Hope I Die Inside a Fire” goes from zero to 60 and back again; it starts with

even-keeled indie pop and slacker rock, builds to an impassioned climax ﬂooded with layers of haunting vocals, and drops off that cliff into a sparse, hair-raisingly lovely outro. And on their latest single, May’s “Useless,” How dances over loose-limbed emo and 90s alt-rock, then breaks into a dejected howl. The band submitted that song to NPR’s

Tiny Desk Contest, and this spring their understated video performance became one of the 45 Top Shelf selections (out of more than 7,000 entries) to compete in the Fan Favorite vote—quite a distinction, even though they didn’t win. This show kicks oﬀ How’s midwest tour with Peoria dream-rock trio Grey Slush. —JAMIE LUDWIG

Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/musicreviews

The Lipschitz Being Dead headline; Villagerrr and the Lipschitz open. 10 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $15. 21+

Guitarist-singer Daniel Brady and drummer-singer Rachael Boswell formed postpunk duo the Lipschitz in Savannah, Georgia, but right from the start you could hear an affinity for midwestern rock ’n’ roll in their jittery, stripped-down sound—it’s no wonder they moved to Chicago in 2017. The Lipschitz’s 2015 debut EP, Pillow Face , already had the mosquitobuzzing energy of 2010s Northwest Indiana hardcore, and in 2018 they released the album Lava on Ralph Rivera’s great Chicago punk label, Not Normal Tapes. In the ensuing years, the duo have mellowed slightly: they’re playing at somewhat slower tempos, dabbling in restrained vocal interplay, and emphasizing spacious arrangements that feel both chilly and inviting. All in all, they’ve moved a bit closer to the atmospheric drowsiness of formerly local indie duo the Funs, and in fact Philip Lesicko of the Funs engineered the Lipschitz’s selfreleased new album, Plinth. It’s their first release as a trio with bassist Antonio Holguin III, previously of mighty local hardcore bands Raw Nerve and Big Zit. Holguin lends the songs an accessible melodic he that grounds Boswell’s no-frills, straight-ahead drumming and Brady’s jagged, knock-kneed guitar. Plinth rips like a good punk record should, but it’s also got a whiff of romance that makes these songs swoon. —LEOR GALIL

Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn CLIFFORD USHER

2024-25 Season

Join the nation’s most diverse orchestra for a full season of bold symphonic music for just $60 with our Pay What You Can Subscription. Join us at Naperville’s Wentz Hall (WH) or in Chicago at Auditorium Theatre (AH).

Use code READER60 at checkout.

CULTURE CHRONICLES

SCREEN & STAGE

HOLIDAYS OF JOY

Season Opener

9/7 WH & 9/8 AT

Special Co-Commission

11/21 WH & 11/22 AT

One Night Only 12/19 AT

BLACK BEING

MLK Tribute

1/19 WH & 1/20 AT

CHARLES IVES’ AMERICA

150th Anniversary

2/22 Mandel Hall

University of Chicago

LOVE LETTERS

Women’s History Month 3/13 WH & 3/16 AT

TONAL TRANSFORMATION

Season Finale

5/9 WH & 5/10 AT

Photo by David Bazemore

MUSIC

continued from p. 26

SATURDAY26

William Elliott Whitmore David Huckfelt opens. 8:30 PM, FitzGerald’s, 6615 W. Roosevelt, Berwyn, $29, $240 reserved seating for six. 21+

Iowa singer-songwriter William Elliott Whitmore self-released two albums in the late 90s and early 00s, but he really burst onto the scene with his 2003 Southern Records debut, Hymns for the Hopeless . Though he was a young man then, his voice sounded ancient and timeless, which made this ﬁerce, beautifully grim album feel like he was already raging against the dying of the light. With one foot in the kind of old family graveyards scattered across America’s rural landscape and the other in the DIY punk scene (Southern signed him a er catching him opening for Iowa City greats Ten Grand, for whom he’d roadied), Whitmore walked the line between city and country, history and modernity—and (considering his obsession with mortality) life and death. His next two albums, 2005’s Ashes to Dust and 2006’s Song of the Blackbird, proved his early success was no ﬂuke: his soulful, husky voice and poetic eye for detail established him as a major talent in the vein of John Prine and Steve Earle.

Since then Whitmore has blazed his own trail, releasing albums on larger indies, including Anti- and Bloodshot. In the early days, he kept his setup straightforward—accompanying himself on banjo, guitar, and kick drum— but he’s also done some full-band productions. He’s collaborated with singers Jenny Hoyston and Esme Patterson, among others, and in 2018 he released Kilonova, a covers record that pays tribute to his inﬂuences, including Johnny Cash, Bill Withers, and Captain Bee eart.

ditional heavenly consolations of country gospel. Instead, he confronts death while making the most of life. “Come on and dance with me,” he sings. “I won’t be around forever.”

—MONICA KENDRICK

SUNDAY27

Vince Staples Baby Rose opens. 7 PM, Riviera Theatre, 4746 N. Racine, $39 general admission, $99 reserved loge seating. 18+

When I get disillusioned with the state of hip-hop, it o en helps to remind myself that we still have artists like Vince Staples. Then I remember that Staples and I share a birthday. The zodiac suggests that Cancers born in July, at our worst, can be stubborn and moody—but at our best, we can be incredibly nurturing and intuitive. When I listen to Staples, this all checks out, and it deﬁnitely improves my enthusiasm for our current cultural moment.

I was fortunate enough to witness a young Staples play the Metro in 2014, when he opened for Los Angeles rapper Schoolboy Q on his Oxymoron tour. Since then it’s been gratifying to watch his career take oﬀ. Staples is a captivating performer with a warm, commanding stage presence that’s equally intelligent, mischievous, and riotous. His catalog moves between electronic music and pure hip-hop, and his writing style is no less stunning for its direct simplicity.

Staples can offer up dark humor or light war with deadpan precision, and his prickly perspective balances distrust against hope. He has a rare combination of self-awareness and quick-witted levity as well as a knack for delivering punch-you-in-the-face lyrics with an easygoing, almost sleepy demeanor. He’s hilarious, but really, ain’t shit funny.

In January, Whitmore released his latest album, Silently, the Mind Breaks , on his own Whitmore Records. Engineered by Whitmore’s cousin, Luke Tweedy, at Tweedy’s Flat Black Studios, the record showcases Whitmore’s musical ﬂexibility as well as his rugged, ragged heart: he stares down oncoming darkness with wry, unwavering tenderness. He pokes gentle fun at apocalyptic fears and survivalist fantasies on “Bunker Built for Two” and details the economic woes of rural America with mordant wit on “What For.” But on “Has to Be That Way,” “Darkness Comes,” and “A Golden Door to an Empty Place,” he shows he’s at his strongest and most wistful when the grim reaper lurks near. Whitmore writes from an atheistic perspective, which means his storytelling doesn’t come with the tra-

That sentiment permeates Staples’s latest album, May’s Dark Times. Growing older in hip-hop is less taboo these days, and while Staples has always sounded assured and polished, the man in his music has obviously matured from rambunctious youngin to (dare I say) cool uncle. He’s also evolved into a viable actor. He has a recurring role on Abbott Elementary , and last year he was the saving grace of the White Men Can’t Jump remake, which is otherwise a real stinker. At this show, part of his Black in America tour, Staples shares the bill with D.C. hiphop and soul singer Baby Rose, whose staggering contralto landed her 2023 album, Through and Through , on many end-of-year best-of lists. You’ll want to grab tickets in advance for this heavy-duty bill. —CRISTALLE BOWEN v

The Lipschitz COURTESY THE ARTIST

Photo by Rachel Ruttle

JOBS

Health Care Service Corporation seeks Business Analyst (Chicago, IL) to work as a liaison among stakeholders to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. REQS: This position reqs a Bach deg, or forgn equiv, in Tech or Bus Admin or a rel ﬂd + 2 Yrs of exp as a proj mgr, sys analyst, or a rel position. Telecommuting permitted. Applicants who are interested in this position should submit a complete resume in English to hrciapp@bcbsil.com, search [Business Analyst / R0026599. EOE].

Commercial Technology Architect Enterprise Solutions – SAP Procurement Mars Information Services, Inc.: Commercial Technology Architect Enterprise Solutions – SAP Procurement (Formerly known as: Commercial (Procurement) Technology Solution Architect – Direct Procurement) – Chicago, IL. Partnering w/ key stakeholders across business segments to deliver new commercial technology solutions for Mars Information Services, Inc. Job reqs Bach’s deg in Comp Engg, Mgmt Info Sys, or a rltd ﬂd + 7 yrs in any job title involving exp in Procure to Pay domain w/ responsibilities for solution design, product mgmt & sys implementation for SAP ECC, SAP SRM, & Ariba within the Consumer-Packaged Goods industry. Up to 25% intl & dom travel reqd for biz mtgs. Tlwk permitted up to 2 days per wk. To apply, send resume identifying Job Code 137 to MarsTA-PIC@ effem.com. No calls.

UI Health – University Health Service -Clinical Practice Data Analyst Coordinator Univ Health Service, at the Univ of IL College of Medicine Chicago (UIC), located in a large metropolitan area, is seeking full-time Clinical Practice Data Analyst Coordinator to assist the department with the following responsibilities: Under direction and supervision, conduct full clinical data analysis to include requirements, activities, and design; Develop analysis and reporting capabilities and monitor performance and quality control plans to identify improvements; Facilitate evaluation and improvement of quality performance by presenting complex information in an understandable and compelling manner customized to the audience; Collaborate with clinicians and senior leaders to design and perform more complex analyses, database design development, and report creation; Develop project-specific data management goals that address areas such as data analytic updates, reporting, and work-flow processes; Design or create merged data files and/or warehouse data sets to provide easy customer access to an integrated repository of clinical, financial, and demographic data supporting the health system’s analysis, planning, and improvement needs; Identify methods to streamline and automate data upload process to increase the speed of reporting results and to reduce errors; Utilize specialized knowledge of healthcare data analytics to perform tasks; Supervise the orientation and work performance of lower-level staff; Perform other duties and participate in special projects as assigned. Some periodic travel may be required for local travel in between worksite locations. This position minimally requires a Bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent in Healthcare Information; Healthcare Economics; Health Outcomes, Policy & Economics; Statistics; Finance; or related field of study; and 2 yrs of data analyst or data management work experience in a clinical or healthcare related field... For fullest consideration, please submit CV, cover letter, and 3 professional references by 11/4/2024 to Shanelle Brandon, University of IL Chicago, University Health Services, 835 South Wolcott Street, Suite E144, Chicago, IL 60612 or via email to shanelle@ uic.edu UIC is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer. Minorities, women, veterans, & individuals w/ disabilities are encouraged to apply. UIC may conduct background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer letter. Background checks will be performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. As a qualifying federal contractor, the University of Illinois System uses E-Verify to verify employment eligibility. The University of Illinois System requires candidates selected for hire to disclose any documented finding of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment and to authorize inquiries to current and former employers regarding findings of

sexual misconduct or sexual harassment. For more information, visit https://www.hr.uillinois. edu/cms/One.aspx?

portalId=4292&page

Id=1411899 University of Illinois faculty, staff and students are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. If you are not able to receive the vaccine for medical or religious reasons, you may seek approval for an exemption in accordance with applicable University processes.

Senior Analytics Engineer Bounteous Inc. seeks a Senior Analytics Engineer (#B004) in Chicago, IL: Develop domain expertise in clients’ business space to drive results. Demonstrate grasp of fundamental importance of clean data to empower successful digital marketing initiatives, in support of larger business objectives. Telecommuting is permitted. Send resumes to Daniel Johnson (Daniel. Johnson@bounteous. com) & must reference Job title and Job #B004 in subject line.

Morningstar, Inc. seeks a Senior Data Specialist, Level II (multiple positions) in Chicago, IL to track, evaluate, & determine resolution approach for complex data issues that escalate from Level I teams (Product Support, Client Service Consultant) (18%). BS in Comp Sci, Comp Engg, or rltd engg ﬁeld & 2 yrs of rltd data specialist exp req’d. Add’l speciﬁc skills req’d. For position details & to apply, visit: https://www. morningstar.com/careers; ref. job ID REQ-047487.

Market Research Analyst in Bolingbrook IL. Must have Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing or Marketing Analytics. 2 yrs of exp. Prepare marketing research reports, analyze data, and summarize market trends. Gather data on competitors and analyze their prices and sales; gather and analyze data on customer demographics, preferences, needs, and buying habits. Get to know the trends in the logistics and warehouse industry; forecast, track and report marketing and sales trends, analyze data. Other tasks as assigned. Send resume to: Cargowill, LLC 1325 Remington Blvd Ste B, Bolingbrook, IL 60490. Senior VDC Manager (Master’s w/ 5 yrs exp or Bach w/ 7 yrs exp; Majors: Architecture or equiv) - Chicago, IL. Job entails working w/ & reqs exp in BIM incl: developing design documents & reviewing constructability; assisting in coordi-

nating production team, building systems, code authorities, & specs; maintaining project cost estimates; coordinating bidding process; on-site observation; project management, business development; Revit, AutoCAD, BIM360, Navisworks, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Dynamo; VR, BIM, Digital Twins, AI. Various worksites: relocation or occasional travel to project-based unanticipated worksites within the USA possible. Send resumes to VIATechnik LLC, Attn: HR, 200 E Randolph, Suite 5400, Chicago, IL 60601

Research Engineer Aquatic Group is seeking a Research Engineer in Chicago, IL. Develop software for researchers using Python and C++. Must live within normal commuting distance of worksite. Must be in office 4 days per week. May work remotely on Fridays. Email resume to HR@Aquatic.com and reference code 2255 in subject line.

Risk Analyst Federal Home Loan Bank Chicago is seeking a Risk Analyst in Chicago, IL. Analyze loan characteristics and credit risk features from key data. Remote work allowed up to 40% of time. Apply on-line at fhlbc.com/careers.

Director of Enrollment Marketing, Chicago. Plan & execute print & digital ad campaigns, marketing strategies; monitor performance. Meet w/ clients, conduct research, monitor budgets. Write, proof content. Bachelor’s in marketing analytics, comms, closely related, 5 yrs exp. req. Mail res, cov let to Melissa Munoz-Rush, Manager, HR, Illinois Institute of Technology, 10 W 35th St., Ste. 1300, Chicago, IL 60616.

Stantec Consulting Services, Inc seeks Project Engineers for Chicago, IL to perform site evals & prep ﬁeld survey reports. Bachelor’s in Mechanical Eng/closely related ﬁeld +4yrs exp req’d. Req’d skills: Comprehensive knowledge of HVAC nomenclature, design tech, materials, sys components, construction tech, related eng sys, & building codes; exp w/reading, analyzing, & interpreting tech docs, specifications, technical procedures, & gov regs; CAD; Revit; Trane TRACE; exp w/ preparing comprehensive reports, business correspondence, & procedure manuals. Prof Eng License req’d. 10% domestic travel req’d. Send resume: HRApply@ stantec.com & specify “Project Engineers” in subject line. REF ID: NS

Accountant Accountant, SPAAN Tech Inc. in Chicago, IL. Analyze financial info & prepare ﬁnancial reports. Analyze accounting discrepancies. Monthly reconciliations. Process AP/ AR. Payroll & year-end processing & tax strategy. Req: master’s degree in accounting or related field. Email resume to HR@SpaanTech.com.

Enveronmental Health and Safety Advisor FERNDALE CONSTRUCTION INC. Seeks an Environmental Health and Safety Advisor. Mail resume to 1440 Renaissance Dr Suite 300, Park Ridge, IL

PMI Kyoto Packaging Systems, Inc. seeks Data and Project Management Specialist w/Bach or for deg equiv in CS, IS, Proj Mngmt or rel ﬂd & 2 yrs exp in job oﬀer or IT incl IT infrastr devp & implem of info syst CRM & MRP. Apply to HR, 850 Pratt Blvd., Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 or https://www.pmikyoto. com/about-pmi/ career-opportunities/

Position Available: UIC IT Technical Associate (Sr. Business Intelligence Analyst The Offc of Technology Solutions, at the Univ of IL Chicago, located in a large metropolitan area, is seeking fulltime IT Technical Associate (Sr. Business Intelligence Analyst) to asst dept w/ the following responsibilities: Under direction/ sprvsion, gthr info requirements & retrieve/ mine data sources using computer programs; Actively monitor recurring & nonrecurring reports for accuracy & reasonableness; Identify, establish & maintain quality data sources; Work w/ IT to ensure quality data sources are established & maintained; Develop a data strategy through design & establishment of info systems that manage, store, file, retrieve, & analyze data for statistical summary reports, longitudinal tracking, & ad hoc reporting; Serve as lead subject matter expert to other staff; Mentor colleagues on business intelligence processes, software (such as Tableau), best practices, & share experiences to strengthen the team’s success; Analyze current & hist info, recognize trends & create benchmarks against peer institutions for comparative analysis; Produce recurring metrics & reports & create new reports as requested; Perf other rltd duties & participate in spec proj as assgnd. Some travel may be periodically req for previously sched evnts, attd confrcs, &/or

prof dvlmnt. This position minimally requires a Bach deg or foreign equiv in Comp Sci, Mgmnt Info Sys, or rltd ﬁeld; The min of 5 yrs progressively more responsible IT experience w/in Business Systems Analysis; Demonstrated exp in developing/implementing new & enhancements to existing systems, including evaluating business requirements & recommending system alternatives; A certification such as Certified Analytics Professional (CAP), project management, or certification in a data analytics tool such as Tableau Software; Demonstrated knowledge of data mining, data warehouse tools, & relational databases; Expert skill level in BI tools such as Tableau; Proficient in database query languages such as SQL; Demonstrated proficiency in ETL, scripting, & data extraction from cloud srvcs such as Azure & Amazon Web Services; Proficient in data interchange protocols such as XML; Proficient in MS Excel incl pivot tables. For fullest consideration, please submit CV, cvr ltr, & 3 prof references by 11/16/2024 to Margot Wosko, Univ of IL Chicago, Tech. Sol., 200 RRB, MC 010, 728 Roosevelt Rd, Chicago IL 60607 or via email at mwosko2@ uic.edu. UIC is an EOE including Disability/Vets.

Huron Consulting Services, LLC has an opening for a Salesforce Consulting Manager in Chicago, IL to perform technical and solution architecture design, development, prototyping, and release management. $148,949.00/yr. send resume to globalmobility@ huronconsultinggroup. com. Must reference job 21756.8.3.

Software Engineer w/ McKinsey & Co., Inc. US (Chicago, IL). Contribute to all aspects of the s/w dvlpmnt life cycle, incl design, dvlpmnt, documentation, testing, & ops. Telecommuting permitted. Req’s Master’s in Comp Sci, S/W Engg, or rel field, or foreign degree equiv + 1yr of s/w dvlpmnt exp. Email your resume to CO@ mckinsey.com & refer to Job # 7628339.

Senior Product Manager, Platform (SMB) Enova Financial Holdings, LLC seeks Senior Product Manager, Platform (SMB) in Chicago, IL to lead prdct rdmp dvlpmnt. Telecomm. (remt wrk) prmtd. Apply at jobpostingtoday. com/ Ref #15856.

Beyond Finance (Chicago, IL) seeks Assoc. Product Mgr w/ BS in ind. and ops engr, prod. management, or related +1 yr exp in prod. management or related. Must have exp in each of the following: 1) Dvlping and managing pymt. integrations platforms in ﬁntech ind. to streamline pymt. processes & enhance user exp.; 2) Integrating and utilizing call ctr platforms to enhance CS ops and improve call ctr eﬀ.; and 3) Mtrg KPIs and observability of prod. functionality using NewRelic and Looker, inc. rollouts, debugging, & stack impvs. Apply: Send resume to: bllcrecruiting@ beyondfinance.com w/ “Associate Product Manager” in subject line.

PROFESSIONALS & SERVICES

CLEANING SERVICES

CHESTNUT ORGANIZING AND CLEANING SERVICES: especially for people who need an organizing service because of depression, elderly, physical or mental challenges or other causes for your home’s clutter, disorganization, dysfunction, etc. We can organize for the downsizing of your current possessions to more easily move into a smaller home. With your help, we can help to organize your move. We can organize and clean for the deceased in lieu of having the bereaved needing to do the preparation to sell or rent the deceased’s home. We are absolutely not judgmental; we’ve seen and done “worse” than your job assignment. With your help, can we please help you? Chestnut Cleaning Service: 312-332-5575. www. ChestnutCleaning.com

Psychiatric and Mental Health Services At BrainBody, our mission is to establish and maintain a practice that provides medication management, therapeutic interventions focusing on whole health and lifestyle medicine to guide adults on a path to mental and physical health. Accepting new patients, in network with BCBS, Cigna, Optum, and Aetna. Email: support@ brainbody.health

AUDITIONS

ISO Drummer for original project local w/ some out of town Original Project looking doe drummer, local & out of town shows, 1-4 monthly -no jobbers https://joerian.com

CLASSIFIEDS JOBS

PROFESSIONALS & SERVICES AUDITIONS

GOSSIP WOLF

THURSDAY,

THE EFFIGIES WERE PART of a small but mighty contingent of bands that launched Chicago’s ﬁrst wave of punk. Formed in 1980, they charged out of the gate with a fast, brash sound that proved foundational to midwestern hardcore. “Guns or Ballots,” from the live 1981 compilation Busted at Oz , set the template for that style, which the Eﬃgies would perfect and abandon by the time they issued their chilly debut LP, 1984’s For Ever Grounded . In the ensuing decades, the band broke up and re-formed three times, and iconoclastic front man John Kezdy was the lone constant member. When Kezdy died in a bike accident in August 2023, the Effigies were finishing their first album since 2007’s Reside . On Friday, October 25, they’ll release that album, Burned (BFD/the Orchard)—their final recordings with Kezdy. The Effigies’ newest chapter brings up mixed feelings for bassist Paul Zamost . He and drummer Steve Economou were both part of the original lineup, and they came back aboard when the band reunited in 2004. “I’m at a point in my life now where I can do this fulltime,” Zamost says. “I can commit 100 percent. I’ve never really been able to do that in the last 25 years. That’s the sad part. John retired—we had great plans about where we’re gonna take this and what we’re gonna do with it. It’s his best work, and he’s not here for it.”

A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene

state attorney general’s office, and he finished recording his vocals before his sudden death. Zamost says Kezdy’s passing gave the Effigies a newfound sense of urgency, which pushed them to get Burned ready for release. “It was really weird mixing it without him,” Zamost says. “Kept waiting for him to walk through the door when a song ended.”

When BFD stepped in to release Burned , it also began reissuing the Eﬃgies’ back cat-

Crowes. On Friday, December 20, they’ll headline Metro to celebrate Burned and the reissue of For Ever Grounded and honor Kezdy’s memory.

Zamost says the process that led to Burned began with a call he got from Economou in 2020. “He said, ‘How about getting together, maybe rerecording some of the old stuff we never released, like “Guns or Ballots”?’” Zamost recalls. “I said, ‘Sure, I’m up for anything.’ It was during COVID, I’m just sitting there, isolated.” The Eﬃgies’ rhythm section started practicing, then writing new material; once they had an album’s worth of songs, they brought in guitarist Keith Shigeta to flesh them out. Only then did they ﬁnally reach out to Kezdy.

Delays complicated the recording of Burned . Zamost underwent a couple surgeries for his neck and back, and Kezdy was injured in the mass shooting at the Highland Park Independence Day parade in 2022. That same year, Kezdy retired from his job in the

alog. A remixed 40th-anniversary reissue of For Ever Grounded will come out for Record Store Day next month. “All the two-inch [tape] recordings that we have, we’d found in John’s attic, and we took ’em to Steve Albini’s place and had ’em transferred,” Zamost says. “We’d seen [Albini] right before his death. We talked about maybe him mixing some of this stuﬀ and releasing an Albini mix, but that’s not gonna happen.”

Zamost, Economou, and current Effigies guitarist Andy Gerber (who produced and played on Burned ) also had to decide whether or how to carry on with the band. They needed a new front man, and Zamost says they considered recruiting his son Seth (half of hip-hop duo the Palmer Squares). Eventually they landed on Geoff Sabin , who’d assisted Gerber during the recording of Reside . “The first couple times he came in, it was so weird to play a song with somebody else,” Zamost says. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can get used to this.’ But the chemistry is really good, and that’s what really made this transition so easy.”

Last week, the Effigies began a string of five midwestern dates opening for the Black

ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, Chicago hardcore band Si Dios Quiere drop their debut LP, No Angels , through New Morality Zine , the local label run by Nick Acosta . It’s their ﬁrst release since a two-song promo last summer, unless you count the two album singles they’ve put out over the past few months to build buzz for No Angels. The title track (with guest vocals by Andy Zarate of Dallas band Soledad) came out Friday, October 11, and “Fool’s Gold” hit streaming in late August. “Fool’s Gold” opens like a metallic hardcore song, with chunky, swaggering guitar riﬀs driven by a brutal backbeat and pummeling double kick drum at the perfect breakdown tempo. When vocalist Ozzy Jimenez starts yelling, though, he doesn’t use a screamo shriek or a death-metal growl—he’d fit right in on a tough-guy 90s rap track (maybe Onyx’s “Slam”). “Fool’s Gold” combines metal and hip-hop with heart and respect, something that the Chicago scene does especially well. “I see your lies / Don’t play me like a fool,” Jimenez sings. “My heart is gold / I’ve got nothing left to lose.”

The cover of No Angels is a ballpoint-pen illustration in a classic Chicano style descended from a form of prison artwork called paños—ink or pencil drawings, often with bedsheets or pillowcases as canvases, that emerged in the 1930s. Chicano prison art is sometimes called “pinto art,” after “pinto,” a slang term for an incarcerated or formerly incarcerated person. No Angels displays several iconic elements of the paño aesthetic: dramatic gothic lettering, a lowrider, ﬂaming dice, stylized tragedy and comedy masks. Along with the early singles, the album cover makes plain which Windy City communities Si Dios Quiere are repping. They headline an album-release party at Subterranean on Friday, December 13, with openers Prevention , Mile End, Squint, and Pasture —D-M BROWN AND LEOR GALIL

SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS

Consent and communication

He’s moving faster than I’d like.

By DAN SAVAGE

Q: I’ve recently started dating someone who wants to move faster with physical aﬀection than I am ready for. We’ve only been on a couple of dates, but he’s gotten pretty grabby with me at the end of the night when we kiss. It’s not that I don’t like how he’s making me feel, but it feels like he’s not reading my body language or accurately assessing how I’m feeling about his advances. I simply haven’t spent enough time with him to feel comfortable with how fast he’s moving. Now he’s asking to come to my house. Part of me wants to say yes. It’s been a long time since I’ve had physical intimacy. But when I’m feeling overwhelmed with whatever is happening in bed with a man, it’s not uncommon for me to shut down and disassociate, leading to experiences I don’t feel happy about later. Because it can be hard for me to advocate for myself verbally in these moments, I was thinking maybe I should text him beforehand with guidelines about what I will and will not be comfortable doing when he comes over. Things like what clothing I want to keep on, how long I want him to stay before he should leave, et cetera. My friend tells me I shouldn’t because it’s not sexy and would ruin the mood. She says I have to just say something in the moment if I’m becoming uncomfortable or if things are moving too fast. But I’m not confident I’ll be able to. What do you think? Is texting a detailed consent plan

before meeting up going to ruin things? Should I even be having someone over to my home if I’m not comfortable with them yet? Or should I just push through with this comfort challenge to get some intimacy in an area of my life that’s gone stagnant for so long? —SLOW MOVER SOMEWHAT NERVOUS

a: This guy—a guy who’s already gotten grabby with you in ways that made you uncomfortable— is either incapable of correctly interpreting your nonverbal cues, SMSN, or he understood your nonverbal cues perfectly and ignored them because he didn’t care how uncomfortable he was making you.

If it’s the former, you obviously can’t rely on this guy to correctly read you and you’re going to have to use your words. If it’s the latter, you don’t want to have him over to your place at all. To find out which it is, SMSN, send him that text message.

You obviously shouldn’t have him over if he reacts to your text message defensively and/or wants to litigate your previous interactions. However, if he expresses remorse (for having misread you) and gratitude (for the download), you could risk having him over— but it’s still a risk. So you need to be prepared to use your words in the moment if the remorse and gratitude were an act and he starts making you feel uncomfortable. And I think you’ll find it easier to use your words in the moment if you’ve already said something to

doesn’t feel great either. —SOMEWHAT CONCERNED ABOUT RELATIONSHIP SITUATION

is by not rushing us into a conversation about our scars before we’re ready to have that conversation.

him about what you are and are not willing to do before he comes over.

As for your friend, SMSN— fuck your friend. Receiving a text like that (a very detailed text spelling out what you’re willing to do in advance of a date) might kill the mood for her, but if you don’t feel comfortable having him over (and you currently don’t), then nothing sexy is going to happen because you won’t want to be alone in your apartment with this guy at all.

And finally, SMSN, when a man you kinda sorta like (but whose behavior and/or inability to read your mind has you feeling uncomfortable) says he wants to come over, saying “I simply haven’t spent enough time with you to feel comfortable having you over yet” is a perfectly acceptable response.

Q: I’m a mid-30s bi lady. I have been dating a wonderful man for the past seven months. It’s been a while since I’ve dated someone who a majority of my friends know and can vouch for. (Yay!) A er one of the first times we had sex, I noticed self-harm scars, about 10 to 12 of them, on his arm. They seem to be quite old and can only be seen in direct sunlight. I want to ask him about them, but I also want to respect his privacy. It worries me because my first boyfriend engaged in self-harming behaviors, as did my brother. It took a lot out of me. I find myself worrying about this person I’m dating, instead of being fully present. I have been trying to ignore it and that

a: We all come to relationships with scars, physical and emotional, and we each get to decide when we want to open up to a new partner about our scars. And one way someone demonstrates to us that they’re the kind of person we might wanna open up to about our scars, SCARS,

If your new boyfriend’s scars are so faint you can barely see them, you can assume your new boyfriend no longer cuts or otherwise engages in self-harming behaviors and let him decide when he wants to discuss this with you. My advice would be different if he were showing up with fresh wounds, but the faintness of his scars argues

for patience and discretion. Which would go over better: Asking your new boyfriend about these scars because you’re ready to talk or waiting until he decides he’s ready to have that conversation? You’ll be able to respond with, “I noticed your scars once and I was concerned but I wanted to let you decide when to share the story behind them with me.” v

m mailbox@savage.love

WHAT TO KNOW

Early voting

This year’s general election is Nov. 5, but early voting in Chicago’s 50 wards and sites around suburban Cook County starts Oct. 21 (and earlier in downtown Chicago and at suburban courthouses). To ﬁnd your polling place and check your voter status:

• Chicago residents, visit chicagoelections.gov

• In suburban Cook County, visit cookcountyclerkil.gov/elections

Who can vote?

Voters must be at least 18 years old, be a U.S. citizen, and reside in their voting precinct for at least 30 days prior to Election Day. People with felony convictions can vote in Illinois as long as they are not currently incarcerated. People in jail pre-trial and people on mandatory supervised release are eligible to vote.

About Injustice Watch

Injustice Watch is a nonproﬁt journalism organization that examines issues of equity and justice in the Cook County court system.

Our team of investigative journalists produce humancentered, data-driven investigations with a real impact in our community. Our journalism has led to policy changes, people in power resigning or being ﬁred, innocent people being freed from prison, increased participation in judicial elections, and more.

We also create resources, such as this guide, and host events to help our community better understand how the court system works.

To learn more about our work, visit injusticewatch.org.

About our judicial election guide

Judges are powerful oﬃcials whose choices on the bench touch many aspects of our lives, from traﬃc tickets to divorces, lawsuits, evictions, and criminal cases. They have the power to take or restore someone’s freedom, enforce or overturn state laws, and perpetuate or correct injustices.

Illinois voters elect judges every two years. This November, 75 circuit judges and two appellate judges are running for reelection in Cook County.

To help you #CheckYourJudges, Injustice Watch created this guide to Cook County’s judicial elections. Voters will be asked whether each judge should be retained for another term. To keep their seat, each judge must receive 60% “yes” votes of all the votes cast in their race.

There are also ﬁve contested races for open seats on the Cook County circuit court. For more information on those races, see page 18.

Our team of investigative journalists spent months researching each judge’s background, judicial record, legal experience, political connections, conduct, and controversies. We sent every judge a survey asking how they approach their work. We watched them in court and spoke with attorneys and litigants who have had cases in front of them. We also report the recommendations from bar associations — groups of lawyers who interview and evaluate judicial candidates.

We don’t endorse or recommend candidates. We report the facts, so you can make your own decisions. Candidates appear in the order they will appear on your ballot, which is based on how long they’ve been on the bench.

This is a condensed version of our guide, edited for space and clarity. For full proﬁles, including candidate survey responses and bar association evaluations, visit injusticewatch.org/judges.

How to use this guide

CANDIDATE ICONS

Former public defender: This candidate has served as a public defender, representing clients in criminal cases who can’t aﬀord a private attorney.

Former prosecutor: This candidate has served as a prosecutor in criminal or quasi-criminal (such as traﬃc court) cases at the city, county, state, or federal level.

Notable controversy: This candidate has been involved in some kind of personal or professional controversy. We report what we found in the “Notable” section and oﬀer candidates an opportunity to respond.

Notable reversals: Notable cases exist where the candidate’s decisions have been reversed by a higher court.

CANDIDATE PROFILES

Age, residency: We list each judge’s age (as of Election Day) and which Chicago community area or suburb they live in.

Judicial experience: We include the types of cases each judge has heard in their time on the bench. Every judge starts out in traﬃc court, so we’ve excluded that detail from most proﬁles.

Previous work history: Information about the type of law the candidate practiced before they became a judge, with dates when they are known. Notable: We often ﬁnd interesting information about candidates during our research, whether about cases they’ve been involved in as attorneys or judges, family or political connections, or newsworthy events.

Candidate survey: We sent every judge a survey about their upbringing, work experience, and values. We include an excerpt of their responses. (This year, only eight judges replied.) Full answers can be found online.

Court and legal terms

Administrative law judge: Lawyers hired by city or state agencies to conduct hearings on administrative issues, such as municipal code violations or decisions made by agency representatives. May also be called “hearing oﬃcers.” These are not judicial positions but are often a stepping stone for attorneys who want to gain quasi-judicial experience before running for judge.

Appointment: When a judge resigns, retires, or is removed from oﬃce, it creates a vacancy on the court. The Illinois Supreme Court appoints a replacement to serve until the next election.

Assignment: The Illinois Supreme Court can assign a circuit judge or retired judge to the appellate court for an indeﬁnite term. There are currently nine Cook County circuit judges assigned to the appellate court.

Associate judge: These judges serve the same roles as circuit judges, but they are selected by a vote of the circuit judges, rather than by the public.

Assistant public defender: Attorneys who represent criminal defendants who cannot aﬀord an attorney and parents accused by the state of child abuse or neglect.

Assistant state’s attorney: Attorneys who prosecute state crimes in the county and represent county departments and oﬃcials in civil lawsuits.

Post-conviction: Petitions filed by someone who has been convicted of a crime asking a judge to overturn their conviction or change their sentence. The bar for successfully filing a post-conviction petition is extremely high and usually requires petitioners to show they have access to new evidence that could not have been available to them at the time of the original trial. Post-conviction petitions are different from appeals, which focus narrowly on challenges to judges’ procedural decisions and interpretation of the law during a hearing or trial.

Presiding judge: Judges assigned by the chief judge to oversee administrative matters in each division and each municipal department. In some divisions, presiding judges are responsible for assigning cases to other judges. In other divisions, cases are assigned randomly by a computer. The presiding judges, along with Chief Judge Timothy Evans, are known as the Executive Committee and meet regularly to discuss courtwide matters.

Reversal: When a party in a case believes the judge made the wrong decision, they can appeal to a higher court. If the higher court believes that the judge misapplied the law or abused their discretion, it can reverse the judge’s decision and send the case back with instructions. Usually cases get sent back to the same judge for corrections, but in rare circumstances higher courts order the cases to be transferred to a new judge.

About the court system

COURT LEVELS

Illinois has three levels of courts:

• Circuit courts are the front line of the legal system. Circuit court judges hear a variety of cases, from traﬃc tickets to personal injury to child welfare to criminal cases. They serve six-year terms.

• Appellate courts hear appeals of cases initially decided by the circuit courts, usually in panels of three judges. Appellate judges serve 10-year terms. Circuit court judges also can be temporarily assigned to the appellate court by the Illinois Supreme Court.

• The Illinois Supreme Court is the highest court in the state. Its seven justices serve 10-year terms, with three of the justices chosen by Cook County voters. In addition to ruling on cases appealed from the lower courts, the Supreme Court appoints judges to ﬁll vacancies, creates rules that courts must follow, and oversees attorney licensing and discipline.

DIVISIONS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT

The Cook County Circuit Court is made up of three departments, which oversee a total of 17 divisions, based on case type and geography.

COUNTY DEPARTMENT

Chancery division: Handles lawsuits in which one party sues another to force them to stop or engage in a speciﬁc action. Cases involving mortgage foreclosures, contracts, and other matters also are heard here.

County division: Hears cases involving elections, adoptions, mental health proceedings, and real estate taxes.

Criminal division: Presides over felony cases, which are those that could result in a prison term of at least a year. This division also handles issues related to felony trials, including record expungement and petitions to review prior criminal convictions and sentences.

Domestic relations division: Hears cases involving divorce and family or child support matters.

Domestic violence division: Handles matters involving orders of protection, no-contact orders, and certain criminal

cases related to domestic violence.

Law division: Focuses on lawsuits for monetary damages larger than $30,000 in the city and larger than $100,000 in the suburbs. Examples of cases include personal injury, medical malpractice, and property damage.

Pretrial division: Handles initial proceedings in criminal cases, such as bail hearings and applications for search warrants. This division also oversees some specialty programs, including the deferred prosecution court.

Probate division: Hears matters involving wills, estates, and guardianship of minors and/or those with disabilities.

Traffic division: Hears misdemeanor and other traffic cases from Chicago at the Richard J. Daley Center. Suburban traffic cases are heard in the corresponding municipal district. Judges who are new to the bench are initially assigned to traffic court.

JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CHILD PROTECTION DEPARTMENT

Child protection division: Hears cases involving child abuse and neglect, termination of parental rights, and orders of protection concerning children.

Juvenile justice division: Conducts trials for minors charged with crimes and proceedings for minors addicted to alcohol or drugs and those who are runaways.

MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENT

The Municipal Department is divided into six geographical districts.

First municipal district (Chicago): This district handles felony preliminary hearings, misdemeanor cases, evictions, small claims, lawsuits seeking damages under $30,000, marriages, and civil unions within the city.

Second through sixth municipal districts: These suburban districts handle the same types of cases as the ﬁrst district, but also oversee felony criminal cases and juvenile justice cases, traﬃc cases, orders of protection, some specialty courts, lawsuits seeking damages under $100,000, and name changes. These courts are located in Skokie, Rolling Meadows, Maywood, Bridgeview, and Markham.

RETENTION | ILLINOIS APPELLATE COURT

THOMAS E. HOFFMAN 76, Inverness

Judge since: 1984

Judicial experience: Hoﬀman has served on the appellate court since 1993 and was elected to his ﬁrst 10-year term on the court in 1994. He became a Cook County associate judge in 1984 and was elected as a circuit judge in 1988, where he primarily served in the law division.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice focused on real estate law and pension and proﬁt-sharing plans (1976-1984)

•Chicago assistant corporation counsel, primarily handling lead abatement cases in the housing division (1971-1976)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1971)

Notable: In 2011, Hoffman wrote an opinion ruling Rahm Emanuel was ineligible to run for mayor because he hadn’t maintained his residency in Chicago while serving in Washington, D.C., as chief of staff to President Barack Obama. The Illinois Supreme Court overturned Hoffman’s decision three days later. In a scathing decision, five of the court’s seven justices said Hoffman’s legal analysis was “fundamentally flawed” and ignored 150 years of precedent. In a concurring opinion, Justices Charles Freeman and Anne Burke defended Hoffman, saying the case was “in no way as clear-cut as the majority made it out to be,” and calling the majority opinion “inflammatory,” while agreeing Emanuel was eligible to run.

Reached by Injustice Watch, Hoﬀman said he doesn’t comment on cases he’s decided.

Hoﬀman is married to Margarita Kulys Hoﬀman, a former Republican Cook County Circuit Court judge who retired in 2017.

DAVID W. ELLIS 56, River Forest Judge since: 2014

Judicial experience: Ellis was elected to the appellate court in 2014. He is one of two appellate judges in the ﬁrst district who lacked prior experience as a circuit judge before joining the appellate court.

Previous work history:

•Chief counsel to then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, advising the oﬃce on legislative issues and serving as lead prosecutor in the Senate impeachment trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (2006-2014)

•Attorney in private practice with Williams, Bax & Ellis, P.C. (2000-2006)

•Associate attorney at Cahill, Christian & Kunkle and later at Phelan Pope & John focused on civil litigation (1993-1998)

Law school: Northwestern University (1993)

Notable: Ellis is an award-winning author of more than a dozen crime ﬁction novels over the past two decades, including nine co-written with bestselling author James Patterson. His most recent novel, “The Best Lies,” was released this summer.

Ellis was called to testify last year in the federal corruption trial of the “ComEd Four” by attorneys for former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, who was convicted with three others of bribery and other charges for arranging jobs, vendor contracts, and monetary payments to Madigan’s associates. He made clear in his testimony that he had no involvement in political or campaign work for Madigan while working as his chief legal counsel. Madigan resigned in 2022 and is currently facing several charges of bribery and racketeering in federal court.

Ellis also wrote a letter last year asking a federal judge for leniency for former Madigan chief of staﬀ Tim Mapes, who was convicted of lying under oath to protect his former boss. “He was tough and demanding, but he never asked me for anything other than my honest legal work and opinions,” Ellis wrote on personal stationary that did not include his title as appellate judge. Mapes was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Ellis did not respond to Injustice Watch’s requests for comment.

Ellis’ wife, Susan Ellis, is the chief of the consumer protection division in the Illinois Attorney General’s Oﬃce.

KATHY M. FLANAGAN

71, Orland Park

Judge since: 1988

Judicial experience: Flanagan was elected to the circuit court in 1988. She is currently the acting presiding judge of the law division, where she’s been since 2010. She was previously in the domestic relations division.

Previous work history:

•Solo practitioner with a general law practice (1979-1988)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1979)

Notable: In June, Flanagan was referred to a state judicial oversight agency by Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans after a lawyer from a top Chicago ﬁrm was handcuﬀed to a chair in her courtroom.

According to an incident report from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Flanagan and attorney Brad Schneiderman got into a dispute over her handling of one of his cases. Flanagan repeatedly told Schneirdman to stop talking and on the third time ordered him to “step back” from the bench. As he was walking away, Schneiderman began muttering under his breath then turned back to say something to the judge. As he began talking, Flangan told the courtroom sheriff’s deputy to “take him.” The deputy took Schneiderman to a rear hallway and handcuffed him to a chair.

During a hearing before the presiding judges on the matter, the sheriff’s deputy said it was protocol to handcuff someone when they are ordered to be taken away. In that same hearing, Flanagan said that she was unaware Schneiderman had been handcuffed and that she never told the deputy to do that. According to a transcript of the hearing, Flanagan wanted Schneiderman removed “because he needed a time out.”

Flanagan declined to comment on the incident to Injustice Watch, citing judicial ethics rules barring judges from discussing pending cases. The Judicial Inquiry Board has not yet ruled on the case.

The Chicago Council of Lawyers has found Flanagan “not qualiﬁed” in her past three retention elections, citing attorneys who raised questions about her temperament, calling her “hostile,” “rude,” and “discourteous.” Other bar associations recommended her for retention.

STUART F. LUBIN

75, North Center

Judge since: 1991

Judicial experience: Lubin was appointed to the circuit court in 1991 and won election in 1994. For most of his judicial career, he’s worked in juvenile court presiding over delinquency matters.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender handling felony cases (1974-1991)

Law school: University of Illinois (1974)

Notable: In 1993, Lubin presided over the high-proﬁle murder case of an 11-year-old boy accused of killing his elderly neighbor. The prosecutor at the time, Eileen O’Neill Burke — who is now running for Cook County state’s attorney — relied on the boy’s confession obtained by Chicago police homicide detectives. Lubin sentenced the boy to ﬁve years’ probation. The victim’s family argued the sentence was too lenient. Five years later, the conviction was overturned by a federal judge who said the boy’s confession to detectives was coerced. “I always think about all my cases and whether I’ve made the right decision,” Lubin told the Tribune at the time. “I just don’t know.”

MARTIN S. AGRAN

78, Arlington Heights

Judge since: 1994

Judicial experience: Agran was appointed judge in 1994 and elected later that year. He is currently the acting presiding judge over civil courts at the Rolling Meadows courthouse, and he has previously served in the law, chancery, and juvenile justice divisions, where he was a supervising judge.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice handling criminal, civil, and real estate cases (1978-1994)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney (1973-1978)

Law school: DePaul University (1972)

Notable: Agran has presided over several high-proﬁle cases in his long career on the bench. In 2014, he handed a life sentence without parole to Matthew Nellesen, who bludgeoned and stabbed his father to death in Arlington Heights — a crime that drew extensive attention in the northwest suburbs. Nellessen appealed his sentence, arguing

that Agran’s invocation of the Holocaust and Rwandan genocide at sentencing showed he based the life term on personal animus or feelings. An appellate panel aﬃrmed the sentence.

RONALD F. BARTKOWICZ

84, Elmwood Park

Judge since: 1985

Judicial experience:

Bartkowicz was selected as an associate judge in 1985 and elected as a circuit judge in 1994. For most of his career, he has served in the law division, where he currently presides over civil jury trials.

Previous work history:

•Attorney with the Chicago Transit Authority, rising to deputy general counsel (1968-1985)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (1965)

Notable: Bartkowicz is a U.S. Army veteran who served six years in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

Candidate survey excerpt: “Family and friends have kept me grounded”

E. KENNETH WRIGHT, JR.

83, Morgan Park or River North

Judge since: 1994

Judicial experience: Wright was appointed to the circuit court in 1994 and elected later that year. He has been the presiding judge of the ﬁrst municipal district, the court’s largest district, since 2003. He previously served in the probate division.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice focusing on criminal, divorce, probate, real estate, and civil litigation

Law school: Northwestern University (1977)

Notable: The Illinois Constitution requires Cook County judges to live in Cook County. Property records show Wright has owned a home in Will County since 1974 and has claimed a homestead exemption on it since 1978. By law, homestead exemptions are reserved for a property owner’s “principal dwelling place.” In 2018, while a Cook County judge, Wright also applied for a senior homestead exemption on the property, a modest, single-family home in Joliet.

The two exemptions saved him more than $1,400 on his Will County property taxes last year. Wright rescinded the exemptions in October after Injustice Watch reported on them, according to the assessor’s oﬃce. Wright also owns several properties in Cook County, including a condo in River North and a single-family home in Morgan Park, but he does not claim the homeowner exemption on them. Wright declined Injustice Watch’s requests for comment.

JAMES M. VARGA

71, Riverside

Judge since: 1994

Judicial experience: Varga was elected in 1994 and presides over civil jury trials in the law division at the Richard J. Daley Center, where he has spent nearly all his judicial career.

Previous work history:

•Two stints as a Cook County assistant state’s attorney, including as a supervisor in the unit that defends county hospitals in lawsuits

•Attorney in private practice at various local ﬁrms primarily handling personal injury cases

Law school: Notre Dame University (1978) Notable: Varga’s long tenure on the bench has been marked by complaints about his temperament. In 2012, a commission formed by the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts praised his knowledge and diligence but said, “A substantial number of lawyers report that Judge Varga has temperament issues.” Varga told the commission he was working on his temperament. In 2018, the Illinois State Bar Association recommended against retaining him, praising his legal knowledge and fairness, but noting his temperament was “an ongoing issue.”

Varga told Injustice Watch he has had a good relationship with most lawyers in his courtroom, and he has been mindful of the criticisms of his demeanor. “Most of the trials have been very, very, very pleasant,” he said.

As a Cook County assistant state’s attorney, Varga was on the team that prosecuted serial killer John Wayne Gacy in 1980.

Candidate survey: “I believe in an objective interpretation of the rule of law that results in a justice system where the law is above the parties, attorneys, and judge.”

MARY MARGARET BROSNAHAN

63, Orland Park

Judge since: 2000

Judicial experience: Brosnahan was elected in 2000. She is currently a supervising judge in the criminal division and hears felony cases at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. Prior to this assignment in 2005, she heard cases in the ﬁrst municipal district.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting felony and misdemeanor cases and a supervisor in the felony trial division (1986-2000)

Law school: DePaul University (1986)

Notable: Brosnahan has heard a number of high-proﬁle cases at Chicago’s main criminal courthouse. In June of this year she sentenced a teen to 46 years in prison after he was convicted of killing two students outside Benito Juarez High School when he was 16. In 2023, she sentenced a man who carjacked Chicago radio personality Maze Jackson to seven years.

In two notable decisions, the appellate court directed her to conduct new murder trials for two men who it ruled were denied fair trials due to the “cumulative eﬀect” of her errors, which “occurred at every part” of their trials and aﬀected the “trustworthiness and reputation of the judicial process.”

In 2022, the appellate court reversed her denial of a post-conviction hearing to Selma Butler, who is ﬁghting a 1995 murder conviction. The evidence against Butler, then 17, was an unrecorded statement he allegedly made to police and testimony from a 14-yearold boy, which was later recanted. The witness said he implicated Butler under pressure from police. Brosnahan recused herself from Butler’s case after the reversal.

Brosnahan said she could not comment on any speciﬁc reversals tied to pending cases citing judicial ethics rules, but acknowledged, generally, “to be reversed, is humbling. Applying the law can be challenging at times. I am proud to say that I usually get it right and have a very low reversal rate given the hundreds and hundreds of cases that I have presided over. I regret errors on my part.”

Brosnahan has been in the news because of her 2006 marriage to former Chicago police

RETENTION | COOK COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

detective Kriston Kato, who retired from the force that year. Kato has been a defendant in multiple civil rights cases alleging he extracted confessions through torture, fabricated evidence, and other abuses. One of the lawsuits led to a $9 million payout in 2022. Eight cases in which convictions tied to Kato are still being challenged were removed from Cook County in 2021 due to Kato’s marriage to Brosnahan.

MAURA SLATTERY BOYLE

57, Bridgeport

Judge since: 2000

Judicial experience: Slattery Boyle was elected judge in 2000. She currently hears civil trials in the law division. From 2009 to 2018, she presided over felony criminal cases at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. She previously handled traﬃc, misdemeanor, and felony preliminary hearings.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney (1994-2000)

•Law clerk in the Chicago Law Department (1992-1994)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1993)

Notable: Slattery Boyle has been a repeated focus of controversy since 2000, when she won a judicial seat with less than a decade of legal experience and an endorsement from John Daley, former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s brother and her neighbor in Bridgeport.

Before her last retention race in 2018, Injustice Watch reported that her rulings had been reversed 34 times in the prior six years, far more than any other criminal court judge up for retention that year. Five times the appellate court took the unusual step of sending the cases to a new judge. In three of those cases, the defendants were later exonerated. In one case, the appellate court wrote that she “turned a blind eye to much of the evidence and also refused to admit probative, admissible evidence that, when evaluated under the proper standard, is damning.”

Slattery Boyle barely won retention that year, even as another judge was booted from the bench for the ﬁrst time in 28 years. She received 62.5% “yes” votes, enough to clear the 60% threshold to keep her job, but it was the narrowest win in a retention election since at least 2010. She was, however, reassigned to the law division.

Since then, appellate judges have reversed or

vacated more than a dozen additional criminal court cases of hers. Appellate judges sent back cases in which they wrote that Slattery Boyle failed to consider evidence in favor of defendants at sentencing, improperly allowed evidence against defendants, and wrongly dismissed eﬀorts by people challenging their convictions. Injustice Watch, however, found only one reversal in a civil case over the last term.

The Sun-Times reported earlier this year that the IRS had ﬁled a $114,000 tax lien against Slattery Boyle and her husband, real estate appraiser William Boyle. Slattery Boyle declined to explain the nature of the debt to the newspaper but said it had been paid, and county records show federal authorities released it in February. The Sun-Times also noted that the city of Chicago has sued Slattery Boyle, along with others, three times over building code violations at a commercial building she co-owns with her husband and another in which she co-owns a condo she inherited.

Slattery Boyle did not respond to Injustice Watch’s requests for comment.

CARL ANTHONY WALKER

62, Chatham

Judge since: 2006

Judicial experience:

Walker was appointed to the circuit court in 2006 and elected later that year. He served in several divisions, including juvenile, chancery, and law. In 2018, he was assigned to the appellate court. He is running unopposed in this election for a 10-year term on the appellate court, after which he will vacate his circuit court seat.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice focused on real estate, but also handling probate, criminal, and personal injury cases; parttime hearing oﬃcer for the city of Chicago (1992-2006)

Law school: University of Iowa (1992)

Notable: In December, Injustice Watch won two court orders to unseal records about Walker’s alleged role in a massive, decades-old mortgage fraud scheme. Walker was not charged and denied any wrongdoing in the crimes perpetrated by his real estate client. But a controversial 2003 raid on his law oﬃces reemerged in an eﬀort to remove him from hearing an appellate case. A special

prosecutor in that case accused Walker of having a personal bias against him for his role in the raid on Walker’s oﬃce and asked him to recuse himself. Instead, Walker and another appellate justice issued a scathing opinion in the case, accusing the prosecutor of misconduct and referring him for discipline. Walker’s ruling has been appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

As a circuit court judge, Walker oversaw cases that attracted national media coverage, including whether to jail rapper Chief Keef for probation violations, as well as objections to Chicago’s 9% “Netﬂix tax” on streaming services.

DANIEL PATRICK BRENNAN

54, Palos Heights

Judge since: 2006

Judicial experience: Brennan was elected judge in 2006. He currently serves in the chancery division focusing on the mortgage foreclosure and mechanics lien sections. His previous judicial assignments were in the sixth municipal district in Markham and the ﬁrst municipal district.

Previous work history:

• Chief legal counsel for former Cook County Sheriﬀ Michael Sheahan (1995-2006)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (1995)

ELLEN L. FLANNIGAN

65, Winnetka

Judge since: 2006

Judicial experience: Flannigan was elected to the circuit court in 2006. She’s currently assigned to the domestic relations division as a trial judge.

Previous work history:

•Attorney for several law ﬁrms in Chicago and Tokyo, where she specialized in professional liability law, insurance law, and commercial and securities litigation (1988-2006)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (1988)

Notable: Flannigan has twice unsuccessfully run for a seat on the Illinois Appellate Court. Her husband, Thomas W. Flannigan, has unsuccessfully run for seats on both the circuit court and the Illinois Supreme Court — three times as a Democrat, and once as a Republican.

CAROL M. HOWARD

71, Austin

Judge since: 2006

Judicial experience: Howard was elected from the 7th subcircuit, covering Chicago’s West Side and west suburbs, in 2006. She has been hearing felony cases at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse since 2009. Prior to that, she presided over traﬃc and small claims cases in the ﬁrst municipal district.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender, representing defendants in murder and other felony cases, as well as appeals (1987-2006)

•Provided legal analysis as an attorney for the Washington state Senate Judiciary Committee (1986)

•Represented low-income juvenile defendants through the nonproﬁt Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons in Seattle (1983-1984)

•Business law instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (1981-1983)

Law school: University of Wisconsin (1981)

Notable: Howard has presided over several high-profile cases since her assignment to the criminal division. In 2018, she sentenced a West Loop tanning salon owner to 13 years for the rape of a former employee. Later that year, in a different sex crimes case, she held an attorney representing the victim in contempt of court for refusing to answer Howard’s questions about mental health treatment sought by her client. Howard had the attorney handcuffed and detained for two hours before releasing her. Soon after, Howard was the target of a Fox News investigation, accusing her of being “soft on criminals,” citing complaints from prosecutors and police.

Last year, Howard ordered ShotSpotter, the controversial company that provides the city of Chicago with sensors that purport to

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detect gunfire based on sound, to turn over records about the reliability of its technology in response to a defendant’s subpoena. Her order was affirmed by the appellate court, and she ultimately found that ShotSpotter data did not constitute sufficient probable cause for police to make an arrest. Howard did not respond to Injustice Watch’s requests for comment. State judicial ethics rules prohibit judges from commenting on pending cases.

Candidate survey: “I grew up as one of six children, in a working-class family on the west side of Chicago…The dynamics of my family and neighborhood taught me the importance of listening to people. You may not always agree with them, but if it’s clear that you hear and understand their point of view, then they are more likely to hear yours.”

JILL C. MARISIE

59, Inverness

Judge since: 2006

Judicial experience: Marisie won a northwest suburban subcircuit election in 2006. She is the presiding judge of the third municipal district in Rolling Meadows, and hears cases in the mental health, veterans treatment, and expungement courts. She was previously assigned to handle bond and preliminary hearings, warrants, misdemeanor cases, trials, motions, and probation violations.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice focused on criminal defense, labor negotiations, civil, divorce, and real estate law (1994-2006)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting criminal, traﬃc, appellate, and juvenile cases (1991-1994)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1990)

Notable: Marisie is the top judge in Rolling Meadows, where she has publicly promoted specialty courts, including veterans, drug, and mental health courts oﬀering treatment

and alternatives to punishment.

She won election running unopposed in a northwest suburban subcircuit as a Republican in 2006. During the race, the media noted Marisie is the granddaughter of the late local mob boss Jackie “The Lackey” Cerone.

MIKE McHALE

60, Edgewater

Judge since: 2006

Judicial experience:

McHale was elected to the circuit court in 2006. He has been hearing felony cases at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse since 2013. He previously served in the ﬁrst municipal division and the domestic violence division and oversaw cases involving sexual violence.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting felony and misdemeanor cases and serving as a supervisor in preliminary hearings (1991-2006)

Law school: DePaul University (1991)

Notable: McHale presided over the jury trials of six Black men prosecuted in the first test of Illinois’ 2012 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute. In 2018, all six were convicted on charges of drug conspiracy, racketeering, and murder. Two jurors — including the jury foreperson — repeatedly alleged racial bias against two other jurors during the proceedings. McHale sentenced all six men, alleged members of the West Side Black Souls gang, to life in prison. Earlier this year, the appellate court directed McHale to conduct an investigation into the allegations of racism in an effort to determine whether the convictions should be overturned. In two opinions, the higher court criticized McHale for not taking the allegations seriously. McHale declined to comment, citing ethics rules against speaking about cases pending before him.

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In January, McHale banned from his courtroom the head of the Cook County State Attorney’s Office conviction review unit. McHale accused Michelle Mbekeani, who has since left the state’s attorney’s office, of lying about a potential conflict between her job as a prosecutor and her efforts to run an online platform designed to connect incarcerated people with legal support to challenge their sentences and convictions. McHale argued Mbekeani could not represent the prosecutor’s office while running a business helping people challenge their convictions. Mbekeani, who received grants for developing the idea while pursuing an MBA at the University of Chicago, said the platform, called Period, was a class project idea and never a functioning business. Period’s website is currently defunct. McHale told Injustice Watch he stands by his decision. McHale is a 2005 inductee into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame as well as a founding member and past president of Equality Illinois.

JAMES PATRICK MURPHY

57, Near West Side

Judge since: 2006

Judicial experience: Murphy was elected judge in 2006. He currently serves in the probate division hearing estate cases. He previously served in the domestic violence division, where he presided over misdemeanor and felony domestic violence cases and served as acting supervising judge.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney (1995-2006)

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent

Notable: Murphy is married to attorney Jennifer Burke, making him the son-in-law of former Chicago alderman Ed Burke and former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke. Murphy’s 2006 judicial campaign was funded with $40,000 from Ed Burke’s political accounts and chaired by longtime Burke aide Peter Andrews Jr.

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RAMON OCASIO III

63, Avondale

Judge since: 2006

Judicial experience:

Ocasio was elected in 2006. He was assigned to the ﬁrst district appellate court in 2023. Prior to that assignment, he was the acting presiding judge of the fourth municipal district in Maywood. He previously presided over drug treatment court, preliminary hearings, and misdemeanor cases in Maywood, and central bond court at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender and supervisor (1988-1992, 2000-2006)

•Illinois assistant attorney general working on consumer fraud cases (1992-2000)

Law school: Northeastern University (1988)

Notable: Ocasio writes a monthly column for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin in which he recounts the histories of movements for equality in the United States and comments on prevailing political issues such as structural racism and police violence. In his February 2024 column, for example, Ocasio wrote about Free Frank, a formerly enslaved Black man and founder of New Philadelphia, Illinois, the ﬁrst town in the United States established by a Black person. In his December 2023 column, Ocasio commemorated the anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre, when U.S. troops massacred up to 300 Lakota people in 1890, and the Indigenous rights movement that followed. “Whether rejecting the continued dispossession of indigenous territory or rights or calls to abolish police, two centuries of indigenous resistance continues,” Ocasio wrote.

Ocasio was named the ﬁrst president of the Illinois Latino Judges Association in 2018. He is the uncle of Chicago Ald. Carlos RamirezRosa.

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MARY COLLEEN ROBERTS

65, Oak Park

Judge since: 2006

Judicial experience:

Roberts was elected to the bench in 2006. She serves in the commercial section of the law division at the Richard J. Daley Center. She previously was assigned to criminal, felony trial, and drug treatment court.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney, including ﬁrst chair in the complex narcotics prosecution unit

•Attorney in the Chicago Law Department, serving in a supervisory role

•Hearing oﬃcer in the Cook County juvenile justice division

Law school: DePaul University (1989)

Notable: Roberts is the current president of the Illinois Judges Association.

CELIA LOUISE GAMRATH

Gamrath withdrew from the retention election in September, after she was appointed to the appellate court. Due to the timing, her name will still appear on the retention portion of the ballot, but those votes will not be counted. She is running unopposed for the appellate court.

TOMMY BREWER

73, Flossmoor

Judge since: 2010

Judicial experience:

Brewer has been the presiding judge of the sixth municipal district in Markham since 2017. He was appointed to the circuit court in 2010 and elected in 2012. Before his elevation to presiding judge in Markham, he heard criminal, child support, domestic violence, traﬃc, and misdemeanor cases in various courtrooms as a ﬂoating judge.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice handling criminal defense cases (1996-2010)

•Special prosecutor investigating allegations into members of the Chicago Police Department led by Lt. Jon Burge beating

and torturing prisoners held in police custody from the late 1970s to the early 1990s (2002-2004)

•Director of enforcement for the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations. Before his promotion in 1993, he was the chief administrative law judge. (1991-1996)

•Fraud investigator for Massachusetts attorney general. Before his promotion in 1987, he worked in the Civil Rights Department. (1984-1989)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting gang-related homicides and other felonies (1982-1984)

•FBI agent (1977-1982)

Law school: Northwestern University (1976)

Notable: In 2019, Brewer said he paid more than $230,000 in federal back taxes. The Chicago Sun-Times reported in 2016 Brewer’s debts were tied to his income as an attorney in private practice. He told the newspaper the IRS claimed he didn’t ﬁle his taxes and, in some years, he didn’t pay enough. By the time the story ran, he was already on a payment plan. “I’m a good guy,” the judge told the paper. “I’m not trying to cheat anybody out of anything.”

Brewer unsuccessfully ran for Cook County sheriﬀ in 1990, 1994, and 1998; and for Cook County state’s attorney in 2004 and 2008.

ERICA L. REDDICK

59, Edgewater

Judge since: 2010

Judicial experience: Reddick was appointed to the bench in 2010 and elected in 2012. In January 2021, she became the first woman to be named presiding judge of the criminal division, where she oversees the administration of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse and more than 40 judges hearing felony cases. She also presides over the miscellaneous remedies and expungement calls, and conducts hearings on petitions for certificates of innocence. Previously, Reddick heard cases in the criminal division, the child protection division, and traffic court.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender, rising to deputy chief of the felony trial division, representing defendants in murder and other felony cases, as well as appeals and post-conviction petitions (1991-2010)

Law school: University of Cincinnati (1990)

Notable: Before becoming presiding judge of the criminal division, Reddick oversaw a number of high-proﬁle felony cases, including the trial of Shomari Legghette, whom she sentenced to life in prison in 2020 for the murder of Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer.

That same year, the appellate court reversed Reddick’s ruling allowing prosecutors to use statements improperly obtained by police. The case involved Edgardo Colon, who, along with Tyrone Clay and Alexander Villa, had been accused of the 2011 murder of Chicago police Oﬃcer Clifton Lewis. In November 2022, Reddick ordered a sweeping release of records related to the case. Prosecutors have since dropped charges against all three men amid mounting allegations of misconduct by police and prosecutors involved in the case.

In one notable case, the appellate court vacated a man’s conviction and life sentence, saying Reddick had erred in not ﬁnding reasonable doubt of his guilt in a double murder committed by a passenger who had paid him for a ride in his freelance taxi. The man was released in 2021 after nearly nine years of incarceration and is currently petitioning for a certiﬁcate of innocence. State judicial ethics rules prohibit judges from commenting on pending cases.

In her role as presiding judge, Reddick has made decisions in a number of high-profile exonerations. In 2021, she overturned Jose Maysonet’s attempted murder conviction in a case tied to disgraced Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevara. In 2022, she granted a certificate of innocence to Keith Walker, finding his claims of torture by detectives working under disgraced former Cmdr. Jon Burge to be credible. That same year, she also vacated more than 50 convictions tied to corrupt former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts. This year, Reddick granted certificates of innocence to brothers Reginald Henderson and Sean Tyler, also convicted of murder based on tortured confessions obtained by Burge’s underlings, and to Darien Harris, who had been convicted based on eyewitness testimony from a legally blind witness.

In 2021, Reddick sent eight cases tied to former Chicago police detective Kriston Kato for further post-conviction proceedings to Will County, citing Kato’s marriage to Cook County criminal division judge Mary Margaret Brosnahan as a source of a potential appearance of impropriety.

LIONEL JEAN-BAPTISTE

74, Evanston

Judge since: 2011

Judicial experience: JeanBaptiste was appointed to the circuit court in 2011 and won election in 2012. He currently serves in the domestic relations division, hearing dissolution of marriages and other family matters.

Previous work history:

•City Council member for Evanston’s 2nd Ward, as well as representing clients in administrative law hearings before the Illinois Department of Human Rights (2001-2011)

•Practiced law with then-state Sen. Kwame Raoul, who went on to become Illinois attorney general (1997-2001)

•Worked in private practice, focusing on civil litigation (1993-1997)

•Founding member of several community organizations focused on Black civil rights and supporting the people of Haiti, where he was born and raised until the age of 14 Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent (1990)

Notable: Jean-Baptiste was the ﬁrst HaitianAmerican judge in Illinois. In 2018, he was one of two judges up for retention who were not recommended by the Illinois State Board Association, which cited reports from attorneys that he “needlessly continues matters ready for a hearing, does not wish to conduct trials, doesn’t always follow the law, and appears to mediate cases from the bench.” In an email, Jean-Baptiste told Injustice Watch he disagreed with the bar group’s review and the presiding judge in his division “has not had anything negative to say about my work.” Jean-Baptiste said he still found the criticisms “instructive.”

In 2016, the Illinois Appellate Court reversed Jean-Baptiste’s ruling in a domestic violence case in which he “unilaterally” entered a civil restraining order instead of a legally required and more restrictive order of protection for an abused woman. The appellate court also

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admonished Jean-Baptiste for telling the woman she had to “respect” that her abusive former partner “loves you and he still likes you.” The court said such comments “may appear callous and insensitive” to domestic violence survivors, “though we quickly add that we do not believe the trial judge meant it to be so.” Jean-Baptiste told Injustice Watch he agreed with the appellate court’s decision to reverse his ruling in the case, and said his comments to the woman were “unnecessary” and insensitive. “I sought to communicate to the parties that even though they had broken up because they did not like each other anymore enough to sustain an intimate relationship, the family love that they had should be taken into consideration in their future eﬀorts to manage the aﬀairs of their children,” he said. “I have learned my lesson and have not repeated that mistake since.”

MICHAEL R. CLANCY

61, Oak Park

Judge since: 2011

Judicial experience: Clancy was appointed to the circuit court in 2011. He won election in the 11th subcircuit, covering the northwest side of Chicago and the northwest suburbs, in 2012. He hears felony cases at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. He previously oversaw hearings in bond court, the domestic violence division, and the ﬁrst municipal division.

Previous work history:

•Solo criminal defense practice (2002-2011)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting felony and misdemeanor cases (1990-2002)

•Attorney focused on civil litigation at a private law ﬁrm (1989-1990)

Law school: University of Illinois (1989)

Notable: After Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans ordered judges in 2017 to consider defendants’ ﬁnancial circumstances when setting bail, Clancy was found by Injustice Watch and the Chicago Community Bond Fund to

be setting unaﬀordable bonds at a higher rate than any other judge in Evans’ newly created pretrial division.

Clancy has presided over several high-profile cases since being assigned to the criminal division. In 2021, he sentenced Jovan Battle, who had a history of mental illness and homelessness, to 65 years in prison in the shooting death of an off-duty Chicago police officer. Battle was not the shooter but was convicted for leading the shooters to the officer’s car.

In July 2023, Clancy became the ﬁrst judge in Illinois to lower the sentence of a defendant under a new state law allowing prosecutors to request resentencing in the interest of justice. He resentenced music producer Charles Patton from 44 to 35 years for drug traﬃcking; Patton was freed immediately due to the good time credit he had earned during his 17 years in prison.

REGINA

ANN SCANNICCHIO

61, Near West Side

Judge since: 2011

Judicial experience: Scannicchio was appointed to the bench in 2011. She was elected in 2012, and has spent most of her judicial career in the domestic relations division, presiding over cases involving dissolution of marriages, child custody, and orders of protection. Scannicchio was named acting presiding judge of the division in 2022.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice focussed on family law and appointed as a child representative or guardian ad litem for children in numerous contested custody proceedings (1988-2011)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School)

Notable: Scannicchio worked with the circuit court’s domestic violence division to allow litigants ﬁling emergency orders of protec-

tion to appear remotely before their domestic relations judge.

In a 1999 letter to the editor published by the Chicago Tribune, Scannicchio accused HBO of promoting harmful stereotypes of Italian-Americans in its hit show “The Sopranos.” “Italians have been a strong presence in North America since 1492. … And yet we continue to be stereotyped as criminals, members of the Maﬁa, uncouth and uneducated — individuals to be shunned socially and looked down upon by the rest of society,” she wrote.

In 2012, Scannicchio spoke out against thenMayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to require attendance on Columbus Day for Chicago Public Schools students.

“I think it would be a disservice to the City of Chicago and to the children to not allow them to celebrate their heritage on that day,” she told a reporter for WGN News.

DIANN KAREN MARSALEK

63, Lake View

Judge since: 2011

Judicial experience:

Marsalek was appointed to the bench in 2011 and elected in 2012. In 2021, she became the first presiding judge of the court’s traffic division. Previously, she was a supervising judge in the traffic division and heard post-judgment collections and eviction cases in the first municipal district.

Previous work history:

•Legal adviser to Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White (2006-2011)

•Chief legal counsel for the Illinois Department of Corrections (2003-2006)

•Illinois assistant attorney general, specializing in cases against the state Department of Corrections in federal court (1991-2003)

Law school: Northern Illinois University (1989)

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CARL B. BOYD

59, Morgan Park

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Boyd won election in 2012 in the 2nd subcircuit and hears felony cases in the sixth municipal district in Markham. He’s had that assignment since 2017, except for a break in 2022 and early 2023 when he was assigned to restrictive duties. Previously, Boyd heard eviction, debt collection, and traﬃc cases.

Previous work history:

•Managing partner, Starks & Boyd PC, focusing on criminal defense, bankruptcy, real estate transactions, personal injury, and probate (1991-2012)

Law school: Drake University (1991)

Notable: In September 2022, Boyd was arrested on a misdemeanor count of domestic battery, after police responded to his home and a woman told them he threw a bottle at a glass door window, breaking it, the Sun-Times reported. The newspaper said police oﬃcers observed a large cut on the woman’s face and arrested Boyd. The charges were dropped less than a month later, when the woman told prosecutors she didn’t want to proceed with the case, the Sun Times reported.

At the time, Boyd and his wife had ﬁled for divorce; they reconciled shortly after. In 2023, a diﬀerent woman sued Boyd for child support. Earlier this year, Boyd agreed to pay $1,922 per month, settling the case.

Boyd was also arrested in 2012, accused of removing his opponent’s campaign yard signs on the day before the primary election, the Chicago Tribune reported. Those charges were dropped after the opponent decided not to pursue the case. Both cases have since been expunged.

After the 2022 arrest, Boyd was reassigned to restrictive duties and referred to the Judicial Inquiry Board, which investigates misconduct allegations against sitting judges. In January 2023, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans said the board had concluded the investigation and closed the matter, and he assigned Boyd back to his Markham courtroom.

Boyd said in a statement he is dedicated to ensuring all individuals receive a fair trial and due process of law and said his “personal challenges” should not overshadow his professional qualiﬁcations and performance as a judge.

“My legal expertise and experience as a judge demonstrate my competence and suitability for the position. My knowledge of the law, understanding of legal principles, and ability to apply them judiciously are essential for rendering fair and well-reasoned decisions,” he wrote. Attorneys interviewed by Injustice Watch said Boyd’s personal life has not interfered with his work and that he has a very good temperament and command of his courtroom and is knowledgeable about the law.

Boyd and his wife, a paralegal specialist at the U.S. Attorney’s Oﬃce, own at least seven rental properties on the city’s far South Side and one in Indiana. The majority are single family homes.

Candidate survey: “I, like many of the judges running for retention in November 2024 have chosen not to respond to the speciﬁc questions sent by Injustice Watch. Instead, we urge Injustice Watch to refer to existing reviewing bodies and to consider this response. Each of the judges running for retention was elected by the voters, either countywide or from a judicial sub circuit. As a group, the judges come from neighborhoods all across Cook County and Chicago. The judges reﬂect diversity, including diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and legal backgrounds and experience. The electorate was able to consider a number of factors including diversity, bar association evaluation ratings, community and charitable service when casting their vote.”

DANIEL R. DEGNAN 58, La Grange Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Degnan was elected judge in 2012. He currently serves in the probate division hearing cases involving the estates of minors. Previously, he presided over parentage cases in the domestic relations division and civil non-jury cases in the ﬁrst municipal district.

Previous work history:

•Executive director of the Cook County Employees’ Annuity & Beneﬁt Fund (2007-2012)

•Various positions at the Cook County Treasurer’s Office, including chief deputy and chief financial officer (1999-2007)

•Attorney at Sullivan Hincks & Conway law ﬁrm (1995-1999)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (1995)

Notable: Degnan is the son of Tim Degnan, who died in 2022 after serving as former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s top strategist throughout Daley’s 22-year mayoral tenure.

Daniel Degnan’s 2012 judicial campaign committee was mostly funded by his father and was chaired by top City Hall lobbyist Timothy Dart, the brother of Cook County Sheriﬀ Tom Dart.

Degnan ran unopposed in 2012 after all four of his opponents, including a sitting judge, dropped out of the race. A Chicago Tribune editorial suggested Degnan leveraged his father’s political clout to clear a path to the bench. Degnan told Injustice Watch he didn’t know why competing candidates dropped out of the 2012 judicial race but he had no role in their decisions.

Degnan’s personal ﬁnances are entwined with his late father’s former business dealings. Degnan has an inherited stake in the politically connected, multistate construction sealant distributor Glenrock Company, although the stake’s value is being disputed in DuPage County probate court. He has invested in commercial properties in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He and ﬁve siblings have an investment company called 1006 Group LLC. Degnan said he could not state the value of his family investments because of pending litigation.

Candidate survey: “Over the past twelve years as a judge in both the Domestic Relations and Probate Divisions, I have heard thousands of cases. … These cases involve the most vulnerable people in our society and can be very stressful for everyone involved. I believe that consistently being respectful, prepared, prompt and patiently explaining the process and the reasons for my rulings helps to relieve some of the stress on the parties and fosters conﬁdence in the judicial system.”

JOHN H. EHRLICH

66, Lake View

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Ehrlich won a subcircuit election on Chicago’s North Side in 2012. He presides over trials in personal injury, wrongful death, and other civil cases in the law division at the Richard J. Daley Center. Previously, he handled pretrial motions in the law division as well as foreclosure cases.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in the Chicago Law Department working on appeals and tort cases, eventually serving as deputy corporation counsel overseeing the torts division (1994-2012)

•Attorney in private practice for various ﬁrms practicing antitrust and commercial law (1987-1994)

Law school: Northwestern University (1987)

Notable: In 2021, Ehrlich tossed out a lawsuit against the owners of an Evanston nail salon and spa ﬁled by a customer who fell and broke her leg. Ehrlich agreed with the salon owners that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the woman’s injury was their fault. An appellate panel strongly disagreed and reversed Ehrlich, criticizing his judgment as “hasty” and noting grainy video of the woman’s fall that “readily belies” many of the salon owners’ arguments.

Ehrlich told Injustice Watch he understood the appellate court’s perspective on the evidence and said he doesn’t take reversals personally. He said part of a circuit court judge’s job is to raise issues to higher courts to resolve. “I always say, ‘The more law, the better,’” he said.

Ehrlich, a previous longtime lawyer for the city of Chicago, has voiced pride that he was involved in the push to win domestic partner beneﬁts for city workers in 1997.

Candidate survey: “I feel that my life as an out gay man has made me particularly sensitive to ensuring that all persons who come into my courtroom — parties, attorneys, staﬀ, and jurors — are treated fairly, with respect, and understanding. To help achieve my goal, I place myself in the other person’s position and ask myself: ‘What do I want, need, and expect from this judge?’ Focusing on that question and knowing the answer helps guide me to be fair, impartial, and a good listener.”

TERRY GALLAGHER

66, Western Springs

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Gallagher was elected to the bench in 2012. He hears felony cases in the ﬁfth municipal district in Bridgeview. He’s also heard misdemeanor cases in Bridgeview and traﬃc cases in Chicago.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice, as a solo practitioner and part of two small ﬁrms. He litigated criminal and civil cases in state and federal courts. (1992-2012)

•Served in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps, prosecuting and defending Marine Corps and Navy personnel in court-martial cases (1988-1992)

Law school: Seattle University (1987)

WILLIAM G. GAMBONEY

74, River Forest

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Gamboney was elected from the 7th subcircuit, covering parts of Chicago’s West Side and western suburbs, in 2012. He currently hears felony cases at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. He previously served in traﬃc court and the juvenile justice division.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice focused on criminal defense and personal injury (1994-2012)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney, where he prosecuted felony cases and served as deputy chief of special prosecutions (1979-1994)

Law school: IIT-Chicago Kent (1977)

Notable: As a Cook County prosecutor in the 1980s and ’90s, Gamboney handled many high-proﬁle trials. In 1987, he prosecuted James Allen for the murder of Robert Ciralsky; Allen was convicted by a jury for his alleged role as a getaway driver and sentenced to life in prison. He was exonerated in 2021. Gamboney also prosecuted former Chicago police Oﬃcer Steven Manning, who was convicted and sentenced to death for robbery and murder with the help of notorious jailhouse

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informant Tommy Dye. Dye was used by Cook County and federal prosecutors in multiple cases despite a documented history of lying under oath. Manning’s conviction was ultimately overturned. Gamboney later represented Dye on unrelated theft charges.

While in private practice, Gamboney also served as one of disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge’s defense attorneys in his federal perjury trial. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, which paid Burge’s legal bills, later sued Gamboney for allegedly colluding with a lodge oﬃcial to defraud the union of more than $200,000 for legal services it had not authorized. The union dropped its lawsuit in 2014.

As a judge, Gamboney ordered the release in 2018 of a police torture victim, Jaime Hauad, after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office agreed to a reduced sentence. In 2020, Gamboney sentenced former Chicago police Officer Lowell Hauser to 10 years after finding him guilty of the murder of Jose Nieves, whom he shot during an argument while off duty. Gamboney did not respond to Injustice Watch’s requests for comment. State judicial ethics rules prohibit judges from commenting on pending cases.

ELIZABETH MARY HAYES

66, Garﬁeld Ridge

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Hayes was elected judge in 2012. She is assigned to the fifth municipal district in Bridgeview, hearing domestic relations cases. She has also heard a variety of matters on a rotating basis, including misdemeanors, traffic, domestic violence, parenthood, and other civil matters. Previously she served in traffic court and in the sixth municipal district in Markham.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender, primarily handling misdemeanors (2010-2012)

•Hearing oﬃcer and court coordinator for the Oﬃce of the Cook County Chief Judge, in the court’s child protection division (1994-2010)

• Staﬀ attorney for the Illinois Guardianship & Advocacy Commission, Legal Advocacy Services (1987-1993)

•Practiced law under the name Elizabeth Sircher (1986-1997)

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent (1986)

MARTIN C. KELLEY

58, Palatine

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Kelley won a subcircuit race after running unopposed in 2012. He hears non-jury civil cases at the Rolling Meadows courthouse. He previously served in the mental health, veterans, and parentage courts.

Previous work history:

•Practiced civil litigation with his father and brothers at family ﬁrm Kelley, Kelley and Kelley in Schaumburg (1992-2012)

Law school: Cooley Law School (1992)

Notable: In 2005, Kelley suﬀered a ruptured spinal disc that paralyzed him, but surgery and intensive rehabilitation returned his mobility. He told the Daily Herald, “I have a real miracle, a second lease on life, and everything is new again.”

Candidate survey: “I learned many virtues from my father and brothers in private practice. The most of these were the practice of treating everyone with dignity and respect. Moreover, it should be viewed as a distinct honor to shepherd those through our legal system. As a judge I have always tried to infuse a dose of humility and patience in every exercise of power or authority.”

KIMBERLY D. LEWIS

Forest Park

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Lewis was elected to the circuit court in 2012. She currently serves in the child protection division, where she hears matters on child abuse, neglect, and dependency.

Previous work history:

• Attorney in private practice taking on criminal defense and traﬃc cases (2007-2012)

•Administrative law judge for the city of Chicago, hearing consumer fraud and environmental cases (2007-2011)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting misdemeanors and child support enforcement cases (2003-2007)

Law school: Valparaiso University (1999)

Notable: Lewis is the immediate past president of the Illinois Judicial Council.

52, River Forest Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: MacCarthy was elected judge in 2012. She currently serves in the probate division overseeing adult guardianship estates. Her previous assignments included presiding over minor estates cases in the probate division, and traﬃc and civil matters in the ﬁrst municipal district.

Previous work history:

•Solo practitioner focused on probate, real estate, and criminal issues (2009-2012)

•Assistant commissioner at the Chicago Department of Aviation (2004-2008)

•Assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley in the mayor’s oﬃce (2001-2004)

•Financial planning analyst at the Chicago Department of Planning and Development (2001)

•Staﬀ attorney and hearing oﬃcer for the Chicago Housing Authority (1998-2001)

•Traﬃc division prosecutor at the Chicago Law Department (1998)

Law school: DePaul University (1997)

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AICHA MARIE M ac CARTHY

LISA ANN MARINO

62, Galewood

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience:

RETENTION | COOK COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

Marino was elected in 2012 from the 11th subcircuit on Chicago’s northwest side. Since 2016, she has been assigned to the housing section of the ﬁrst municipal district, hearing cases regarding building conditions. She previously served in the mortgage foreclosure section of the chancery division and the juvenile justice division.

Previous work history:

•Solo practitioner focusing on real estate tax, zoning, and land use matters (19972012)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting criminal cases and representing the county in real estate tax cases (1988-1996)

Law school: DePaul University (1988)

Notable: Marino is one of a small number of judges hearing the bulk of housing court cases in Cook County. She has presided over a yearslong court battle over the conditions of Ellis Lakeview Apartments, an 11-story building in Kenwood with a history of serious code violations. In 2022, she allowed the tenants union to join a case filed by the city of Chicago, giving tenants a voice in the proceedings — a request other housing court judges have denied — and even visited the building with inspectors to see the issues firsthand. Tenants told Injustice Watch they were grateful for Marino’s attentiveness to their concerns but felt frustrated she didn’t appoint a receiver for the building, as the tenants and city both requested. In January, after lending giant Freddie Mac filed a separate foreclosure lawsuit against the building’s owners, a different Cook County judge appointed a receiver for the building.

68, Western Springs

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Mullen was elected judge in 2012. He currently serves in the chancery division overseeing cases involving insurance coverage, contracts, class action allegations, and administrative review. He previously was assigned to the mortgage foreclosure and mechanics lien section of the chancery division, where he primarily presided over commercial and residential mortgage foreclosure cases.

Previous work history:

•Attorney and partner with Paul B. Episcope LLC, specializing in large personal injury, medical negligence, and product liability cases (1995-2012)

•Attorney in private practice, focusing on large personal injury cases (1991-1995)

•Assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, including deputy chief of the criminal division (1985-1991)

•Illinois assistant attorney general (19821985)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (1981)

Notable: Mullen has presided over an ongoing legal battle between the city of Chicago and the Fraternal Order of Police over whether most serious Chicago police disciplinary cases can be decided through closed-door arbitration. In March, he ruled that police oﬃcers could have serious disciplinary cases heard by arbitrators instead of the Chicago Police Board, but those hearings needed to be open to the public. The city and union have yet to agree on a new structure for arbitration hearings.

In 2017, Mullen dismissed a case brought by former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn calling for the Chicago Board of Education to be transformed into an elected body rather than a body appointed by the mayor. Mullen ruled that mayoral control of the board does not violate the voting rights of Chicago residents.

KAREN LYNN O’MALLEY

61, Gold Coast

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience:

O’Malley was elected to the bench in 2012. She’s currently in the law division hearing a variety of cases, including personal injury and wrongful death. She previously heard complex pre-trial motion cases in the law division and estate matters in probate court.

Previous work history:

•Worked in private practice handling personal injury cases (2008-2012)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting felony cases and sex crimes against children (1992-2008)

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent (1992)

PAUL S. PAVLUS

59, Barrington

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Pavlus was elected from the 13th subcircuit in the northwest suburbs in 2012. He currently serves in the second municipal district in Skokie, where he hears traﬃc, misdemeanor, domestic violence, and felony cases. He previously worked in the ﬁrst municipal district.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney, mostly prosecuting domestic violence oﬀenses, including as a deputy supervisor (1993-2012)

Law school: UIC Law (Formerly John Marshall Law School) (1991)

Notable: Pavlus ran for judge as a Republican, which is unusual among judges in Cook County, most of whom run as Democrats.

CYNTHIA RAMIREZ

60, Dunning

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Ramirez was elected to the circuit court in 2012. She currently presides over juvenile delinquency cases in the juvenile justice division. She previously served in the domestic violence division hearing civil orders of protection and

in the ﬁrst municipal district handling misdemeanor and preliminary hearings.

Previous work history:

•Administrative law judge, Illinois Department of Public Health (2000-2012)

•Administrative law judge, Illinois Department of Human Services (1998-2000)

•Attorney in private practice focused on child protection, juvenile justice, and criminal cases (1995-1998)

•Cook County assistant public defender in the child protection, juvenile justice, and post-convictions units (1990-1995)

Law school: University of Wisconsin (1989)

BEATRIZ SANTIAGO

53, Humboldt Park

Judge since: 2012

Judicial experience: Santiago was elected in 2012 from the 6th subcircuit on Chicago’s North Side. She currently hears traﬃc and misdemeanor cases in Rolling Meadows and presides over the Avondale restorative justice court.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender representing clients in traﬃc, misdemeanor, felony and juvenile cases (1999-2012)

•Attorney in private practice focused on personal injury cases (1996-1999)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1996)

Notable: Santiago in 2016 received a rare censure from the state’s judicial disciplinary agency for deceiving her mortgage lender about where she lived. When she ran for judge in the 6th subcircuit on Chicago’s North Side, she stated under oath that she lived with her parents within the boundaries of the subcircuit, though she owned a nearby home that was outside its boundaries. When she reﬁnanced her mortgage on the home she owned a few months after she won the race, Santiago reported that home as her primary residence, potentially qualifying her for a lower interest rate. She testiﬁed before the Illinois Courts Commission she had made a careless error, but the agency found “one could reasonably characterize her activities as reckless.”

Santiago did not respond to Injustice Watch’s request for comment.

MICHAEL TULLY MULLEN

CLARE JOYCE QUISH

49, Lincoln Park

Judge since: 2016

Judicial experience: Quish was appointed to the bench in 2016 and elected in 2018. She currently serves in the general chancery division handling cases related to the Freedom of Information Act, business disputes and complaints for administrative review. Before that, she spent about ﬁve years handling traﬃc and small claims, evictions, personal injury, and other civil lawsuits.

Previous work history:

•Attorney and partner at Schuyler, Roche & Crisham, P.C., and a related ﬁrm, where she focused on appellate practice and commercial and civil litigation representing businesses, professionals, and insurers (2007-2016)

•Adjunct professor of appellate advocacy at Loyola University Chicago (2004-2005)

•Law clerk to then-Illinois Appellate Justice Mary Jane Theis (2000-2007)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (2000)

Notable: In 2023, Quish dismissed a city of Chicago lawsuit against an Indiana store that allegedly sold hundreds of guns through straw purchases that were used in Chicago crimes, after the store argued its initial sales were to residents of Indiana.

STEPHANIE SALTOUROS

54, Jeﬀerson Park

Judge since: 2016

Judicial experience:

RETENTION

KENT DELGADO

53, West Town

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Delgado was appointed judge in 2017 and elected the following year. He serves in the probate division’s decedent estates section, where he oversees the creation and management of the estates of children and adolescents. He previously oversaw traﬃc cases in municipal court.

Previous work history:

•Ran a private practice in West Town, focused on criminal defense, traﬃc, immigration, probate, and real estate (2007-2016)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney, assigned to the appellate, municipal, and felony trial divisions (1996-2007)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (1996)

Notable: Since 2019, Delgado has served as one of two judicial members on the Judicial Inquiry Board, the body that investigates allegations of judicial misconduct. His second four-year term on the board ends in 2027.

CECILIA ANNE HORAN

58, Glenview

Judge since: 2017

Saltouros was appointed to the bench in 2016 and elected in 2018. She currently hears pretrial matters in civil lawsuits, such as wrongful death, medical malpractice, and products liability cases, in the court’s law division. Previously, she served for six years in the domestic violence division.

Previous work history:

•Solo practitioner focusing on criminal defense (2008-2016)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney, prosecuting criminal and traﬃc cases (1996-2008)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1996)

Judicial experience: Horan was appointed judge in 2017 and currently serves in the chancery division. Previously, she was assigned to the mortgage foreclosure/ mechanics lien section of the chancery division, and the ﬁrst municipal district, where she presided over cases involving tort and contract claims, evictions, and traﬃc matters.

Previous work history:

•Attorney and litigation partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, specializing in transportation-related personal injury litigation as well as product liability and insurance coverage matters (1997-2017)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1997)

Notable: In 2023, Horan denied potential class action litigants the opportunity to sue ComEd on behalf of Illinois utility customers

who said they were overcharged because ComEd allegedly bribed former state House Speaker Michael Madigan to push through two laws allowing the utility to raise its rates.

JOANNE F. ROSADO

53, Rosemont

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Rosado was appointed to the circuit court in 2017. She won election in the 11th subcircuit, covering the northwest side of Chicago and the northwest suburbs, in 2018. She has been hearing felony cases at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse since 2021 and previously heard cases in the ﬁrst municipal district and the juvenile justice division.

Previous work history:

• Cook County assistant public defender handling misdemeanors, felonies, child protection cases, and homicide cases in the multiple defendant division (2002-2017)

•Attorney in private practice focused on real estate, contracts, and estate planning (2001-2016)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (2000)

Notable: A murder case Rosado inherited from her felony courtroom predecessor was highlighted in a 2023 Chicago Tribune investigation into long delays in Cook County criminal cases. The defendant in the case had been in jail awaiting trial for more than a decade. Rosado acquitted him in a bench trial in December 2023.

In 2022, Rosado vacated the murder convictions of brothers Juan and Rosendo Hernandez, who have long maintained they were framed by disgraced former Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevara. As she delivered her ruling, Rosado referred to Guevara as “a lying, scheming person.”

TOYA T. HARVEY

55, Homewood

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Harvey was appointed to the circuit court in 2017 and won election in 2018. She currently presides over civil jury trials in the law division. She previously heard eviction cases.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender in several divisions and as member of the suburban homicide taskforce (1996-2017)

Law school: University of Iowa (1995)

ADRIENNE ELAINE DAVIS

56, South Holland

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Davis was appointed to the circuit court in 2017. She won election in 2018 in the 2nd subcircuit, covering the South Side of Chicago and the south suburbs. She currently hears felony cases at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse and previously handled a variety of cases in the ﬁrst municipal district.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender (1995-2017)

Law school: Texas Southern University (1994) Notable: In 2021, Davis was assigned the 1982 double murder cases of Robert Gacho and Joseph Sorrentino. Their convictions had been overturned because the judge presiding over their trials, Thomas Maloney, was a target of the well-known Operations Greylord and Gambat judicial corruption probes. Maloney was the only judge convicted for ﬁxing murder cases, taking a $10,000 bribe from Gacho and Sorrentino’s co-defendant, though he did not acquit him.

Davis denied both men pretrial release, ruling that Gacho and Sorrentino— who are in their 60s and in poor health after spending more than 40 years in prison — still presented a danger to the public. She was reversed by the appellate court in March, which found her ruling inconsistent with the requirements of the Pretrial Fairness Act. Davis declined to comment, citing ethics rules against speaking about cases pending before her.

H. YVONNE COLEMAN

75, Grand Boulevard

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience:

Coleman was appointed to the circuit court in 2017 and elected in 2018. She currently serves as a trial judge in the domestic relations division. Previously, she heard breach of contract and tort cases in the civil non-jury trial section of the ﬁrst municipal district.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice focused on civil litigation and civil rights, particularly employment discrimination (1992-1999, 2004-2009, 2010-2017)

•General counsel for the Independent Police Review Authority, which handled disciplinary cases against Chicago police oﬃcers (2009-2010)

•Manager and chief hearing oﬃcer for the appeals division of the Illinois Department of Employment Security, handling unemployment beneﬁt claims (2003-2004)

•Chief of the civil rights and disability rights bureaus for the Illinois Attorney General’s Oﬃce (1999-2003)

•Executive director, Cook County Bar Association’s Community Law Project (1989-1994)

•Staﬀ attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Chicago region (1988-1989)

•City attorney and assistant district attorney for cities and parishes in northern Louisiana, while also maintaining a private practice in the state (1981-1988)

Law school: University of California, Davis (1978)

Notable: In 2013, Coleman represented a former Cook County sheriﬀ’s deputy in an employment discrimination lawsuit alleging he was stripped of his police powers and suspended without pay for supporting Sheriﬀ Tom Dart’s opponent in the 2010 election, a claim Dart denied. Coleman withdrew from the case after she was appointed to the bench in 2017. In December 2021, after more than eight years of litigation, the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to settle the lawsuit for $5.6 million.

In 2022, Coleman sued the city of Chicago after tripping on an uneven sidewalk in the South Loop and suﬀering unspeciﬁed injuries. The following year, the city settled the case for $30,000, records show.

RETENTION | COOK COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

DEBRA A. SEATON

64, South Holland

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Seaton was appointed to the circuit court in 2017 and elected in 2018. She is currently assigned to housing court in the ﬁrst municipal district, where she rules on building code violations, demolition cases, and other cases. Previously, Seaton presided over various criminal, civil, and traﬃc cases.

Previous work history:

•Supervisor of the legal resources division, Cook County Public Defender’s Oﬃce (2010-2017)

•Solo practitioner representing defendants in death penalty cases (2000-2010)

•Cook County assistant public defender (1988-2000)

•Kane County assistant public defender (1987-1988)

•Assistant public defender in the Oﬃce of the State Appellate Defender (1986-1987)

Law school: University of Iowa (1986)

Notable: During her career as a defense attorney, Seaton represented several highprofile criminal defendants, including serial rapist and killer Andre Crawford. Seaton helped Crawford — described as one of the Chicago area’s worst serial killers since John Wayne Gacy — escape the death penalty by detailing his horrific childhood, including being sex-trafficked by his mother. Crawford, who was convicted in 2009 of raping and murdering 11 women, died in prison in 2017.

DAVID R. NAVARRO

58, Riverside

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Navarro was appointed to the bench in 2017 and elected in 2018. He served as a supervising judge and acting presiding judge of the pretrial division. In February 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court assigned him to the appellate court.

Previous work history:

•Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau in the Illinois Attorney General’s Oﬃce (2009-2017)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney, including stints in the public corruption and ﬁnancial crimes unit and the professional standards unit, where he was a supervisor overseeing prosecutions of police misconduct (1994-2001, 2002-2009)

•Criminal defense attorney at the Law Oﬃce of David Wiener (2001-2002)

Law school: University of Iowa (1993)

Notable: As a Cook County prosecutor, Navarro assisted in the federal prosecution of oﬃcers in the Chicago Police Department’s notorious Special Operations Section, whose members were convicted of stealing cash and drugs from people they arrested. As an appellate judge, Navarro wrote a 2-1 decision last year aﬃrming actor Jussie Smollett’s disorderly conduct conviction for staging a hate crime against himself. Smollett has appealed the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court. Navarro is the current president of the Illinois Latino Judges Association.

MARIAN EMILY PERKINS

65, Douglas

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Perkins was appointed to the bench in 2017, then elected the next year. She currently serves in the chancery division hearing cases involving residential and commercial mortgage foreclosure, the appointment of receivers, and property liens.

Previous work history:

•Ran her own ﬁrm, focusing on family law and real estate matters (1998-2017)

•Staﬀ attorney at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation on the health-related prosecutions unit (1996-1998)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney, working on child support and criminal cases (1989-1996)

•Illinois assistant appellate defender (1987-1989)

Law school: Howard University

ROBERT HARRIS

67, Kenwood

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Harris was appointed to the circuit court in 2017 and won election in 2018. He currently presides over personal injury and other tort cases in the law division.

Previous work history:

•Cook County public guardian, overseeing the oﬃce that represents abused and neglected children, children in divorce and custody cases, and adults with cognitive disabilities in Cook County Circuit Court (2004-2017)

•Attorney, Oﬃce of the Cook County Public Guardian, rising to become deputy chief of the oﬃce before being appointed to the top job (1991-2004)

Law school: DePaul University (1990)

Notable: Harris became Cook County’s ﬁrst Black public guardian when Chief Judge Timothy Evans appointed him to the position in 2004.

PRESTON JONES, JR.

55, Oak Park

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Jones was appointed to the bench in 2017 and elected the next year. He presides over trials in the law division, and he previously handled jury trials and eviction cases in the ﬁrst municipal district and pretrial motions in the law division.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender handling felony trials, murder cases, and juvenile defense (1994-2017)

Law school: University of Illinois (1994)

PETER MICHAEL GONZALEZ

56,

Oak Park

Judge since: 2017

Judicial experience: Gonzalez was appointed to the circuit court in 2017 and won election in 2018. He currently hears misdemeanor criminal cases in Branch 43 on Chicago’s West Side.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice, primarily focused on criminal defense, including traﬃc, domestic violence, and felony cases (2003-2017)

•Part-time administrative hearing oﬃcer for the Illinois Department of Employment Security, presiding over unemployment beneﬁt hearings (2003-2012)

•Cook County assistant public defender, primarily handling juvenile cases (1994-2003)

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent (1994)

Notable: When he ran for judge in 2018, Gonzalez was rated not qualified by the Chicago Council of Lawyers, which said they were “concerned about Mr. Gonzalez’s temperament” based on reports Gonzalez was “inappropriately impatient and rude” to unemployment claimants and witnesses appearing before him as an administrative hearing officer for the Illinois Department of Employment Security. The council also cited two earlier disciplinary actions against Gonzalez by the department for “discourtesy during hearings.” He was found qualified or recommended by all other bar associations that evaluated him that year.

Gonzalez’s law practice was based in the same building as former Ald. Ed Burke’s 14th Ward office in Gage Park, records show. Gonzalez also ran a nonprofit out of the building called the 14th Ward Legal Clinic, records show. The FBI raided Burke’s ward office in November 2018 as part of a bribery, extortion, and racketeering investigation. A jury convicted Burke on all but one of more than a dozen charges in December 2023, and a federal judge sentenced him to two years

in prison earlier this year. Soon after Burke oﬃcially declined to seek reelection last year, Gonzalez updated the banner picture on his judicial campaign’s Facebook account to one of him posing alongside Burke and his wife, former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke, at Gonzalez’s judicial swearing-in ceremony. Gonzalez did not respond to Injustice Watch’s requests for comment.

In September, Gonzalez presided over a bench trial for a member of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network who was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic following an April march in downtown Chicago to protest Israel’s war in Gaza. The city’s law department prosecuted the case after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to pursue charges. Gonzalez ruled the defendant was not guilty on both counts and said the city’s attempt to charge the man with obstructing traffic was “an absurd application of the statute” after video from a police body camera showed he had moved to the sidewalk by the time he was arrested.

Earlier this year, Gonzalez’s wife, Dawn Gonzalez, was appointed to the circuit court by the Illinois Supreme Court. She is running unopposed in this election for a full term on the bench.

JEANNE MARIE WRENN

53, Loop

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Wrenn was appointed to the bench in February 2018 and elected later that year. Currently, she is assigned to the domestic violence courthouse, where she presides over criminal cases. In January 2023, Wrenn started the ﬁrst mental health diversion court within the domestic violence division.

Previous work history:

•Senior director and general counsel for the National Safety Council, a nonproﬁt focused on workplace and road safety (2015-2017)

•Ethics oﬃcer and equal employment opportunity oﬃcer at Pace, the suburban bus agency (2012-2015)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney, working in the narcotics and traﬃc divisions. She spent four-and-a-half years, including three as a supervisor, working in the legislative unit, helping promote the oﬃce’s legislative priorities and drafting bills. (2003-2012)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (2000)

Notable: In 2008, she was featured in a Chicago Tribune article about having to supplement her state’s attorney’s oﬃce paycheck by moonlighting as a bartender. The newspaper reported Cook County prosecutors hadn’t had a salary increase in three years.

MICHAEL B. BARRETT

58, Orland Park

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Barrett was elected from the 15th subcircuit in the south Cook County suburbs in 2018. He hears pretrial motions in wrongful death and other civil cases in the law division. Previously, he was the supervising judge of the civil division at the Markham courthouse.

Previous work history:

•Partner at Barrett & Sramek, where his father was a senior partner, focusing on personal injury, probate and estate planning, and workers’ compensation cases (1992-2018)

•Associate at Moss & Hillison (1991-1992)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (1991)

Notable: Barrett ran unsuccessfully for judge twice before being elected to the bench in 2018. His wife, Bernadette Barrett, is also a Cook County Circuit Court judge. She was elected to the 15th subcircuit in 2022 and hears domestic relations cases at the Bridgeview courthouse. His brother, Brian E. Barrett, is an associate judge in Will County.

TIANA ELLIS BLAKELY

45, Roseland

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Blakely was elected from the 2nd subcircuit in 2018. She hears felony trials in the sixth municipal district at the Markham courthouse.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender handling felony cases (2005-2018)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (2004)

Notable: Blakely is the president-elect of the Illinois Judicial Council. She has served on the board since 2020.

JOEL CHUPACK

67, Northbrook

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience:

Chupack was elected judge in 2018. He is currently assigned to the general chancery section of the chancery division. He previously heard mortgage foreclosure and mechanics lien cases. Before that, he was assigned to eviction cases at the Richard J. Daley Center.

Previous work history:

•Attorney and partner at Heinrich & Kramer, P.C., focused on real estate law and general commercial litigation (1992-2018)

•Worked at three other Chicago law ﬁrms and in solo practice (1984-1992)

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent (1982)

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ELIZABETH CIACCIA-LEZZA

51, Westchester

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Ciaccia-Lezza was elected from the 4th subcircuit, covering Chicago’s west suburbs, in 2018. She currently oversees pre-trial hearings and traﬃc and misdemeanor cases at the Maywood courthouse. She also ﬁlls in for felony courtroom judges when they are out.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting felonies, misdemeanors, sex crimes, domestic violence, child support, and juvenile delinquency cases (2000-2018)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (2000)

Notable: Multiple defense attorneys told Injustice Watch that Ciaccia-Lezza has repeatedly issued arrest warrants for defendants who were just a few minutes late to court. Earlier this year, Geary Kull, the acting presiding judge of the Maywood courthouse, issued a reminder to judges to wait until the end of a call to issue warrants for non-appearance to accommodate defendants’ life circumstances and reduce unnecessary expenses for the court. He did not say whether the guidance was in response to any particular judge or incident.

Attorneys also told Injustice Watch that, when ﬁlling in for felony judges, CiacciaLezza has on several occasions overridden plea agreements reached between prosecutors and the defendant. In one instance, she sentenced a man to three years of incarceration when he had agreed to plead guilty to driving on a suspended license with the understanding that he wasn’t going to prison. In another case, she sentenced a defendant to some 250 days of incarceration instead of the 30 he had agreed to as part of the plea deal. While judges have the legal authority to ignore an agreed-upon sentence, attorneys said it was rare for a judge to do so without warning and when ﬁlling in on another judge’s case. Ciaccia-Lezza did not respond to Injustice Watch’s requests for comment. State judicial ethics rules prohibit judges from commenting on pending cases.

RETENTION | COOK COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

58, Beverly

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience:

Cunningham was elected from the third subcircuit in 2018. He serves in the Markham courthouse, hearing criminal misdemeanor and felony cases.

Previous work history:

•Prosecutor for the village of Oak Lawn, handling traﬃc and ordinance violations. From 2013 to 2014, he also served as the village’s administrative hearing oﬃcer and as the attorney for the Oak Lawn Fire and Police Commission. (2006-2018)

•Attorney in private practice, as a solo practitioner and part of a small ﬁrm, focused on criminal defense and personal injury cases (1998-2018)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting misdemeanors and felonies and serving in the felony review unit (1992-1998)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1992)

54, Forest Glen

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Daly was elected in 2018 from the 10th subcircuit on Chicago’s Northwest Side. She presides over parentage cases in the third municipal district in Rolling Meadows, where she also hears traﬃc, misdemeanor, and domestic violence cases.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice defending Chicago police oﬃcers in disciplinary proceedings, representing defendants in criminal cases, and serving as a guardian ad litem representing children (2010-2018)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney handling appeals, juvenile cases, and felony trials (1996-2009)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1996)

Notable: Daly is married to Charles Daly, a retired Chicago police lieutenant the department tried to fire in 2022. ThenSuperintendent David Brown accused him of failing to report a lower-ranking officer who used an illegal chokehold on a man on the South Side in 2019. The Chicago Police Board cleared Daly of wrongdoing in a 5-2 decision, noting the body camera footage of the incident was difficult to make out, even as they voted in the same case to fire the officer who used the chokehold. Colleen Reardon Daly did not respond to Injustice Watch’s request for comment.

BEATRIZ A. FRAUSTO-SANDOVAL

44, Gage Park

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Frausto-Sandoval was elected to the bench in 2018. She currently hears delinquency cases in the juvenile justice division. She previously heard civil and criminal cases in domestic violence court.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice at several ﬁrms focusing on immigration law, before starting her own practice (2005-2018)

Law school: DePaul University (2005)

IESHIA GRAY

47, Homewood

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Gray was elected from the 2nd subcircuit covering Chicago’s far South Side and south suburbs in 2018. She is a ﬂoating judge in the sixth municipal district in Markham, where she’s also heard orders of protection and eviction cases. Since July, she has presided over the Sauk Village Restorative Justice Community Court. Previously, she heard personal injury, contract, tort, evictions, and small claims cases in the fourth municipal district in Maywood.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender representing clients in felony cases (2004-2018)

•Cook County Circuit Court civil protection division coordinator (2003-2004)

Law school: Washington University in St. Louis (2002)

Notable: Gray is under investigation by the Judicial Inquiry Board, which probes misconduct allegations against judges. The investigation comes after she repeatedly denied an attorney’s routine requests for his cases to be heard by a new judge, then ultimately issued a lengthy order recusing herself from his cases, in which she called him “unprofessional and abrasive,” saying he “appears trapped in a time continuum,” and accused him of “borderline” defamation. By law, the Judicial Inquiry Board does not make public the outcome of its investigations unless it ﬁles formal disciplinary charges with the Illinois Courts Commission.

Gray was later assigned to hear civil orders of protection. There, courtroom observers from the domestic violence services community said Gray rushed to judgments, sometimes leaving petitioners without protections they qualiﬁed for. Gray did not respond to Injustice Watch’s requests for comment.

JACK HAGERTY

66, Glenview

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Hagerty was elected judge in 2018. He currently serves in the second municipal district in Skokie hearing civil, criminal, domestic violence, and traﬃc cases.

Previous work history:

•Spent the ﬁrst two decades of his legal career handling commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense at Chicago law ﬁrms: Partner, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP (2013-2018); Partner, Shefsky & Froelich (1994-2013); Associate, Phelan, Pope & John (1990-1994)

•Staﬀ accountant and auditor with Ernst & Whitney (1983-1990)

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent (1990)

KEVIN PATRICK CUNNINGHAM

COLLEEN REARDON DALY

LINDSAY HUGE

62, Uptown

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Hugé was elected in 2018. He currently serves in the ﬁrst municipal district hearing felony preliminary hearings.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender, working in most divisions of the oﬃce, including traﬃc, paternity, misdemeanor, felony, appeals, narcotics, and postconvictions (1989-2018)

Law school: St. Louis University (1998)

KATHALEEN THERESA LANAHAN

60, Lemont

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Lanahan was elected to the bench in 2018. She hears felony cases in the ﬁfth municipal district in Bridgeview and presides over three problem-solving courts: veteran’s court, mental health treatment court, and drug court. She has previously heard traﬃc, misdemeanor, parentage, and domestic violence cases.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting felony, traﬃc, and juvenile delinquency cases (1994-2018)

•Analyst at the Cook County Board of Appeals, which handles property tax appeals (1991-1994)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1992)

RETENTION

THOMAS F. Mc GUIRE

68, Prospect Heights

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience:

McGuire was elected in 2018 and serves in the third municipal district in Rolling Meadows, where he hears traﬃc and misdemeanor cases and preliminary hearings.

Previous work history:

•Solo practitioner focusing on criminal defense (2013-2018)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney, handling felony cases (2003-2013)

•Staﬀ attorney for the Cook County Circuit Court, doing legal research for judges in the criminal division (2001-2003)

Law school: DePaul University (2000)

SCOTT McKENNA

54, Orland Park

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience:

McKenna was elected in 2018 from a south suburban subcircuit. He now handles trials in the law division at the Richard J. Daley Center, and he has previously presided over pretrial motions, eviction cases and misdemeanors.

Previous work history:

•Partner at Best, Vanderlaan and Harrington, a midsize insurance defense ﬁrm (2000-2018)

•Attorney in private practice for small ﬁrms with experience in personal injury, insurance, and commercial law (1996-2000)

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent (1996)

SHANNON O’MALLEY

62, Schaumburg

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: O’Malley was elected from the 13th subcircuit in the northwest suburbs in 2018. For most of his time on the bench, he has been assigned to the child protection division, where he hears child abuse and neglect cases.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice handling bankruptcy, personal injury, and criminal cases (1992-2018)

Law school: Cooley Law School (1990)

Notable: O’Malley changed his name and party before running for Cook County judge in 2018. Under his birth name, Phillip Spiwak, he ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for appellate court judge in 1999, Cook County state’s attorney in 2004, and Will County judge in 2010. At the time of his election, he told reporters he changed his name to honor his mentor and surrogate father who passed away from cancer, but critics called it a “naked attempt to improve his electoral prospects.”

The Illinois Constitution requires Cook County judges to live in Cook County. Since 2004, O’Malley and his wife have owned a house in Aurora, in Will County, for which they claim a homeowner’s exemption. Through his attorney, O’Malley said he has been living in Cook County apart from his wife since he ﬁled to run for judge in 2017. By law, homestead exemptions are reserved for a property owner’s “principal dwelling place.”

In his previous runs for oﬃce in Will County, he listed this home as his main residence.

In recent political contributions, however, O’Malley listed an apartment in Schaumburg as his residence.

ERIKA ORR

51, Chatham

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Orr was elected judge in 2018. She currently serves as a domestic relations division judge in the sixth municipal district in Markham.

Previous work history:

•Attorney in private practice, handling divorce, custody, and child support cases (2011-2018)

•Attorney at several large accounting ﬁrms, focused on international tax law (2003-2011)

Law school: University of Illinois (1998)

LINDA PEREZ

53, West Town Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Perez was elected to the circuit court in 2018. She has served most of her tenure at the Bridgeview courthouse hearing juvenile delinquency matters.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender in the felony, juvenile, and child protection divisions (2002-2018)

Law school: Northern Illinois University (2000)

Check out our comprehensive judicial election guide

To read more information about each candidate, locate your subcircuit, and create a customized report you can take to your polling station, scan the QR code or visit injusticewatch.org/judges.

JAMES “JAMIE” SHAPIRO

65, Lake View

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Shapiro was elected to the circuit court in 2018. He currently hears marriage dissolution cases on the newly established complex litigation program in the domestic relations division. Shapiro served two previous stints on the court, from 2007 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2012, following appointments by the Illinois Supreme Court. He presided over misdemeanors, felonies, and evictions during those stints.

Previous work history:

•Mediator and arbitrator with Resolute Systems, focusing on personal injury, employment discrimination, and commercial litigation cases (2013-2018)

•Attorney in private practice and at a small ﬁrm handling white collar criminal defense and civil litigation, including defamation cases (2012-2018)

•Adjunct law professor at UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) and Loyola University (2003-2009, 2014)

•Associate or partner at a number of private law ﬁrms (1985-1989, 1995-2007)

•Assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois in the civil and criminal divisions (1989-1995)

Law school: William & Mary (1985)

Notable: In 2020, Shapiro drew criticism amid media reports that he barred a mother from seeing her son because she wasn’t vaccinated against Covid-19 as part of a child support case between the mother and her exhusband. Shapiro later reversed his decision and recused himself from the case. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Shapiro had asked parents about their vaccination status in at least two diﬀerent child support cases, and ordered some parents and children to be vaccinated. In an email, Shapiro told Injustice Watch he initially stood by his ruling — which he said was “based on the law, the facts, and especially the best interest of the child” — but later realized a required hearing had not taken place, prompting the reversal. “As a judge, I work hard to do the best I can, but I am also not too proud to admit a mistake and correct it,” he said.

RETENTION | COOK COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

Injustice Watch reported in 2020 that Shapiro had conspired with election consultant Sean Tenner to run a “sham candidate” in his 2018 subcircuit race against Robin Shoﬀner, who’d been appointed to the seat and was running to keep it, to siphon votes away from her. Shapiro and Tenner denied the allegations.

A 2020 Injustice Watch investigation found Shapiro was one of two sitting judges who were partners in a company with then-Ald. Ed Burke as well as several other attorneys and retired judges. The company, Table of Wisdom LLC, was an investment club formed in 2018 by a group of longtime friends but was dissolved less than two years later, according to the report. In an email, Shapiro told Injustice Watch, “I never met Ed Burke, never had any discussions with him with respect to investments or anything else, never even knew he was part of the investment group until your story broke… I did not break any laws or violate any ethical rules, nor did I become rich oﬀ the investments.”

TOM SAM SIANIS

48, Park Ridge

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience:

Sianis was elected judge in 2018. He is currently a supervising judge in the ﬁrst municipal district’s traﬃc division. He previously presided over small claims and eviction cases.

Previous work history:

•Enforcement division chief at the Illinois Securities Department within the Illinois Secretary of State’s Oﬃce, determining what actions to take on securities laws and regulations violations, and also a special assistant attorney general prosecuting fraud cases (2012-2018)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney prosecuting criminal and domestic violence cases (2005-2012)

Law school: Cooley Law School (2003)

Notable: Sianis is a co-owner of the Billy Goat Tavern.

ROSA MARIA SILVA

51, Near West Side

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Silva won an uncontested race for a countywide seat on the circuit court in 2018. She has been assigned to the domestic relations division since 2022. Her previous assignments included misdemeanor and preliminary hearing branch courts.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender, handling felony jury and bench trials. Her last assignment as a public defender was on the homicide task force, in which she represented defendants charged with murder. (2002-2018)

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent (2001)

KATHRYN MALONEY VAHEY

54, La Grange

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Vahey was elected to the bench in 2018, where she mostly hears cases in the juvenile justice division. She also helps run a specialty court designed to provide training, education, skills, and job support for young adults who have been charged in lower class drug distribution cases.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender in the felony trial court and problem-solving courts, including the drug treatment court and the veterans treatment court (1998-2018)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (1998)

ANDREA MICHELLE WEBBER

47, West Town

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Webber was elected from the 6th subcircuit on Chicago’s northwest side in 2018. She has presided over domestic relations cases since 2021. Previously, she heard traﬃc cases and misdemeanors in the ﬁrst municipal district.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender, including in the felony trial section and the homicide task force, where she represented defendants charged with murder (2004-2018)

Law school: DePaul University (2002)

ARTHUR WESLEY WILLIS

55, Homewood

Judge since: 2018

Judicial experience: Willis was elected from the 2nd subcircuit, covering Chicago’s South Side and south suburbs, in 2018. He currently hears felony cases at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. He previously served in the ﬁrst municipal district and in central bond court.

Previous work history:

•Cook County assistant public defender (1995-2018)

Law school: University of Illinois (1994)

Notable: Willis’ wife, Julie Willis, is a Cook County assistant public defender and a trustee for the village of Homewood.

About the contested races

Cook County is divided into 20 subcircuits, geographic boundaries created to build a more diverse judiciary. About twothirds of the county’s circuit court judges are elected from subcircuits. Once elected, they have the same roles and responsibilities as judges elected countywide.

In this election, there are ﬁve contested races for open circuit court seats — one for a countywide vacancy ; three in the

12th subcircuit , which extends west from Northbrook to Inverness in the northwest suburbs; and one in the 18th subcircuit , which includes the northwest suburbs of Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, and Elk Grove

COUNTYWIDE | FLANNERY JR. VACANCY

Experience:

•Circuit court judge appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court after winning the Democratic primary in March, hearing cases in the ﬁrst municipal district (2024-present)

•Solo practitioner focused on criminal defense and civil rights. He is also a panel attorney with the Federal Defender’s Oﬃce assigned to represent indigent clients in federal criminal cases. (2012-2024)

•Partner at a small ﬁrm focused on criminal defense (2007-2011)

•Associate at Serpico, Novelle, Petrosino and Rascia, focusing on criminal and civil litigation, trials, and appeals in state and federal courts (2000-2007)

•Trial attorney, Cook County Public Defender’s Oﬃce (1994-2000)

Law school: Tulane University (1994)

Notable: DeCastro represented a 54-year-old Naperville woman who pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor after entering the U.S. Capitol with rioting protesters on Jan. 6, 2021. She was sentenced to 18 months of probation. DeCastro was a ﬁnalist for associate judge in 2023, but was not selected.

Candidate survey: “I have spent 29 years listening to the less powerful, taking the time to hear my clients so that I can eﬀectively tell their story. It may seem that a judge’s job is to make decisions, but the best judges realize they can’t get to the right decision unless and until

they listen to both sides. Listening is a skill and like any other skill it must be practiced and developed. I am uniquely prepared and proven to have the patience, compassion, and understanding it takes to be the right kind of judge.”

Republican

TIEN H. GLAUB 57, Sauganash

Experience:

•Manager of administrative adjudication, Chicago Department of Administrative Hearings (2020-present)

• Hearing oﬃcer, Chicago Department of Business Aﬀairs and Consumer Protection, conducting license appeals hearings (2012-2020)

•Law clerk, City of Chicago Law Department Building and License Division, representing the city in code violation cases (2009-2012)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (2007)

Notable: Glaub is the ﬁrst candidate since 2010 to run as a Republican in a countywide judicial race in heavily Democratic Cook County.

Candidate survey: “After losing my father at a young age and working minimum wage jobs at times, I have been working my way up and earning the public trust on my own merit without any connections, let alone powerful ones. During my entire legal career, the public has been my only boss. If elected, I will continue my public service by upholding my Good Karma and the black letter of the law to provide justice for all.”

Village, and parts of Niles. Check this map to see which subcircuit you live in. If you’re not sure, you can check your voter ID card, scan the QR code below, or visit injusticewatch.org/judges

Experience:

Scan to locate your subcircuit, read more about each candidate, and create a customized report you can take to your polling station. EN ESPAÑOL: Escanea el código QR para ver nuestra guía de elecciones judiciales en español.

12TH SUBCIRCUIT | DICKLER VACANCY

•Manages a four-attorney law ﬁrm where he represents individuals and businesses in litigation, real estate tax appeals, contracts, and employment cases. Many of his clients are nursing homes and hospices. (2013-present)

•Contract arbitrator and mediator in Cook County and the collar counties, assigned to mediate cases through alternative dispute resolution programs (2013-present)

•Attorney at two law ﬁrms, focused on commercial litigation representing health care entities and other businesses (2002-2015)

Law school: University of Wisconsin (2002)

Candidate survey: “I believe a good judge needs to know the law, respect everyone, both inside and outside of the courtroom, and rule with honesty and integrity on every case based on the law and the evidence. There is a need for more kindness and respect in all of our lives. I will listen to both sides and give both sides fairness, respect and neutrality.”

Experience:

•Partner at a two-attorney ﬁrm in Oak Brook focused on municipal law (2022-present)

•First assistant in the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Oﬃce, overseeing the criminal and civil bureaus (2019-2022)

•Assistant Cook County state’s attorney, with a decade as supervisor of the Third Municipal District at the Rolling Meadows courthouse (2003-2019)

•Attorney at a large national law ﬁrm defending companies in civil lawsuits (2002-2003)

•Assistant Cook County state’s attorney in the homicide and sex crimes unit, the domestic violence division, and the traﬃc division (1989-2002)

Law school: IIT Chicago-Kent (1989)

Notable: In 2022, McCarthy and her law partner Fabio Valentini were appointed as special prosecutors in half a dozen cases involving allegations of misconduct against former Chicago police Detective Kriston Kato. Last year, McCarthy and Valentini ﬁled a motion in two of the cases arguing that the 15-year-old statute creating a commission to investigate allegations of police torture and refer cases for a court hearing was unconstitutional. A Will County judge later ruled that the statute “skirts very closely to the edge of constitutionality” and dismissed the commission’s referrals on both of the cases. Defense attorneys in some of the cases also ﬁled motions to disqualify McCarthy and Valentini because their time as Cook County prosecutors overlapped with Kato’s time at the police department. Their motion was denied. McCarthy did not respond to requests for comment.

Democrat

ALON STEIN

Republican

MARIA Mc CARTHY 61, Mount Prospect

Sources: Cook County, U.S. Census, Google Maps

Map by Jonathon Berlin and Mark Friesen

Democrat

PABLO F. deCASTRO 55, Hyde Park

Democrat

FRANK J. ANDREOU

53, Northbrook

Experience:

• Cook County associate judge, hearing motions in civil cases involving personal injury, medical malpractice, and other significant damages. He previously heard misdemeanor and traffic cases in the Skokie courthouse and the first municipal district. (2020-present)

•Partner in a small practice focused on commercial litigation, personal injury, and employment issues (2002-2019)

•Associate at a midsize law ﬁrm specializing in civil litigation and medical malpractice defense (1999-2002)

•Cook County assitant state’s attorney in the criminal appeals, juvenile justice, and felony review units (1995-1999)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (1995)

Notable: In 2016, Andreou ran for judge in the 12th subcircuit but came in third. The winning candidate was then-Associate Judge Marguerite Quinn, who later put in a good word for him during the associate judge selection process. He’s now running to succeed her after she retired last July.

Candidate survey: “As a judge, I am cognizant of how intimidating our legal system can be to native born litigants, and more so for those with language or cultural barriers. I work every day to make sure that all who appear before me are treated fairly and understand what is happening by working with outstanding interpreters provided through the Courts.”

Republican

PAMELA CURRAN SMITH

45, Prospect Heights

Experience:

•Attorney at a small law ﬁrm, becoming a partner in 2023, focused on contract disputes, forfeiture actions, and personal injury cases (2006-present)

•Workers’ compensation claim investigator for Travelers Insurance (2010-2013)

Law school: Loyola University Chicago (2006)

Candidate survey: “Experienced judges that show compassion, patience and fairness are essential. While I was raised to always be humble and do what is just and right, the lessons I learned from my clients over the years have been equally invaluable.”

Democrat

JOHN HOCK

43, Des Plaines

Experience:

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney in the post-conviction division, representing the state in criminal appeals (2022-present)

•Lake County assistant public defender in Waukegan, assigned to criminal and juvenile cases (2013-2022)

• Associate at a midsize Chicago law ﬁrm primarily focused on insurance, contract, and business law (2011-2013)

•Will County assistant public defender (2009-2011)

•Associate attorney and law clerk at a small law ﬁrm in Jacksonville, Florida, primarily focused on employment and contract law (2006-2009)

Law school: Florida Coastal School of Law (2007)

Candidate survey: “As an assistant public defender for most of my career, I witnessed firsthand how the judicial system can work against people struggling with financial issues and systemic poverty. An attempt to eliminate any notion that people might be treated differently based on their life background is a highly motivating factor for why I want to be a judge.”

Republican LYNN TERESE PALAC

49, Arlington Heights

Experience:

42, Arlington Heights

Experience:

•Assistant Cook County state’s attorney, currently in the public corruption and ﬁnancial crimes unit (2007-present)

Law school: DePaul University (2007)

Notable: Costello ran for judge in 2022, but lost in the primary by 161 votes, less than three-quarters of 1%.

Candidate survey: “In my role as a prosecutor, I have always worked to bring a sense of fairness and empathy to the way I conduct myself. I treat everyone I encounter with the same level of courtesy, dignity, and respect. I would bring my experience and ideals to any courtroom I preside over.”

Republican

MATTHEW TAYLOR

56, Hoﬀman Estates

Experience:

•Solo practitioner focused on municipal prosecutions, real estate, wills and trusts, and some criminal defense. He has served as a village prosecutor for Palatine, Norridge, and Schaumburg, handling traﬃc and local ordinance violation cases. (2004-present)

•Police officer for the Village of Palatine, where he worked as a patrol officer, investigator, school resource officer, school threat assessment team member, and crisis negotiator (1994-2017)

Law school: UIC Law (formerly John Marshall Law School) (2004)

•Solo practitioner handling criminal, civil and family law (2015-present)

•Attorney at two small local ﬁrms (2009-2015)

•Cook County assistant state’s attorney working on various kinds of cases, including felonies (1999-2009)

Law school: DePaul University (1999)

Notable: Palac sued the Chicago Fire Department in federal court in 2018 on behalf of ﬁve female paramedics who alleged rampant sexual harassment by male colleagues. City oﬃcials settled the case in 2021 for $1.825 million.

Candidate survey: “Having been in practice for nearly 25 years as a trial attorney, I have appeared before many good and capable judges and have also had the opportunity to observe what does not make a good judge. I believe I have the knowledge, temperament and experience to be a strong and fair judge.”

Democrat

JAMES “JACK” COSTELLO

12TH SUBCIRCUIT | SCHLEIFER VACANCY

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Research and reporting: Grace Asiegbu, Carlos Ballesteros, Alejandra Cancino, Maya Dukmasova, Kelly Garcia, Dan Hinkel, and David Jackson

Editing: Jonah Newman and David Kidwell

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Cover illustration: Verόnica Martinez

Engagement and promotion: Danny Callison, Amanda Miley, Charles Preston, Jason Schumer, and Maggie Sivit

Translation: Doreen Abril Albuerne Rodriguez, Manuel Nocera, Sofia Oyarzún, and Araceli Ramirez (La Crónica at Columbia College Chicago) and Fernando Diaz (La Estreya)