Premonitions of looting and property damage draw from previous summits gone awry, like the infamous “Battle in Seattle,” which cost downtown businesses millions in property damage and lost sales during the 1999 World Trade Organization conference. more ›

Yesterday, the Organic Consumer's Association picketed the Lincoln Park Whole Foods, alleging that Whole Foods isn't doing enough to fight the pervasiveness of genetically-modified foods. In the course of the protest, the political director of the OCA, Alexis Baden-Mayer, was arrested. We got in touch with Whole Foods to get their side of the story - what their policies on genetically modified organisms actually are, how they dealt with the protest and what they are doing to improve the products across their stores. more ›

If you're walking past the Lincoln Park Whole Foods this morning and see a huge heap of food sitting on the ground, it's not a sale. The Organic Consumers Association, as part of their "Millions Against Monsanto" campaign, is dumping genetically modified foods in front of Whole Foods at noon. They'll also be holding a press conference, in an attempt to convince more of the food-shopping public that GMO foods should be labeled. more ›

Hundreds of demonstrators who feel Taxed Enough Already turned up to Daley Plaza yesterday to express their discontent with taxes, big government and other assorted socialist encroachments on America. Steve Stevlic, coordinator for the Chicago Tea Party organized the rally, which featured Tea Party darling Joe Walsh (R-IL) (who leads freshmen Illinois congressmen in fundraising) among other mostly politically right leaning politicians and pundits. more ›

On Saturday, several hundred demonstrators rallied at the Thompson Center to show solidarity with those who have been demonstrating in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget that will strip the collective bargaining rights of unions. The rally was one of many across the country, with demonstrations held in all 50 states. The Chicago Tribune reports Senator Dick Durbin spoke at the Thompson Center, saying that Gov. Walker began a national crusade against unions and that “what's at stake in Wisconsin is the basic concept of liberty and freedom.” more ›

Parents in the Pilsen neighborhood have ended a stand-off with Chicago Public School officials that saw a 40 day sit-in at a fieldhouse that was condemned to be demolished. CPS officials originally intended to demolish the fieldhouse and replace it with a soccer field that nearby Cristo Rey Jesuit high school would use. more ›

The memories from the Westboro Baptist Church protest at the University of Chicago last spring are still fresh in our minds. After going up against the U of C, the church came back for seconds and protested again in Chicago last August. A press release from the church a few weeks ago indicates that the Westboro Baptist Church is making another trip out to Illinois, but this time, they are coming to Naperville. more ›

The Chicago Public School System and the parents who've been protesting the proposed razing of the Whittier Elementary School fieldhouse in Pilsen have agreed in principle to a deal that could end the sit-in. more ›

Just a day after Chicago Public School bosses had the gas shut off at the Whittier elementary where parents have been staging a sit-in for nearly a month, the Chicago city council has ordered the utility restored. Two powerful aldermen - the 14th Ward's Ed Burke and the 25th Ward's Danny Solis - co-sponsored an order mandating that heat be restored to the structure. The council approved the order unanimously. “I don’t know what genius at the Board of Education made this decision," Burke told the Sun-Times. "But, whoever it is ought to see what it’s like to live overnight in a 35-degree dwelling place. They ought to turn the gas back on and we ought to direct them to do so.” more ›

Chicago Public School officials ordered the gas shut off at the fieldhouse at Pilsen's Whittier Elementary School, where parents have been staging a sit-in for almost a month. The city wants to tear down the building and turn the land into a soccer field, which will be used by Cristo Rey Catholic High School. Neighborhood parents want the fieldhouse repaired and turned into a library for Whittier students to use. more ›

As the sit-in at Whittier Elementary School in Pilsen continues, Gapers Block's Cinnamon Cooper got the chance to sit down with some of the children involved in the protest, students of Whittier directly affected by the plans and the protest. It's a different angle in the ongoing, developing story that hasn't been addressed until now. Check it out here. more ›

The sit-in at Whittier Elementary continues, now reaching it's 10th day despite warnings from the parents' own inspector the building may not be safe to occupy may need roof repairs to make it safe to occupy though his inspection was based only on a visual assessment and not a full, technical assessment. Meanwhile, parents of students also protested outside the office of Ald. Danny Solis (25th) after Solis promised the building, planned to be torn down to make way for a soccer field to be used by a private school located next door, would not be demolished until a third assessment has been completed. Progress Illinois and Revision Street's Anne Elizabeth Moore have more on the ongoing situation. more ›

• Parents of students at Whittier Elementary School in Pilsen held a sit-in to protest the proposed demolition of the school's field house.
• A South Side man was shot twice today and survived both times.
• Shareholders for both Continental and United Airlines approved the airlines' proposed merger.

Chicago Police officers protested today demanding the resignation of Superintendent Jody Weis and an increase in manpower. More than 300 officers marched for about two hours at police headquarters with signs and slogans that read things like “More police No Weis” and “In case of emergency, run like hell.” The Fraternal Order of Police and many officers believe that Weis is out of touch with rank and file officers, as he was a career FBI agent before Mayor Daley hired him to polish the department’s image in 2008. Weis and the FOP have been at odds all week, each penning critical letters of one another. more ›

Nationally-syndicated conservative radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger announced Tuesday that she would not be renewing her show's contract, up for renewal at the year's end, following the media blitz surrounding her racist 11 "n-words" in five minutes on-air tirade last week. more ›

Though a few weeks have already passed since news first spread of Target's controversial $150,000 donation to MN Forward, a pro-business group that also happens to support anti-gay Minn. gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, the calls for a boycott from LGBT and other groups are still going strong. Tomorrow, as part of a national day of protest against the retail giant, activists in Chicago have planned a demonstration at the newly opened Wilson Yard location in Uptown at 11 a.m. more ›

A ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker in the federal trial challenging the constitutionality of California's gay marriage-banning Proposition 8 is due late this afternoon, alerting activists on both sides of the issue nationwide who have anxiously awaited a decision in the unprecedented trial since it began in January. In Chicago, LGBT activists have planned a rally for Daley Plaza at 6 p.m. Other cities nationwide have scheduled similar rallies. more ›

While the nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico drags on thousands of miles away, impacts and repercussions from the goopy mess have reached all the way into Chicagoland, making interesting theater of the reactions from a wide array of local figures tangentially touched by BP. more ›

Now that BP's "top kill" effort has failed and oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, the spill already hitting Mississippi and Alabama shores and creeping towards Florida, anger over the continuing catastrophe continues to grow. The group Seize BP is hoping to, well, seize the growing anti-BP sentiment with the Seize BP Week of Action which kicks off tonight with protests around the country, including right here in Chicago. The protest gets underway at 5 p.m. at BP's Chicago office, located at the corner of Michigan and Randolph. The last Seize BP protest in Chicago was sparsely attended so the organizers hope more recent developments up the attendance. more ›

In the wake of several recent protests, including the student walk-out two weeks ago, the Chicago Teachers Union is planning another protest, this one specifically aimed at new class size proposals that could inflate some classes to as many as 37 students per class. According to a brochure from the CTU [PDF], the protest will start at 125 S. Clark St. next Tuesday, May 25, at 4 p.m. more ›

Answering the call from Cleve Jones and other organizers of last autumn's national LGBT march on Washington, Chicago activists have put together a busy week of actions slated to honor gay political leader Harvey Milk and continue the push for legal progress. The week culminates with a march on Saturday, which would have been Milk's 80th birthday. more ›

It's been over three weeks since the explosion that led to the current Gulf Coast oil gush and while BP insists there's room for optimism, the spill grows larger, the disaster reaching epic proportions. And while a new clean-up solution has come from, of all people, Kevin Costner, there's still plenty to be angry about. Anger over the incident led to protests this week at BP office locations around the nation, including here in Chicago. Yet despite the outcry over the spill, the turn-out for Wednesday's protest was extremely low (estimated at no more than a dozen people). Still, Chicagoist Flickr pool contributor Katie Scully stopped by to snap some photos of those who came out to show their displeasure with BP, which has also dealt with dust-ups over environmental issues in our neck of the woods. more ›

The Highland Park High girls varsity basketball team won't be making their way to Arizona for a tournament as originally planned in a move that's thrust the school into the middle of the debate over that state's new controversial immigration law. While school officials are citing safety concerns as one reason to cancel the trip, team members and their parents say that it's a political play, one that has no place in high school athletics. The team is coming off a championship season and had been raising funds for the trip. But District 113 Assistant Superintendent Suzan Hebson gave the Tribune some fishy statements. more ›

Emotions have been pretty heated over the recent oil gush in the Gulf of Mexico just off the Louisiana coast. The controversy reaches to BP's policies, its response, and the ongoing troubles of containment. Now, some want to fight back. Tomorrow has been declared "Seize BP National Day of Action" by the group Seize BP and a series of protests across the nation are aimed at the oil company. The Chicago protest will happen tomorrow evening, Wednesday May 12 at 5:30 p.m. at BP's Chicago office at the corner of Michigan and Randolph. Protesters have also gone after President Obama in the wake of the oil gush to protest his offshore drilling policy, approved just weeks before the Gulf incident. more ›

Today, a few hundred Chicago Public School students got up and walked out of their classrooms to protest proposed budget cuts. more ›

We told you earlier today about the planned protest at Wrigley Field before the Cubs-Diamondbacks game, aimed at the state of Arizona over its new controversial immigration law. Friend of Chicagoist Jason Muelver swung by and snapped some photos of the protest for us. Jason guessed the group of protesters to be around 50 people holding signs but that some passers-by, such as Paul D'Amato (photo 5) joined in. more ›

The debate over Arizona's controversial new immigration law will see a new battlefield this afternoon: Wrigley Field. more ›

Tomorrow's Tax Day and with it comes Chicago's very own Tea Party. At noon at Daley Plaza, the Tea Party Patriots Chicago will launch their second-annual demonstration under the theme of "Repeal It. Replace Congress," while featuring "national known speakers, local liberty leaders and regular Americans" in addition to some live rock, blues and country music. Last year's Tax Day rally drew hundreds of demonstrators to the Loop, including the man pictured, in addition to many suburban protesters in Naperville. more ›

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered last night to mark the seventh anniversary of the start of the Iraq War in Federal Plaza. Around 80 different organizations pulled together, beginning with a rally in the plaza and then marching down Michigan Avenue, ending in Washington Square Park. Both police and demonstrators were peaceful, in contrast to the 2003 rally where more than 800 people were arrested. One activist speaking at the rally said “I can’t believe I’m here again, seven years later.” With plenty of US troops and “contractors” still in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan escalating, we sadly have a feeling that the plaza will see many more demonstrations for years to come. more ›

A few dozen protesters gathered at Addison and Western on Valentine's Day to shake their collective fists at the city's red light cameras. The protest was part of a larger nationwide effort to fight the spread of red light cameras by the Liberty Restoration Project. The Expired Meter reports the Chicago effort was spearheaded by Republican Scott Tucker, who is running for State representative in the 11th district. In an interview before the demonstration, Tucker told The Expired Meter “I think it’s a quality of life issue… it’s a tax presented as public safety.” more ›