H Kapp-Klote
@hkappklote.bsky.social
I write about Chicago, labor, and organizing.
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H Kapp-Klote
@hkappklote.bsky.social
· Apr 25
Nearly 25% of All Out-of-State Abortions Took Place in Illinois Last Year: Study
About 35,000 out-of-state patients traveled to Illinois for an abortion last year, accounting for 39% of all abortions provided in the state, according to a recent study.
buff.ly
Illinois handled 25% of ALL out-of-state abortions last year.
That’s 35,000+ people crossing state lines just to get care.
The Chicago Abortion Fund fielded 16,000+ calls and no one was turned away.
That's holding the line.
That’s 35,000+ people crossing state lines just to get care.
The Chicago Abortion Fund fielded 16,000+ calls and no one was turned away.
That's holding the line.
Ald. Brian Hopkins is forcing a vote THIS WEDNESDAY (Jan 7) in the Public Safety Committee to give CPD Supt. Larry Snelling "Snap Curfew" powers. This allows one person—Snelling—to declare a curfew anywhere in the city with only 12 hours' notice.
Don't fall for it...
Don't fall for it...
January 5, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Ald. Brian Hopkins is forcing a vote THIS WEDNESDAY (Jan 7) in the Public Safety Committee to give CPD Supt. Larry Snelling "Snap Curfew" powers. This allows one person—Snelling—to declare a curfew anywhere in the city with only 12 hours' notice.
Don't fall for it...
Don't fall for it...
"That’s just how it works" is a lie told by people who benefit from you not knowing how the things actually function.
This week's budget breakdown is an attempt to talk about how it COULD work, and why it matters More soon.
This week's budget breakdown is an attempt to talk about how it COULD work, and why it matters More soon.
January 5, 2026 at 11:05 PM
"That’s just how it works" is a lie told by people who benefit from you not knowing how the things actually function.
This week's budget breakdown is an attempt to talk about how it COULD work, and why it matters More soon.
This week's budget breakdown is an attempt to talk about how it COULD work, and why it matters More soon.
Reposted by H Kapp-Klote
ICE whistles work.
The horns and whistles work
What it's like to watch community activists stand up to a Border Patrol raid.
www.motherjones.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:09 PM
ICE whistles work.
I'm still posting through this WBEZ piece, really excellent and fair stuff from Mariah Woefel -- and I agree with Waguespack here: "the next mayor — or Johnson, if he wins an uphill battle — will have “no good choices. You won’t be able to do flashy new programs. The financial walls are closing in.”
December 15, 2025 at 11:05 PM
I'm still posting through this WBEZ piece, really excellent and fair stuff from Mariah Woefel -- and I agree with Waguespack here: "the next mayor — or Johnson, if he wins an uphill battle — will have “no good choices. You won’t be able to do flashy new programs. The financial walls are closing in.”
WBEZ obtained anonymized city data through a public records request that shows the total head tax paid per company per fiscal year from Jan. 1, 2000, through Dec. 31, 2013. That’s when the head tax applied to companies with 50 or more employees.
December 14, 2025 at 11:05 PM
WBEZ obtained anonymized city data through a public records request that shows the total head tax paid per company per fiscal year from Jan. 1, 2000, through Dec. 31, 2013. That’s when the head tax applied to companies with 50 or more employees.
December 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Damn Dana, if only we had some kind of revenue option available from the city parking meters, would you happen to know anything about that?
December 13, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Damn Dana, if only we had some kind of revenue option available from the city parking meters, would you happen to know anything about that?
"WBEZ’s analysis sheds light on who would potentially be affected by Johnson’s proposal: less than 1% of all licensed businesses in Chicago; roughly 20% of jobs at companies across the city; and companies where an average salary is estimated to be roughly $111,000."
Chicago's bond rating likely to drop to a notch above junk, no matter how and when budget stalemate ends
Another drop in Chicago’s bond rating may not mean much to taxpayers now, but it will mean plenty to their children and grandchildren. It would make city borrowing costlier, and could impede the…
buff.ly
December 12, 2025 at 11:05 PM
"WBEZ’s analysis sheds light on who would potentially be affected by Johnson’s proposal: less than 1% of all licensed businesses in Chicago; roughly 20% of jobs at companies across the city; and companies where an average salary is estimated to be roughly $111,000."
Man! Come on
(Sunset Boulevard)
(Sunset Boulevard)
December 8, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Man! Come on
(Sunset Boulevard)
(Sunset Boulevard)
Your kids don't have enough librarians because some law firm successfully convinced the Board of Review their skyscraper is only worth $50 million.
December 8, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Your kids don't have enough librarians because some law firm successfully convinced the Board of Review their skyscraper is only worth $50 million.
Remember when Chicago made big corporations pay a "Head Tax" for every employee they housed downtown? Yeah, we used to do that.
We lost billions in annual revenue by letting billionaires whine about tax rates and allowing them to dictate our budget policy. The city chose to tax you over Boeing.
We lost billions in annual revenue by letting billionaires whine about tax rates and allowing them to dictate our budget policy. The city chose to tax you over Boeing.
December 7, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Remember when Chicago made big corporations pay a "Head Tax" for every employee they housed downtown? Yeah, we used to do that.
We lost billions in annual revenue by letting billionaires whine about tax rates and allowing them to dictate our budget policy. The city chose to tax you over Boeing.
We lost billions in annual revenue by letting billionaires whine about tax rates and allowing them to dictate our budget policy. The city chose to tax you over Boeing.
If I read one more Crain’s headline about the "downtown doom loop" written by a guy commuting from Winnetka, I’m going to scream. The "bad business climate" they’re whining about is just code for "we have to pay a living wage now."
December 7, 2025 at 4:56 PM
If I read one more Crain’s headline about the "downtown doom loop" written by a guy commuting from Winnetka, I’m going to scream. The "bad business climate" they’re whining about is just code for "we have to pay a living wage now."
Never forget: We sold our own streets to a sovereign wealth fund for 75 years so Richard M. Daley could balance one budget in 2008.
December 6, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Never forget: We sold our own streets to a sovereign wealth fund for 75 years so Richard M. Daley could balance one budget in 2008.
However you feel about Johnson right now,
our roads are unpaved,
schools are starving,
most undocumented people I know are afraid to leave their homes,
no one has insurance,
There is ZERO political will to do anything but trade stocks at the federal level.
So what can we make cities do?
our roads are unpaved,
schools are starving,
most undocumented people I know are afraid to leave their homes,
no one has insurance,
There is ZERO political will to do anything but trade stocks at the federal level.
So what can we make cities do?
December 6, 2025 at 4:56 PM
However you feel about Johnson right now,
our roads are unpaved,
schools are starving,
most undocumented people I know are afraid to leave their homes,
no one has insurance,
There is ZERO political will to do anything but trade stocks at the federal level.
So what can we make cities do?
our roads are unpaved,
schools are starving,
most undocumented people I know are afraid to leave their homes,
no one has insurance,
There is ZERO political will to do anything but trade stocks at the federal level.
So what can we make cities do?
Chicago will approve a 20-megawatt data center in 14 minutes, but repainting a crosswalk requires five meetings...
December 5, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Chicago will approve a 20-megawatt data center in 14 minutes, but repainting a crosswalk requires five meetings...
Every year, downtown commercial landlords slash hundreds of millions off their bills through appeals. That money doesn’t disappear — it just shifts the tax burden onto working families and small businesses.
December 5, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Every year, downtown commercial landlords slash hundreds of millions off their bills through appeals. That money doesn’t disappear — it just shifts the tax burden onto working families and small businesses.
Reposted by H Kapp-Klote
Today, baristas are bringing their ULP strike to Starbucks' NYC corporate office, housed inside the Empire State Building.
Workers and allies are demanding the company resolve 100s of unfair labor practices, end the union-busting, & finalize fair union contracts. Let's go! #NoContractNoCoffee
Workers and allies are demanding the company resolve 100s of unfair labor practices, end the union-busting, & finalize fair union contracts. Let's go! #NoContractNoCoffee
December 4, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Today, baristas are bringing their ULP strike to Starbucks' NYC corporate office, housed inside the Empire State Building.
Workers and allies are demanding the company resolve 100s of unfair labor practices, end the union-busting, & finalize fair union contracts. Let's go! #NoContractNoCoffee
Workers and allies are demanding the company resolve 100s of unfair labor practices, end the union-busting, & finalize fair union contracts. Let's go! #NoContractNoCoffee
Moving past piecemeal unfair regressive taxes is a structural problem that will take more than cuts.
December 4, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Moving past piecemeal unfair regressive taxes is a structural problem that will take more than cuts.
Trump cuts could shrink Illinois economy by $10B: report | Capitol News Illinois buff.ly/X6SE29A
Trump cuts could shrink Illinois economy by $10B: report
Report warns federal cuts could shrink Illinois’ economy by $10B by 2029, with Medicaid changes driving losses.
buff.ly
December 3, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Trump cuts could shrink Illinois economy by $10B: report | Capitol News Illinois buff.ly/X6SE29A
Chicago Abortion Fund just rolled out a massive statewide campaign — billboards, CTA, the whole thing — reaching 26M+ people across Illinois + border states.
Illinois is the region’s access hub. CAF is making sure people know where to turn.
buff.ly/PTIl9WE
Illinois is the region’s access hub. CAF is making sure people know where to turn.
buff.ly/PTIl9WE
December 3, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Chicago Abortion Fund just rolled out a massive statewide campaign — billboards, CTA, the whole thing — reaching 26M+ people across Illinois + border states.
Illinois is the region’s access hub. CAF is making sure people know where to turn.
buff.ly/PTIl9WE
Illinois is the region’s access hub. CAF is making sure people know where to turn.
buff.ly/PTIl9WE
Even knowing this is mostly a front to stop the head tax, I don't understand this counterproposal at all.
Instead of a progressive measures taxing corporations they're going with... garbage fees, liquor tax, charging consumers for using Amazon?
Instead of a progressive measures taxing corporations they're going with... garbage fees, liquor tax, charging consumers for using Amazon?
'A liquor tax increase shelved a year ago amid heavy opposition from bars and restaurants would be revived, but only for “off-premise retailers.”
[R]etailers that sell liquor in packages and by the bottle would pay an additional 3% on off-premise sales.'
[R]etailers that sell liquor in packages and by the bottle would pay an additional 3% on off-premise sales.'
Conservative and moderate Council members show their budget hand
The alternate options put on the table by a group of City Council members would replace Mayor Brandon Johnson's rejected corporate head tax with higher garbage fees, liquor taxes, an expanded downtown...
chicago.suntimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Even knowing this is mostly a front to stop the head tax, I don't understand this counterproposal at all.
Instead of a progressive measures taxing corporations they're going with... garbage fees, liquor tax, charging consumers for using Amazon?
Instead of a progressive measures taxing corporations they're going with... garbage fees, liquor tax, charging consumers for using Amazon?
Shawn Mulcahy’s new Chicago Reader piece is wild: Cook County passed a $10B budget that ramps up surveillance, predictive policing, and spending.
If you want to understand how budgets actually shift power in Cook County, read this piece.
buff.ly/ZvPPd0I
If you want to understand how budgets actually shift power in Cook County, read this piece.
buff.ly/ZvPPd0I
December 2, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Shawn Mulcahy’s new Chicago Reader piece is wild: Cook County passed a $10B budget that ramps up surveillance, predictive policing, and spending.
If you want to understand how budgets actually shift power in Cook County, read this piece.
buff.ly/ZvPPd0I
If you want to understand how budgets actually shift power in Cook County, read this piece.
buff.ly/ZvPPd0I