Laura Anne
lauramcwords.bsky.social
Laura Anne
@lauramcwords.bsky.social
Chicagoan | Kentuckian | dig local gov: transportation / public finance | personal account | she/her
this is terrible! Illinois should learn from California’s mistakes, not repeat them!
There is a property tax revolt starting in Chicago. One group is calling for a new policy 'modeled after California's Prop 13'

Folks, I will self-immolate in front of city hall if that happens

abc7chicago.com/post/propert...
November 18, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Reposted by Laura Anne
This is more than the one-year allocation to DPD and DOH combined under the Housing and Economic Development Bond
NEW: Chicago must borrow $283.3M to cover the soaring cost of lawsuits alleging CPD officers committed a wide range of misconduct as part of the city’s 2026 budget, Mayor Brandon Johnson said, calling the move "prudent." @wttw.bsky.social
Chicago Set to Borrow $283.3M to Resolve Police Misconduct Lawsuits
It will likely cost Chicago taxpayers approximately $52 million in interest to borrow that money and pay off during the next five years, according to estimates provided to the Chicago City Council by ...
news.wttw.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
Cool now the city needs to reject federal funding of the fusion center where cpd shares surveillance data with the forces attacking its residents

#BlowTheFuse
#CloseTheFusionCenter
FULL STORY: Chicago's treasurer announced Wednesday that the city will no longer invest in U.S. Treasury securities to protest the aggressive federal immigration raids in Chicago and what she called the Trump administration’s “authoritarian regime.” @wttw.bsky.social news.wttw.com/2025/11/12/c...
Chicago Will Stop Investing in US Treasury Securities to Protest ‘Authoritarian’ Trump, Treasurer Announces
Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin is running to represent Illinois’ 7th Congressional District and replace retiring U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis.
news.wttw.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
while most eyes were on greg bovino’s early morning photo op in downtown chicago this was happening 15 miles west in suburban melrose park:

video captured around 6:30 am shows a team in four vehicles detaining a person on lake street. one agent is seen rifling through the person’s car.
November 10, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
truly disturbing video from palatine.

agents appear to drive onto a sidewalk in pursuit. as they wrestle to put a young person in the car, the driver starts to pull away. the person recording shouts, “they’re tasing him!”

unclear if they actually used the taser, but you can hear it charging up.
November 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
goodnight, sweet prince 🫡🫡
[non-NWS announcement from the bot maintainer] the bot is currently down. the API started throwing 404s some time in the past two days. please seek weather information from other sources in the meantime.
November 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
November 5, 2025 at 2:57 AM
In the past seven (7) days I’ve seen local advocacy and determined public agencies convince the state legislature save transit, I’ve seen a socialist win the NYC mayoral race…good things are good
November 5, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Reposted by Laura Anne
Video posted on social media captioned as Cicero, IL in the Menard’s parking lot. It shows federal agents breaking a man’s window and dragging him out of his truck. Our Mexican communities experiencing so much terror rn.
October 28, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
It looked like this 11 years ago.
October 26, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Laura Anne
Devastating to hear about vendors taken at Swap O Rama. Back of the Yards has had no rest for weeks. Every day on assault on immigrants and anyone that is existing while Brown.
October 16, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
I know we can walk and chew gum at the same time, but I reeeaaaaally hope that the General Assembly doesn’t waste these precious handful of veto session days on the Bears. We got bigger fish to fry! Fund transit!
One of the Illinois legislature’s biggest opponents of the Chicago Bears’ plan to relocate outside the city introduced legislation on Tuesday that could stall or hinder the team’s efforts, but significant questions remain about whether the bill will garner enough support.
Illinois lawmaker introduces bill that could hinder Chicago Bears’ move to suburb as legislative session begins
State Rep. Kam Buckner’s Buckner’s bill would require stadium project financial agreements be posted online before an agreement is finalized and that subsidies received by teams be repaid wit…
trib.al
October 15, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
eventually politicians need to start advocating for criminal and civil penalties for people involved in fabricating stories to get citizens incarcerated.

or, put another way: a society that would like to keep functioning has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities
October 7, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Reposted by Laura Anne
More Black Press recommendations: @thetriibe.com is always a must read but especially in this moment to understand what is happening on the ground in Chicago. Historical context +framing.
NEW — Darius Fitzgerald, a security guard, was in the midst of a 10-hour shift at a BP gas station in Chicago’s East Garfield Park on Wednesday when he saw a Black man being chased by two federal agents.

thetriibe.com/2025/10/secu...
Security guard describes federal agents chasing Black man in East Garfield Park • The TRiiBE
Agents were also seen choking a Black man; DHS denies allegations.
thetriibe.com
October 4, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
I spoke to a Venezuelan woman who was arrested in this raid and later released with her 4yo son. She said agents broke down their door, pointed guns at them and made sexualized remarks about Venezuelan women. When she returned to her apartment it was boarded up and all her possessions were gone.
October 4, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
Developing – Feds put a Black man in a chokehold in Chicago's East Garfield Park
Video shows feds ‘choking’ a Black man in East Garfield Park • The TRiiBE
“Why is you choking him, man? Why is he choking him, man?” a man says at the scene.
thetriibe.com
October 1, 2025 at 8:11 PM
This is absolutely horrible, abhorrent

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
October 2, 2025 at 11:54 PM
the complicated feeling of a Lyft driver changing their music when you get in to the car but the music being 100% aligned with what constitutes your idea of a jam…the audacity of being perceived!
September 5, 2025 at 2:04 AM
The default Teams hold music makes me feel like I’m walking around Besaid in FFX, compliment.
August 13, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
There is a new Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways (DoTH) survey about improving biking conditions around O'Hare. live.metroquestsurvey.com?u=6sk8x#!/?p...
O'Hare Area Bike Network Study
live.metroquestsurvey.com
August 6, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
Du Bois on what these assholes were really like
July 21, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
Literally lining up to receive a paste to give children with extreme malnutrition.
It should be intolerable that this is a daily occurrence.

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
July 10, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by Laura Anne
Rahm gotta be shaking in his fuckin boots since Cuomo didn’t win tonight
June 25, 2025 at 2:49 AM