Chicago

The City Council is signaling once more its commitment to keeping acoustic gunshot detection technology in Chicago, even if that effort continues to pit aldermen against Mayor Brandon Johnson.

ShotSpotter’s days in Chicago are numbered, but some aldermen are trying — once again — to throw the gunshot detection system a last-minute lifeline as its time ticks down.

The utility ComEd is working with Illinois nonprofit QUILT to improve middle-mile broadband infrastructure across Chicago’s South and West sides while reducing costs. The initiative is enabled by a federal grant.

The university's Hyde Park Labs, set to open in 2025, will provide lab and office space for life sciences, data science and renewable energy researchers, and host venture capital firms ready to support new technology.

The site, long home to steel manufacturing, is expected to land billions in investment from California-based tech company PsiQuantum, which is working to build the first commercially viable quantum computer.

Every one of these attacks is an outrage, disrupting commerce, threatening the prospects of otherwise healthy organizations and requiring lavish investments to harden systems against hacking.

The South Side grid, partially powered by solar panels, came online in May and successfully generated enough electricity for more than 1,000 customers in Bronzeville. Next up: linking with another microgrid.

Plus, more initial proposals for BEAD funding have been approved, census data reveals insights on the digital divide, and more.

Alarmed by the reach and rapid expansion of license plate cameras, privacy advocates have filed suit in Illinois, saying the cameras violate the Constitution’s protections against unreasonable search.

The Chicago City Council has confirmed Nick Lucius as CIO to spearhead strategy for the just-created Department of Technology and Innovation. Lucius has a background in law and data science.

A partnership between Chicago Public Schools, the Illinois Institute of Technology and City Colleges of Chicago allows high-school juniors and seniors to enroll in college courses in pursuit of associates degrees.

After lengthy contract talks, the city will keep the gunshot detection system in place through September. But critics say it disproportionately harms people of color and some attorneys argue it shouldn’t be used in court cases.

Chicago has joined a growing list of cities that have cut ties with a controversial company that tries to reduce gun violence with tech that listens for the crack of gunshots and immediately notifies police.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Tuesday he would end the city’s use of the police surveillance tool after extending the city’s contract to use the technology through September.

The ShotSpotter gunshot detection system has worn a bull's-eye among progressives in Chicago for years, and now Mayor Brandon Johnson says he will make good on his campaign promise to get rid of the technology.

A program that will test automated ticketing of drivers parked in bike and bus lanes downtown, already on the books for nearly a year, could be up and running in Chicago by summer.

The city of Chicago’s recently established Department of Technology and Innovation aims to transform the way city agencies work with one another and the way the city provides services to constituents.

Fire departments in Chicago’s southern suburbs expect response times to be reduced by an average of two minutes per call following the introduction of a new technology called CentralSquare Unify.