The Coronavirus Crisis
Fed Lending Saved Corporate America. It Could Do the Same for Cities and States.
Local budgets are facing a wave of austerity that could be avoided with low-interest lending by the Fed, a new report suggests.
Rebecca Burns
Rebecca Burns is a Chicago-based reporter at The Lever. Her award-winning features and investigations have appeared in outlets including Bloomberg Green, the Chicago Reader, ProPublica Illinois, and USA Today.
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The Coronavirus Crisis
Illinois Used Nearly 50 Facilities for Low-Income Seniors in Chicago as Polling Locations on Tuesday
Public health experts warned that holding in-person elections would worsen the coronavirus pandemic, but Illinois, Florida, and Arizona plowed ahead.
Oakland’s Moms 4 Housing Were Evicted by a Giant Corporation That Runs National Home-Flipping Operation
For every homeless person in Oakland, there are four empty homes. Many are owned by a subsidiary of home-flipping giant Wedgewood Properties.
House Democrats Poised to Rubber-Stamp the "Achilles' Heel of Dodd-Frank"
Reauthorizing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as is would preserve loopholes while leaving the agency under-resourced and vulnerable to lawsuits.
How Chicago Teachers Are Taking On Wall Street
The Chicago Teachers Union has focused on the city’s tendency to provide financial incentives for Wall Street, rather than invest in public services.
Steve Mnuchin Is a Dunce
Mnuchin’s biggest problem might just be his lack of intelligence.
How Lenders Are Turning Low-Level Courts Into Dickensian “Debt Collection Mills”
A new ACLU report on modern-day debt imprisonment finds that courts issue tens of thousands of arrest warrants yearly for debtors owing as little as $30.
You Think Your Landlord Is Bad? Try Renting From Wall Street
A new report claims that Wall Street’s new rental empire is characterized by aggressive rent hikes, fee gouging, and high rates of eviction.