SWP files for Dallas ballot, looks to file in Nebraska

Vol. 85/No. 7 - February 22, 2021

LINCOLN, Neb. — Supporters of the Socialist Workers Party campaign launched a drive to get Joe Swanson, the party’s candidate for City Council At-Large, on the ballot over the Feb. 6-7 weekend. Amid snow and an arctic blast, campaigners talked…


Chicago looting is blow to fight against police brutality

Vol. 84/No. 34 - August 31, 2020

CHICAGO — A sharp debate broke out here after Black Lives Matter Chicago, one of the many groups that has been involved in protests against police brutality, pointedly defended the organized looting of downtown businesses.  Working people awoke Monday, Aug.…


Chicago judge throws out Gerald Reed’s acquittal

Vol. 84/No. 8 - March 2, 2020

CHICAGO — In December 2018, Cook County Judge Thomas Gainer overturned Gerald Reed’s 1991 conviction on murder charges, ruling his “confession” had been extracted through torture. Still Reed languished in jail, because prosecutors objected to his release prior to a…


Farmers organize aid for flood-stricken Nebraskans

Vol. 83/No. 21 - May 27, 2019
Farmers organize aid for flood-stricken Nebraskans

DELAVAN, Wis. — While federal and state officials continue to drag their feet delivering help to those hit hard by March’s flooding in Nebraska and Iowa, farmers and others in rural communities in the Midwest are organizing solidarity and aid.…


Chicago cop who killed Laquan McDonald gets prison

Vol. 83/No. 5 - February 4, 2019
Right, Rev. Marvin Hunter, uncle of Laquan McDonald killed by Chicago cops in 2014.

CHICAGO — Former Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke was sentenced to 81 months in state prison by Judge Vincent Gaughan Jan. 18 for the October 2014 killing of African-American teenager Laquan McDonald. He had been convicted of second-degree murder…


Judge affirms Chicago cops used torture in frame-up case

Vol. 83/No. 2 - January 14, 2019

CHICAGO — More than 28 years after his conviction for a double murder he didn’t commit, and over eight years after the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission ruled that Chicago cops had tortured him into making a false confession,…


Chicago cop found guilty in killing Laquan McDonald

Vol. 82/No. 39 - October 22, 2018
Protesters celebrate after conviction Oct. 5 of Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke of second-degree murder in 2014 killing of Laquan McDonald. Jurors said they just didn’t believe Van Dyke.

CHICAGO — After less than 8 hours of deliberation, the jury in the three-week trial of Jason Van Dyke — the cop who killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014 — returned guilty verdicts on 17 of the 18 charges…


‘Convict Chicago cop who killed Laquan McDonald’

Vol. 82/No. 35 - September 24, 2018

CHICAGO — Some 300 people rallied outside the Leighton Criminal Court Building here Sept. 5 on the opening day of the trial of cop Jason Van Dyke, who gunned down 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014. Van Dyke is charged…


Teamsters strike Dr Pepper bottler, get solidarity

Vol. 82/No. 23 - June 11, 2018
Chicago Teamsters on strike against American Bottling Company on picket line in Northlake, Illinois, May 22, joined by Walmart and other workers, bringing solidarity with union fight.

Some 140 truck drivers, members of Teamsters Local 727, struck the American Bottling Company May 22, setting up lively picket lines at the Northlake and Harvey facilities outside Chicago, where some 800 workers are employed. Drivers at the company, which…


Fight in Chicago to overturn cop frame-ups makes gains

Vol. 82/No. 3 - January 22, 2018

CHICAGO — Two more frame-ups perpetrated by former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara unraveled in court here Dec. 21 when Cook County prosecutors dropped charges against Gabriel Solache and Arturo Reyes in a 1998 double homicide. Solache, 43, and Reyes,…