Free Republic

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was mercilessly booed off a stage during a plumbers’ union fundraiser amid fallout over the city’s vaccine mandate for municipal workers, video shows. A 25-second clip posted to Twitter shows the moment the Democratic mayor was loudly jeered Sunday as she was introduced to Plumbers Union Local 130 — the Windy City’s first union to endorse her in the 2019 runoff election. “I knew that was going to happen,” one attendee said just as the crowd drowned out Lightfoot’s introduction. “That’s f–king brutal,” one man sitting at a table said. One person at the fundraiser told...

The economic and cultural hub has seen the most shootings in years in 2021. The rise mirrors a citywide violent crime wave and threatens downtown’s recovery. Deserted during the pandemic and battered by looting, downtown Chicago is grappling with a rise in violent crime that threatens the reputation of the city and its economic viability. Murders, shootings, rapes and car thefts are all up sharply in the downtown area, prompting fears among residents and business owners similar to those that have long been a reality in struggling neighborhoods beyond the skyscrapers. And some of the same frustrations. “How do you...