Progress Illinois

Until urban communities become accountable for their children and actions, gun violence is always going to be hot in Chicago, said LeAlan Jones, one of the six candidates on Tuesday’s ballot in the race to fill Jesse Jackson Jr.’s empty seat in Congress.

Green Party candidate Jones lives in the South Shore neighborhood. He said he often sees children walking to school alone in the morning.

“How is it that momma can’t wake up or daddy can’t wake up to go with their kid to school, and they don’t even have a job,” Jones said at last night’s 2nd congressional district election forum sponsored by the Chicago South Side and Far South Suburban chapters of the NAACP. Read more »

Kids don’t make stuff anymore, according to U.S. Rep. Bill Foster (D, IL-11). That thought motivated him to sponsor legislation that would establish a charter of Fab Labs across the nation.

Fab Labs are open-to-the-public digital fabrication laboratories where products can be invented, designed and manufactured by adults and children alike. First instituted in 2008 by the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), there are approximately 160 Fab Labs nationwide with 150 more in development.

“A city grows when its manufacturing base grows,” said Foster at a roundtable discussion on the legislation today. “As a country, you can only consume what you create.”

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