Katie Prout
@katieprout.bsky.social
1.9K followers 410 following 270 posts
features writer, Chicago Reader: harm reduction, homelessness, and chicago/rust belt history. proud member, Reader Union [email protected]; signal katie.507 https://www.katieprout.com/
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katieprout.bsky.social
After taking some time away to have a dang baby, I'm back to work at the Chicago Reader. Have a question or tip about the state of harm reduction, homelessness, and/or drugs in Chicago? Send me a line at [email protected]. I also cover: cultural lore, ghosts of all kinds, & city characters.
Reposted by Katie Prout
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
This South Side Weekly report on the Chicago building raid is well worth reading. Most striking to me are the indications of collusion between federal authorities and the building owner and management to effect a mass eviction at the blighted property. southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...
Reposted by Katie Prout
mulchy.bsky.social
in the column this week:

-advocates have confirmed/are investigating the abductions of ~25 unhoused folks by federal agents in chicago (via @katieprout.bsky.social)

-state/local leaders crack down on anti-ice protesters

-civil rights orgs ask chief judge to bar ice arrests at county courthouses
Make It Make Sense: ICE targets Chicago’s homeless community
Plus: state and local leaders crack down on anti-ICE protesters and advocates ask the chief judge to keep ICE out of county courthouses.
chicagoreader.com
katieprout.bsky.social
If anyone has additional information they want to share with me, anonymous or otherwise, my email is [email protected]. Signal katie.507!
katieprout.bsky.social
I spoke to Melissa West of CCH for this story. They encourage anyone who might have information to call CCH’s federal response hotline at 312-641-4148, or the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights at 855-435-7693.
katieprout.bsky.social
Hotspots include public spaces in Logan Square and around Belmont & Kimball and Belmont & Milwaukee. CCH says they've also heard of a possible detainment of four people at an encampment in Cicero.
katieprout.bsky.social
At least 6 unhoused Chicagoans have been abducted by federal agents since September: 2 have been released, while the status of the remaining 4 is unknown. But the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness is investigating reports of an additional 19 people disappeared.

chicagoreader.com/news/make-it...
Make It Make Sense: ICE targets Chicago’s homeless community
Plus: state and local leaders crack down on anti-ICE protesters and advocates ask the chief judge to keep ICE out of county courthouses.
chicagoreader.com
Reposted by Katie Prout
Reposted by Katie Prout
modernistwitch.myatproto.social
so many people enormously missing the point of this post, which has nothing to do with the pieces of shit occupying the city i live in and everything to do with how people view fatness
modernistwitch.myatproto.social
feel like we can do better than “man these guys are real fatsos” when talking about agents of state violence idk
Reposted by Katie Prout
Reposted by Katie Prout
loganjaffe.bsky.social
On Chicago’s NW side from 1854 to 1970 there was a “civil commitment and forced medical care” institution called Dunning Asylum, later the Chicago State Hospital.

People realized during construction in the 1990s they were building on mass graves of poor and mentally ill people.

There is precedent.
katieprout.bsky.social
Bumping again--I'm back full time starting today. Am especially interested in hearing from unhoused people and advocates in Chicago who have been impacted by ICE and the now-looming National Guard deployment in our city. Signal is katie.507.
katieprout.bsky.social
After taking some time away to have a dang baby, I'm back to work at the Chicago Reader. Have a question or tip about the state of harm reduction, homelessness, and/or drugs in Chicago? Send me a line at [email protected]. I also cover: cultural lore, ghosts of all kinds, & city characters.
Reposted by Katie Prout
unraveledpress.com
This is the second lawsuit of the day filed/separate from the first amendment suit.
kyledcheney.bsky.social
BREAKING: Illinois has filed suit to block Trump's deployment of the military to Chicago.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Katie Prout
mulchy.bsky.social
what can state officials do?

honestly idk. we’re seeing the direct result of years of expanded executive power, particularly with regard to “national security” in the post-9/11 era.

but i think it’s clear to everyone seeing what’s happening in our communities that doing *nothing* is not an option.
katieprout.bsky.social
Imagine that your job is to occupy an American city, and likely brutalize its residents and press, and you’re going to do that for an IOU.
“Even as legal battles intensify, the Trump administration confirmed that deployed Guard troops will not be paid again until the federal government shutdown — now entering its sixth day — is resolved, via POLITICO.”
Reposted by Katie Prout
mulchy.bsky.social
this part.

the feds are *already* here. they’ve *been* here, tear-gassing neighborhoods, abducting people from their cars and homes with helicopters and bearcats, beating and arresting protesters.

so far, the state’s response has been to just let them do it—and to send in the police to help them.
evanbernick.bsky.social
ICE is doing a hell of a lot of harm in the Chicago area *right now.* I don’t mean to trivialize the national guard stuff, it absolutely is an irresponsible escalation, but the guard-centric convo around this really does understate what’s going on without any guardsmen.
Reposted by Katie Prout
unraveledpress.com
Please note: protesters, clergy and a neighbor are also on this suit/also making claims here (it's a lot of reporters, but not only reporters!)
kyledcheney.bsky.social
JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
katieprout.bsky.social
On top of everything else, a mosquito just bit me in October
Reposted by Katie Prout
theweind.bsky.social
Oh, this is so beautiful. Read the whole thread.
folklorewales.com
Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.

After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵
Tawny owl
katieprout.bsky.social
Continue to follow & support @unraveledpress.com & @peoplesfabric.com
unraveledpress.com
Pushing people back to the free speech area now.

Note: it is very dark out here and this road is not even. On the lawn part here off Lexington, there are also a bunch of uhhh awkwardly placed decorative boulders. Have almost tripped several times walking backward.
Reposted by Katie Prout
unraveledpress.com
ISP declares unlawful assembly again via loudspeaker now.

Unsure why since all people are doing right now is standing on the sidewalk where they've been ordered to be.

They're telling people they have to either disperse or return to designated free speech zone.
Reposted by Katie Prout
unraveledpress.com
Heard an officer say "let's do it" and then, in the dark, they tackle Rabbi Ben to the ground. He's being loaded into a CCSO wagon now. Broadview police also here screaming at people.
Reposted by Katie Prout
unraveledpress.com
ISP just shoved an elderly woman to the ground. Trooper here declares an unlawful assembly and is screaming at people to stay out of the road (they were...already out of the road).
Reposted by Katie Prout
unraveledpress.com
Led by Rabbi Ben, people have now taken the street and are starting a march away from the detention center into the streets of Broadview.

Immediately after this, most of the march changes their mind and turns back, say they don't want to be led away from ICE.