Originally published at: REPORT: Chicago Hopes to Curb Gun Violence by ‘Trimming Trees’ and ‘Removing Empty Beer Cans’ | Sean Hannity
Chicago officials are launching a new program aimed at cracking down on the city’s escalating gun crisis; dedicating millions of dollars to “trim trees” and improve the “beautification” of public spaces.
“All of this was the result of an innovative effort in Chicago to reduce gun violence by beautifying public spaces where shootings are most likely to occur. City leaders have boosted spending on sprucing up streets, vacant lots and public transportation lines, putting Chicago at the forefront of a movement to harness neighborhood beautification initiatives as a prescription for the violence that has cauterized daily life,” reports the Chicago Sun Times.
“This year, Chicago directed $7.4 million to workforce-development programs that put high-risk individuals to work greening areas in neighborhoods with high rates of shootings,” adds the newspaper.
“There is something about physical space that signals whether or not this is an area where crime can happen,” said an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. “This literature goes way back into the 1970s, and there’s a lot of evidence to support it.”
Two “Chicago Gangbangers” are facing charges this week for the 2015 execution of a 9-year-old boy, a crime prosecutors say was retribution against his father’s rival gang.
“Two reputed Chicago gang members allegedly executed a 9-year-old boy in broad daylight because they sought revenge on the child’s father’s rival gang, which they blamed for gunning down family members, prosecutors said Tuesday,” reports Fox News.
“Tyshawn Lee, 9, was in his school uniform when three men approached him in the South Side of Chicago in November 2015, prosecutors said during opening statements,” adds Fox. “Prosecutors said Corey Morgan and Kevin Edwards kept watch while Dwight Doty lured the fourth grader into an alleyway. They said he promised him a juice box.”
Two separate trials against the suspects began Tuesday.
“That execution of that 9-year-old boy has to come from one singularly evil person,” said the prosecutor. “Not from a plan. His killer did so of his own volition and for his own reason. Not at the behest or help of Corey Morgan.”
At least nine people were murdered and 18 more injured in Chicago last weekend; raising new questions over safety and security across the nation’s third largest city.
“Nine people were killed and 18 others wounded in citywide gun violence over the weekend,” reports the Chicago Sun Times. “The latest fatal shooting happened Monday in Dunning on the Northwest Side.”
Read the full report here.
