Today’s Headlines for Thursday, April 21

• Video: Passers-By Ignored Marques Gaines as He Lay in the Street Before Being Struck (Tribune)
• Suburban Man Charged With Hate Crime After Attacking Muslim Cab Driver (DNA)
• Witnesses: Repeated Racist Taunts Led to Red Line Beating, Caught on Video (Sun-Times)
• ELPC's Lerner: Better Transit, High-Speed Rail Are Key for Keeping City Competitive (Crain's)
• Cottage Grove Streetscape Between 77th & 83rd Will Include Bump-Outs (City of Chicago)
• Uber Executive David Plouffe Makes Case Against Additional Regulation to Sun-Times Board
• Deputy Fire Commissioner Resigns After Crashing City-Issued Vehicle on the Drive (Tribune)
• Derailment at Rail Yard Delays 3 Metra Union Pacific Lines (ABC)
• What If Freight Trains Skirted the Suburbs Via New Rural Railroad? (Herald)
• DNA: Lincoln Park Zoo, North Avenue Beach Highest Bike Theft Locations in City
• Major Taylor Cycling Club of Chicago Hosts "Ride Over Violence" Saturday, May 7

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Streetsblog Chicago is currently in the thick of raising funds for our next year of publication. Once again, the Chicago Community Trust, a charitable foundation that was one of the early funders of SBC, has very generously offered us a challenge grant. If Streetsblog reaches $50K in donations and sponsorships by the end of May, the Trust will provide the last $25K needed to keep the site running into 2017 and beyond.

Thanks to the generosity of readers like you, we've made good progress since we announced the challenge grant. We expect a significant chunk of revenue to come in during the next few weeks in the form of ad renewals and corporate sponsorships.

However, we still have a lot of work to do in order to win the grant from the Trust, so it's time to shift our fundraising effort into high gear. If you haven’t already done so, please consider donating to Streetsblog Chicago today today. SBC is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, so donations are tax deductible.

If you’ve already contributed, thanks so much for helping us win the challenge grant. As an added incentive to first-time donors, as well as those who’d like to make an additional contribution, anyone who donates $100 or more from this point on will get a copy of my book “Bars Across America.”

Donate $200 or more and we’ll also throw in a copy of the anthology “On Bicycles,” to which I contributed a chapter about Chicago’s West Town Bikes, while supplies last.

Please feel free to spread the word about the challenge grant to potential donors, or contact me at 312-560-3966 or greenfieldjohn[at]hotmail.com with leads on other possible funding sources. To keep you apprised on our progress, I’ll be updating the above Donate-O-Meter along with Today’s Headlines each morning.

Thanks again for your continuing support.

– John