Today’s Headlines for Monday, April 21

• Block Club: 4 killed since Saturday in crashes in Austin, River North, Roseland "is the worst 24-hour stretch for traffic deaths in over a year, data shows."

By John Greenfield

9:27 AM CDT on April 21, 2025

Image: Copenhagenize.com

Sponsored by:

• Block Club: 4 killed since Saturday in crashes in Austin, River North, Roseland “is the worst 24-hour stretch for traffic deaths in over a year, data shows.”

• Driver fatally struck Jorge Velasquez, 31, around 5 AM while he was trying to cross 7-lane Route 83 at Sherwood Avenue in Wood Dale (Herald)

• A person shot in the thigh Sunday around 9:14 PM on a Blue train near Racine was the 2nd person shot in a CTA railcar in 4 days (FOX)

• Deep dive: “Doors Closing: With ridership lagging and a fiscal reckoning looming, the ‘L’ is in trouble. Here’s why our train is worth saving.” (Chicago)

• On Sunday CTA reportedly added more service to Blue and Yellow lines; and “Skokie Swift” trains were supposed to resume posted speeds

• Block Club: Week-long pedestrianization of 4700 block Lincoln Ave. in Lincoln Square for construction may foreshadow turning the block into a ped-only zone

• Block Club: “Environmental Justice Ordinance Stalls In City Council”

Get national headlines at Streetsblog USA.

Thanks to all the readers who have donated so far to help Streetsblog Chicago raise $65K, to help keep the site moving forward during a challenging 2025-26. After launching our fund drive on December 2, we’re currently at $44,510 with $20,490 to go, and working on securing a major grant to complete our budget for 2025-26. If you appreciate what we do, please consider making a tax-exempt contribution here. Thank you for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

John Greenfield

In addition to editing Streetsblog Chicago, John has written about transportation and more for many other local and national publications. A Chicagoan since 1989, he enjoys exploring the city and region on foot, bike, bus, and train.

Comments Are Temporarily Disabled

Streetsblog is in the process of migrating our commenting system. During this transition, commenting is temporarily unavailable.

Once the migration is complete, you will be able to log back in and will have full access to your comment history. We appreciate your patience and look forward to having you back in the conversation soon.