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On a recent Friday, I stopped by the CTA's 95th/Dan Ryan terminal to check out a couple of things: the system’s only in-station DJ booth, and riders' viewpoints on the upcoming $5.7 billion Red Line Extension to 130th Street.The DJ booth project, called "An Extended Song of Our People (AESOP)" is a public art installation brainstormed by Chicago artist Theaster Gates. The CTA believes it’s the first-ever artist-designed and built DJ and broadcast facility in a transit stop – anywhere.

• "Milwaukee Avenue In Wicker Park Will Go Car-Free Once A Month This Fall" (Block Club)

You can almost always count on the conservative think tank Illinois Policy Institute to be the wrong side of sustainable transportation issues.

• Block Club: On its 10th anniversary, Bloomingdale Trail has increased "access to the outdoors while contributing to rising property values and gentrification."

In October 2023, a sedan driver struck and killed Josh Anleu, 16, as he biked through the intersection of Waveland (3700 N.) and Long (5400 W.) avenues in the Portage Park community. At a ceremony that November to install a "ghost bike" memorial at the site, his mother Karen Buendia tearfully told the crowd, "If we, as human beings, don’t care about other people’s lives, we're going to keep killing each other."

• Chicago police release surveillance images of Dodge Journey SUV whose hit-and-run driver killed Marcela Herrera, 22, at Cullerton/21st in Pilsen (ABC)

About two months earlier, a turning trucker killed a 44-year-old man in a crosswalk at Cermak/Ashland, just two blocks south.

• Video: "RTA continues to advocate for sustainable funding, presents analysis of HB 3438"

While some might argue it's risky for the senator and his colleagues to hold out for a full $1.5B to upgrade the system, he says that failure to do so would be a missed opportunity.