>> Hello and thanks for joining us on Chicago Brandis Friedman.

Here's what we're looking at.

>> I'm not going anywhere.

In fact, I'm running for Mayor.

>> Former Housing Authority board chair Matt Brewer enters the race for mayor just months after Mayor Johnson moved to oust him from the Ch a Some costs for federal food assistance are being shifted to states.

How much could Illinois stand to pay?

>> And how a free boxing program on this.

The city's west side is giving young people opportunities.

First off tonight.

>> Did you feel it?

Because some residents on Chicago's North Shore did.

We're talking about the 2.9 magnitude earthquake reported by the U.S.

Geological Survey this afternoon.

The USGS pegged the tremors, epicenter at 13 miles north east of Evanston or Lake Michigan at 02:38PM.

A quake like that is considered weak and while it can be felt it really causes damage.

The largest quake to hit Illinois in the last 20 years was a 5.2 magnitude quake in 2008 in the southern part of the state.

A memorial honoring the survivors of Chicago's history of police brutality is process after 11 years.

>> For years, people refuse believe us.

They stories did not experience that disbelief calls another kind of pain.

But today.

is being recognized.

This.

>> Voices up being home.

>> And that recognition is he running this memorial is about more than remembering the past.

It's about educating future generations And those of sir, by.

And inspiring people to stand up against injustice.

Wherever they see it.

>> Officials broke ground today on the memorial which was promised back in 2015 when City Council passed reparations package.

For those who survived the torture torment and often wrongful convictions under former police commander Jon Burge and his detectives.

Organizers say the memorial in the Washington Park neighborhood will include timeline of the racially-motivated pursuit and torture of mostly young black men starting in the 1970's.

It will also include the decades long effort of organizing and litigating to expose the practice.

The memorial is the last piece of that reparations package which also included a formal apology, a reparations fund and free City college's enrollment.

Chicago residents will soon have a new top.

Doc is Mayor Brandon Johnson's latest appointment is confirmed Dr.

Garth Walker is currently chief medical officer for Rush Health.

He also served as deputy director for the Illinois Department of Public Health during the COVID pandemic where he expanded vaccination efforts and advanced health initiatives for the opioid epidemic.

The point now goes to city Council for approval.

Who's hungry, a quintessential Chicago pastime is back in Grant Park.

The annual Taste of Chicago Open today for a five-day celebration of food, music and culture.

In previous years, the taste had been pushed later into the summer were spread out across neighborhoods because of other Grant Park activities like the NASCAR Street race for the first time this year, the new chef stage will spotlight some Chicago chefs, including Maya Camille Broussard, Diana Davila and John Mannion headliner musical performances include Beach Bunny Common and who yet in the U.S.

Up next, one-on-one with Chicago candidate for Mayor Matt Brewer.

That's right after this.

>> Chicago tonight is made possible in part by the Alexander and John Nichols family.

The Pope Brothers Foundation.

And the support of these donors.

>> Chicago residents will cast ballots for who they want to be.

Mayor in less than a year and the pool of candidates is already getting crowded lawyer and former Chicago Housing Authority Board chair Matt Brewer recently threw his hat in the ring, running on a pro business and affordability focused campaign Brewer is a South side native who co-owns the iconic winner's circle and the city's first independent black owned cannabis dispensary and he joins us now.

Matt Brewer, welcome in.

Congrats running for the big job.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

So you have a diverse background.

As we mentioned, you hold degrees from Stanford, Yale Law and Harvard business.

You co-own the city's only black owned cannabis dispensary as well as winners circle.

Of course, there's experience on the CJ Board.

How does all of that experience informed the kind of leader you'd like to be?

It's a great question.

>> right now, Chicago is pivotal turning point.

The next mayor will step into a seat that no other mayor stepped into where we have a fully elected school board for the first time ever.

Less control over direct control over transportation with the shifts and the board.

We have a fully empowered and Independence City Council.

That's past budgets around instead of with the mayor and all these agencies like CHP and others who become a lot more independent as well, fractured relationships and city council fractured relationships in Springfield.

The next mayor can't step in and put all those uni's back in the bottle.

We have a new day of governance, a new day of leadership.

And we now need a mayor for this particular moment who can wear lots of different hats, speak different languages to different people to bring everyone together around a shared vision and everything you just mentioned, lawyer, entrepreneur or small business owner government nonprofit or the has that I where I think prepare me for this new phase of leadership in our city.

You've never held elected office amongst, you know, all of that experience that we just talked about.

Why should the voters believe that you're prepared to manage?

You know what, the largest city governments in the country?

>> I announced about 2 weeks ago.

The most the single thing that hurt the most was people excited and energized by someone stepping into this race who doesn't represent politics as usual.

And so I I view it as an asset rather than a liability.

But that said, I do.

It's been the last year my life running the housing authority.

It's a 1.4 billion dollar budget 135,000 residents in our city.

And it's very connected to our city operates in terms of housing, transportation safety.

And so I like to say, I come from the outside, but I have knowledge of the inside.

And so I'm not walking in trying to figure out how to turn the lights on.

>> You spent years leading the as we said of you ended up, of course, having, you know, fairly public dispute with the mayor this past year and he ultimately demoted you from Ch a chair after the board voted to hire, keep Pettigrew as its CEO over the mayor's injections.

Setting that aside, though, we hear a lot about housing and housing affordability in the city of Chicago.

How come the city ease restrictions making housing more affordable for people here?

>> It's a great question.

We have an affordability crisis in the city as a whole and it especially home with respect to affordable housing housing is at the intersection of everything.

As I mentioned, it touches public touches transportation.

It touches on economic mobility, meaning can someone born here have an opportunity to get outside pocket and get more access and more opportunity.

And so part of the answer to that question is it starts with City Hall vision at City Hall on the 5th floor that coordinates with that coordinates with DPD, the Department of Housing that coordinates with public and private partnerships to look at all the land we have in our city and there's an opportunity to increase affordable housing market rate housing and a bunch of other community assets.

They all have to work together be done in a way that's considerate of of transportation and public safety and all the other factors.

>> Mayor Johnson has had a strained relationship with Chicago businesses as of late because of his proposed corporate head tax, which the city council rejected.

He championed the phase out of the tipped minimum wage.

Controversial move because we know there was some back and forth and you said that, quote, We can be a city that's affordable to live and a great place to do business.

How can Chicago become more business friendly city?

>> In fact, we have to be a city that is both more affordable and from your for businesses.

The way I talk about it is we have to move Chicago forward without leaving people behind and on the move Chicago for peace.

We're talking about growth.

We're talking about bringing new businesses, creating new jobs, jobs for the future.

A place where businesses can operate grow.

Attract new businesses, a place where people want to live work and play, which also requires public safety.

But on that, not leaving, people behind peas were talking about education and workforce development and pathways for everyone to participate in the Chicago so that we can all move forward together and also on the side of not people behind are some of the issues we talked about before the fundamentals, affordable housing, transportation.

You can't both out and so.

When we create a Chicago that generates more revenue, can address a lot of issues that that we struggle within our budget right now.

And we rise that high for everyone.

It's not a community or business.

The answer is both.

>> So just yesterday, Mayor Johnson announce that the city is heading into the 2nd half of the year with 130 million dollar budget shortfall because the revenue that was expected from this budget that he did not approve.

He says it has not materialized.

Does that mean that city council should have implemented his ideas that we discussed corporate head tax, for example?

>> The 130 million dollar hole.

That was this close.

Yesterday's disappointing just under doubles down on this point.

I'm making that we need a coordinated, serious plan to generate long-term sustainable revenue.

Even a lot of the fixes are Sources of revenue that they were expecting for that 130 million or one-time fixes that would result in long-term sustainable.

We need to bring in more businesses, more people increase our tax base.

And by doing that, we generate more revenue over time.

We can't tax our way out of it.

We can't cut our way out of it with your existing people and businesses.

We need to grow to that point.

You know, how do you attract those businesses, right?

How do you how does the city balance its books without alienating businesses?

We've seen it done before.

>> We create an environment where businesses can operate.

And a lot of this is threading a needle needle.

There's no magic wand that makes it happen immediately.

But it starts with partnership.

It starts with relationships.

It starts with credibility with those communities and you have around you you have a round table of people who are all giving the best and brightest ideas and we implement some of them, some of them really to taxes.

Some of them relate to other incentive.

Some of the money to partnerships and some of them relate to getting creative in thinking outside the box about new revenue streams, public safety.

Of course, it is a high of big concern for a lot of voters.

What would your approach violent crime and public safety?

It's important and it comes at a time where where anticipating are current superintendent stepping down in less than 2 weeks?

week, in fact, next week and it's it's a multi multifaceted approach.

Obviously prevention you get the highest return on investment from prevention, interventions important and then enforcement partnership and credibility are important.

More than just the numbers.

We need a place where people feel safe and you go into south and west side pockets.

People still don't feel safe.

Going to the Gold Coast or neighbors on the Northside.

People still don't feel safe.

Regardless of what we see in the numbers.

And so we need world where people feel safe and you can actually start to address some of the root causes became 10 seconds left.

You decline to share your political leaning so far.

Moderate progressive Socialist But the funny thing is I'm not politician.

I'm a person love Chicago and a professional.

And so I don't fit neatly into the political boxes and I'm not running to do that.

I'm running to improve Chicago.

And so if I if I have to, I want to bring people along for the ride.

That means they can't love business.

want to push businesses for 2. answer is both current skipping the latest for now.

Matt Brewer, candidate for mayor.

Thanks for joining us.

Good luck.

You appreciate it.

>> Additional candidates running for mayor have been also joining us on Chicago tonight with more coming in the weeks ahead.

You can visit our website to find those interviews at W T Tw dot com slash mayor 2027.

Illinois could soon have to spend 10's of millions from its own budget to continue serving residents on the supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.

The change comes as part of President Donald Trump's one big beautiful bill which ships a portion of snap costs from the federal government to individual states.

The Trump administration says the change will reduce fraud and waste in the program.

But food access advocates warn it could make it harder for families who rely on snap to get the assistance that they need.

Joining us now are Nolan Downey, senior director of policy at Greater Chicago Food Depository.

And Natalie Morehead, Snap recipient and Englewood resident.

Thanks for joining us to both.

Nolen Breakdown.

This policy change for us, please.

What is it that states now being required to pay or could be required to pay?

as you mentioned, this is yet another consequence that flows from the federal reconciliation bill, the so-called one big beautiful bill that passed last summer.

>> This bill contained historic, unprecedented cuts to social safety net programs like snap programs like Medicaid.

We already have confronted in the state.

Thousands of people losing benefits because of some provisions in that bill.

Cool and ineffective work requirements.

Harsh restrictions for lawfully present humanitarian immigrants and now states across the country are grappling with the next a very significant change that was made to the program, which is a portion of SNAP benefits could be shifted for the first time ever.

2 states from the federal government snap has always been 100% federally funded now states across the country are beginning to have to grapple with what could be hundreds of millions, even billions in some states if they don't pay those bills, we they will lose the snap program.

And so that is what we're facing Illinois.

The total loss of the program break.

And that shift is based on on error rates and percentage of errors at the state makes and either over or under paying.

>> Its recipients.

And according to the list from the USDA, Food and Nutrition Administration program, Illinois's in the top 5, it's the 5th actually with a an error rate of about 14.67%, which will come back to in a little bit.

But Natalie, I want to get you in here.

You are a single mom of 3.

You rely heavily on the snap program to take care of yourself and your family, how it cuts to snap and some of the changes to snap in the big beautiful bill impacted you your family.

And it's been tremendously scary and I'm certain time and my family well as other families in my community that heavily rely on these benefits.

>> And a lot of us are working parents.

So it's not like we're just sitting at home waiting on these It relying on them.

It's been kind of uncertain and with everything going on in the constant changes, uncertain by the day.

So the anxiety and fear grows daily.

>> great.

And you you work part-time, correct?

Reading that OK?

And of course, that was one of the you mentioned Nolan, of course, that the work requirements.

And then of course, there's the the added, you know, sort a I guess, requirement that you also have to show that you're working a certain number of hours or volunteering in order to continue receiving your benefits as well.

>> Yeah, that has been kind of hectic because I have a disabled might disabled.

And trying to maintain the schedule where I can provide money to pay my bills and be there for my children with these new requirements.

making it almost impossible.

And it's forcing parents like myself and other families to make these these hard decisions on we're going to work or are we going lose our benefit?

You know, what are we gonna do?

You know?

No one.

The Department of Agriculture, as we mentioned, says that Illinois has a 13.3% over payment error rate.

And a 1.3, 3% under payment error rate.

>> What those numbers mean her.

They calculated.

Yeah.

I mean, in the simplest possible terms, you really nailed it.

The payment error rate is very simply just a measure of whether people on staff are paid the right amount.

>> Now, snap like income based programs, other income based programs.

There are a multitude of financial and non-financial factors that impact people's eligibility and the amount of benefits that they get.

Any small discrepancy between a number of those factors could impact their benefit amount and create an air.

Somebody picks up an extra shift at work and doesn't report additional income.

Somebody reports their rent and their utilities together instead of separately like they're supposed on a program rules.

There are a lot of things that folks can do that are overwhelmingly innocent, unintentional mistakes that nonetheless could create these errors.

I think we need to push back forcefully on the federal narrative that these are result of fraud fought in the SNAP program is overwhelmingly low.

0.1% of households in Illinois, according to the last recent data that I saw have been investigated, not found guilty of but investigated for fraud.

Fog is not meaningfully exists in the program.

And so any proposition that this is a program that is is rife with fraud is just simply not true.

>> Natalie, what is it?

You know, what does it mean to you?

What do you hear?

What does it feel like when you hear that, you know, all these problems potential, you know, massive millions of dollars in payments at the state is going have to make.

Was that need to you?

it comes down to these numbers it's very disheartening for me.

And it's discouraging as well because it it leaves families like myself to figure out.

>> How we're going to survive.

And we're working the best that we can.

And we're doing the most that we can with this situation hearing that we're reduced to numbers.

It's very I want to say.

Kinda.

Inhumane.

It makes us feel less than and it definitely definitely takes away from assist people who receive these benefits hearing that we're just reduced to a number or categorized by mistakes that the system has made.

You know, makes me feel disheartened.

Berry.

Very discomforting.

Nolan, how much could Illinois into paying for snap and wind back Yeah.

So in future years, we're now looking at October 2028, when this bill could become do.

We're talking about up to 700 million dollars.

>> That is money again, that if we do not pay that we lose the program entirely.

that is not an option.

We're going to do everything that we can to reverse these unjust, unfair cuts at the federal level in their entirety.

We want everything that was done in the so-called one big beautiful bill reversed.

But until that goal is achieved, the state need to prepare now to absorb this financial cost.

Because if we don't do that, we lose entire program.

And again, that is just simply not an option that 700 million dollars.

That is a portion of of what it costs already.

Correct.

That's not penalties or fines.

Know that 700 million dollars, which is about 15% of all the benefits that flow into the state.

So that 700 million we're paying that in order to preserve a 4 billion dollar program that serves about 1.7 million people in the state.

So critical program that, you this this arrangement is unjust.

But until we reverse that, we've got to prepare preserve the program in the All right.

That's where we'll have to leave Nolan Downey and Natalie Morehead, best of luck to you.

Thank you for joining us.

Thank you.

>> Up next, we go inside a boxing club that's giving young athletes, new opportunities.

>> A boxing club on the city's west side is offering resources to young people in the community.

>> Roy Flowers started the club 5 years ago in hopes of giving youth a free in support of space.

We visited Austin to see what it's all of that.

>> Every Tuesday night coach Roy Flowers leaves a free boxing program in the Austin community.

When I was wished they had program, you know, lot more positive field programs like really Flowers founded the program in 2021.

Nearly 2 decades after being released from prison.

His goal to help kids and young adults have more opportunities than he had at their age.

If I didn't want mentor that I was I here.

Flowers says his team fosters deep relationships with the youth.

A coach between the ages of 5.21, including shows Iowans me so much of heart channel live, how deal my emotions complete A lot basically my whole life, Owens has been a part of the program for 2 years.

It's OK to be angry, can you every time got call my they really taught me how to be called?

>> Terrence Ross.

He's been coaching the club for that same time.

He says the relationship he's fostered with the kids keeps him coming I speak kids every day.

You know, already.

We get a nice good.

We're sure what it was about a deaf help you gain confidence to war am as a person.

>> they make you want to keep doing it over over.

>> And one point the gym had close to 300 participants.

But in 2025, Flowers says the program faced significant funding cuts from the state, forcing them to pivot his 4th to reduce the programme-makers small had to make the adjustment.

I wanted to quit within look at some of the kids face.

>> You know, couple times.

>> Despite the setback, flowers is paying out of pocket with some donations to keep the program running.

Though he says funding for the rest of the year is likely to be He has ambitions to rent a larger space with his local church.

Until the money is ready.

They practice at a nearby gym.

Also in Austin, local neighbor Shawnee grows rents out West boxing to flowers.

The longtime resident believes in the positive impact the gym can people have a safe, healthy out where they can express themselves.

>> You know that they don't carry the sings around.

Insider Crystal Mendoza came across the gym while walking through her neighborhood.

She says the free program drew her financially people.

He's traveling outside.

>> And they can I make economically speaking.

People are not doing well.

So it's very important to people how they that kind of Riley's of piece their mind.

These typically 93 know sometimes you get kids to come down with a head down.

But when they come out of this program may be in to it.

>> The program also includes access to youth employment opportunities.

Flowers says funding for the next year has been secured through a state grant last month.

Flowers move the club to a new larger location in says they're accepting donations.

We're back to wrap things up right after this.

>> Reflecting the people and perspectives that make a buck This story is part of Chicago tonight.

Black Voice.

>> And that's our show for this Wednesday night.

Join us tomorrow night at 5, 30 10.

And we leave you tonight with sites.

But unfortunately, no bites from taste of Chicago.

Now for all of us here in Chicago Brandis Friedman, thanks for watching.

Stay healthy and safe and have a good night.

>> Closed captioning is made possible by Clifford and Clifford Law offices, a personal injury law firm,