Daywatch: Uber rolls out blue checkmark system in Chicago
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Good morning, Chicago.
Uber will launch a pilot program today in Chicago and 11 other cities around the U.S. to verify riders on the app for increased safety for drivers.
The new safety feature means riders using Uber will be verified on the app and have a blue checkmark badge added to their profile for drivers to see.
Heather Childs, chief trust and security officer for Uber, said in an interview Wednesday the new feature is “something drivers have been asking for” to promote safety on the platform.
“Drivers want to know more about the people who are entering and exiting their vehicle,” Childs said. “We want to know that riders are who they say they are, and we have to send a clear message that if you’re looking to do harm, Uber is not the place to do it.”
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Shanzeh Ahmad.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
Subscribe to more newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Today’s eNewspaper edition
House Ukraine and Israel aid package gains President Biden’s support as Speaker Mike Johnson fights to keep his job
President Joe Biden said Wednesday he strongly supports a proposal from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending crucial bipartisan support to the effort this week to approve $95 billion in funding for the U.S. allies.
Ahead of potential weekend voting, Johnson was facing a choice between potentially losing his job and funding Ukraine.
The O’Hare rebuild is mired in negotiations and potential changes. Here’s how another airport finished construction.
The rebuild of LaGuardia — an airport that is smaller than O’Hare, and crammed into a plot of land along the water — did not unfold flawlessly. But by 2015 the agency that oversees the airport, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, had selected a private development team to demolish and rebuild one of the airport’s terminals for $3.6 billion. The team would design, build, operate and maintain the new terminal.
Cook County Health Foundation expansion dropped amid spending questions
Long-held plans to expand the power of the nonprofit entity established to raise money for Cook County’s public health arm have been scrapped “amid questions about its scope and appropriateness,” according to an outside report obtained by the Tribune.
Another 26 women sue Endeavor Health and gynecologist Fabio Ortega, convicted of sexual abuse
A total of 60 former patients have now sued former gynecologist Dr. Fabio Ortega, Endeavor and/or Swedish Hospital, where Ortega previously worked.
Illinois House OKs measure to give mental health workers called to emergencies the same benefits as other first responders
Lawmakers are moving ahead with a measure that would make mental health professionals who get sent on emergency calls alongside law enforcement eligible for the same benefits as other first responders if they’re also hurt in the line of duty.
Ex-Augusta National Golf Club employee set to plead guilty in stolen Masters memorabilia case
A former warehouse coordinator for Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia is set to plead guilty next month in federal court in Chicago to charges he stole millions of dollars in Masters Tournament memorabilia over a 13-year period and transported it to Florida for resale, court records show.
Chicago Bulls rout Atlanta Hawks 131-116 behind Coby White’s 42 points, keeping alive their hopes for an NBA playoff berth
The Bulls on Wednesday advanced to the second round of the NBA Play-In Tournament, cruising to a 131-116 victory against the Atlanta Hawks at the United Center. They will face the Heat at 6 p.m. Friday in Miami with the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs on the line.
Column: Chicago White Sox rookie starters Nick Nastrini and Jonathan Cannon deserve a shot to stick in rotation
It might be deemed cruel and unusual punishment to promote Nick Nastrini and Jonathan Cannon to the Chicago White Sox during this historical stretch of badness, writes Paul Sullivan.
Stephen Colbert will bring ‘Late Show’ to Chicago during Democratic National Convention
Colbert announced his plans during taping of Wednesday’s episode of “The Late Show”; this will be the first time Colbert has taken his show on the road. Audience tickets for the live appearances at the Auditorium have yet to be announced.
Column: ‘Shame of Chicago, Shame of the Nation’ on WTTW lays bare a city’s history of housing discrimination
“Shame of Chicago, Shame of the Nation,” which airs Thursday nights for the next four weeks on WTTW, has one of those great old-fashioned muckraking titles, the sort once attached to exposes of the meatpacking industry and Al Capone. Except there’s nothing truly old-school or entirely vanquished here, writes Christopher Borrelli. This four-part documentary journeys from Trumbull Park to the northern suburbs. It picks apart Chicago’s disgraceful legacy of housing discrimination and weaponizing real estate policy, and perp walks that ugly past into an often uglier present and makes a compelling argument for housing reparations.
‘The Jinx – Part Two’ review: A filmmaker continues his investigation into accused killer Robert Durst
Filmmaker Andrew Jarecki is back with “The Jinx – Part Two,” which picks up where he left off. In 2021, Robert Durst was convicted of Susan Berman’s murder and the six-episode sequel aims to fill in the gaps between the lead-up to his arrest in March 2015 and his death in January 2022 (just three months after he was sentenced to life without parole). Tribune critic Nina Metz reviews the series.
