Alden Loury

Previously, Alden served as the director of research and evaluation for the Metropolitan Planning Council for two years where he examined and wrote about population loss, demographic shifts, job trends and racial segregation.
Prior to joining MPC, Alden served as an investigator and later as a policy analyst for the Better Government Association. In more than four years at the BGA, Alden documented abuses with legislative scholarships, campaign finance expenditures and ward remapping and later analyzed data and lobbied for reforms to increase government transparency, efficiency and accountability.
Stories by Alden Loury
Five takeaways about voter turnout in Chicago ahead of this month’s municipal election
This past November, Chicago witnessed its lowest voter turnout for a midterm election in the past 80 years.
Leaving LeClaire Courts for the last time
WBEZ senior editor Alden Loury reflects on the history of the LeClaire Courts public housing development, his childhood home.
Who is dying of COVID-19 in Cook County? Black Chicagoans and 60-plus suburbanites.
And, across Illinois, the COVID-19 death rate is 22 times higher for the unvaccinated than for fully inoculated residents as breakthrough cases appear to be far less lethal.
COVID-19 deaths are surging in Cook County. Here’s why.
The unvaccinated are fueling a bleak third wave of COVID in Cook County, with weekly death tolls four-fold than just a month ago.
The COVID-19 case rate for Black Chicagoans has risen nearly sixfold since omicron’s arrival
And cases have increased most among residents in their 20s and 30s.
Chicago has been hit the hardest as omicron spreads through Illinois
Since the variant arrived in December, the city has seen the state’s fastest growth in COVID-19 cases, particularly among Black residents and young adults.
Takeaways From 2020 Census Data For Chicago And Illinois In 6 Graphics
A WBEZ analysis of census data shows racial and ethnic population swings in the city and suburbs and declining white population statewide.
Latinos Have Surpassed African Americans As Chicago’s Second-Largest Racial or Ethnic Group
New census data shows that the city’s Black population, the only major racial group to decline in number, has fallen to a 60-year low.
Chauvin Verdict Doesn’t Change The Systemic Racism That Costs So Many Black Lives
The fight against systemic racism still lies ahead, particularly in Chicago, where more Black men are killed by police than anywhere else.
No, Health Care Workers In Chicago Don’t All Live Downtown
While white Chicagoans received the majority of initial COVID-19 vaccines, a WBEZ analysis shows health care workers actually live all over the city.