Chicago City Wire

CBS Chicago did not respond to an email from Chicago City Wire regarding its reporting on two mothers whose deaths the Chicago Teachers Union is alleged to have politicized.

The Chicago Teachers Union used the deaths of two mothers, Denisha Henry, 32, and Shenitha Curry, 44, as a rallying cry for the union.

Both Henry and Curry were reported to have died from COVID-19 after contracting the virus from their children, who were Chicago Public Schools students. 

Chicago City Wire found that, in contrast to the CTU’s public conviction in Henry’s case, she died of acute alcoholism, not COVID. Furthermore, insiders said Chicago City Wire union leadership knew she didn't die of COVID but pursued an inappropriate publicity campaign tying her death to the disease.

In the wake of the deaths, the CTU held a rally calling on the names of the teachers and allegedly misrepresenting the deaths. 

Curry also passed away around the same time. Her cause of death was found to be pneumonia with COVID. 

At the time of the deaths, CBS Chicago’s reporting, citing the CTU line that the deaths had occurred from school-to-home transmission, created anxiety in school ranks. 

CBS Chicago helped promote a GoFundMe for Curry as part of its story. 

"Her children are faced with burying her because they were forced to go to school," a GoFundMe for Curry reads, with the headline "CPS Failed to protect My Sister."

Curry had diabetes and high blood pressure and was unvaccinated. The campaign was soliciting donations because "CPS mandated children return to school for (the) 2021-2022 academic school year."

As of March 6, the GoFundMe had raised $6,805 from 146 donors.