Lawsuit Aims to Block Obama Center

A Chicago nonprofit has filed a lawsuit in an effort to halt the construction of the Obama Presidential Center, claiming that organizers pulled a “bait and switch,” shifting the goal of the project away from becoming a true presidential library. The federal lawsuit, filed Monday by Protect Our Parks Inc., seeks to stop the creation of the project entirely and to bar the city from giving control of the center to the Obama Foundation. Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office, in a statement, described the center’s construction as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest millions of dollars on the city’s South Side.