Back in the early 1990’s, Greg Pritchett was incarcerated on a drug charge. After being released from jail, he became homeless and resorted to a life on the streets. “I lost everything I had,” said Pritchett. His only way of earning an income was by selling Streetwise. Pritchett is now director of distribution at...
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In an area flourishing with independent nail salons, the owner of Hollywood Nails manages to craft a unique experience that keeps customers coming back. Customers say it’s Nancy Pham’s cheerful demeanor that keeps them visiting her small Lakeview shop. But one might not guess that this entrepreneur with a go-getter attitude survived a tragic...
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May Day is also known as International Workers’ Day will forever be associated with Chicago because of the Haymarket Square Affair. The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions set May 1, 1886, as the date by which the eight-hour work day would become a standard and organized for a world-wide strike to fight...
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The Wilson Red Line train station is in dire need of rehabilitation — there aren’t any elevators for the handicapped and, overall, the rusty station has seen better days. The Chicago Transit Authority realized this and plans to start renovating the station later this year. But for the owners of four stores who have...
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Sexual harassment made national headlines during the 1990s after Monica Lewinsky and Anita Hill became household names. A recent case filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in U.S. District Court claims victims of harassment who speak out are being retaliated against, and the number of these types of cases are on the...
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No matter what the outcome in the Park National Bank seizure, the situation has broken down barriers between the Austin community and Oak Park residents. It’s the silver lining in the cloud that has hung over those two communities since  October. That’s when the popular neighborhood bank, located in Oak Park, was seized by...
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When federal regulators seized Park National Bank and its parent company last October and turned operations over to US Bank, it caused outcry through Chicago’s West Side and into Oak Park. And the fight is not over. On Saturday, March 13 at 10 a.m., the Coalition to Save Community Banking will meet at the...
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Bad credit? No credit? No problem. With Illinois’ unemployment rate at a staggering 11 percent, employers can afford to be more selective in whom they hire. But a new bill could give job seekers with bad credit a fighting chance in landing a position. Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) has introduced a bill, HB4658, creating...
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City leaders’ dreams that the 2016 Olympics would come to Chicago ended in October, but their hopes for the economic development, job creation and neighborhood expansion the Games would have brought to the city are alive and well. On a snowy afternoon on Feb. 9 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chicago’s Neighborhood Development Awards...
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Gritty storefronts, boarded-up gas station windows, graffiti-covered pavement and a plethora of fast food restaurants are the sights that will meet your eyes on a drive through one of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods. Located on the city’s West Side, Austin’s population is nearing 130,000, and as the population rises in what community activists call Chicago’s...
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