Mercy AfterCare program focuses on helping homeless youth
Nora Bondi, therapeutic supervisor in the AfterCare program at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls is just one of the many staff members at Mercy Home, a non-profit organization that helps at risk youth in the city of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Their goal is to help youth succeed in life. Bondi wants to [...]
Laugh out loud improv at the Laugh Out Loud Theatre
The audience wasn’t large, but the laughter was non stop at the Laugh Out Loud Theatre as four amateur comedians took center stage for the weekly Saturday improv show. The comedians: Jin Kim, Guy Wicke, Kate Cohen and Mary Lorenz had the audience laughing from the moment they came out onto the stage at 9:30 [...]
Beverly residents want to see more police on the street
In light of a recent increase in neighborhood theft, Beverly residents are wondering where the police are. A number of residents have expressed concern about what they see as a lack of presence of Chicago police in the neighborhood. The Chicago Police Department reported a decrease in overall crime, but both the police and residents [...]
As roller derby evolves, sport leaders look to improve safety
Four years after the Drew Barrymore film Whip It and the new wave of derby girls the movie brought to the rink, changes in flat track roller derby are aimed at improving skater safety as the sport evolves. Once a month at U.I.C. Pavilion, people can experience a bout of hard-hitting action from the Windy [...]
Rickshaw-style bicycle cabs come to Logan Square
Here’s a unique new job opportunity: get paid for getting in shape. A new business in the Logan Square area, RoadieCab, pays bike riders to ferry passengers around. While peddling, riders work on their leg muscles, burn calories and increase their endurance. RoadieCab bikes are not like the pedicabs seen in other Chicago urban areas, [...]
Filmmakers, Bicyclists Shoot a PSA for Bike Chicago
In celebration of Bike Chicago 2013 and Chicago Bike Week, The City of Chicagois hosting a public service announcement (PSA) video contest to help spread the message that bicycling is a fun, healthy and environmentally-friendly form of transportation. Video finalists will be shown at the Bike Chicago Movie in Millennium Park on Tuesday, June 11 [...]
Struggle for safety: EPA commits to resolving Pilsen pollution
After being stonewalled by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway company, the EPA will be seeking a warrant from the courts to clean up toxic land on the railway’s property that tested for lead content as high as 23,000 parts per million, the highest level of lead contamination seen in Pilsen yet and more than [...]
Opinion: Portrayals of Black Men in Sports Don’t Tell Real Story
No matter the year or the reception, the depiction of black men in sports movies is far from accurate. Favorites like Remember the Titans, Glory Road and The Blind Side all tell the story of the black man’s struggle to find success in the sports world. But how accurate are these movies? How does football accurately show [...]
Breaking News: Back on Track at Amtrak and Metra
UPDATE: At 12:33 p.m. an Amtrak engine pulled the disabled train off and away from the Clark and 16th St. site of the stall. At 12:45, Metra trains were able to run out north and south on unobstructed tracks. The engine that was originally pulling the Amtrak train was taken away, and a big workhorse [...]
Between Friends protects victims of domestic violence
Court Advocacy Coordinator Megan Rose spends three days a week at court. She faces criminals on a regular basis, protecting her clients in court in ways they are not able to. Her clients are generally women and children, her job is to protect those affected by domestic violence. Standing alongside them every step of the way, she [...]
New group wants Chicagoans to ‘rethink trash’
The Mayor’s office and the Office of Streets and Sanitation Department, revealed a new garbage transition plan last month, but they aren’t the the only organization “rethinking trash”. This garbage transition basically entails a new pick-up grid which will take aldermanic oversight of community trash across the city, and reorganize garbage pickup. The claims are [...]
Jillian Michaels smashes myths, fears in Chicago
Fitness guru Jillian Michaels says that when it comes to the top health problems in the United States – non-communicable diseases like Type 2 diabetes — “we make those ourselves.” Michaels, who spoke Friday night at Roosevelt University Auditorium, said Americans damage their health by eating cheap fast food. “You think you’re saving in the [...]
Black women marrying later, studies show
Sabrennia Fountain says she gets tired of hearing friends and family members urge her to marry and start a family. “I hear all the time I am not getting any younger and that they can’t wait until I get married and have children,” said Fountain, 40. “I often wonder why this affects them so much.” [...]
Park and path on former elevated rail line in Logan Square close to breaking ground
Construction is set to begin on a nearly three mile long park and path that will stretch from Goose Island to North Kimball Avenue on Chicago’s Near Northwest Side. The design plans for the Bloomingdale Trail, which is an old rail line being converted into a park, have been completed and are awaiting final approval by [...]
The White House looking for immigration sagas
From Cecilia Muñoz, Director, Domestic Policy Council for The White House comes this invitation. Do you have an immigration story to share? Share it with the country and the world: When Americans from all over the country — each with different backgrounds, each from different circumstances — all speak out with the same voice, it’s powerful in [...]
Chicago LGBTQ library set to open soon in new location in Rogers Park
In a move lasting nine months longer than anticipated and raising uncertainties, one of the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ libraries finally transitioned from Andersonville to Rogers Park on April 30. The Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, which holds collections of gay and lesbian history and hosts programs like theater groups and poetry readings, traded their West Granville [...]
The Buckingham Fountain Springs to Life
In a rite of a spring, the world’s largest fountain, the Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain in Grant Park, opened today for its 86th season under sunny skies. A little girl wearing a red jacket pulled a fake level connected to a box, and jets of water of slowly started to shoot into the air, [...]
Chicago street artist’s struggle continues
On May 7th, at 11 a.m. in front of Macy’s on State St., artists and friends will hand out postcards commemorating the late street artist activist, Chris Drew. This follows a memorial for Drew, who died a year ago, that was held on April 28, and is prior to the release of a documentary about [...]
