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 [...]
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, [...]
In the company of comic books
On Thursday Feb 14, Columbia College Chicago will host the opening reception for “Five Collaborations,” an exhibit showcasing the work of Columbia professor and comic book writer Len Strazewski. As the name implies, the exhibit will feature the work Strazewski has done with five different comic illustrators. It will run until March 29. Strazewski has [...]
Video: Aztec dreams on Pilsen’s walls
Murals are a Mexican art form. In Mexico, they were part of public art in state buildings. In Chicago, the art form continues, transformed by conditions today, and the messages the artists want to convey. Chicago murals are created outside, on walls around Pilsen. Shot and edited by Mathew Cunningham Music ”Aztec Dreaming” by Andrew [...]
ZAMRIE does fashion for (storm) relief
The cute ivory skirt with a blue, red, and gold plaid print and tempting “on sale” tag, could be dressed up or down, and Ashley Zygmunt, the creative mind behind the maker of the skirt, Chicago label ZAMRIE, exclaims, “nobody understands that skirt! Only an editor at Vogue really got it.” For her Fall 2012 [...]
Graffiti removal in Wicker Park tagged in more ways than one
The Wicker Park-Bucktown neighborhood is finding faster ways to alleviate masses of graffiti missed by the city’s new Graffiti Blaster program, which community leaders say is too slow to effectively combat tagging in the area. “Since the city has cut back some of these services, we’ve been looking for other ways, so the graffiti doesn’t get [...]
Stella Blue Designs Boutique
Angela Gianfrancesco, executive designer and owner of Stella Blue Designs, says she used to play with her grandmother’s jewelry tower while growing up in St. Louis. She recalls coming upon a box of jewelry a neighbor had thrown away and finding a spinning ballerina surrounded by piles of shiny jewelry. “One man’s trash is another [...]
Haute Tech Brings Science Fiction into Fashion
Is there any room for fashion in technology and can technology be fashionable? Thanks to movies such as “Revenge of the Nerds,” a certain stigma is attached to the word technology that instantly evokes an image of flooded trousers, pocket protectors and intense glasses frames. The current “hipster” trend does a wonderful job recreating Robert [...]
Holidays: Ugly Sweater Fun Run Launches in Chicago
About 3,000 runners lined up at Montrose Harbor dressed Santa Hats, moustaches, and the ugliest sweaters they could find to participate in the Ugly Sweater Fun Run 5k on Saturday. Coordinated by Human Movement , this event sponsored Toys for Tots, and participants were asked to bring a Christmas present to donate. Leah Smith, event [...]
Drilling to Be Best When Faced With the Worst
We see flashing lights and hear sirens all day and all night. Police cars, fire trucks, and emergency vehicles rushing down streets to make sure that people get help. In the news there are round the clock threats of terrorism, threats of severe weather, and news about accidents from around the world. Chicago, the third [...]
The Villa Celebrates Landmark Status, Community Involvement
Darcie Wadycki can walk by a home in her neighborhood and knows who lives there 80 percent of the time – something not many Chicago residents can say about their neighbors. A couple blocks south of the Irving Park Blue Line stop sits a quaint neighborhood containing avenues lined with beautiful trees, old-fashioned street lamps [...]
Local Ballet Folkorico to Perform
Above a Chase bank in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on 47th and Wood streets, kids are spinning and tapping their shoes on the floor. They are part of Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council Ballet Folklorico, a dance company devoted to bringing the culture of dance to the world. Children of the dance [...]
Behind the Scenes in McCormick Place on Election Night
It was an exciting time on Election Night 2012, inside McCormick Place. Here is one view of the politicians, voters, photographers and reporters who were there as President Obama prepared to address the crowd.
DePaul University Folks Weigh In on Election 2012
Interviews and slideshow by Jeremy Melendez, Ricardo Orozco, Brandon Smith, Sharon Vasquez, Mathew Cunningham, Tyler K. McDermott, Megan Purazrang, Christopher Svymbersky, Carlee Craig
‘Awakening The Giant’: La Casa Dorm Helps Latino Students Pursue College
Nearly a third of Chicago residents are Latino – but a small proportion of young people in Latino communities go to college. La Casa, a new dorm in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, has opened in hopes of encouraging more of them to go to school. Cindy Estrada, a student at Harold Washington College, is one of [...]
Biden Appeals To Middle Class In Oshkosh, Plugs Early Voting
Adele Parks is a high school student from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Generally on a Friday morning she should be at school. Not on that day, though; she was on an entirely different campus. Specifically, she was at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, as part of a line that formed in front of the university’s Albee Hall Friday [...]
Candidates Push for Early Voting In Contested IL District
The Democratic congressional candidates in two suburban districts looked to progress their ground games Saturday, using rallies and other events to persuade supporters to vote early and to get their friends and neighbors to join them. In Arlington Heights, Ill., about 100 people attended a rally with Tammy Duckworth and Brad Schneider, two Democrats trying to deduct incumbent Republican freshmen. [...]