VIDEO: Chicago’s electric refuse truck, first in the country

By Jennifer Leonard Chicago is the first city – not only in the United States but in North America – to own an electric refuse truck. Drive Clean Chicago, an incentive program funded by The Department of Transportation, is trying to make Chicago more sustainable by helping the city implement hybrid and electric vehicles into its transportation system. Drive […]

Working on the railroad: Chicago copes with worst rail congestion in years

By Bryce Gray Chicago railroads are teeming with activity, routing 1,300 trains daily.  Travelers fill 800 passenger trains, while another 500 haul freight cars filled with corn from Iowa, coal from Wyoming, wheat from the Great Plains, oil from North Dakota and so many other commodities. Currently the nation’s railways are the busiest they’ve been in years, causing logjams […]

Female Athlete Triad can lead to serious consequences

By Katherine Dempsey Tina has only gotten her period once during college. The 21-year-old runner at a Big Ten university remembers seldom menstruating in high school or in college. Diagnosed with anorexia during her freshman year of high school, Tina – whose real name has been changed to protect privacy – spent several weeks out […]

Where have all the (Michelin) stars gone?

By Elizabeth Atkinson Restaurants close all the time in Chicago, but what about when several of the best close in succession? It’s almost like losing a friend. “Oh no! They closed? I loved that place! I remember when I went there last year with my friends from out of town!” The memory plays through your mind’s […]

Hacking – How to fight back and protect yourself

By Zachary Vasile Like birth and death, hacking became a new form of the inevitable in 2014. Of course, it had bubbled to the surface time and again, stewing in and out of personal computers, government databases and the sci-fi imagination. During the last 12 months however, hacking broke through to the banner headlines and […]

Aldermanic election results roll in with low turnout and runoffs

By Bethel Habte and Bennet Hayes Updated: 11:10 p.m. Results are rolling in for the  aldermanic races, with over 90 percent of votes reported for many key contests. Voters failed to turn out in high numbers across the city Tuesday. Latest reports from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners show that 32 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

Sights and sounds of Election Day in Chicago

By Ellen Kobe Medill New Service’s team of election 2015 reporters hit the streets of Chicago today, exploring polling places, speaking with voters and spending the day with candidates. Here are some of the most interesting sights and sounds of the city on Election Day.

Free doughnuts raise questions about electioneering at Bridgeport polls

By Dean DeChiaro Just before 8 a.m. on Tuesday, two poll watchers at the Hamburg Athletic Club on South Emerald Street in the Bridgeport neighborhood told potential voters to cast their ballots for Patrick Daley Thompson, the former mayor’s nephew and candidate in the 11th Ward, and to help themselves to “free coffee and doughnuts.”

Chicago election turn out hits recent low

By Laura Furr and Emily Hoerner Updated at 11 p.m. Chicago voter turnout for the 2015 municipal election was the lowest it has been in recent history, beating out the 2007 low of 33.1 percent. According to the Chicago Board of Election’s unofficial summary 32.7 percent of the city’s 1.42 million registered voters showed up […]