Biathlon: Mastering the heartbeat of skiing and shooting
By Erin Barney Breathe in. Exhale halfway. Hold it. Ignore pulsing temples, burning muscles, and the crack of an adjacent rifle. Focus. Pull the trigger. In a moment requiring absolute stillness, Olympic biathlete Lowell Bailey said it’s rarely quiet enough in his head to achieve the necessary Zen. He has to hit a four-and-a-half-inch target […]
Chinese Seniors Celebrate the Lunar New Year
By Shanshan Wang Welcoming the Year of the Monkey, about 80 elderly residents originally from China celebrated the Lunar New Year with traditional music and cuisine in Chinatown on Monday. “We want to bring warmth to the older adults, [the] majority of which live alone in senior buildings or with family members who work days […]
Union Station faces air pollution issue, EPA says
By Danielle Prieur Passengers on trains at Chicago’s Union Station are being exposed to high levels of air pollution on Metra and Amtrak trains, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Over a two-week period in July 2015, EPA researchers used portable aerosol monitors to measure microscopic particles in the air around the train platforms […]
Groupon’s new leadership sparks hope
By Xiumei Dong Groupon Inc. is stepping up big this Valentine’s Day with promotion specials that offer lovers the chance to buy land on Mars. As the Chicago company restructures its leadership team, analysts see a slight hope for the stock in 2016. Four analysts rate Groupon a buy, two analysts rate it a sell, and […]
International wrestlers pin Rio dreams on U.S. training visit
By Tolly Taylor and Aishwarya Kumar Lakshminarayanapuram Imagine inviting someone to your house for the first time, and she beats you up. That’s what happened in January when Estonian wrestler Mae Epp bludgeoned her U.S. opponents with two technical falls and a pin at the Dave Schultz Memorial International tournament in Colorado Springs. The world […]
Chicagoans indulge in Fat Tuesday tradition with pączki
By Raquel Zaldivar Chicagoans in Wicker Park made sure to stop through Oak Mill Bakery for Fat Tuesday to pick up pączki, or a doughnut-like Polish treat traditionally made for the pre-Lenten celebration. While the Wicker Park location has only been open for six years, Oak Mill Bakery has been making the polish dessert for […]
Clinton ‘Firewall’ in South Carolina primary resonates in Illinois
By Caroline Kenny In the wake of her virtual tie in Iowa and a 20-point loss to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in New Hampshire last night, Hillary Clinton is looking to the next stop on the campaign trail, South Carolina, to lock down the votes in a more diverse state. Iowa has not always been kind […]
Community efforts encourage Chicago’s Chinese to vote
By Sophie Zhang Debbie Liu spends a lot of time talking to people in Chinatown, trying to get traditionally reluctant residents to register to vote. “Asians have a traditionally lower than average voting habit,” said Liu, community development coordinator at the Coalition for A Better Chinese American Community, which has been mobilizing Chinese voters since […]
Civil Rights Legend: Black Lives Mattered — Then and Now
By Jasmine M. Ellis In the age of Black Lives Matter and #SayHerName movements, America’s current racial climate eerily mirrors its past, according to renowned civil rights activist Diane Nash. “My contemporaries had you in mind when we reacted,” said Nash, keynote speaker for Northwestern University’s campus observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday […]
Volunteers Count Chicago’s Homeless
By Harry Huggins Hundreds of volunteers canvased Chicago late Jan. 26 to count every person sleeping in the city’s parks and underpasses. I drove around Chicago’s Near West Side with Dorothy Yancy, Phoebe DePree and Carolyn Hankins-Page for five hours that night as part of the annual point in time count. The survey takes place […]
