CTA’s Largest Railcar Purchase Will Bring Jobs to the South Side
By Xuanyan Ouyang The Chicago Transit Authority announced an overhaul of the city’s rail cars with an historic contract of over $1.3 billion requiring the winning bidder to build a brand-new rail car assembly plant on Chicago’s South Side, creating 170 jobs. CTA awarded on Thursday the agency’s largest car purchase contract to CSR Sifang America JV, a China-based […]
Hind Makki makes sure a women’s place is in the mosque, if she wants
By Bian Elkhatib Not long ago, women weren’t allowed to pray in some Chicago-area mosques. Hind Makki is working to change that. The 36-year-old blogger of Orland Park recounts a time in the mid ’90s when she went to a mosque on Devon Avenue with her father and her sister. She and her sister were […]
For Puerto Ricans in Chicago, no one’s an island
By Hannah Rank and Rebekah Frumkin Jose López sits comfortably in his wicker chair as a February blizzard rages on outside, the wall behind him a collage of Puerto Rican literature and artifacts. When it comes to his homeland of Puerto Rico, López has clear ambitions. He wants his countrymen to decide for themselves what […]
What price statehood? For some Puerto Ricans, a loss of independence
By Rebekah Frumkin and Hannah Rank LA PERLA, Puerto Rico — It’s a sunny February morning in La Perla, a low-income neighborhood beside Old San Juan’s northern city wall. Lifelong resident Lourdes López-Rivera stands on a beachside cliff, considering the Caribbean’s cyan expanse. “They keep talking about development here,” she says, shaking her head. “Then […]
Local college women answer the call for Hillary at Old Town phone bank
By Jasmine M. Ellis and Torene Harvin With the March 15 Illinois primary less than a week away, local college students hosted an evening of phone banking for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Thursday at the Parkway Ballroom in Old Town. Sponsored by Hillary for America, several of the volunteers remember meeting Clinton at a young age […]
Bohemian House enjoys early success despite competitive food scene
By Sarah Very and Sony Kassam Dan Powell and Markus Chwajol met late one night in a neurosurgical operating room. Little did they know they would become best friends and business partners – founding their own Bohemian restaurant and taking its annual revenue to $2.6 million in under two years. Embellished with brightly colored tiles and European-inspired […]
Jobless claims fall to a 5-month low
By Poroma Pant The number of Americans applying for new unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in five months, indicating a continued low rate of employer layoffs and a steadily improving labor market. The U.S Department of Labor said in a Thursday report that, for the week ended March 5, initial unemployment […]
Blind woman’s blog gives others view of her world
By Iacopo Luzi Sandy Murillo is a 28-year old woman who was born with glaucoma and lost her vision when she was just 2 years old. Since she was a teenager, she has dreamed of working in the media, so she studied journalism at the University of Illinois in Champaign. [vimeo 158552551 w=474]
Dollar General reports better-than-expected Q4 earnings
By Ashesha Mehrotra Variety store chain Dollar General Corp.’s stock surged 10.6 percent after the company reported higher earnings based on rising sales of such items as candy and snacks, tobacco and perishables. In the quarter ended Jan. 29, the Tennessee-based company’s net income rose to $376.2 million, or $1.30 per diluted share, from $355.4 million, or $1.17 per share, […]
Growing number of skiers benefits Vail Resorts’ winter performance
By Lucia Maffei Luckily for Vail Resorts Inc., the weather phenomenon known as El Niño brought deep snows, and many more skiers, to the company’s facilities in the western U.S. For the second quarter ended Jan. 31, the Colorado-based resort operator posted net income attributable to Vail Resorts of $117 million, or $3.14 per diluted […]
