At 29, Kina Collins is the youngest black woman to run for Congress in Illinois
![Kina Collins](https://s3.amazonaws.com/medill.wordpress.offload/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/IMG_0057-2-1.jpg)
By Brandon Raphael Dupre Medill Reports Kina Collins wears a black shirt with white block letters spelling out the names of the four congresswomen known as The Squad. She greets the owner of L!VE Café in Oak Park with a hug before taking a seat at the table in the back corner. “Give credit where […]
Via no longer sees Uber and Lyft as direct competitors: Its operations chief discusses strategy and the future of transportation
![Requesting Via ride-hail](https://s3.amazonaws.com/medill.wordpress.offload/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/Via_On-Demand_App-2-1024x683.jpg)
By Kari McMahon Medill Reports Via, Chicago’s third largest ride-hailing service behind Uber and Lyft, expanded its reach in the city in August 2019 with novel strategies such as partnering with Northwestern University on a new and improved Safe Ride program, which provides free rides to students in the evening hours to prevent students walking […]
Protestors demand new trial for inmate who alleged torture
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/medill.wordpress.offload/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/Screen-Shot-2020-03-10-at-12.38.21-PM-1024x544.png)
By Samone Blair Medill Reports Protestors gathered at Daley Plaza Feb. 25 to call for the release of Gerald Reed, an inmate who was allegedly tortured by Chicago detectives, after a Circuit Court Judge reversed a decision that had granted him a new trial. On Feb. 14, Judge Thomas Hennelly reversed the December 2018 decision […]
How the islanders of Vieques used cinder blocks to build a protest movement on health care
![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/medill.wordpress.offload/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/08/Vieques-1024x768.jpg)
By Alison Saldanha VIEQUES, Puerto Rico — On Valentine’s Day eve, colorful string-lights run through the green buttonwood and mango trees of La Plaza, the town square of Isabel Segunda in the heart of Vieques, a 52-square-mile island off the coast of Puerto Rico. On the ground, painted cinder blocks lay in irregular rows and […]
Virginia Rounds wants to save America’s manufacturing industry with apprenticeships
![Virginia](https://s3.amazonaws.com/medill.wordpress.offload/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/86727658_1794665840665962_8488445532702769152_n-1024x576.jpeg)
By Amy Sokolow Medill Reports Last month, 12,000 Americans who work in manufacturing lost their jobs. But Virginia Rounds, 44, has a plan to get them back to work: apprenticeships. Popular in Europe, these salaried training programs teach people on-the-job skills such as metalworking and also give them stipends for community college classes. Rounds, director […]