The two States of 2020 high school football 

By Jake Bramande Medill Reports The stark contrast between dark and bright lights at Illinois border towns on fall Friday nights is a physical example of this country’s political divide in handling the pandemic. Just eight miles apart, Kenosha, Wisconsin, played high school football this fall, while Zion, Illinois, had their season postponed to the […]

Chinese international students experience backlash in both the U.S. and China

Passengers lined up and prepared to board the flight back to China.

By Amy Ouyang Medill Reports Since the start of the global pandemic, Chinese international students studying in the United States feel their identity has made them a target of aggression in both the United States and in China. In the U.S., the assumed close association between the virus and China often leads to discrimination against […]

Queer Christian cover band reclaims church space

Queer Christian cover band reclaims church space by Caroline Love Medill Reports It started as an idea on Twitter. Now, it has 1.6 million views on TikTok. HERE’S THE PITCH: An all queer Relient K/Switchfoot cover band and we tour the country and put on shows for kids who were done wrong by their youth […]

Secret signals in sewage detect coronavirus outbreaks earlier

A person walking away from a toilet as a virus is seen traveling through the pipes

By Marisa Sloan Medill Reports Infectious disease expert Rita Colwell began her career studying fruit fly genetics. Over the next several decades, she added marine and medical microbiology to her repertoire, assisted NASA scientists with oceanographic work and became the first woman to direct the National Science Foundation. Now, like many researchers, she is tackling […]

It’s more than semantics: The trafficking and abuse of language in modern politics

By Allison Schatz Medill Reports Sunday’s televised debate between Georgia Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democratic candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock was a stunning example of the mounting danger the misuse and abuse of language poses to the future of American politics. From the outset of the debate, a tedious, monotonous and even robotic Loeffler referred […]