All posts by emmagoodson2019

Shaped by immigrant parents, Whitney Young senior lacrosse player aims to help her own

By Emma Goodson
Medill Reports

The clock stopped. Away 10, Home 9 hovered in yellow lights above the north end of Knute Rockne Stadium. But Nicole Chavez wasn’t ready for the game to end. She saw the ball bounce out of the net and swiftly scooped it up, running downfield before hearing the final whistle and feeling tears roll down her cheeks.

Blue and orange balloons danced in the wind as the Whitney Young lacrosse team accepted defeat to Lincoln Park on May 7. Chavez, 17, donned her Senior Night tiara as she walked across the field that had just betrayed her and toward her family who carried handmade posters and had ridden on four buses for this moment.

Her night wasn’t supposed to end in a loss, or even a double-overtime loss for that matter. But Nicole stopped caring about that once her teammates gathered around to celebrate the culmination of a high school lacrosse career that began only three years prior.

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From preps to the pros: can the NBA solve a decade-old controversy?

By Greg Melo and Emma Goodson
Medill Reports

Kevin Garnett. Tracy McGrady. Kobe Bryant – giants from an era of basketball where highly touted prospects had no incentive or legal obligations to play at the college level before going pro.

That era could return in a few years due to a new NBA policy proposal and shift the very landscape of the sport.

The prep to pro generation of the NBA ended in 2005, when the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement required draft-eligible players to be 19 years old in the same calendar year of the draft that they planned to enter.

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Loyola Chicago Women’s Basketball falls to Southern Illinois 64-41

By Emma Goodson
Medill Reports

Ramblers Women’s Basketball of Loyola Chicago couldn’t catch up to the Southern Illinois Salukis Friday night at Joseph J. Gentile Arena. The game loss moved the team to 6-8 in conference play with only four games remaining before the Missouri Valley State tournament.

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FDA taking a firmer stance on e-cigarette regulation in 2019

By Emma Goodson
Medill Reports

The Food and Drug Administration is preparing to move on stricter regulation of e-cigarettes – electronic nicotine delivery systems – if youth usage of these products continues to rise in 2019.

Commissioner Scott Gottlieb voiced the agency’s concerns at a recent public hearing focused on eliminating youth use of electronic cigarettes.

“In recent years, we’ve appeared poised to slay one of the most pernicious public health challenges of our times – the death and disease caused by cigarette smoking,” Gottlieb said at the hearing in Silver Spring, Maryland. “Sadly, this progress is being undercut – even eclipsed – by the recent, dramatic rise in youth vaping.”

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Days before the Polar Vortex, Chicagoans make a splash at the Polar Plunge

By Emma Goodson
Medill Reports

The high hovered at a frigid 14 degrees, though the sun glazed Oak Street Beach as hundreds of people gathered there on Jan. 26.

Some stripped down to bathing suits to participate in the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Some wore costumes, including a polar bear outfit, of course.
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Loyola Women’s Basketball defeats Evansville 61-56

By Emma Goodson
Medill Reports

The Ramblers of Loyola University Chicago broke a two-game losing streak Friday after besting conference opponent Evansville Purple Aces 61-56 at  the Joseph J. Gentile Arena in Chicago.

“All wins are good wins, and today we feel lucky to have escaped with one,” said Head Coach Kate Achter at a post-game press conference.

Junior guard Tiara Wallace and sophomore forward Alexis Meyer led the Ramblers’ scoring with 14 and 13 total points, respectively.

“It wasn’t the prettiest win, obviously, but a win’s a win,” Wallace said. Continue reading →