Older adults are fighting climate change, seeking carbon tax legislation

By Madhurita Goswami Medill Reports Jeff Haverly gave two presentations this winter before members of his Indiana community, urging them to take action against climate change. “I start with a map of Florida and ask how many people holiday there. Then I show how Florida will look like in 2050,” the 67-year-old said. Florida’s coastal […]

Many Indian students on US campuses are silent on new Indian citizenship bill

By Madhurita Goswami Medill Reports Some Indian students are hitting Chicago’s streets to protest against an increasingly authoritarian government back home. But many students don’t want to get involved. In December 2019, India’s parliament passed a bill that grants citizenship to religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. However, Muslim minorities such as the Ahmadis […]

Obama-era work rule may end, Indian immigrant women to be most affected

By Madhurita Goswami Medill Reports Moumita Chatterjee moved from India to Chicago with her husband nine years ago right after she graduated from college. Even though she had a degree in sociology, she wasn’t permitted to work here because she didn’t have the right visa. In 2014, her husband, a software engineer, was sponsored for […]

Tailor-made models for preventing suicide may soon be a reality

By Madhurita Goswami Medill Reports A recent study based on social media data shows that chat features of conversations between help-seekers and therapists can be used to predict suicide risk and develop models to reduce the risk. “There is an interesting link between language and health that hasn’t been explored in real-time fashion,” said Carlos […]

A festival that binds Bengali students and professionals in Chicago

By Madhurita Goswami Medill Reports Students and professionals belonging to the Bengali community in Chicago came together for a recent religious and cultural celebration. Started at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) campus by a group of students in 2007, the celebration is centered around Durga, a Hindu Goddess. It, however, has turned into […]

“Why we should care” – Calling on Asian Americans to demand environmental justice

Chinatown

By Madhurita Goswami Medill Reports Asian Americans are increasingly pushing for environmental reforms to address the issues impacting their communities across the country. A new Chicago advocacy group recently held a workshop on Asian Americans and Environmental Justice to drive home the importance of the community’s political involvement for climate action. Andrea Chu has been […]

Glaciers as “global thermometers” show the fast pace of melting in a warming world

By Madhurita Goswami Medill Reports Glaciers across the globe behave in a synchronized manner, said geologist Thomas Lowell at the recent Comer Climate Conference, an annual national conference held in southwestern Wisconsin. Not only does he study glaciers around the world to reach this conclusion but also compared data obtained by separate dating techniques. Sounding […]