10th ward candidates sweat it out: two weeks for vote count decision

By Lizz Giordano and Meghan Tribe It’s not over yet for voters on the Southeast Side. The Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners gathered Wednesday at 1869 W. Pershing Rd. to recount two ballot boxes from the 10th ward aldermanic runoff. The race  pitted 16-year incumbent Ald. John A. Pope against public school counselor and political […]

Doctrine or discrimination: the Mormon church’s ‘new’ stance on homosexuality

By Meghan Tribe Brad Steckelberg assumed everyone knew he was gay. A recent convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – colloquially referred to as the Mormon church—Steckelberg disclosed his homosexuality prior to his baptism. He understood the church’s stance on celibacy. He was willing to live within those parameters. But that […]

Islamic poet takes audience on journey through death, afterlife

By Meghan Tribe Boonaa Mohammed took the stage on Wednesday night at Loyola University Chicago alongside a wooden coffin covered in a clean white sheet. He rhymed and rapped, ushering the crowded auditorium from “the bugs and maggots” of their graves to 50,000 years of celestial trial for their deeds and, ultimately, through the gates […]