Amid Trump’s travel ban, fencers keep their weapons raised
By Emine Yücel Medill Reports Kamali Thompson, a Team USA saber fencer training for the 2020 Olympics, woke up Thursday morning to 30 missed messages. Her friends and family in the U.S. were calling, urging her to cut her training trip short and return home from Paris immediately. “Luckily for me, I was able to […]
Politics and protests come to Super Bowl LI
By Eric Burgher Reporting from Houston “No ban, no wall, Houston is for all.” Those chants echoed in the streets of downtown Houston Saturday as hundreds of anti-Trump protesters hoped to steal a momentary spotlight at one of the biggest events in professional sports, Super Bowl LI. The protest began at City Hall and made […]
Consumers brace for higher gas prices in 2017
By Hannah Levitt Irving Park resident Barbara Cameron uses her car as her primary way of getting around Chicago. The freelance producer fueled her vehicle at a Shell station on the corner of LaSalle St. and North Ave. this week, where regular unleaded gas was $2.989 per gallon. “It affects everything, we just don’t have […]
Package of Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline stories
Standing Rock These stories on Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline have been supported in part by SJNN and the McCormick Foundation. They have been co-published by SJNN. When Cloee Cooper, June Leffler and Pat Nabong proposed in late Sept. 2016 to go from Chicago to North Dakota to report on the ongoing movement […]
Watchdog group on organized racism responds to Trump’s victory
By Cloee Cooper Many organizations were caught off guard by Donald Trump’s election. Some saw it coming when the presidential campaign geared up last January. “Everyone is understanding now that the far right is now mainstream. Its running the country. We and others have been warning others about this for a long time,” says Reverend […]
The resistance gets real: Civil libertarians imagine life, action in the age of Trump
By Jordan Gaines Now that President-elect Donald J. Trump’s path to the White House is clear, Chicago-area progressives met Monday night to map out a game plan to protect civil liberties during a Trump administration. “Everybody in this room is still trying to wrap their heads around what happened on Nov 8,” said state Rep. […]
Planned Parenthood braces for a fight for the future of women’s choice
By Anna Foley After the Nov. 8 election, Lauren Zeitz was among the thousands of people who decided to donate to Planned Parenthood to send a message: She’s not going to stop fighting for reproductive health care. “My mom and I decided to make this donatation together because we agree that an attack on Planned […]
Cold turkey is bad enough. This year Thanksgiving presents the real scare of political cold war
By June Leffler Bringing up the election is ground zero for a cold war during Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone has a strong, contentious opinion, but it’s better to lay low to avoid total annihilation. Who hasn’t weighed in on how to deal with potential political discussions this Thanksgiving? Therapists, advice columnists, talk show hosts and their […]
IUDs poised for quick, strong renaissance before Trump takes office
By Anna Foley Nina Berman is a longtime fan of IUDs, otherwise known as intrauterine birth control devices (the T-shaped ones). But after the election of Donald Trump last week, Berman noticed she wasn’t the only one. She saw more and more of her friends announcing on social media plans to get the long-term use IUDs. […]
Protesters come together at Trump Tower in downtown Chicago
By Cloee Cooper and Fariba Pajooh [See related story on the night’s protest] Helicopters buzzed overhead as thousands of angry and perplexed people gathered at the Trump Tower to protest the election of Donald Trump as president Wednesday evening. Shocked youth, minorities, pregnant mothers and middle-aged people joined together to repeat chants of “No Trump, […]