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September, 2007
If this is the year Democrats break an almost three-decade-long losing streak and win the Illinois governor's mansion, the changing political and racial landscape in the five counties that surround Chicago and Cook County might be the key.
"Everything speaks to electing a Democrat governor this time," said former U.S. Rep. Glenn W. Poshard, the 1998 Democratic candidate.
A shift of...
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September, 2007
As the Chicago Housing Authority razes thousands of units as part of its 10-year Plan for Transformation, the city has tracked and attempted to find housing for leaseholders displaced by the demolition. But many observers say thousands of families without leases are the most at risk for homelessness, and the city has not committed enough resources to deal with the problem.
Mary Forney has...
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September, 2007
Nancy Skinner discusses her platform for "pissed-off liberals" on a community radio program. (Photo by Mary Hanlon)
Nancy Skinner and Joyce Washington both have to know the odds aren't in their favor. But they're going to tell you anyway: They're in it to win. Among the seven Democrats competing in the March 16 primary for U.S. Senate, Skinner and Washington are the two who, despite showing up...
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September, 2007
Latino lawmakers may have ended the year proclaiming support for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but their patience is wearing thin.
Blagojevich reaped political benefits from Latinos throughout 2002, edging out his rivals in the hard-fought March primary with overwhelming support from Latino neighborhoods. So the following spring, legislators from those districts felt confident about a deal struck...
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September, 2007
The two backboards behind Hanson Park School bear a message in black letters from freevibe.com, a drug education Web site: "Basketball–"the anti-drug."
But the rims on both backboards have been sawed in half.
"We didn't want kids back there playing basketball. If you have hoops in a secluded area behind a school, it's not safe," said Hanson Park Principal Susan Stoll.
The school is...
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September, 2007
The Rev. Christopher Alan Bullock listens to a speaker at a Republican Party rally. Bullock, the first African American to top the GOP ticket in Cook County, says he is on a mission to diversify the mostly white party. (Photo by Louis Byrd III)
If you spend any time with the Rev. Christopher Alan Bullock, you'll hear him say that ministry must be done "with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper...
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September, 2007
At 9:35 on a Tuesday morning in June, the windowless waiting room in the Illinois Department of Human Services' Woodlawn office was already crowded. All the brown chairs were taken, and women were lined up on both sides of the large room, looking tired and annoyed, waiting to see their welfare caseworkers.
The office, at 915 E. 63rd St., was just as crowded as it was five years ago, when a...
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September, 2007
Nathan Handy wanted to be a barber, the kind who works hair shows in sold-out convention halls. But the only haircuts he gives now are to his fellow inmates at the barbershop in Cook County Jail.
Dressed in a tan two-piece uniform with –˜DOC' stamped on the back, Handy, 33, told his story from the visitor's counter.
He can talk with visitors between an inch of glass on Saturdays and for...
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September, 2007
For most, the stories of drug trafficking are documented in 30- and 60-second stories on the evening news. But for others, like Allie Pack, the drama unfolds 24 hours a day in front of her Humboldt Park home.
Pack can see it all from her front window: cars driving through the neighborhood, stopping briefly so the drivers can talk with young men walking in the street or stationed on the...
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