The Chicago Reporter

Chicago Muckrakers

Nursing home reform legislation signed July 29, 2010 5:06 pm "This is historic legislation," Gov. Pat Quinn declared before signing into law a major nursing home reform bill Thursday at the James R. Thompson Center.... > More
More college students are homeless and hungry July 29, 2010 2:36 pm More college students are homeless and hungry because of current economic times, according to the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. To help combat the problem, UCLA keeps a covert food closet and formed an Economic... > More
Felons could get voting rights...maybe July 28, 2010 2:08 pm A Washington State Supreme Court judge recently ruled in favor of givingvoting rights to felons, but the legislative branch doesn't quite agree. The 5.4 million people nationwide exiled from voting booths includes a disproportional amount of black and Latino voters;... > More
New poll shows Obama's job performance at 43 percent among Latinos July 27, 2010 5:45 pm A new poll shows that while Hispanics largely favor the Democratic Party, only 43 percent think President Barack Obama is doing an adequate job of addressing their needs, according to The Huffington Post.... > More
ADA celebrates anniversary as Illinois cuts service to disabled July 26, 2010 4:46 pm Today is the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but unfortunately, there isn't much to celebrate lately. Illinois' Department of Human Services will undergo $310 million in cuts, mostly in the disability and mental health services area, according... > More

The Teen Reporter July 29, 2010

Beating and torture to join the cheerleading team? July 28, 2010 10:00 am According to statistics from hazing expert Dr. Susan Lipkins, 1.5 million high school students are hazed each year. Nearly half of high school students, 48 percent, report being subjected to hazing activities. Personally, I think that hazing is an unnecessary activity, one that only hurts people in the end. Beating,... > More
Teen sex offenders? July 26, 2010 10:25 am Surveys show that 39% of all teenagers either send or post sexually suggestive messages and 20% of all teenagers have sent or posted nude pics or videos of themselves. Sexting, is sending sexually explicit or nude pictures to someone. Although they are sending explicit pictures, this is increasingly becoming a... > More

Past Weekly Features

Help Is Out There By: Jeff Kelly LowensteinWest Side Center deals with obstacles, serves relatively few people. > Read Article
Hard Times In Lawndale By: Jeff Kelly LowensteinWest Side neighborhood has had better days, could rise again. > Read Article
Baltimore Gets Empowerment Right By: Ashley Mouldon and Jeff Kelly LowensteinBaltimore’s Empowerment Zone was rated among the most successful among the six cities. > Read Article
Is Anything Working? By: Jeff Kelly LowensteinDespite millions of dollars spent and thousands of people served, young people on the South and West Sides of Chicago have some of the highest rates of chronic unemployment in the country. > Read Article
Ex-offenders’ interests By: Angela CaputoAn analysis of voting records of the voting records of lawmakers representing Illinois’ 21 most inmate-heavy House districts. > Read Article
Shocking Results By: R. ThomasCorrections departments consider the benefits of adding Tasers. > Read Article
Best Practices By: Tara García MathewsonJail reforms itself from among worst. > Read Article
Taser Timeout By: Kelly VirellaA jail with a dubious record of Taser use is being used as a timeout for Cook County detainees. According to recent lawsuits, some inmates at the Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee, Ill., are being shocked with Tasers as a first, not last, resort—in some cases, when they’re already bound by handcuffs or in a restraint chair. > Read Article