No News Bites Here

Why subscribe? Watch our new video brochure! View the large screen version here.

Current Issue

Fast-Track Deportations

Thousands are being deported without a chance to appear before an immigration judge.

> Read More

A 'Disturbing Trend'

November, 2002 Predominantly African American or Latino, low-income Chicago communities have generated the highest lottery sales in the state.

Table of Contents

Foster Children Clustered in Few Schools

Sarah KarpLike Tyrone McGhee (above), thousands of foster children end up concentrated in a small number of troubled Chicago public schools, and they are struggling. But officials can't agree on what to do about it.
> Read More
Keeping Current

Cook County Offers Chinese-Language Ballots

Two years ago, Tankow Kwong stepped into a voting booth to cast his first ballot as a naturalized U.S. citizen. He voted for president, but skipped over all the other offices

> Read More

Suburban Districks Asking State for Help

Chicago schools are not the only ones grappling with the education of former and current foster children. Eight south suburban school districts have turned to the state legislature to ask for help with such students.> Read More
Web Extras

Flanagan Shenanigans

Most voters don't know much about judicial candidates and judges seeking retention, experts said. As a result, voters might skip over judicial races on the ballot or select candidates based on their last names or gender. Some said such arbitrary choices undermine the quality of the judicial system.> Read More
Web Extras

Loyola's Program Narrows its Focus

Until this year, Loyola University Chicago's Asian and Asian American Studies program was praised in national academic circles for its focus on Asians in the United States.> Read More

Few Hired, Fewer Tenured

In 2001, minority professors were less likely to be tenured at Chicago-area universities and colleges> Read More

Losing Ground

Faculties at Chicago-area universities have grown more diverse, but, in 2001, the share of tenured minority professors still lagged behind that of minority undergraduates.> Read More

Fewer Mentors

Chicago-area colleges and universities have far more minority students for every tenured minority professor than white students per tenured white professor. Experts say low numbers of tenured minority professors can hinder the development of both minority and white students, who might look to such faculty as mentors.> Read More

Experts Dispute 'Poor Pipeline'

In 1985, the state legislature created two programs to increase minority doctorates in Illinois: the Illinois Minority Graduate Incentive Program and the Illinois Consortium for Education Opportunities Program.> Read More

Looking to a Mentor

Jackelin Brooks believes that black youth need more black role models.> Read More
Inside Stories

Minority Faculty Finish Last on Tenure Track

Four-year colleges and universities in the Chicago metropolitan area have made little progress on improving tenured faculty diversity since 1993.> Read More

Falling Behind

During the 2001-2002 school year, the 32 elementary and high schools with the most children living with foster parents or other non-relative guardians ranked far behind the city's remaining schools in reading and math scores. Students at the 32 schools were more likely to be black and poor, and to change schools often> Read More

Concentrated Kids

During the 2001-2002 school year, one-fifth of all students with non-relative guardians were enrolled in 32 of the city's 600 public schools. These schools were located in poor, predominantly black community areas on the city's South and West sides.> Read More

Agencies Take Issue with Data

The officials who work most closely with foster children disagree on the accuracy of the data used in this investigation. But none tracks, or can provide, comparable numbers.