Illinois news

• Two Atlanta brothers who plotted to kill their parents get 20 years

  08-11-2016 15:52 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Gwinnett County Sheriffs Department
  GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. – Two suburban Atlanta brothers who plotted to kill their parents by trying to blow of the home have been slapped with 20 years each in prison.
  Chris and Cameron Ervin accepted plea bargains. Their parents, despite nearly being murdered by their kids, pleaded for mercy, insisting what happened that September 2015 night was simply drug induced.
  Christopher Ervin said he and his younger brother were both high on drugs when
  
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• J. Pharoah Doss: The Ayatollah adopts American students

  18-06-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Close allies: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the man who was expected to succeed him, President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash on May 19 2024. ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Live News
  The History Channel ran a series called History vs. Hollywood. Each episode examined a biopic or historical epic to determine whether the film accurately reflected historical events. The series revealed that Hollywood tended to mythologize the past rather than be historically
  
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• Mayor Johnson Signs Executive Order To Launch Black Reparations Task Force

  18-06-2024 05:25 via chicagodefender.com
  
  In a significant move ahead of Juneteenth, Mayor Brandon Johnson has signed an executive order to create a Reparations Task Force. The goal of this task force is to develop a Black Reparations Agenda.
  The task force will collaborate with the Aldermanic Black Caucus, the Mayor’s offices of Equity and Racial Justice, Business, Economic and Neighborhood Development, and other key city departments. 
  This body will conduct a thorough study of the policies and ordinances that have harmed Bl
  
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• ‘Bling Bishop’ Lamor Whitehead Sentenced To 9 Years For Fraud, Extortion

  18-06-2024 02:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  Lamor Whitehead, known as New York’s “Bling Bishop,” has been sentenced on fraud and extortion charges.
  On Monday (June 17), U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced that Whitehead was sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted of one count of making false statements to the FBI, one count of attempted extortion, one count of attempted wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud in March, per PIX11 News.
  During a two-week trial, Whitehead, pastor at
  
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• Opera as oratorio

  17-06-2024 21:15 via chicagoreader.com
  
  It’s safe to assume that any Haymarket Opera Company performance will transport you from the blare of contemporary life to the more genteel soundscape of the baroque. Last weekend’s production of George Frideric Handel’s “oratorio” La Resurrezione delivered, with five masters of baroque vocal performance and a 20-piece orchestra of period instruments, conducted by British […]
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• Project Brotherhood Champions, Establishes Day Dedicated To Black Male Health

  17-06-2024 15:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  By Ashleigh Fields
  On the South Side of Chicago, Black men have collectively prioritized and mobilized on issues paramount to their demographic. Prostate cancer, lung cancer and the lack of participation in clinical trials have remained hot topics for the local group known as Project Brotherhood.
  “We create a safe space for men to come together,” said Murray. “Everything we do is culturally and specifically designed for Black men; we speak to them in a way that they can relate
  
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• Civil rights leader James Lawson, who learned from Gandhi, used nonviolent resistance and the ‘power of love’ to challenge injustice

  17-06-2024 14:32 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Civil rights activist James M. Lawson Jr. speaks in Murfreesboro, Tenn., in 2015. AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, Fileby Anthony Siracusa, St. John Fisher University
  Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., who died on June 9, 2024, at the age of 95, was a Methodist minister and a powerful advocate of nonviolence during the Civil Rights Movement.
  Lawson is best known for piloting two crucial civil rights campaigns – one in Nashville in 1960 and the other in Memphis in 1968.
  In Nashville, Lawson trained students
  
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• White Man Plotted To Shoot Up Atlanta Concert To Start ‘Race War’: Feds

  17-06-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  An Arizona gun vendor allegedly plotted to target Black people in a mass shooting at an Atlanta concert in hopes of starting a “race war.”
  On Tuesday (June 11), 58-year-old Mark Adams Prieto was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of firearms trafficking, transfer of a firearm for use in a hate crime, and possession of an unregistered firearm, per HuffPost.
  The indictment came after Prieto was arrested last month for supplying guns to federal informants in
  
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• Fathers need to care for themselves as well as their kids – but often don’t

  16-06-2024 15:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Fathers often place more emphasis on their role as head of household than their health.Marmion/Shutterstock.comby Derek M. Griffith, Georgetown University and Elizabeth C. Stewart, Vanderbilt University
  If you had to choose, which would you rather have: a healthy father or a good father?
  Studies suggest men often choose being a good father over being healthy.
  Becoming a father is a major milestone in the life of a man, often shifting the way he thinks from being “me focused” to &ldqu
  
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• Welcome to Fatherhood Inc.: Celebrating, Enriching and Empowering Fathers

  16-06-2024 15:15 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Welcome to Fatherhood Inc., or WTF for short, is a non-profit organization founded by Sir Royce Briales and Raheem Young. Its aim is to empower dads of all ages to demonstrate their superpowers to the world.
  The idea sprang from conversations about the challenges and anxieties Briales and Young faced as they awaited the arrival of their first children. In response, they established WTF as a platform for new and experienced fathers to share their parenting journeys.
  “The mission of Welcome
  
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• ‘We’ve been here all this time’

  16-06-2024 13:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  At the largest independent queer library and archive in the midwest, people of all ages work together to preserve LGBTQ+ history and ensure it remains accessible to the community. From drag costumes to love letters, the librarians and archivists at Gerber/Hart, 6500 N. Clark, safeguard thousands of artifacts, documents, and books that help to tell […]
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• Real Men Cook: 35 Years of Celebrating Fathers And Uplifting Black Men

  15-06-2024 22:42 via chicagodefender.com
  
  When Yvette Moyo co-founded Real Men Cook with Kofi Moyo, the mission was clear: to change the narrative around Black men and celebrate their contributions as fathers, mentors and community leaders.
  “At that time, even though there were no Black unemployment statistics for males, we still understood that the media portrayed Black men negatively,” Moyo recalled. In creating Real Men Cook, they aimed to dominate the media with positive messages and images of Black men. 
  Aspiration
  
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• Real Fatherhood: Joseph Williams, Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club Leads a Movement

  15-06-2024 15:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  “Fatherhood saved my life.” 
  Joseph Williams stated this unequivocally when recalling how he went from being a young man finding his way to becoming one of our city’s biggest champions for fatherhood. 
  It’s because of Williams and his organization, Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club, that dozens of other men have been able to achieve a similar transformation.
  The story of this innovative organization begins with a book or more specifically, an assignment that W
  
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• Austin’s Front Porch Arts Center Plans Grand Opening June 15

  15-06-2024 14:15 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Local author and community arts advocate Keli Stewart invites friends and neighbors to a Grand Opening of Front Porch Arts Center’s new storefront space at 5851 W. Madison St., Saturday June 15 from noon to 3 p.m.
  The fundraiser for the 501(C)3 nonprofit, now in its fifth year,  will feature readings by local poets plus the “(R)Evolution” Art Exhibition,  a Juneteenth  show by local artists curated by Westside artist Tony Collins. The exhibit includes art wo
  
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• What the statue of a kneeling enslaved man in the Emancipation Memorial of 1876 tells us about its history

  15-06-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C. 
  − an art historian explainsby Virginia Raguin, College of the Holy Cross
  The striking Emancipation Memorial statue in Washington, D.C., shows Abraham Lincoln standing, while a man wearing only a loincloth is appearing to rise from a kneeling position.
  The face in the memorial is that of Archer Alexander, who had escaped slavery in 1863 by fleeing to St. Louis, Missouri. Fundraising for a memorial was launched in 1864 by Char
  
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• Sharp Pins’ homegrown power pop sounds as big as the stars

  14-06-2024 20:58 via chicagoreader.com
  
  In 2021, Lifeguard singer-guitarist Kai Slater began publishing Hallogallo, a zine that documents the young Chicago indie-rock scene that’s taken the Hallogallo name as its own—he’s not just an active member of this community but also a kind of figurehead. Slater’s zine provides a window into his own tastes too, and he’s interviewed some big […]
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• Our Work

  14-06-2024 19:42 via chicagoreader.com
  
  By Stavroula Harissis
  The post Our Work appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  
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• Thalia Hall hosts a triple-header of slow-burning heavy music

  14-06-2024 19:09 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Mind Burns Alive, the new fifth studio album by Pallbearer, is a strong, diverse effort that weaves existential emotional vulnerability through a crush of heavy doom with progressive spacey pacing. Little Rock’s loudest exports are experts at building tension, and when they do finally deliver a payoff, it emphasizes the conflicted hopes and naked longing […]
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• Pakistani qawwali ensemble the Saami Brothers showcase ancient traditions in a rare Chicago performance

  14-06-2024 19:09 via chicagoreader.com
  
  The singers in Pakistani ensemble the Saami Brothers like to take their time onstage—each vocal step moves the performance upward gradually toward a collective sense of ecstasy. That deliberate pacing is in keeping with the long, slow development of the qawwali tradition, which has been growing for more than 800 years. Qawwali has origins as […]
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• Jean Deaux finds a shining new beginning on Nowhere, Fast

  14-06-2024 19:09 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Last spring, Chicago R&B artist Jean Deaux performed a show while recovering from laryngitis, and it turned out she wasn’t nearly healed enough: she caused herself a vocal injury that kept her offstage for a year. “I had to go see a specialist and they told me I had to be on vocal rest for […]
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• Jake Meginsky brings his percussive electronic improvisations to the Experimental Sound Studio garden

  14-06-2024 19:09 via chicagoreader.com
  
  You’ll never lack for things to do on a summery Sunday afternoon in Chicago, but the Option Series is one of a kind. Curated by musicians Andrew Clinkman, Lily Glick Finnegan, and Ken Vandermark, it presents weekly performances and conversations with improvising musicians in the backyard of the Experimental Sound Studio (in the event of […]
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• Cedric Burnside embodies raw, electric Mississippi blues

  14-06-2024 19:09 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Singer, guitarist, and drummer Cedric Burnside comes from a long line of blues performers; his grandfather is cultishly beloved guitarist and singer R.L. Burnside, and his father is blues drummer Calvin Jackson. He started touring at age 13 and had roughly 30 years of experience under his belt by the time he won his first […]
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• Argentina’s Kumbia Queers bring their political tropic punk to Chicago

  14-06-2024 19:09 via chicagoreader.com
  
  In 2007, six Buenos Aires musicians—veterans of iconic Latin American punk bands, including Argentina’s She-Devils and Mexico’s Las Ultrasónicas—joined forces to create their own kind of cumbia. Their feverish, vibrant, and decidedly queer take on the venerable genre sounded light-years away not just from the usual wedding-celebration favorites but also from the grungy cumbia villera […]
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• Shelter evictions, City Council spat, mobile DMV

  14-06-2024 17:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  You don’t have to go home . . . Chicago officials are ramping up the pace of evictions at city-run shelters for asylum seekers and other new arrivals, the Chicago Tribune reports, now including families with young children among those forced out by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 60-day stay limit. It’s the second major round of […]
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• Review: Inside Out 2

  14-06-2024 16:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Our emotions often run rampant, oscillating between immeasurable joy and profound sadness in seconds. Learning to teach our internal voices to live in harmony is a lifelong (and unforgiving) endeavor. Yet, there is a universally hellish phase where this challenge feels more impossible by the day: puberty.  That’s where we find Riley (Kensington Tallman), the […]
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• Chicago Celebrates Juneteenth with Spectacular Events and Festivities

  14-06-2024 16:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Chicago’s diverse Juneteenth celebrations honor the legacy of freedom with community events, festivals, and educational activities. From historical reflections to vibrant festivities, the city commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people and the ongoing pursuit of equity and justice.
  On June 19, 1865, two years (and a half) after Abraham Lincoln declared enslaved people free, Texans still bound by the rules of slavery were finally set free. However, it wasn’t until Union troops r
  
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• Oklahoma Supreme Court Dismisses Lawsuit From Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors

  14-06-2024 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  Oklahoma Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre seeking reparations, Reuters reports.
  The move upheld a judge’s decision last year to dismiss the case for reparations for the violence and destruction of Black Wall Street, located in Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood, in 1921. Roughly 300 Black people were killed by a white mob that attacked the community.
  Lawyers for the survivors Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, and 110-ye
  
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• Chicago Legend Buddy Guy to Join NASCAR Chicago Street Race for a Special Main Stage Performance on July 6

  14-06-2024 05:45 via chicagodefender.com
  
  This week, NASCAR announced that one of Chicago’s most beloved legends, Buddy Guy, will play a special set at the Chicago Street Race Weekend on Saturday, July 6. One of Rolling Stone’s “greatest guitarists of all time,” the hometown icon will bring his hallmark Chicago Blues sound to the main stage, following a special 40th Anniversary Chicago House Music showcase.
  “Last year’s Chicago Street Race was a great opportunity to put Chicago center-stage and I&rsqu
  
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• Tony Mata summons the 3 Little Piggy at the next Monday Night Foodball

  13-06-2024 20:19 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Ahhh, 2009. Chicago was home to the sitting president of the United States, the tallest building in the world designed by a woman, and “the greatest sandwich in America.” That’s what Anthony Bourdain called the 3 Little Piggy, the monumental stack of egg and gooey gruyere atop bacon, ham, and crispy panko-fried pork cutlet he […]
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• Slutty Vegan and Native Foods Unite In Chicago For Delicious Pop-Up Event

  13-06-2024 20:17 via chicagodefender.com
  
  By Rashad Alexander
  Last week, two all-star vegan brands teamed up in Chicago as one of the country’s most popular vegan eateries came to town.
  Native Foods recently hosted Slutty Vegan, the Atlanta-based company currently touring the country and hosting pop-ups in multiple cities.
  The Chicago pop-up at Native Foods in downtown Chicago included select items from the Slutty Vegan menu, including the “One Night Stand,” “Sloppy Toppy,” and “Fussy Hussy” bur
  
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