Illinois news

• ‘Rolling out’ and Lexus collaborate to create an immersive generative AI audio experience

  25-11-2023 16:58 via chicagodefender.com
  Rolling out and Lexus announce the kick-off to launch a new era of seven-passenger luxury with a unique music innovation: the First-Ever Lexus TX and a new generative AI platform that pushes the boundaries of co-creation, culture, and technology with the rolling out AI Music Lab.
  This program between Lexus and rolling out represents an evolution from brand partnership to platform co-creation. Through this effort, participants will experience the unique vision of game-changing DJs Trauma, Traci S
  
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• This Week In Black History November 22 – 28, 2023

  23-11-2023 06:30 via chicagodefender.com
   
  NOVEMBER 22
  1865—The Mississippi legislature en­acts the first “Black Codes” aimed at controlling the former slaves. These laws, many of which other Southern states adopted, were so restrictive that they amounted to the re-enslavement of Blacks. In line with the view that much of racism has an economic basis, Blacks were specifically banned from owning farmland. Some of the “Black Codes” were eliminated during Recon­struction, but many actually remain
  
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• When the water wars come

  22-11-2023 18:58 via chicagoreader.com
  With the world’s sixth-largest freshwater lake at our fingertips, Chicago’s cup runneth over with bragging rights. Climate migration is predicted for the Second City, with hoards of people from out west tapping into our water privilege: our Great, and fragile, Lake. But currently, in Middle America, there’s a city running out of water.  No, it’s […]
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• Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas has charm and heart galore

  22-11-2023 16:20 via chicagoreader.com
  If you want a charming and heartwarming family show for the holidays, look no further than Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, now bringing all the sweet quiet magic of the Jim Henson 1977 television special to the stage. This isn’t a new show, exactly; it premiered at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Musicals in 2008, and had an off-Broadway […]
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• Mayor Johnson at 6 Months: The Biggest Challenges to His Administration

  19-11-2023 16:50 via chicagodefender.com
  Chicago’s ever-evolving migrant crisis remains the most significant challenge facing Mayor Brandon Johnson at the six-month mark of his tenure, according to political analysts interviewed by The Chicago Defender. 
  With the Winter season approaching, his administration has had to quickly institute measures to sustainably support new arrivals in a humanitarian crisis not of his own making. 
  By now, the story is well known. In March 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott instituted an operati
  
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• Howard Brown and Berlin Nightclub workers escalate fights for fair contracts

  18-11-2023 01:20 via chicagoreader.com
  “The boycott is happening as long as it takes. It will continue until we get a contract that is what we’re looking for, and that is equitable.”  Chelle Crotinger As Chicago’s weather straddles the line between temperate, global warming–inspired fall and its familiar brisk pseudowinter, two of the city’s labor unions are turning up the […]
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• Pierogi Papi does dumplings at the next Monday Night Foodball

  17-11-2023 03:16 via chicagoreader.com
  All Max Glassman had was a torn, water-stained recipe card. That’s what was left of his Busia Rose’s pierogi recipe. “It was what to do with the water and the flour, but it wasn’t how much and there were no ingredients,” says Glassman. “It just said warm water, and then it was letting the mixture […]
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• These Chicago Icons Set to Reopen the Ramona Theater This Fall

  16-11-2023 16:15 via chicagodefender.com
  Chicago luminaries Quincy Jones, Jennifer Hudson and Chance the Rapper have joined forces to reopen the historic Ramova Theater in Bridgeport, which was dormant for nearly four decades.
  Under the trio’s ownership, the Ramova is set to reopen in Fall 2023 as a completely reimagined space replete with a 1,500-capacity concert hall, grill, beer garden and brewery.
  “I believe the cultural divides in our communities will always be bridged and uplifted by music and the arts,” Jones t
  
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• Legal Notice: Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois

  14-11-2023 19:00 via chicagodefender.com
  The post Legal Notice: Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois appeared first on Chicago Defender.
  
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• Sen Morimoto’s Diagnosis points to an antidote for our rotten times

  13-11-2023 16:15 via chicagoreader.com
  Last month at the ChiTown Movies drive-in, Chicago art-pop musician Sen Morimoto hosted a listening party for his new third album, Diagnosis (City Slang/Sooper), that included a screening of Brian De Palma’s 1974 florid horror-comedy rock opera, Phantom of the Paradise. De Palma’s sui generis skewering of the music industry—of how its financial imperatives corrode […]
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• Date Announced for the 2024 Chosen Few Picnic and Music Festival

  12-11-2023 16:00 via chicagodefender.com
  Mark your calendars and consider this your save the date. 
  The Chosen Few Picnic and Music Festival, the world’s longest-running event dedicated to House Music, returns to Jackson Park on July 13, 2024. 
  The Chosen Few Djs announced the Picnic and Music Fest date on social media this past Wednesday. 
  As of this writing, that’s about 245 days away, but who’s counting?
  Anyway, pre-sale tickets are expected to be posted soon. You can be notified when they become ava
  
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• FBI Agents Seize Mayor Eric Adams’ Phone Amid Campaign Investigation

  11-11-2023 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  Photo: Getty Images
  FBI agents have seized electronic devices from New York Mayor Eric Adams amid an investigation into his 2021 campaign.
  On Friday (Nov. 10), Adams confirmed that agents took his phone at an event earlier this week, per ABC 7.
  “As a former member of law enforcement, I expect all members of my staff to follow the law and fully cooperate with any sort of investigation and I will continue to do exactly that. I have nothing to hide,” Adams said in a statement on Friday.
  
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• From Jail to Judge: A Play About Greg Mathis’s Life Comes to Park Forest

  10-11-2023 16:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  With all due respect to Judge Greg Mathis and his acclaimed 2002 biography “Inner City Miracle,” he is more than that. Like Joseph the Dreamer from the bible, this man’s life is not only A miracle.  
  Judge Mathis’s story is well known. Growing up in inner-city Detroit, he got caught up in street life and went to jail. But because of a promise to his ailing mother, Mathis decided that he would live and do right. Like Joseph, who went from prisoner to prime minist
  
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• Remembering Linsey Falls

  10-11-2023 15:01 via chicagoreader.com
  
  You may not have known Linsey Falls’s name, but if you spent much time in the audience at Chicago non-Equity and storefront theaters over the years, you almost certainly knew his face and his voice. His expressive features, big eyes, and mischievous grin lit up the stage in comic roles, and his malleable voice and […]
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• DOJ Launches Civil Rights Investigation Into Mississippi Police Department

  10-11-2023 15:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the Lexington, Mississippi police department over alleged civil rights violations.
  On Wednesday (November 8), Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said the agency has received credible reports of excessive force and discriminatory policing by Lexington police officers, per Reuters.
  Some of the allegations against the department include police stopping and searching people wit
  
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• Grand Lux Cafe Will Close Magnificent Mile Location After 21 Years

  10-11-2023 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Grand Lux Cafe, a destination for dates, birthday parties, and graduation celebrations, is closing its Chicago restaurant for good.
  The restaurant announced that it would be closing its Magnificent Mile location after 21 years, with its last day of service on Dec. 31.
  “We are working with our staff to help them transition to other opportunities in one of our nearby concepts,” the restaurant said in a statement. “We have enjoyed being a part of the downtown Chicago community and
  
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• Downstate weirdos Max Load brought punk to Belleville

  09-11-2023 19:39 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Secret History readers often ask about my criteria for including an artist. Sometimes they want me to cover an early-90s band, but I’m still reluctant—that’s when I started going to shows myself, so it seems too recent. I definitely felt that way when I launched this series in 2005, but I guess we’ll see.  I’m […]
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• This year is getting old, but Monday Night Foodball is brand-new

  09-11-2023 18:45 via chicagoreader.com
  
  I spent nine mornings last month in Portugal eating every possible pastry I could: among them pastéis de nata, pastéis de feijão, croissant brioche, travesseiros, Jesuítas, and the infamous pudim Abade de Priscos, aka bacon pudding. That was for work. And for work, I mean training in preparation for Cadinho Bakery’s debut on the new […]
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• Witch casts half a spell at Artistic Home

  09-11-2023 17:18 via chicagoreader.com
  
  In Jen Silverman’s 2018 play, Witch, the devil goes down to a quiet English village and finds a lot more than he bargained for, including a supposed witch who is surprisingly resistant to selling her soul. Loosely based on The Witch of Edmonton, a 1621 play by Thomas Dekker, William Rowley, and John Ford, Silverman’s […]
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• Stupid F#@*ing Bird makes Chekhov both timeless and contemporary

  09-11-2023 16:56 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Stupid F@*#ing Bird is my kind of play—the kind that plumbs the depths of despair as if it were a vaudeville skit. “I’m in mourning for my life,” says Mash, quoting a line straight out of Chekhov’s The Seagull. Presented by Bluebird Arts and directed by Luda Lopatina Solomon, not every line is directly translated […]
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• Once on This Island illustrates the beauty of storytelling

  09-11-2023 16:35 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s 1998 Tony Award-winning score for Ragtime (book by Terrence McNally) has many virtues—strong songs, strong characters, moments of great drama—but for my money, it cannot hold a candle to Ahrens and Flaherty’s earlier, less complicated, but no less ambitious musical, Once on this Island. First produced on Broadway in 1990, […]
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• Oh, the Places You’ll Glow hits the switch on warmhearted comedy

  09-11-2023 16:20 via chicagoreader.com
  
  This was the first time in a long time that a Second City performance didn’t seem to be an audition for Saturday Night Live. The company of four women and two men (a refreshing change of balance) were right there, engaging with the audience and each other in the moment—the very definition of genuine improv. […]
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• Jackson Junge Gallery’s fix for an insatiable visual appetite

  09-11-2023 16:19 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Works by over 300 of Chicago’s emerging and seasoned artists are on full display in “TEN by TEN” at Wicker Park’s Jackson Junge Gallery. Spanning styles, mediums, and themes, the exhibition features over 400 bold and intricate pieces.  Guidelines for submissions were limited to only two requirements: each piece must be 10 inches by 10 […]
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• Assassins at Theo examines the real national pastime: violence

  09-11-2023 16:07 via chicagoreader.com
  
  I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Stephen Sondheim’s appallingly timely tale of U.S. assassins (and wannabe assassins) since it premiered in 1990. I can tell you that Theo’s production hones in on the pure, unadulterated rage that defines the show with a fervor I’ve never encountered before.  In director Daryl Brooks’s staging, […]
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• Chicago’s Finest Black Artists Shine at the 23rd Annual Black Excellence Awards

  09-11-2023 16:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Black Ensemble Theater Founder & CEO Jackie Taylor at the 23rd Annual Black Excellence Awards presented by the Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago on November 6, 2023. Photo Credit: Out The Box Creative Group
  The best, brightest and most dynamic Black artists in dance, film, literature, music, theater, visual art and digital media received their flowers at the 23rd Annual Black Excellence Awards, held on Monday at the venerable Black Ensemble Theater. 
  Since the Black Arts
  
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• This Week In Black History Nov. 8-14, 2023

  09-11-2023 15:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  WILMA RUDOLPH
  November 8
  1898—The Wilmington Massacre occurs. A mob of Whites launched a terror campaign against Blacks in Wilmington, N.C. They destroyed a Black newspaper plant, seized control of city government and officially left nine to 11 Blacks dead. However, the unofficial death toll was said to be closer to 100.
  1932—Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president. During his 16 years in office Roosevelt instituted a series of New Deal programs designed to pull the nation out
  
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• Cherelle Parker Makes History, Elected Philadelphia’s First Female Mayor

  09-11-2023 15:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: GC Images
  Democrat Cherelle Parker made history Tuesday night (November 7) after she was elected to be Philadelphia’s mayor, making her the first woman to hold that office, according to NBC News. The former Philadelphia City Council member will also serve as the city’s 100th mayor after defeating Republican David Oh.
  Before her historic win, Parker triumphed over five other candidates in the competitive Democratic primary back in May. She will succeed Democrat Jim Kenney, who
  
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• Gabo Amo Makes History As Rhode Island’s 1st Black Congressman

  09-11-2023 01:08 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  Former White House aide Gabe Amo (D) has made history in Rhode Island.
  On Tuesday (November 7), Amo defeated Republican challenger Gerry Leonard, winning Rhode Island’s first congressional district seat, per the Guardian.
  Amo, the son of Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants, is the state’s first Black candidate to be elected to Congress. Amo said his political career has been inspired by the drive of his parents.
  “Just because my parents were born in two differe
  
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• Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear Defeats Daniel Cameron In Kentucky Election

  09-11-2023 00:56 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) has won re-election.
  On Tuesday (November 7), Beshear defeated his Republican challenger, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, in the race for Kentucky governor, NBC News projected.
  As he sought a second term, the Kentucky governor emphasized the state’s economic progress over the past four years along with his response to the pandemic and natural disasters, including devastating floods.
  Meanwhile, Cameron, who made history in 2019 a
  
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• Twelfth Night is a perfect ten at Chicago Shakes

  08-11-2023 23:03 via chicagoreader.com
  
  They couldn’t be more different in tone and setting, but Tyrone Phillips’s current gorgeous staging of Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare and Robert Falls’s brilliant 2013 reimagining of Measure for Measure at the Goodman have one thing in common: bold directorial choices at the end that resolve nagging questions I’ve always had about how Shakespeare […]
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• CHARGING TOWARD CHANGE: More than Hot Air

  08-11-2023 18:26 via chicagodefender.com
  For the next installment of our “Clear the Air” series on environmental justice, we explore the power of community in shaping environmental decisions.
  In recent years, the issue of environmental justice has taken center stage, spurred by commitments from the Biden administration and the growing demand from the public to address environmental inequalities. At the heart of this movement lies a fundamental question: How do communities influence the decisions made about the environment?
  
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• Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Celebrates Community and Resilience

  08-11-2023 16:15 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photos by Todd Rosenberg
  Deeply Rooted Dance Theater is grounded in the celebration of African-American and American techniques in dance and storytelling through modern and classical styles. The company was founded by Kevin Jeff Iega in 1996 with Gary Abbott, LaVerne Alaphaire Jeff, Diane Shober, and Linda Spriggs.Together, they worked under the model of what is quoted as Jeff’s commitment to the process of art and created an inclusive environment for dance to thrive under the guise of tea
  
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• Five Black Women Raped, Intimidated By ‘Dirty Cops’, Lawsuit Says

  08-11-2023 15:45 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  Five Black women are suing a former Kansas police officer after facing alleged abuse from him and other cops, per KCTV.
  According to a federal lawsuit, retired detective Roger Golubski and others were “dirty cops who used the power of their badges to exploit Black women.”
  The women claim officers raped, humiliated, and intimidated them while wearing badges and carrying guns.
  “Report me to who, the police? I am the police,” Golubski allegedly said after
  
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• Young Men in Philly, Chicago Die From Guns More Than US Troops in Battle

  08-11-2023 15:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Philadelphia teens participate in a ‘Die in’ to draw attention to gun violence on April 14, 2022. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
  by Alex Knorre, Boston College
  Mass shootings tend to dominate the debate over gun violence – but they accounted for just 3% of all firearm homicides in the United States in 2021.
  The vast majority of gun homicides are murders that happen in an extremely concentrated number of neighborhoods – places where the rate of gun deaths rivals war zones
  
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• The Carr Report: ‘Save me today, I’ll save you tomorrow’

  08-11-2023 15:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Most people are struggling financially. What’s sad, many of those who are struggling financially either don’t know they’re struggling or don’t care.  78 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.  Yet only 55 percent are worried about their finances.  I guess the remaining 23 percent who are not worried about their finances are in denial. 
  Truth of the matter is money doesn’t come with instructions. Many of us graduate from high school
  
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• MR. SONNY KNOWS for Nov. 8

  08-11-2023 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The post MR. SONNY KNOWS for Nov. 8 appeared first on Chicago Defender.
  
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• ‘Voter Intimidation’: Police Set Up Checkpoint Near HBCU Ahead Of Election

  08-11-2023 13:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  The Mississippi NAACP is calling out Capitol police for setting up safety checkpoints near Jackson State University ahead of the state’s general election, WAPT reports.
  “Setting up roadblocks near precincts is a very suspicious form of voter intimidation,” NAACP Jackson President Nsombi Lambright said in a statement.
  On Monday (November 6), Capitol police SUVs were spotted with blue, flashing lights on University Boulevard at Lynch Street as JSU students cam
  
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• Urban League’s Gala Raises Almost $2.4 Million, Honors Community Leaders

  08-11-2023 01:03 via chicagodefender.com
  
  All Photos by Wagner Lane Productions
  The Chicago Urban League’s 62nd Annual Golden Fellowship Dinner garnered nearly $2.4 million to support education, job training, housing, entrepreneurship and leadership programs. 
  Drawing in an audience of approximately 2,000 who were all elegantly attired to celebrate the Chicago Urban League’s accomplishments, the event welcomed a diverse crowd, including representatives from the business, politics and nonprofit sectors.
  Chicago Urban Lea
  
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• The Trenchies celebrate a new record with an old lineup

  07-11-2023 20:07 via chicagoreader.com
  
  On October 26, frisky Chicago indie rockers the Trenchies dropped their debut album, Addie’s Got a Famous Dad, but the lineup of the emerging band is in flux. Drummer Thom Weiss has moved to Virginia for grad school, and bassist Claire King (Weiss’s girlfriend) has stepped back from the group too. But when the Trenchies […]
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• RICJ Racial Justice Writers’ Room Fall Cohort Concludes

  07-11-2023 16:30 via chicagoreader.com
  
  On Wednesday, November 1, the second cohort of the RICJ Racial Justice Writers’ Room concluded with a celebration at DePaul University. The Writers’ Room was led by Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, documentary filmmaker, and media activist Judith McCray, who is the Senior Professional in Residence in DePaul University’s journalism program, teaching documentary production, social justice […]
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• Amid Controversy, Ald. Ramirez-Rosa Resigns as City Council Floor Leader

  07-11-2023 15:15 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward), a key ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, has stepped down as City Council floor leader after a “disrespectful interaction” with a fellow council member who happens to be the most senior Black woman member of the governing body.
  He apologized for his actions, which stemmed from an altercation with Ald. Emma Mitts (37th Ward) during last week’s special City Council meeting, which primarily focused on Chicago’s response to the influx of migr
  
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• J. Pharoah Doss: Is proportionality in war absurd?

  07-11-2023 15:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The latest update out of the Middle East, as of this writing, stated that Israeli forces have intensified their bombardment of the Gaza Strip as the war with Hamas rages on. This is now the deadliest conflict in Gaza for both sides. The Hamas-run Health Ministry claims at least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed and 15,270 have been wounded. Since the Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas, in which 222 individuals, including foreigners, were taken captive in Gaza, more than 1,400 Israelis have been k
  
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• Questions Surround Death Of Black Man Who Was Shot, Found In Burning Car

  07-11-2023 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  An Atlanta family is seeking answers after a 45-year-old man was shot and left for dead in the back of a burning car, Atlanta News First reports.
  The body of Corey McDonald, 45, was discovered after authorities received a 911 call last month about two people in ski masks setting a car on fire.
  “It was just so brutal,” Torestha McDonald, the victim’s mother, said. “You killed somebody, and you tossed them in the back of their own car? And you drive arou
  
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• Lyric’s victorious Daughter of the Regiment

  06-11-2023 20:32 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Opera seasons are usually planned far in advance, so there was no way for the folks in charge of scheduling at Lyric to predict that not one but two actual wars would be raging when the curtain went up on their second production of the season, Gaetano Donizetti’s 1840 comic work, The Daughter of the […]
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• UTN and Aetna Better Health Partner to Launch Urban Youth ‘Beet’ Program

  06-11-2023 18:53 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Urban Transformation Network, spearheaded by President Don Patterson, embarked on a mission to transform abandoned lands into powerful resources. 
  From humble beginnings in a small box, the organization’s innovative approach led to the birth of Metro Farms. Today, Metro Farms has evolved into a significant organization that continues to extend helping hands to communities in profoundly impactful ways.
  UTN recently formed an influential partnership with the Mayor’s Office and Aet
  
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• City Picks Black Artist’s Design For Harriet Tubman Statue After Backlash

  06-11-2023 15:15 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  The city of Philadelphia is moving forward with a Black artist’s winning design of a Harriet Tubman statue for outside City Hall after facing backlash for originally selecting a white artist to create the monument.
  According to the Associated Press, artist Alvin Pettit won a competition against four other semifinalists to have his design featured in front of City Hall. Pettit’s “A Higher Power: The Call of a Freedom Freedom Fighter,” will portray Tubma
  
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• Making Connections That Can Help Save the Planet

  06-11-2023 15:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  By Ben Jealous
  If we’re going to realize the climate benefits of historic federal support for clean energy and jobs approved in the last two years, connections are the key. And I’m not just talking about electrifying homes and buildings.
  We need to connect people to the benefits spread throughout the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. We do that by connecting people to others in the communities where they live and with the individuals, loca
  
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• Fitch Ratings Affirms City Colleges of Chicago’s A+ Credit Rating

  06-11-2023 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  City Colleges of Chicago announces that Fitch Ratings has affirmed its credit rating of A+ and upgraded the community college system’s outlook from Stable to Positive.
  “We are pleased to see the improvement in our ratings outlook, a recognition of our efforts to successfully eliminate a structural deficit and rebuild cash reserves while at the same time posting above average post-pandemic enrollment gains, and continuing to grow in-demand programs and invest in critical student suppo
  
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• White Christians More Likely To Deny Racism Exists: Study

  06-11-2023 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  White Christians are more likely to deny that racism exists, according to a new survey.
  The survey, which was conducted by the Pew Research Center in April, asked Americans to answer the following question about race relations: “Which issue poses a more significant challenge to the country regarding race – the tendency to overlook racism when it’s present or the inclination to perceive racism where it doesn’t exist?”
  53 percent of Americans said
  
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• Abstract language and sacred knowing

  06-11-2023 14:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  In Kameelah Janan Rasheed’s solo exhibition “Unsewn Time,” curated by Grace Deveney, letters and words are isolated, and punctuation marks are paired with incalculable calculations to form new sentences. Using her body as a writing instrument, Rasheed devises a new language that flows from the soul and a spiritual sense of knowing. “Kameelah Janan Rasheed: […]
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