Illinois news

• Evan Mills sets his sights for LA

  01-05-2024 17:15 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Every year, comedy hopefuls swarm into Chicago, hoping to find a place in classes at Second City that might lead to performing at Second City e.t.c. or the mainstage—the legendary launching pad to Saturday Night Live and stardom in other television and film projects. That possibility is embodied by the photos of past Second City […]
  The post Evan Mills sets his sights for LA appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  
  Read more

• Lavender Men is a time-traveling queer fantasia

  22-05-2024 18:22 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Lavender Men—in its midwest premiere with About Face Theatre—is giving opportunity; opportunity to see the story from another angle, perhaps. It’s a chance to trip lightly through a fantasia and through time itself. It’s part revisionist history that undoes centuries of queer and Black erasure by confronting American myths perpetrated by the privileged, and part […]
  The post <i>Lavender Men</i> is a time-traveling queer fantasia appeared first on Chica
  
  Read more

• TimeLine exits their longtime home with a Dust Bowl drama

  22-05-2024 18:05 via chicagoreader.com
  
  With stories of migrants and climate change in the news every day, Chicago playwright Dolores Díaz’s Black Sunday couldn’t be more timely—even if it is set in 1935. TimeLine Theatre’s world premiere, directed by Helen Young (the last production in their longtime Wellington Avenue home), offers a welcome lens on a chapter in Great Depression […]
  The post TimeLine exits their longtime home with a Dust Bowl drama appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  
  Read more

• Next to Normal gets a South Asian perspective

  22-05-2024 17:45 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Sixteen years after the premiere of the original Tony Award–winning musical Next to Normal (book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt), Pop Up! Productions presents a South Asian rendition to Chicago audiences at the South Asia Institute. Next to NormalThrough 5/26: Thu-Fri 7 PM, Sat-Sun 2 and 7 PM; South Asia […]
  The post <i>Next to Normal</i> gets a South Asian perspective appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Meet Ted Williams III: 2024 Chicago Defender Men of Excellence Honoree

  22-05-2024 16:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  As an educator, performance artist, playwright, actor and public servant, Ted Williams III is truly a hyphenate. This man of many talents, who has a profound commitment to education, community service and the arts, has been selected as a 2024 Men of Excellence honoree. 
  “I’m just honored to be considered among the real movers, shakers, influencers, and community servants who represent the group of men who are being honored this year and have been honored previously,” Willi
  
  Read more

• Parkway Ballroom Reborn as Parkway Social, Celebrates Black Majesty in Bronzeville

  22-05-2024 14:45 via chicagodefender.com
  
  In 1939, a Black entrepreneur opened the Parkway Ballroom in Bronzeville to celebrate Black creativity, enterprise, and community.  
  In this place, Black people from all walks of life came together to be entertained, intrigued and well-fed. 
  The Parkway Ballroom was a source of elegance and dignity amid segregation and hate. Many notable entertainers like Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker, Nat King Cole and Lena Horne have stepped foot in this historic building.
  Fast-forward to the
  
  Read more

• ‘Bling Bishop’ Lamor Whitehead Bail Revoked, Jailed Ahead Of Sentencing

  22-05-2024 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  Lamor Whitehead, known as New York’s “Bling Bishop,” has been sent to jail ahead of his sentencing for extortion and fraud.
  According to the New York Daily, Manhattan Federal Judge Lorna Schofield recently revoked Whitehead’s bail after he was 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.
  During a two-week trial, Whitehead, pastor
  
  Read more

• The Carr Report: How not to suck at money!

  22-05-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Here’s something that may surprise you. Most people suck at managing money regardless of how much money they make. Yep, it’s possible to be good at earning money and terrible at spending, saving and investing money. It’s possible to be both a tightwad and a spendthrift simultaneously. How can one be a tightwad—someone reluctant to spend money and be a spendthrift—someone who spends money in a reckless way? Easy, we all have things that we absolutely refuse to spend
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• MR. SONNY KNOWS for May 22, 2024

  22-05-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The post MR. SONNY KNOWS for May 22, 2024 appeared first on Chicago Defender.
  
  Read more

• Lil Wayne, Dancehall Sensation Shenseea Added to Afro Nation Detroit 2024 Lineup

  21-05-2024 23:48 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Afro Nation Detroit celebrates global Black culture in one of the world’s most historic music cities, and international superstars will converge in Detroit for the second annual Afro Nation Detroit – the country’s largest Afrobeats concert – which takes place Aug. 17-18.
  Afro Nation announced on May 21 that Lil Wayne and Shenseea have been added to this year’s event, joining an already star-studded lineup of local and Afrobeats artists including Kash Doll, Kizz Dani
  
  Read more

• Rest in power to cellist Octavia Reese

  21-05-2024 22:29 via chicagoreader.com
  
  I met Octavia Reese at Cafe Mustache in 2021, and from the start she seemed too good to be true. There’s just no way to see someone so multifaceted, magnetic, and accomplished without thinking it’s some kind of ploy, a fantasy projected onto a silver screen.  Even after I followed Octavia on social media, it […]
  The post Rest in power to cellist Octavia Reese appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  
  Read more

• Blind Adam & the Federal League pair punk rock and softball this Sunday

  21-05-2024 18:48 via chicagoreader.com
  
  On Sunday, May 26, punk-adjacent local hot-sauce makers Soothsayer and Americana-tinged local punk band Blind Adam & the Federal League host the Chicago Sunday Softball Spectacular. The event includes a 16-inch softball game in Union Park that starts at 2 PM, followed by an all-ages concert two blocks north at Cobra Lounge whose doors open […]
  The post Blind Adam & the Federal League pair punk rock and softball this Sunday appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  
  Read more

• Los blancos tienen a Emily Dickinson, los mexicanos a José Olivarez

  21-05-2024 17:51 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Read in English La primera vez que conocí a José Olivarez fue en 2018, mientras yo era organizadora con Brown and Proud Press (BPP). BPP organizó una serie de eventos que llamamos “Cumbia & Stanzas”, donde los poetas compartieron el escenario con varios DJs. Estábamos tan emocionados de darle la bienvenida a Olivarez, quien amablemente […]
  The post Los blancos tienen a Emily Dickinson, los mexicanos a José Olivarez appeared first on Chic
  
  Read more

• Bears CEO Hosts Business Leadership Council Meeting at Soldier Field

  21-05-2024 16:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  World Business Chicago Board Vice-Chair Charles Smith with in discussion with Chicago Bears Team President and CEO Kevin Warren (Credit: Erika Bracey Photography).
  The Business Leadership Council recently held its Q2 General Membership Meeting at the iconic Soldier Field. The event was hosted by the Chicago Bears and the team’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Warren. Attendees were treated to an enlightening conversation with Warren and World Business Chicago Board Vice-Chair
  
  Read more

• BREAKING NEWS: April Verrett elected 1st Black president of SEIU

  21-05-2024 15:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  (Courtesy Image)
  April Verrett has been elected as the first Black president of the Service Employees International Union. The announcement was made today, May 20, at the SEIU convention in Philadelphia.
  Verrett currently serves as international secretary-treasurer of the 103-year old union, which represents nearly 2 million workers in health care, property service and government service.
  Verrett is a Southside Chicago native, who has a long history of working on behalf of union workers. Her gra
  
  Read more

• The President’s Visit to Detroit Was as Much Anti-Trump as it Was Pro-Biden

  21-05-2024 15:02 via chicagodefender.com
  President Joe Biden’s trip to Detroit Sunday, May 19, marked his second official trip to the city this year. The first came in February, when he stopped to meet with UAW leaders as a follow-up to his 2023 visit to stand on the picket lines with striking auto workers.
  This visit looked a little different. He still stopped at a local business – CRED Café – and he still met with local elected officials and clergy like he did on his previous visit, but his agenda was clear:
  
  Read more

• First Black Astronaut Candidate Becomes Oldest Person To Reach Space

  21-05-2024 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: eddwight.com
  Ed Dwight, a 90-year-old man set to become America’s first Black astronaut decades ago, finally made it to space, NPR reports.
  On Sunday (May 19), Dwight traveled to space on the New Shephard rocket through Blue Origin, a space exploration company founded by Jeff Bezos. Dwight made the roughly 10-minute trip to space alongside venture capitalist Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, the founder of a French craft brewery, entrepreneur Kenneth Hess, aviator Gopi Thotakura, and Car
  
  Read more

• Revisiting the crime of the century

  21-05-2024 14:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Long-form writing and long-distance running are a natural pair: sweaty, solitary, self-driven sports that, when going poorly, turn you into a deeply unpleasant person to be around, but when going well, give you a high you’ll chase for the rest of your life. Sometimes, you hit a trancelike state, and the miles or words flow […]
  The post Revisiting the crime of the century appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  
  Read more

• J. Pharoah Doss: There’s lies, darn lies, and crime statistics

  21-05-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  In April 2015, a Black man died in the back of a police vehicle in Baltimore, sparking weeks of protests and rioting. Black Lives Matter activists told the media that White racism was the source of “state-sponsored violence.”
  Conservatives argued that internal problems in Black communities, such as Black-on-Black violence, were more serious than external issues. The BLM activists accused conservatives of blaming the victims while disregarding systemic racism.
  While BLM activists and
  
  Read more

• Doing it for the gaze

  20-05-2024 22:24 via chicagoreader.com
  
  What was in the water in Hollywood in the late 80s and early 90s to instigate so many films (Fatal Attraction, She-Devil, Soapdish) about obsessed and vengeful women? Was it just part of the backlash to feminism anatomized by Susan Faludi? Or did these stories in some way tap into the rage of women who […]
  The post Doing it for the gaze appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  
  Read more

• REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY OF NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS (“RTA”) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

  20-05-2024 20:44 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The post REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY OF NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS (“RTA”) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS appeared first on Chicago Defender.
  
  Read more

• Meet Omari K. Prince: 2024 Chicago Defender Men of Excellence Honoree

  20-05-2024 16:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Omari K. Prince is a lion for the Illinois small business community. 
  As Director of Government Affairs for the Small Business Advisory Council, he engages with elected officials and policymakers and lobbies on behalf of the small business community and neighborhood business districts in Chicago and across Illinois. 
  He is pivotal in ensuring that the SBAC fulfills its mission of promoting “the success of small business through political advocacy, support services and educational
  
  Read more

• Black Woman Shot & Killed In Front Of Grandchildren On Mother’s Day

  20-05-2024 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Central Alabama CrimeStoppers
  An Alabama grandmother was hosting a Mother’s Day celebration when she was shot and killed in front of her grandchildren, per PEOPLE.
  64-year-old Gloria Crews died on Sunday (May 14) after someone opened fire at her outdoor party in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery police and fire medics responded to the shooting at around 7:02 p.m. but were unable to revive Crews. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
  Crews was reportedly shot as she was directing child
  
  Read more

• Documenting queer grassroots organizing

  20-05-2024 14:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  “Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s” is a powerful introduction to how queer and trans communities visually documented and expressed themselves between the uprising at Stonewall and the legalization of gay marriage. From portraits and documentary-style protest images to flyers, magazines, calendars, and collages, this exhibition is a delicious buffet of gender, racial, and class […]
  The post Documenting queer grassroots organizing appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  
  Read more

• President Joe Biden Meets with Black Detroiter’s at CRED Café Ahead of NAACP Keynote Address

  19-05-2024 22:01 via chicagodefender.com
  
  President Joe Biden is making his rounds with Black voters across the country.
  Today, President Biden is in Detroit to deliver the keynote address for the Detroit NAACP’s 69th Annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner. After landing in Detroit shortly after 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, Biden made his way straight to Detroit’s CRED Café, in Rivertown to have a private conversation with Detroit residents. 
  CRED Café, which is the brainchild of former NBA athletes and sibling
  
  Read more

• Tesa Anewishki: Championing Equity and Transformation in Healthcare

  19-05-2024 16:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Before Tesa Anewishki became the first African and Native-American CEO of Loretto Hospital, she received an early holiday lesson in her youth about the importance of giving and selflessness. 
  It came via a bearded man — not the one you’re thinking of — on a downtown Chicago street when she was around 13. This man had a garbage bag and icicles in his beard.
  So, Anewishki’s mother pulled over, got out of the car, and disappeared into a department store. 
  An hour l
  
  Read more

• Why I Want Cardi B to Vote

  19-05-2024 15:45 via chicagodefender.com
  
  “Black Vote, Black Power,” a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black, examines the issues, the candidates, and what’s at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.
  by Keith Boykin
  Cardi says she’s not voting. But if voting didn’t matter, Republicans wouldn’t be trying so hard to stop us from doing it.
  In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Cardi B explained why she won’t be voting in the November
  
  Read more

• King College Prep Principal Brian Kelly Wins 2024 Golden Apple Award

  19-05-2024 15:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Principal Brian Kelly of Martin Luther King College Prep receives the Golden Apple Award (Photo-Golden Apple Foundation).
  The Golden Apple Foundation, the leading Illinois-based nonprofit committed to preparing, mentoring, and honoring great educators who advance educational opportunities for students, recently surprised Brian Kelly, principal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep High School in Chicago, with the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership, presented in honor of foundin
  
  Read more

• Black Teen Accepted Into 122 Schools, Earns Over $5 Million In Scholarships

  19-05-2024 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  An Oakland, California high school student has raked in over 100 college acceptances.
  According to NBC Bay Area, Helms Ategeka, a Head-Royce School student, garnered $5.3 million in scholarships from 122 colleges.
  “I feel really lucky that there are people out there, that there are institutions out there that see the value that I have to give,” Helms said.
  Helms said he believes his array of extracurriculars, including choir, theater, and a club he started himself
  
  Read more

• Hyde Park Summer Fest Canceled Due to Rising Security Costs

  18-05-2024 15:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The Hyde Park Summer Fest, one of the most popular Southside Summer events, is canceled this year. Event organizers called off the event due to rising security costs. 
  The cancellation comes a year after the Summer Fest held its most significant event, featuring notable Hip-hop acts like 2 Chainz, Clipse, and Lil Kim and attracting thousands nationwide to the spacious Midway Plaisance. 
  According to event organizers, the cost of hosting an event of that scale became untenable. As the S
  
  Read more

Follow @NewsIllinois_ on Twitter!