Illinois news

• Steppenwolf retools its youth theater program

  29-03-2024 18:55 via chicagoreader.com
  
  When Steppenwolf Theatre’s 2024-25 season announcement came out a couple of weeks ago, it sparked immediate concern for what wasn’t included: namely, any productions for the company’s much-lauded Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) program. Things moved pretty quickly on social media from concern to outrage to mourning. It’s not surprising: among other things, the SYA […]
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• Excelleaf: Dekalb Black-Owned Dispensary Promotes Social Equity, Empowerment

  28-04-2024 15:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Crystal, Maria, Brian and Nakia of Excelleaf (Credit: Excelleaf).
  In a significant step towards promoting social equity and community well-being, DeKalb welcomes Excelleaf, a groundbreaking cannabis dispensary dedicated to empowering individuals and fostering inclusivity within the cannabis industry.
  Mission
  Excelleaf isn’t just another dispensary; it’s a beacon of hope and support. Founded on principles of compassion, education and accessibility, Excelleaf’s mission is to prio
  
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• Black Women’s History Reads: 10 Books About And By Historical Figures

  28-04-2024 14:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  While we celebrate Black women all year, March and April are particularly special as they are designated as Women’s History Month and Black Women’s History Month, respectively.
  For the past two months, we’ve shouted out our faves, our legends, and our rising stars who broke barriers and are blazing new paths, making history in the process. There are tons of Black women historical figures out there—some widely known and others not so much. Thankfully, t
  
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• 90-Year-Old Man Who Was Nearly 1st Black Astronaut Finally Headed To Space

  28-04-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: eddwight.com
  A 90-year-old man who was set to become the first Black astronaut in space decades ago is finally headed to space, CBS News reports.
  Ed Dwight was selected by former President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to enter the Path to NASA’s Astronaut Corps, an Air Force training program.
  Finishing the program in 1963, Dwight was set up to make history as the first Black astronaut.
  “I thought these dudes were crazy,” Dwight previously said of the opportunity.
  The Air Forc
  
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• Introducing the Chicago Defender 2024 Men of Excellence Honorees

  27-04-2024 20:03 via chicagodefender.com
  
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• Flint’s Toxic Water Poisoned Mental Health, Too

  27-04-2024 15:44 via chicagodefender.com
  
  By Joseph Williams
  This article was originally published on Word In Black.
  This story is part of “Flint’s Still Fighting,” Word In Black’s series about the decade-long water crisis, and the struggles and triumphs still transforming the majority-Black city.
  It’s been a decade since Joyce Ellis McNeal learned the water coming from the taps in her Flint, Michigan, home was, in her words, “poisoned.” The anger and trauma in her voice is still
  
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• Black Mayor Receives Noose, Threatening Note Amid Reelection Bid

  27-04-2024 15:21 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: City of Arcola
  A Texas mayor received a threatening package as he seeks reelection.
  On Tuesday (April 23), Arcola, Texas Mayor Fred Burton was sent a package containing a noose and a note warning him to cancel his reelection bid, per PEOPLE.
  The Arcola Police Department shared images of the package on social media.
  “Get out of the race now!!” a typed letter reads. The letter arrived with a noose in an envelope addressed to Burton.
  The police department said they are treating t
  
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• Don’t Let Diabetes Shortchange Your Golden Years

  27-04-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  (NewsUSA) – Dianne Mattiace shows that managing diabetes shouldn’t get in the way of enjoying your retirement, thanks in part to a game changing new technology
  After a busy career in healthcare, Dianne has finally retired with her husband in Alabama. However, she has no intention of slowing down. Dianne is looking to live life to its fullest, whether that’s serving on the Board of a local charity, spending time with her grandchildren or swimming in the lake by her house in sum
  
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• Shuck off with Logan Oyster Socials at the next Monday Night Foodball

  26-04-2024 17:57 via chicagoreader.com
  
  On picture day in third grade, Rickie Pérez wore his dad’s chef’s coat and toque and posed with his favorite book from the Brentano Math and Science Academy library: Lynne Marie Waldee’s Cooking the French Way. “I got heated for it, because we were in the middle of the second three-peat,” he says. “Everybody else […]
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• CTA failures, Bears stadium, Mayor’s Youth Commission

  26-04-2024 17:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Disarray at the CTA The #FireDorval caucus grows larger. Governor J.B. Pritzker is the latest to call for the ouster of CTA president Dorval Carter. Although he declined to use terms like “fired”, Pritzker’s message was clear: “Changes are going to have to take place, there’s no doubt, at the CTA, and I think that’s […]
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• Bears QB Caleb Williams: Criticism of Nails, Fashion Reflect Fan Homophobia

  26-04-2024 16:46 via chicagodefender.com
  
  By Evan F. Moore
  In the aftermath of the Hennessy, Casamigos, and Remy Martin bottle memorials, along with dissipated balloon send-offs regarding former Bears QB Justin Fields, the team officially moved on by selecting USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. 
  That’s right, Bears fans. It’s time to embrace what’s in front of you: The future.
  When Williams hit the stage in Detroit with a primal yell, the energy was different and unlike anyth
  
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• The 5 Things You Should Know About New Bears QB Caleb Williams

  26-04-2024 16:30 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Caleb Williams at his post-draft press conference (Credit: Jeremy Allen, Michigan Chronicle).
  DETROIT—The worst-kept secret in the NFL became official when the Chicago Bears selected Caleb Williams as the top overall pick in the NFL Draft. 
  The only quarterback the Bears hosted for its pre-draft visit was Williams. When the University of Southern California quarterback had a pro day at his old college, Chicago’s newest signee, Keenan Allen, attended to provide support. Welc
  
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• Michelle Williams is Set to Dazzle in ‘Death Becomes Her’ at Cadillac Palace Theatre

  26-04-2024 16:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Michelle Williams is back where she belongs, on stage for a Broadway-bound production. 
  Sure, she’s renowned for being a core member of a famous female R&B group. Still, Williams has made her mark by appearing in some of the most memorable productions over the last twenty years: “Aida,” “Chicago,” “Fela!” and, of course, “The Color Purple.” 
  Before this Rockford, Illinois native heads back to Broadway for her latest ve
  
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• Selva Aparicio on ‘In Memory Of’

  26-04-2024 14:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Editor’s note: Coco Picard spoke with Selva Aparicio about the exhibition “In Memory Of,” on view at the DePaul Art Museum. Edited text from the comic is transcribed here to ease readability. Selva Aparicio’s solo show, “In Memory Of”  at the DePaul Art Museum from March 14-August 4, 2024, alters the museum’s architecture with labor-intensive signs of […]
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• Detroit Breaks Day-One NFL Draft Attendance Record with 275,000-Plus Spectators

  26-04-2024 04:25 via chicagodefender.com
  The passion of football fans knows no bounds, and it’s evident in the way that more than 275,000 people packed into downtown Detroit Thursday night, April 25, to break the NFL’s single-day draft attendance record.
  The previous record was when 200,000-plus people attended opening day of the 2019 NFL Draft, and the city saw more than 600,000 people over its three days.
  After just 10 picks announced Thursday night in Detroit, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told the crowd of the new reco
  
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• NFL Drafts Prospects Flaunt Their Style on the Red Carpet at the Fox Theatre in Detroit

  26-04-2024 02:23 via chicagodefender.com
  On a night where just 13 NFL prospects showed up to attend the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, the pre-show red carpet attend was a star-studded affair, as soon-to-be pro football players were dressed to the nines for thousands of fans and media members.
  Draft prospects were all decked out in diamonds and gold and tailored suits for the event. Check out the looks from 12 of the 13 prospective draftees as they strutted the red carpet with their parents, significant others, other family members, and fr
  
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• NFL Drafts Prospects Flaunt Their Style on the Red Carpet at the Fox Theatre

  26-04-2024 02:23 via chicagodefender.com
  On a night where just 13 NFL prospects showed up to attend the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, the pre-show red carpet attend was a star-studded affair, as soon-to-be pro football players were dressed to the nines for thousands of fans and media members.
  Draft prospects were all decked out in diamonds and gold and tailored suits for the event. Check out the looks from 12 of the 13 prospective draftees as they strutted the red carpet with their parents, significant others, other family members, and fr
  
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• Drummer Jim White and guitarist Marisa Anderson craft a weird, soothing hybrid

  25-04-2024 23:07 via chicagoreader.com
  
  To a large extent, classical music and popular music are separate traditions with distinct audiences. No one told folk guitarist Marisa Anderson and indie-rock drummer Jim White, though. Their second album together, the new Swallowtail (Thrill Jockey), is a mix of abstract exploration and gentle folk melody that thoughtfully wanders through a landscape that’s part […]
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• London’s Folly Group soothe anxieties with gorgeous postpunk and electronica

  25-04-2024 22:36 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Folly Group’s “Paying the Price” is one of the best electronica-infused postpunk songs about shame, and it’s only a B side. The band’s singles—of which they’ve dropped plenty since debuting with “Fashionista” in 2021—land with the digital punch of Sonic the Hedgehog and the spooky polish of Joy Division. The London quartet are on their […]
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• Bears’ $5 Billion Stadium Proposal, No. 1 Draft Pick Shows Team Reinventing Itself

  25-04-2024 22:18 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The Chicago Bears’ $5 billion proposal for a brand new lakefront stadium, ahead of their anticipated No. 1 overall pick at tonight’s NFL Draft, marks an inflection point for a franchise reimagining itself for the future. 
  Under the plan, the new stadium would be built next to the current Soldier Field, one of the NFL’s smaller venues. It would sport a translucent roof and enormous windows to allow natural light to enter while providing spectacular views of the city’s
  
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• Chicago pianist Erwin Helfer is celebrated by musical friends and peers

  25-04-2024 22:03 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Pianist Erwin Helfer is a local hero who has made a global impact. The 88-year-old musician is resolute in his devotion to early blues, jazz, and ragtime piano, and he’s taught his emotional, succinct style to legions of students. This month, Helfer’s Highland Park–based label, the Sirens, hosts a celebration of his music and influence […]
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• Japanese multi-instrumentalist Eiko Ishibashi performs a live score for the Chicago debut of Gift

  25-04-2024 22:01 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Even if Japanese songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Eiko Ishibashi collaborated with Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi only once, I’d be grateful. When I saw Hamaguchi’s celebrated 2021 movie, Drive My Car, at the Siskel Film Center (it won an Oscar for Best International Feature Film a couple months later), Ishibashi’s pensive, understated score charmed me completely. […]
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• Experimental-minded locals Meth. find catharsis in bruising noise 

  25-04-2024 22:00 via chicagoreader.com
  
  When the Reader checked in with local noisemaking polymath Seb Alvarez in 2022, he’d turned his creative focus away from his band Meth. and toward the beats-blasted experimental side project Virgin Mother. In that context, the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist made a weirdo junkyard-fi racket with members of rising Rockford screamo outfit Frail Body and many […]
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• Lutenist Jozef van Wissem portrays forces of life and death on two new albums

  25-04-2024 21:59 via chicagoreader.com
  
  “The Lute is Eternal” proclaims the text that concludes the ten-minute video to Jozef van Wissem’s recent single, “The Call of the Deathbird.” The Dutch composer’s gruff vocals appear throughout the short film, shot in the vast Soviet mausoleum outside Warsaw, but his singing (and the relative angelic voice of Hillary Woods) directs the listener […]
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• UK rap royal Giggs makes his first North American headlining tour

  25-04-2024 21:48 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Giggs’s self-released debut full-length, Walk in da Park, is a landmark album in UK hip-hop history, and almost 16 years after its release, the London rapper is making his first North American headlining tour. Giggs still has the coiled menace and cool-headed flow that made his breakout single, the 2007 freestyle “Talkin the Hardest,” a […]
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• Survivor contestant Ben Katzman proves that shredding and DIY touring can prepare you for anything 

  25-04-2024 21:29 via chicagoreader.com
  
  Countless Survivor contestants have turned to the camera during their confessionals to express the difficult and draining nature of the game—the physical and mental exhaustion, the lack of food, and the constant close proximity to others take an immense toll. Most cast members find this kind of precarity new and very destabilizing. But season 46 […]
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• How Black Sports Agents Are Making A Bigger Impact On The Business Of NFL

  25-04-2024 18:53 via chicagodefender.com
  
  The lives of numerous athletes will be changed today as the NFL Draft kicks off in Detroit. Following the excitement of being selected by an NFL franchise, the players and their families will have to get down to business. Salary negotiations are inevitable, and the right sports agent can help players gain millions when it comes to performance incentives. 
   
  But when it comes to sports agents, the lack of diversity is glaring. Although there are 57.5% of Black players in the NFL, there
  
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• Barrie Cole: Chicago’s short-order chef of language and empathy

  25-04-2024 18:50 via chicagoreader.com
  
  I saw my first Barrie Cole play the night before the world turned upside down.  On September 10, 2001, I trotted over to Curious Theatre Branchʼs home in the now defunct Lunar Cabaret space on North Lincoln to see To Relax and Laugh in that year’s edition of the Rhino Fest. In Cole’s one-act play, […]
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• Black Man Shot and Killed By Police After Falling Asleep In Car, Family Says

  25-04-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  A family is seeking justice after a 20-year-old Black man was fatally shot by police after they said he fell asleep in his car in Richmond, Virginia.
  “My son impacted peoples’ lives and never wanted to do anybody any harm or anything,” Latoya Hardney, the victim’s mother, told 8News. “He was just a lovable person, he would make you smile. He would sit down to talk to you and talk to you for hours, and that’s just the type of person he was.&
  
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• Black Man Shot & Killed By Police After Falling Asleep In Car, Family Says

  25-04-2024 14:00 via chicagodefender.com
  
  Photo: Getty Images
  A family is seeking justice after a 20-year-old Black man was fatally shot by police after they said he fell asleep in his car in Richmond, Virginia.
  “My son impacted peoples’ lives and never wanted to do anybody any harm or anything,” Latoya Hardney, the victim’s mother, told 8News. “He was just a lovable person, he would make you smile. He would sit down to talk to you and talk to you for hours, and that’s just the type of person he was.&
  
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