Home Articles About

My Recent Work

Chicago Sun-Times •

Illinois native sets Guinness record visiting 185 places of worship in Chicago in a month

In 2023, the Rev. Vicki Garlock read a news story about an Indian man who received a Guinness World Record for visiting 76 places of worship in one month.“Not knowing at all what I was doing, I very cavalierly said to my husband, ‘Oh, I could beat that,’” Garlock said.Two years later, Garlock is now the current holder of that Guinness record after a monthlong quest in Chicago.“I had appointments at about 85 places,” Garlock said. “And I started to feel like 85 might be cutting it close, so I was...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Altered church Nativity scenes, one with a zip-tied baby Jesus, critique Trump's deportation campaign

Holding candles and flowers, a crowd gathered around an Evanston church’s Nativity display, where the familiar figurines stood quietly in the snow.But the Nativity display of Lake Street Church looked different this year, transformed to pay tribute to those targeted by President Donald Trump’s escalated deportation campaign.Mary wears a gas mask. The baby Jesus is wrapped in an emergency reflective blanket, his hands zip-tied. A sign says Joseph “didn’t make it” because of immigration enforcemen...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Thousands leaving Illinois prisons face high risk of housing instability, new study finds

After 13 years in prison, Maria Garza needed a place to live. But finding housing was not easy for Garza, who left Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln in June 2021.While living in homes of friends and family, as well as hotel rooms and her car, Garza also struggled to continue Northwestern University’s prison education program, which she started while incarcerated.“While I’m sitting there trying to take my class and learn, I’m trying to figure out where I’m gonna sleep,” Garza said. “It was dep...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Cook County’s top prosecutor touts increase in pretrial detention, urges electronic monitoring reform

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said one of her office’s top achievements during her first year in office has been increasing the pretrial detention rate for suspects charged with assault weapons possession, domestic violence and other violent crimes.Since taking office, judges have granted detention in 80% of violent crime cases, 85% of aggravated domestic battery and 76% of machine gun cases, all higher than under the previous state’s attorney, Kim Foxx, according to the stat...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Mayor Johnson, Cupich meet Chicagoans seeking help at pantries

Thynoise King is planning to serve a Thanksgiving dinner Thursday to his five children when they visit him.But King, 66, needs help to make the ends meet. On Wednesday, he joined dozens of Chicagoans to receive free food at Safer Foundation’s food pantry in Homan Square. Mayor Brandon Johnson also stopped by Safer to tour it. Another high-profile figure, Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich, joined volunteers Wednesday at St. Moses the Black Parish in Grand Crossing.Johnson urged Chicagoans to use Thank...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Illinois sues USDA to block changes to SNAP eligibility of immigrants

Illinois is among a group of Democratic states suing the Trump administration, seeking to block a change to the federal food stamps program that the states say unlawfully prevented some legal immigrants from accessing the aid.Kwame Raoul, Illinois’ top lawyer, and attorneys general from 20 other states and Washington, D.C., filed the lawsuit Wednesday in an Oregon federal court against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its secretary, Brooke Rollins, asking the court to block the change’s im...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Bird watchers perch at Montrose Beach as snowy owls make early Chicago appearance

A pair of snowy owls, the latest celebrity visitors to the beach and pier near Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, have drawn hundreds for a glimpse at the Arctic birds of prey.Several dozen birdwatchers were still gathered at the pier at Montrose Beach just before sunset Tuesday afternoon. The city has closed a section of the pier for the black-and-white-feathered guests, and signs in the area advise spectators to keep at least 300 feet away as a “warm welcome” for the birds.About 4:15 p.m., one sno...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Fatal Loop 'teen takeover' leaves families, peers reeling

Armani Floyd helped organize marches and food giveaways with his father, who became an anti-violence organizer after abandoning the gang life.Ulysses Floyd Sr. said his son “had a good future” and was focused on keeping his grades up, honing his basketball skills and making a positive change. But on Friday night, Armani fell victim to the same violence he was working to prevent.He was killed and eight other teenagers were wounded as shootings erupted during a so-called “teen takeover” in the Loo...
Chicago Sun-Times •

CPS students cook up Thanksgiving dinner for South Side seniors

Students at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences in Mount Greenwood had a special lesson Tuesday.Starting at about 7 in the morning, a group of students began buttering turkeys, cutting up potatoes and preparing vegetables for a farm-to-table Thanksgiving feast.Ten hours later, more than 400 older adults filed into the school’s gym for its annual Thanksgiving dinner, a neighborhood tradition now in its 13th year, organized by 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea’s office with help from local...
Chicago Sun-Times •

'Brutal and vicious' Blue Line attack leads to terrorism charge after woman set on fire

Federal authorities say a man with “no business being on the streets” approached a 26-year-old woman scrolling through her phone on a CTA Blue Line train Monday night, doused her with gasoline and set her on fire.And then, 50-year-old Lawrence Reed allegedly watched her burn.Now, Reed faces a terrorism charge never before brought in Chicago’s federal court, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said Wednesday. Reed has been arrested at least 40 times since 1993, court records show. The “brutal and viciou...
Chicago Sun-Times •

As immigration enforcement surges in North Carolina, Chicagoans share advice, whistles

When federal immigration agents moved into Chicago’s streets, the sound of whistles followed. For months, the sharp blasts rang through many of the city’s neighborhoods, alerting residents to the presence of agents and attracting observers and protesters.The whistles have grown into a symbol of resistance in Chicago — and have already spread to other parts of the country targeted by President Donald Trump’s immigration blitz.“It’s effective because people start understanding that if they hear th...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Chicago police told to hold back after Border Patrol shooting in Brighton Park, body-camera footage shows

Newly released Chicago police body-camera footage shows officers were briefly told to steer clear of an Oct. 4 confrontation between protesters and federal agents in Brighton Park after a Border Patrol agent shot a woman.The heavily blurred videos, released Friday, confirmed the Chicago Sun-Times’ reporting that Chicago Police Department officers were ordered not to respond “per the chief of patrol,” Jon Hein, which has since sparked an intense backlash.These videos come after police officials b...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Hemp product ban, tacked onto law to reopen government, will hurt Illinois businesses

Amanda Montgomery and her husband started AM and PM Hemp Farm in downstate Kirkland in 2020. After her husband died unexpectedly last year, the farm, which produces and sells a range of hemp-derived goods, has been her “sole livelihood,” Montgomery said.But the farm could go up in smoke due to the Republican-led spending deal to reopen the federal government that passed Congress and was signed by President Donald Trump late Wednesday.“This bill would pretty much destroy my entire farm operation,...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Air traffic controllers to get back pay after shutdown, but flight cuts may linger, DOT chief says

Air traffic controllers will get most of their pay within two days after the federal government reopens, but traffic restrictions at the nation’s busiest airports could continue, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday.Duffy spoke at O’Hare Airport, which led the nation in flight cancellations over the weekend as the season’s first major winter storm compounded government-mandated airspace restrictions.The Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic cuts took effect Friday, with...
Chicago Sun-Times •

CTA's holiday train — Chicago's most festive ride — gleams in new photo book

For many Chicagoans, the surest sign that the holidays have arrived isn’t the first snowfall, but the Chicago Transit Authority’s holiday train, decked out in twinkling bulbs and garland and dashing through the city’s neighborhoods.That beloved CTA tradition for three decades is the subject of Chicago photographer Daniel Moreno’s new book, “Chicago’s Holiday Train,” a collection of photos that captures the train over the years.“Chicago, by the nature of how it works, there’s something specific t...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Masked ICE agents put damper on Oak Park Girl Scout food drive: ‘It’s heartbreaking as a mom’

When a group of Oak Park Girl Scouts and their parents set out for the group’s annual food drive Saturday morning, they imagined it would be a day of helping in their community.Instead, the girls encountered masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with weapons and vehicles with dark-tinted windows as the sounds of whistles pierced the air.“It just went from a morning of us trying to do something good and teaching the kids about helping others,” said Brooke Groulx, an Oak Park pare...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Chicago flyers on edge ahead of FAA's planned 10% air traffic cuts

Some Chicago-area air travelers are anxious and scrambling, uncertain if their upcoming flights will be impacted by cuts in air traffic at the country’s biggest airports, including O’Hare and Midway.The Federal Aviation Administration announced it will reduce flight capacity by 10% in the busiest parts of the national airspace starting Friday morning, as the federal government shutdown stretches into its second month — now the longest in history.Airlines will phase in the cuts at the direction o...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Chicago residents, restaurants offer meals for people left without SNAP funds

When Dan Raskin arrived at work at 5 a.m. Monday at Manny’s Cafeteria & Deli, a line had already formed outside the Near West Side restaurant for a free meal advertised on social media for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients.By 10 a.m., two hours after opening, Manny’s had gone through the 300 meals — a sandwich, potato pancake and a drink — it planned to give to people who didn’t receive funds to buy groceries on Nov. 1, the day SNAP funds were initially frozen amid the federal...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Hundreds attend Evanston vigil after feds’ Halloween arrests: ‘This neighborhood was under attack’

After a Halloween disrupted by arrests by federal immigration agents in Evanston, several hundred people packed a community center parking lot for a vigil Saturday afternoon.The vigil follows the arrests of five people without legal status in the area on Friday, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Nearby schools were placed on soft lockdown during the operation.“Twenty-four hours ago, this neighborhood was under attack,” Mayor Daniel Biss said at the vigil. “And Evanston showed up....
Chicago Sun-Times •

South suburban food pantry draws hundreds as SNAP cutoff looms

Jason Webb receives roughly $300 each month in SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, benefits that he splits between his family and his elderly mother living by herself.The aid supplements his income from a part-time restaurant job that he uses to help put food on his family’s tables, Webb said.The 40-year-old man was among about 600 people who arrived at the south suburban Rich Township Food Pantry Thursday afternoon for its twice-weekly distribution. The crowd was larger because...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Two Illinois moms among millions facing SNAP cutoff as pantries say: ‘We cannot meet this need’

Natasha McClendon keeps a cabinet in her Englewood home stocked with possible sides, like potatoes and macaroni pasta, to feed her two school-age daughters and husband, who has a disability. But the family has no meat and just ran out of frozen vegetables to make a meal.The family was due to get about $1,100 next week for groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But they are among the nearly 2 million Illinois residents who will likely have to find another way to buy food...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Harrison Ford recognized for environmental advocacy at Field Museum ceremony

Framed by dinosaur fossils and elephant taxidermy, Harrison Ford recalled his childhood in suburban Chicago, spending his weekends at the Lincoln Park Zoo and wandering outdoors during his free time.It was on one of those adventures in his neighborhood that he came face-to-face with a red fox, and that encounter led to a revelation, the actor and environmental activist said during a Field Museum conversation Wednesday evening.“Then the fox left, and I walked away having discovered a connection t...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Brighton Park businesses sign on to city's 'ICE-free zones' initiative

A red, blue and orange neon sign and an assortment of posters, photos and boxing memorabilia have greeted customers at 3 JMH Boxing in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood since the gym opened in 2022.On Friday, owner Miguel Hernandez added another sign to that collection.“Private areas. No trespassing,” the sign reads. “You do not have consent to enter for civil immigration enforcement purposes.”The sign is a part of an executive order Mayor Brandon Johnson signed this month. The order bars U.S...
Chicago Sun-Times •

Teen employees sue Addison ice cream shop owner, allege years of secret bathroom recordings

Eleven former female employees are suing an Addison ice cream store and its owner, alleging he secretly recorded them in the store’s bathroom, part of his exploitation of the employees since 2021.The unnamed girls, who were between 14 and 17 years old when they worked at Flavor Frenzy in the western suburb, filed a new civil lawsuit in the DuPage County Circuit Court against the shop and its owner, Steven Weisberg, the workers’ lawyers said Thursday.“This business owner hired young girls, for ma...
Load More