Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Latest News”

What The AIDS Crisis Can Teach Us About COVID-19

Jennifer Brier is a History and Gender & Women's Studies Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In a recent Washington Post column, she writes in the midst of a the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to remember and reflect on the very real...

Black Barbers Train To Help With Black Men’s Stress

A national initiative called the Confess Project is training Chicago barbers to become front-line supports for the mental health of their customers.

Host: Susie An
Reporter: Jarrell Hightower

The Making of a Magazine: A Dialogue with the Team Behind “The Point”

Highlighting the first decade of Chicago-based philosophical magazine The Point, The Opening of the American Mind brings together responses to some of the most significant events and issues of the last ten years. We spoke with some of The Point’s team to hear more about the new book, their current work, and how this whole project got started. To learn more about The Point, check out their website: https://thepointmag.com/ First of all, could you each say what your roles are at The Point? Jonny Thakkar: I am one of the editors. This involves a mixture of tasks. Sometimes I’m the lead editor on a piece, in charge of communication with an author, and other times I’m supporting the lead editor of a piece by giving line edits or a second opinion. I have to be on the lookout for potential writers and also for themes and topics that we might want to cover in some way. Finally, I’m also involved in strategic decisions regarding the development of the magazine and its place in the cultural landscape. Anastasia Berg: Like Jonny, I’m also an editor. I solicit and edit pieces for the print magazine and our website and am involved in […]

The post The Making of a Magazine: A Dialogue with the Team Behind “The Point” appeared first on The Chicago Blog.

ComEd Dumps Email Cache In Legislative Madigan Probe

The emails reveal that a Cook County elected official and key ally to House Speaker Michael Madigan got secret payments from the utility.

Host: Melba Lara
Reporter: Dave McKinney

UIC Prof Explains Vision For Chicago’s Vacant Land

The Available City envisions thousands of vacant parcels in Chicago as one large space, with multiple uses that benefit entire communities. David Brown, a professor at UIC School of Architecture, is looking to Chicago’s South and West Sides and imagini...

Tracing COVID-19 at a Wedding

How the Illinois Department of Public Health traces an outbreak at a wedding. Mariah Woelfel.

2020 Lessons: Life on Campus During a Pandemic

A few freshmen from the Chicago area at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne talk about life on campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

How Illinois Traces COVID-19 Outbreaks at a Pool Party

Mariah Woelfel reports on how Illinois Department of Public Health performs contact tracing after COVID-19 Outbreaks happen in social settings. This time at a Chicago-area pool party

7 Questions with David Sepkoski, author of “Catastrophic Thinking”

We live in an age in which we are repeatedly reminded—by scientists, by the media, by popular culture—of the looming threat of mass extinction. Such apocalyptic talk feels familiar to us, but the current fascination with extinction is a relatively recent phenomenon. As David Sepkoski reveals, the way we value biodiversity depends crucially on our sense that it is precarious—that it is something actively threatened, and that its loss could have profound consequences. In his new book, Sepkoski uncovers how and why we learned to value diversity as a precious resource at the same time as we learned to think catastrophically about extinction. We asked him a few questions about it. In the book, you explain how an “extinction imaginary” helps inform the way we see and value the world around us. Can you give us a quick introduction to that term? A central claim of this book is that scientific ideas and cultural values can’t be cleanly separated: science doesn’t “cause” us to believe certain things about society or politics, nor do political or social values “explain” particular scientific theories. Rather, the science and culture of a particular place and time are tightly interwoven and reinforce each other by […]

The post 7 Questions with David Sepkoski, author of “Catastrophic Thinking” appeared first on The Chicago Blog.

Access To COVID-19 Testing In Illinois Is Unequal

Experts say testing plays a crucial role in stemming the spread of the coronavirus, but not all Illinoisans have equal access.

Host: Melba Lara
Reporter: Kristen Schorsch

ProPublica Introduces Illinois To Its Immigrant Teens

A new report from ProPublica Illinois shows that child labor is not a thing of the past in Chicago’s western suburbs. Reporter Melissa Sanchez profiled a group of immigrant teenagers in Chicago’s western suburbs.

Host: Melba Lara
Producer: Lauren Fros...

Bail Reform Won’t Raise Chicago Gun Violence: Report

Chicago leaders say more people should be locked up before their trials to prevent violence. A new study out of Loyola University says that has “no effect” either way.

Host: Lisa Labuz
Reporter: Patrick Smith