Seeking to unseat Annazette Collins as state senator of West Side’s 5th District
by La Risa Lynch
Annazette Collins
Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins
A long shot best described Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins when she ran for mayor last year. But this time around, the community activist may have some political weight behind her.
Van Pelt Watkins is being backed by Secretary of State Jesse White in her attempt to unseat state Senator Annazette Collins (D-5) in the March 2012 Primaries.
The backing may come as a surprise since White, the 27th Democratic Ward committeeman, nominated Collins to replace then state Senator Rickey Hendon last year.
Posted in Articles by .
by La Risa Lynch
Emotions ran high at a public hearing held January 20th by Chicago Public Schools regarding the proposed closure of Crane High School on the city’s Near West Side.
The inclement weather that dump nearly six inches of snow on the city during rush hour traffic did not stop scores of students, parents, teachers and those favoring the school’s closure from packing an auditorium at Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Van Buren.
Students chanted "Save our school" and booed any speakers who support closing Crane High School, 2245 W. Jackson Blvd. The Chicago Public Schools proposed phasing out Crane over the next few years as part of a massive school action plan to reform chronically failing schools.
And adding insult to injuries, students and parents were upset over CPS’s decision to have the charter school Chicago Talent Development High School, 4319 W. Washington, share facilities with Crane.
But students’ passions nearly turned into a skirmish. A throng of students angrily surrounded a speaker supporting CPS actions to close poor performing schools, including Crane. Security dispersed a crowd of teens — some who jumped over seats to confront the man. Chicago Police were called and remained for the rest of the hearing.
Posted in Articles by .
Dec 11
17
Minority firm buys Moo & Oink brand
Stores' piecemeal sale bittersweet for employees
By La Risa Lynch
Moo & Oink, the shuttered retail meat company, will live on in name only as a minority owned company acquired the former store’s brand and other intellectual property for $530,000 during a December 14th public sale of the 30-year-old company.
Robert Beavers, chairman and CEO of Best Chicago Meat, purchased Moo & Oink’s iconic logo, name, website, catchy commercial jingle as well as the company’s recipes for several of its meat products. Best Chicago Meat, 4649 W. Armitage Ave., makes several well-known local meat products, including Jemm burger and sausage, Red Hot hotdogs and Scala’s, an Italian meat and seasoning product.
"We are extremely proud to have Moo & Oink join our stable of brands," Beavers said. "It’s a brand that is very well-known in the African-American community. Now it will be truly minority owned."
Cong. Danny Davis and Kenneth Morris stand beside their images painted in a mural at Frederick Douglass High School.
By La Risa Lynch
The progeny of a Nineteenth Century abolitionist helped dedicate a new mural at an Austin high school named after his great great great grandfather.
The great great great grandson of Frederick Douglass, Kenneth Morris, was on hand for the December 3rd dedication of the Legacy Mural at Frederick Douglass Academy, 543 N. Waller.
The mural honors community residents who have worked to better the lives of children and the community. Morris was among six individuals whose portrait is immortalized in the mural painted on a wall in the school’s lobby.
Posted in Articles by .
More than 16 million Americans answered the call to arms in World War II. Of those, 600,000 were the few, the proud, the Marines.
Then there were the Chosen Few, men such as metro Detroiters Calvin Moore, Robert Hassler, Earl Hood, William Cook, Edsel Stallings, Norfflette Mersier and about 20,000 other Montford Point Marines.
After years of discrimination, mistreatment and near invisibility postwar, these African-American Marines of World War II are on the verge of getting the Congressional Gold Medal, America's highest civilian honor.
It's about time, too, said Hassler, 86, who lied about his age to enlist 70 years ago. "It's always bothered me -- every year for Black History Month, they talk about the Tuskegee Airmen," Hassler said. "Nobody knows about the Montford Point Marines."
A Congressional Gold Medal could change that.
Read full story in the Detroit Free Press
Oct 11
13
Chatham Pancake House re-opening?
CAPCC's President Keith Tate says former owner in discussions to reopen restaurant
by La Risa Lynch
The Chatham Pancake House or any other Chatham location will not be home to a proposed pawnshop.
Members attending the general meeting of the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council voted unanimously to reject EZCORP’s request to open a pawnshop in the shuttered restaurant, located at 700 E. 87th St. Instead the pancake house’s former owner Noel Leslie wants to re-launch his restaurant, according to CAPCC’s President Keith Tate.
Tate told the NeighborhoodScribe.com that Leslie is in discussions with the building’s owner to reopen the restaurant. Leslie worked there for years before becoming the restaurant’s owner.
Posted in Articles by .
Native Americans: 'We're not against Italians, just Columbus, the terrorist'
Georgina Roy, director of Kateri Center, said, “Columbus has caused pain and shame to our people. "
By Chinta Strausberg
A day before the traditional Columbus Day parade, nearly 100 Native Americans wearing traditional regalia Sunday, Oct. 9th, held a rally at the Indian Boundary Park located in the West Ridge community where they delivered a clear message--abolish Columbus Day and replace it with “Indigenous Day.”
The annual Pre-Columbus Day rally was organized by the Kateri Center headed by Georgina Roy.
“Christopher Columbus is not someone who should be honored because Columbus was a terrorist,” said William Buchholtz, a Chippewa Native who is a Native adoptee. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Posted in Articles by .
Residents reject pancake house proposal, but EZPAWN still looking for other locations
By La Risa Lynch
Chatham residents handedly rejected a proposal by a national pawnshop chain to open in the shuttered Chatham Pancake House, 700 E. 87th St., but that may not preclude EZCORP from opening in another Chatham location.
Member of subarea six of the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council voted down EZCORP, operators of EZPAWN stores, to locate in the Pancake House. But EZCORP officials proclaimed they "will come back" to convince residents that the company is the right fit for the community.
"We really want to be here" EZCORP’s attorney Amy Kurson told CAPCC members at a September 28th meeting held at Seaway Bank, 645 E. 87th St. The meeting was held for those living in proximity to the proposed pawn shop.
But residents questioned whether a pawnshop fits in with the middle class neighborhood that has seen a spike in crime over the years. The area has traditionally been home to several Black businesses.
Posted in Articles by .
Aug 11
27
Judge rules Daley can be sued
Former Chicago mayor has Sept. 8 deposition in police torture suit
This article originally appeared in the Final Call Newspapers
By La Risa R. Lynch
Retired Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s luck seemingly has run out.
Former Mayor Daley
For years, attorneys’ for the former sixth term mayor has fought hard to keep Daley out of police torture lawsuits involving former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and his henchmen known as the “Midnight Crew.”
That luck may have ended when a federal judge allowed Daley to be added among a list of defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by police torture victim Michael Tillman.
Tillman spent nearly 24 years in prison for a July 1986 rape and murder, a conviction Tillman alleges was based on a coerced confession beaten out of him by men under Burge’s command.
His conviction was vacated and the charges dismissed by a Cook County Special Prosecutor in February 2010. Daley is among 15 others named in Tillman’s suit.
Posted in Articles by .
Aug 11
17
Top ten health concerns for kids
Drug abuse and obesity seen as top child health problems
ANN ARBOR, Mich., PRNewswire-USNewswire — Adults rate drug abuse and childhood obesity as the top health concerns for kids in their communities, according to the fifth annual survey of the top 10 health concerns for kids conducted by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.
