The Chicago Reporter articles from March 2008

The Chicago Reporter archives from March 2008

Maintaining familial bonds.(EDITOR'S NOTE: Reporter News)
March 1, 2008... 'You can't choose who your parents are" was the start of a life-changing conversation for me. They were the words of a family therapist helping me work through my own personal struggles with a father with whom I had little connection; I...

Children of the incarcerated.(EDITOR'S NOTE: Reporter News)
March 1, 2008... Across the nation, children of the incarcerated, as much as their parents, bear the consequences of misdeeds or mistakes. They are disproportionately poor, African American and Latino and, for many, their lives are shaped by the same cycle of...

Reporter Fernando Diaz has been selected for a 2008 Institute for Justice and Journalism fellowship.(Reporter News)
March 1, 2008... Reporter Fernando Diaz has been selected for a 2008 Institute for Justice and Journalism fellowship. Diaz opens his fellowship with a one-week conference in Southern Arizona, near Tucson along the U.S.-Mexico border. As a part of his...

The Reporter has hired Kelly Virella as a staff reporter.(Reporter News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The Reporter has hired Kelly Virella as a staff reporter. Most recently a freelance writer and editor, Virella was a member of Northwestern University's Academy for Alternative Journalism in 2007. Virella's work has appeared in the Chicago...

Minority report.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)
March 1, 2008... The news: The Chicago City Council confirmed the appointment of former FBI agent Jody Weis as the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department in January. Weis replaced Philip Cline, who retired last year amid a storm of scandal...

Shocking discovery.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The news: A recent study by Cook County Hospital researchers found that electric shocks administered to pigs by Taser guns can cause heart-rhythm problems and even death. Behind the news: According to...

City's real estate market steady.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)
March 1, 2008... The news: The Federal Reserve Board cut interest rates down to 3 percent in January, largely because of growing concerns about a home mortgage crisis. Behind the news: Despite a drop in the real estate market nationwide, Chicago's...

Refund anticipation loans taxing wallets.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)
March 1, 2008... The news: It's tax season, and flashy advertisements are luring people into "refund anticipation loans," which put money in people's pockets months before many file their taxes--often at exorbitantly high interest rates. Behind the...

The road less traveled: while more than half of Illinois' prisoners come from the Chicago area, a similar proportion of correctional facilities are more than 200 miles away. In some cases, the distance and cost of travel are big hurdles for families of prisoners.(Prison Visits)(Cover story)
March 1, 2008... The white van pushes out of a frozen South Side parking lot in the dark on a winter Saturday morning. Ed Paschal's handful of passengers, mostly strangers to each other, are headed to a pair of downstate towns they might never have known...

Distance matters.(Prison Visits)
March 1, 2008... Although more than half of Illinois' inmates come from Chicago and Cook County, 15 of the state's adult correctional centers are located more than 200 miles from the city. A Chicago Reporter analysis shows that inmates at the prisons farthest...

A long journey ahead: life's experiences motivate one young man to give voice to youth.(PROFILE: Fred Long)(Biography)
March 1, 2008... It's the day after Christmas and Fred Long knows what to expect. The doorbell rings and his father walks in. "You know it's my birthday, man, you got me something," his father says. "I'm like, 'Come on man! You got to be kidding me dude!'"...

February 5, 2008.(PARTING SHOT: Super Tuesday)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Jamal Harvey, 10, of Evanston, waits for presidential candidate Barack Obama's autograph at a Super Tuesday primary rally at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. Photo by Jason Reblando.