The Chicago Reporter articles from November 2008

The Chicago Reporter archives from November 2008

Cashing in contributions.(EDITOR'S NOTE: Reporter News)(Editorial)
November 1, 2008... I thought that the customer was always right. Maybe the motto doesn't apply if a customer's desire to remain healthy is outweighed by a company's desire to stay wealthy. For years, customers of the energy produced at Chicago's two...

Reporter news.(EDITOR'S NOTE: Reporter News)
November 1, 2008... One Chicago Reporter investigation helped spur a legal victory around foreclosures, and another could be used to provide school funding equity throughout the state. In October, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced an $8.7...

Immigrants face delays.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)
November 1, 2008... The news: In October, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began administering a revised naturalization test for citizenship applicants. Behind the news: The average processing time for citizenship applicants in the...

City's worst polluter moving to South Side.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)(Finkl and Sons steel mill in Chicago)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The news: A. Finkl and Sons steel mill will be moving from the North Side of Chicago to the South Side in early 2010. Behind the news: According to A. Finkl and Sons, the company is committed to...

Minorities least likely to afford bailout.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)(bailout of the financial institutions )
November 1, 2008... The news: The bailout of the nation's financial institutions authorizes the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase bad mortgage-related debt. Behind the news: Can the average taxpayer afford to foot...

Even now, women paid less for the same work.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)
November 1, 2008... The news: The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee endorses the Democratic presidential ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden in September. Behind the news: According to Illinois Department of Employment...

Campus of care: one woman realizes dream to provide medical service, regardless of people's ability to pay.(Q&A: Carmen Velasquez)(Interview)
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On a cool afternoon in Pilsen, Carmen Velasquez looks out of her second floor office window in the Alivio Medical Center on 21st Street. Below, in what was a vacant lot, construction workers busily work on a new...

Fallen & forgotten: Congress approved the extension of immigration benefits to families of fallen U.S. service members four years ago, but the families say they never received them.(Missed Benefits)(Cover story)
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] They were two very different families One was from Chandigarh in the northern reaches of India near Kashmir, halfway between the borders of Pakistan and China. The other, from Lagos, the burgeoning former capital of...

Dying for the U.S.(Missed Benefits)(combat deaths)(List)
November 1, 2008... Between Sept. 11, 2001, and Aug. 15, 2008, 148 of the combat deaths were service members who enlisted in the military as permanent legal residents. They hailed from 41 countries--a third of them from Mexico. Most enlisted in the Army Reserves,...

Deployed and deported.(Missed Benefits)(soldiers' spouse's immigration status)
November 1, 2008... Yolanda Guevara knows she could be called up at any moment. Guevara is a rear detachment commander for her Army Reserve unit, which has already been deployed to Kuwait. It's a matter of time before she would have to leave her husband and three...

Fighting to belong: some immigrants choose military service before citizenship.(Best Practices)
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On a Friday evening in May, Bill Zhang joined 29 other U.S. soldiers for a solemn ceremony at the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago. Zhang, a construction and electrical worker for the Navy, was joined by members...

Toxic neighbor: health problems persist for Latinos living near coal plants in and around Chicago, despite the state's efforts to promote clean air.(CHICAGO MATTERS: Coal Emissions)
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] From the friendly confines of Dvorak Park in Pilsen, Maria Chavez hopped on her bike and rode along the weedy sidewalks across busy Cermak Avenue just to marvel at the jet black piles of coal stacked outside the Fisk...

Creating energy from waste: how one company reduces emissions by recycling energy.(Best Practices)
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When businessman and environmentalist Tom Casten sees the Fisk and Crawford coal-burning plants spewing their emissions above Chicago, he gets angry. Not only because of the public health effects of the emissions,...

October 4, 2008.(PARTING SHOT: Paying Respects)
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At the Church of Good News, Autumn Rae Winston pays her respects at the funeral of A. J. Finley, a long-time resident at the Julia C. Lathrop Homes, where he was the first black janitor.