Latest news with #ChicagoState
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois bill to allow bachelor's degrees at community colleges has been revived
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — A bill that would allow Illinois community colleges to offer bachelor's degrees in high-demand fields has been revived in the House. Some legislators are still against the proposal, citing that the bill would hurt minorities and underfunded universities. 'Chicago State is hemorrhaging, and you, as an administration, are handing them Band-Aids, and they need stitches,' said State Rep. Curtis Tarver II (D). 'Then you come in and you provide a bill that's going to be even worse for them. And I'm saying as we sit here, the Black Caucus has an issue with the bill. The sponsors are obviously aware that it's not a secret.' The original bill was announced by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker during his annual State of the State budget address and would have expanded access to higher education options for the state's growing workforce. 'Illinois has long been a leader in expanding educational opportunities and preparing our workforce for the jobs of tomorrow,' said Pritzker. 'By allowing our community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees for in-demand career paths, we are making it easier and more affordable for students, particularly working adults in rural communities, to advance their careers while strengthening our state's economy.' Colleges would be able to offer degrees for 'in-demand' fields such as nursing, advanced manufacturing, and early childhood education. 'Expanding baccalaureate degree programs at community colleges increases access to affordable higher education, allowing more students to earn four-year degrees without the burden of excessive debt. This approach also helps meet workforce demands by equipping graduates with the skills needed in high-demand fields, ultimately strengthening local economies and communities,' said Illinois Community College Board Executive Director Brian Durham. The proposed legislation builds on the success of similar programs in 24 other states, including California, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Washington, and Florida, where Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) programs have increased degree attainment in key industries. The initial bill stalled after not being called in the Senate and House committees. The legislation will make a return to the House floor for a full vote. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Indianapolis Star
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Butler basketball adds nonconference games to schedule, loses 1
INDIANAPOLIS — The Butler basketball team's 2025-26 nonconference schedule continues to take shape with the addition of homes games against Chicago State and Eastern Michigan. The Bulldogs will host Chicago State on Nov. 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Eastern Michigan will make the trip to Hinkle on Dec. 2. Tip times and television assignments have not been announced. The Dawgs open the first week of the season against Southern Indiana on Nov. 5 and IU Indy on Nov. 8 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Butler will play in the Greenbrier Tip-Off in November and will return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the 2025 Indy Classic on Dec. 20 against Northwestern. The Bulldogs will conclude their home-and-home series at SMU on Nov.15. A nonconference game against Western Illinois was tentatively scheduled but will not take place because the contract to play the game was never signed. Last season, Butler started nonconference 7-1 before dropping consecutive games to Houston, North Dakota State and Wisconsin. Of Butler's four nonconference losses, the losses to Austin Peay and North Dakota State were ominous signs for a disappointing season to come.
Miami Herald
18-05-2025
- Climate
- Miami Herald
Scientists join the fight against basement flooding in Chicago: ‘The cavalry is coming'
CHICAGO -- When Nedra Sims Fears was growing up in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood in the 1960s and '70s, the basement of her family home flooded at least six times. Twice, the water rose so high that it triggered an electrical fire and her family had to move out during extensive renovations. Mementos from Fears' early years - in a close-knit neighborhood that embraced hard work, education and block parties - were lost forever. "We really just don't have that many memories," Fears said. "Most things, if it wasn't waterlogged, it was smoke-damaged. My daughter found a picture of me as a child - and there's not many of them." Now Fears is fighting back, as part of a coalition of community leaders, university scientists and concerned citizens who have joined together to answer a question that has haunted this South Side neighborhood for decades: Why is it that Chatham experiences some of the worst basement flooding in the city? Volunteers are measuring rainfall in their yards, a local nonprofit is rallying support, and scientists at universities including the University of Illinois, Chicago State and Northwestern are gathering data with soil moisture sensors, radar, weather balloons, and groundwater probes. The scientists are participating as part of the Department of Energy's five-year, $25 million Community Research on Climate and Urban Science (CROCUS) project, which aims to better understand and predict urban weather challenges in Chicago, including heat waves and flooding. Similar programs have faced threats of defunding during President Donald Trump's cost-cutting campaigns. "Normal weather models don't incorporate urban dynamics particularly well, so we're using new families and types of models - including machine learning and artificial intelligence-type models - which have never been operated at the scale needed to really capture what's happening in cities," said Max Berkelhammer, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago. The scientists approached Fears, who said she jumped at the chance to get involved. Humboldt Park, West Woodlawn and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus are also partnering with the scientists. At a recent community meeting, the kickoff for a Chatham flooding app created by University of Chicago students, Fears told the crowd that working with researchers will allow the community to propose evidence-based solutions, raise money from funding sources and advocate for effective government action. "This is the first time where we have a weather app - most communities don't. (It's the first time) that we have our land grant institutions and our HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities) and our private universities coming together to collectively figure this out," she said. "It's like the cavalry is coming." Key driver When it comes to basement flooding, rain is almost always a key driver. A big downpour can overwhelm the local sewer network, causing stormwater - and in some cases raw sewage - to back up through basement drains and toilets. In another common form of basement flooding called foundation seepage, water enters the basements through cracks in the walls or floors, according to a 2017 report from the Center for Neighborhood Technology. And, finally, water can enter a basement directly, through window wells or doors. All three kinds of flooding happen in Chatham, along with street flooding, according to the report, which said the Chatham ZIP code 60619 had the most flood-damage claims in Cook County between 2007 and 2011. The ZIP code also ranked No. 1 for the total dollar amount paid out: $29 million. The neighborhood's other ZIP code, 60620, came in No. 4 among 169 ZIP codes for the number of claims, and No. 9 for the total dollar amount paid out. At the recent Chatham community meeting, area residents spoke of the magnitude of the problem: One woman said she had to spend $40,000 to waterproof her basement. "We have beautiful homes that we try to keep through generations, and yet we can't get (flood) insurance," another woman lamented. Fears pointed to the broader implications for Chatham, a majority-Black neighborhood with a long history of achievement in business and the arts. "It's hard to create generational wealth when instead of updating your roof or putting in new windows, you are redoing the basement over and over and over again," Fears said. Berkelhammer, the UIC professor, showed the audience maps with patches of red highlighting areas of intense rainfall. The Northwest Side has both intense rainfall and flooding, as would be expected, he noted. But that pattern fails on the South Side, which is a flooding hot spot without being a rain hot spot, indicating other forces are at work. Among the causes of Chatham's flooding problem named in the 2017 report: the city's aging sewer system; the increase in pavement and buildings (which don't absorb rain); Chatham's low elevation; and climate change, which is contributing to an increase in severe weather events. The report also pointed to Chatham's "last in line" position in two different sewer systems, or networks of underground pipes that carry stormwater and household water out of the community for treatment. Water from Chatham can be blocked from leaving the neighborhood if rain in downstream communities has already overwhelmed the sewer system, the report said. "Right now we have two working theories," Fears told the audience of about 40. The first features the community's two sewer systems. The second focuses on Chatham's history as a low-lying wetland once known as Mud Lake or Hogs Swamp. Fears recalled looking at a picture of the neighborhood from the 1890s. "It was a pond, and I did not recognize anything," she said. "And I remember as a girl that I saw ducks and geese on ponds as I walked to school. So, yes, it was a wetland, but half of Chicago is a wetland." She said she's grateful to the scientists for taking a close look at a range of factors so explanations can move "from the anecdotal to the real." 'It was awful' Chatham resident Lori Burns came away from the community meeting eager to do daily rain measurements in her yard. Her own long battle with neighborhood flooding began after she moved into the classic brick bungalow that had belonged to her late grandparents. Her basement flooded about five times between 2001 and 2013, due to sewer system backup, she said: "It was awful, horrible." Cleanup took hours over multiple days. First, there was the wait for the water to recede. Then she had to rinse everything down with brushes, mops and bleach. "The flood in itself is extremely stressful and there's physical danger involved and after that there's the health repercussions from whatever's in the water, and then the potential for mold," said Burns, a business manager for a food broker. "I've had to take time off work in order to clean up after a flood, so you've got lost wages," she added. Even after the waters were gone, there were lingering effects: "There's a whole portion of your home that you don't feel comfortable in. You don't feel able to trust being able to use it like a living space because it's not secure." Burns wants broader government fixes, such as sewer system upgrades, but, in the end, she didn't wait for them. In 2015, she invested in a backwater valve for the underground sewer pipe leading from her home to the street. Backwater valves are one-way flaps that allow wastewater to flow out of your home, but prevent it from flowing back in. "I haven't had a drop of sewage come back into my house since," Burns said. Burns also installed a rain garden with native plants such as milkweed to help soak up excess water, and she disconnected her downspouts, which reduces the amount of water flowing into the city sewer system during heavy rainfall. In about 2018, she experienced a different type of water in the basement: seepage, in which water enters through cracks in the walls or floor. She put in a drain tile system and a sump pump, and the problem stopped, she said. The combined solutions continue to work and her basement is dry, but the price was high - more than $20,000 in total - and she finds it frustrating that individuals have to bear the financial burden for fixing sewer system backflow, which she sees as a broader problem with government infrastructure. Asked whether it's an individual's responsibility to prevent basement sewer backup flooding or the government's, the Chicago Department of Water Management responded with a written statement. "A resident can call 311 to report water in their basement. (The Department of Water Management) will send out an inspector to examine the sewer main that serves the area to determine whether it is flowing efficiently and order maintenance if it is not," the statement said. "The private sewer drain line is the responsibility of the homeowner," the statement continued. "However, the City offers support services and has programs (for) residents when applicable." In a written statement, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago pointed to sewer infrastructure improvements it has undertaken, such as the massive and ongoing Deep Tunnel Project, which serves communities including Chatham. But the water district also noted the challenge of recent extreme weather events such as the series of storms on July 2, 2023, that dumped up to 9 inches of rain on the West Side and areas of Cicero, Berwyn and Oak Park. "These storms demonstrate the need for additional investment in both gray and green infrastructure. … Few systems in the world could contain a storm of this magnitude," the statement said. Berkelhammer said that the scientific team's work could be used by Chatham to push for specific sewer system fixes. "I think we're still working on how to present and articulate that but some of the modeling tools … will, I think, be able to provide some very specific information on that," he said. As for Burns, she said her dream is to have a clean, dry, comfortable basement - like her grandparents had when she was a girl. She remembers a second kitchen, space to play, even a second Christmas tree. Asked if she's finally achieved that goal, she responded, "I sure hope so." "There's nothing else to do," she said. "What else is there?" Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Daywatch: Scientists join the fight against basement flooding in Chatham
Good morning, Chicago. When Nedra Sims Fears was growing up in Chatham in the 1960s and '70s, the basement of her family home flooded at least six times. Twice, the water rose so high that it triggered an electrical fire and her family had to move out during extensive renovations. Mementos from Fears' early years — in a close-knit neighborhood that embraced hard work, education and block parties — were lost forever. Now Fears is fighting back, as part of a coalition of community leaders, university scientists and concerned citizens who have joined together to answer a question that has haunted this South Side neighborhood for decades: Why is it that Chatham experiences some of the worst basement flooding in the city? Volunteers are measuring rainfall in their yards, a local nonprofit is rallying support, and scientists at universities including the University of Illinois, Chicago State and Northwestern are gathering data with soil moisture sensors, radar, weather balloons, and groundwater probes. Read the full story from the Tribune's Nara Schoenberg. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: TIF funds approved for a massive Central Loop renovation, the owner of a Trump-themed shop fighting closure over code issues and 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson and Pete Rose getting reinstated by the MLB. Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History A federal judge says President Donald Trump can use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan citizens who are shown to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines in Pennsylvania appears to be the first time a federal judge has signed off on Trump's proclamation calling Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization and invoking the 18th century wartime law to deport people labeled as being members of the gang. A federal grand jury indicted a Wisconsin judge on charges she helped a man in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration authorities looking to arrest him as he appeared before her in a local domestic abuse case. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's arrest and ensuing indictment has escalated a clash between President Donald Trump's administration and local authorities over the Republican's sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to make a national example of Dugan to chill judicial opposition to the crackdown. A coalition of 20 state Democratic attorneys general filed two federal lawsuits, claiming that the Trump administration is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in transportation and disaster-relief funds unless state's agree to certain immigration enforcement actions. The largest project envisioned so far for the LaSalle Street Reimagined program took a step closer to reality yesterday when the Community Development Commission recommended that City Council approve it. Council approval would unlock $67 million in tax increment financing funds for redevelopment of the historic Clark Adams Building, a 41-story tower at 105 W. Adams St. just east of LaSalle Street in the Central Loop. The funds will help its development team transform dozens of vacant floors into hundreds of new apartments, including 121 reserved as affordable. As Lion Electric faces liquidation and the auction of its shuttered Joliet electric bus factory, the state has announced another Canadian EV bus manufacturer will be opening a plant in Peoria. Damera Corp., an Ontario-based electric bus company, plans to invest $31.5 million and create 90 full-time jobs to open its first U.S. assembly plant, backed by state tax incentives. Kassidy Miles rose early on March 13, 2024. He kissed the two sleeping boys goodbye and set off for O'Hare International Airport to start his shift at 7 a.m. About 45 minutes later, he said, he received a video call that made him scream. His 5-year-old son had dialed him up on an iPad and asked him to come home. 'Jayden and Mommy are dead,' the boy told his father. The boy referred to his older brother, 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, who was fatally stabbed in his apartment in the 5900 block of North Ravenswood Avenue while trying to protect his pregnant mother. His mother, Laterria Smith, who at the time was Miles' fiancée, was seriously injured but survived. Charged in the slaying is Crosetti Brand, 39, who faces charges of murder, attempted murder, home invasion and aggravated domestic battery. Brand is representing himself in the trial, which began Friday with jury selection and continued Monday with opening statements, during which he told the jury he acted in self defense. The Trump Truth Store has been accused of violating village sign ordinance and building codes over the past six months, according to public records. Huntley village officials say the blow-up likeness of the store's namesake, as well as a temporary banner and outdoor merchandise that stretch into the public right-of-way, all violate municipal code. Northwestern hired Cincinnati Bengals scout Christian Sarkisian as the athletic department's general manager yesterday to oversee the school's salary-cap and revenue-sharing issues. Sarkisian, who spent the last seven years as a scout for the Bengals, will help Northwestern navigate a changing landscape. Schools would be allowed to share millions in revenue directly with student-athletes if a federal judge approves a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement against the NCAA. Sarkisian's primary focus will be on football. Pete Rose and 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson were reinstated by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred yesterday, making both eligible for the sport's Hall of Fame after their careers were tarnished by sports gambling scandals. Column: The Pete Rose saga will likely end with the all-time Hit King in the Hall of Fame The R&B singer Cassie returns to the witness stand today after a day spent recounting grotesque and humiliating details of life with her ex-boyfriend, Sean 'Diddy' Combs. During her first day of testimony at Combs' sex trafficking trial, Cassie described being pressured into degrading sexual encounters with paid sex workers. She also recounted being beaten numerous times by Combs when she did things that displeased him — like smiling at him the wrong way. A cyborg providing security to a corporation's workers hacks into its own system and becomes sentient in the droll 10-episode sci-fi Apple TV+ comedy 'Murderbot,' based on 'The Murderbot Diaries' book series by Martha Wells. Alexander Skarsgård stars as the Security Unit in question. People call them SecUnits for short, but Murderbot is the name this particular robot has given itself after successfully shutting down its internal module that ensures it obeys every and any human command. Unsure what to do with this newfound freedom, and reluctant to tip off the company that it's become ungovernable, for now Murderbot pretends to be its usual robotic self while it figures out what's next. Meanwhile, we hear its inner monologue, which is filled with snarky assessments of the annoying humans in its vicinity. Did Tribune TV and film critic Nina Metz mention the show is a comedy? The remote Galápagos Islands of the Pacific, about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, have no historic monuments, only a handful of human settlements and the barest smattering of amenities such as restaurants and shops. But you don't travel to the archipelago for these. You go in search of unearthly landscapes, pristine white-sand beaches and nearly 9,000 species of animals within the UNESCO World Heritage Galápagos National Park, all of which seem to have sprung to life from an Eric Carle picture book.
Chicago Tribune
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Daywatch: Scientists join the fight against basement flooding in Chatham
Good morning, Chicago. When Nedra Sims Fears was growing up in Chatham in the 1960s and '70s, the basement of her family home flooded at least six times. Twice, the water rose so high that it triggered an electrical fire and her family had to move out during extensive renovations. Mementos from Fears' early years — in a close-knit neighborhood that embraced hard work, education and block parties — were lost forever. Now Fears is fighting back, as part of a coalition of community leaders, university scientists and concerned citizens who have joined together to answer a question that has haunted this South Side neighborhood for decades: Why is it that Chatham experiences some of the worst basement flooding in the city? Volunteers are measuring rainfall in their yards, a local nonprofit is rallying support, and scientists at universities including the University of Illinois, Chicago State and Northwestern are gathering data with soil moisture sensors, radar, weather balloons, and groundwater probes. Read the full story from the Tribune's Nara Schoenberg. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History A federal judge says President Donald Trump can use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan citizens who are shown to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines in Pennsylvania appears to be the first time a federal judge has signed off on Trump's proclamation calling Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization and invoking the 18th century wartime law to deport people labeled as being members of the gang. A federal grand jury indicted a Wisconsin judge on charges she helped a man in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration authorities looking to arrest him as he appeared before her in a local domestic abuse case. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's arrest and ensuing indictment has escalated a clash between President Donald Trump's administration and local authorities over the Republican's sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to make a national example of Dugan to chill judicial opposition to the crackdown. A coalition of 20 state Democratic attorneys general filed two federal lawsuits, claiming that the Trump administration is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in transportation and disaster-relief funds unless state's agree to certain immigration enforcement actions. The largest project envisioned so far for the LaSalle Street Reimagined program took a step closer to reality yesterday when the Community Development Commission recommended that City Council approve it. Council approval would unlock $67 million in tax increment financing funds for redevelopment of the historic Clark Adams Building, a 41-story tower at 105 W. Adams St. just east of LaSalle Street in the Central Loop. The funds will help its development team transform dozens of vacant floors into hundreds of new apartments, including 121 reserved as affordable. As Lion Electric faces liquidation and the auction of its shuttered Joliet electric bus factory, the state has announced another Canadian EV bus manufacturer will be opening a plant in Peoria. Damera Corp., an Ontario-based electric bus company, plans to invest $31.5 million and create 90 full-time jobs to open its first U.S. assembly plant, backed by state tax incentives. Kassidy Miles rose early on March 13, 2024. He kissed the two sleeping boys goodbye and set off for O'Hare International Airport to start his shift at 7 a.m. About 45 minutes later, he said, he received a video call that made him scream. His 5-year-old son had dialed him up on an iPad and asked him to come home. 'Jayden and Mommy are dead,' the boy told his father. The boy referred to his older brother, 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, who was fatally stabbed in his apartment in the 5900 block of North Ravenswood Avenue while trying to protect his pregnant mother. His mother, Laterria Smith, who at the time was Miles' fiancée, was seriously injured but survived. Charged in the slaying is Crosetti Brand, 39, who faces charges of murder, attempted murder, home invasion and aggravated domestic battery. Brand is representing himself in the trial, which began Friday with jury selection and continued Monday with opening statements, during which he told the jury he acted in self defense. The Trump Truth Store has been accused of violating village sign ordinance and building codes over the past six months, according to public records. Huntley village officials say the blow-up likeness of the store's namesake, as well as a temporary banner and outdoor merchandise that stretch into the public right-of-way, all violate municipal code. Northwestern hired Cincinnati Bengals scout Christian Sarkisian as the athletic department's general manager yesterday to oversee the school's salary-cap and revenue-sharing issues. Sarkisian, who spent the last seven years as a scout for the Bengals, will help Northwestern navigate a changing landscape. Schools would be allowed to share millions in revenue directly with student-athletes if a federal judge approves a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement against the NCAA. Sarkisian's primary focus will be on football. Pete Rose and 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson were reinstated by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred yesterday, making both eligible for the sport's Hall of Fame after their careers were tarnished by sports gambling scandals. The R&B singer Cassie returns to the witness stand today after a day spent recounting grotesque and humiliating details of life with her ex-boyfriend, Sean 'Diddy' Combs. During her first day of testimony at Combs' sex trafficking trial, Cassie described being pressured into degrading sexual encounters with paid sex workers. She also recounted being beaten numerous times by Combs when she did things that displeased him — like smiling at him the wrong way. A cyborg providing security to a corporation's workers hacks into its own system and becomes sentient in the droll 10-episode sci-fi Apple TV+ comedy 'Murderbot,' based on 'The Murderbot Diaries' book series by Martha Wells. Alexander Skarsgård stars as the Security Unit in question. People call them SecUnits for short, but Murderbot is the name this particular robot has given itself after successfully shutting down its internal module that ensures it obeys every and any human command. Unsure what to do with this newfound freedom, and reluctant to tip off the company that it's become ungovernable, for now Murderbot pretends to be its usual robotic self while it figures out what's next. Meanwhile, we hear its inner monologue, which is filled with snarky assessments of the annoying humans in its vicinity. Did Tribune TV and film critic Nina Metz mention the show is a comedy? The remote Galápagos Islands of the Pacific, about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, have no historic monuments, only a handful of human settlements and the barest smattering of amenities such as restaurants and shops. But you don't travel to the archipelago for these. You go in search of unearthly landscapes, pristine white-sand beaches and nearly 9,000 species of animals within the UNESCO World Heritage Galápagos National Park, all of which seem to have sprung to life from an Eric Carle picture book.
