Latest news with #WhoWeAre:StoriesFromtheChicagoStreetWiseCommunity
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Afternoon Briefing: City could force Uber and Lyft to hike driver pay
Good afternoon, Chicago. Rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber could soon be forced to pay Chicago drivers more if an ordinance up for debate Thursday moves ahead, a change the companies say would cause the cost of rides to skyrocket for passengers. Ald. Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, said his measure would make sure rideshare drivers make more than minimum wage and get paid when they wait for and drive riders. But critics and the companies say the legislation will raise costs and could even put many drivers out of work. Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History Federal prosecutors announced today that they will retry state Sen. Emil Jones III on bribery charges after a jury in April deadlocked on all counts, leading to a mistrial. Read more here. More top news stories: Lawyers for R. Kelly claim wrongdoing by prosecutors, say imprisoned singer's life in danger $23.5M lawsuit settlement reached for family of technical surveyor killed in fall from Hyde Park scaffolding Illinois lawmakers ended their spring legislative session without finding a way to plug the gaping $771 million budget gap facing the region's mass transit systems next year. Thousands of jobs hang in the balance. Read more here. More top business stories: Apple unveils iOS 26 and a new 'liquid glass' design I-65 fiery truck crashes ignite conversation about tolling, expanding highway The longtime Sky star jokingly acknowledged her quiet exit in a Players Tribune column today as she formally announced her retirement from the WNBA — nearly three years after playing her final game for the Sky in September 2022. Read more here. More top sports stories: Column: Why Chicago Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong is content with just being himself How Chicago White Sox's Luis Robert Jr. is working to get going at the plate: 'I'm open to the suggestions' Anthony Mateos, who lives in Evanston and has just completed his junior year at Evanston Township High School, has compiled and published a terrific book titled 'Who We Are: Stories From the Chicago StreetWise Community.' Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: Steve Carell will speak at Northwestern University's 2025 commencement Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82 The Marines that deployed to Los Angeles on orders from President Donald Trump have not yet been called to respond to the city's immigration protests and are there only to protect federal property, the Marine Corps commandant said. Read more here. More top stories from around the world: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces sharp questions from Congress on deploying troops to Los Angles and Pentagon chaos President Donald Trump pushes ahead with his maximalist immigration campaign in face of LA protests
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Afternoon Briefing: City could force Uber and Lyft to hike driver pay
Good afternoon, Chicago. Rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber could soon be forced to pay Chicago drivers more if an ordinance up for debate Thursday moves ahead, a change the companies say would cause the cost of rides to skyrocket for passengers. Ald. Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, said his measure would make sure rideshare drivers make more than minimum wage and get paid when they wait for and drive riders. But critics and the companies say the legislation will raise costs and could even put many drivers out of work. Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History Federal prosecutors announced today that they will retry state Sen. Emil Jones III on bribery charges after a jury in April deadlocked on all counts, leading to a mistrial. Read more here. More top news stories: Illinois lawmakers ended their spring legislative session without finding a way to plug the gaping $771 million budget gap facing the region's mass transit systems next year. Thousands of jobs hang in the balance. Read more here. More top business stories: The longtime Sky star jokingly acknowledged her quiet exit in a Players Tribune column today as she formally announced her retirement from the WNBA — nearly three years after playing her final game for the Sky in September 2022. Read more here. More top sports stories: Anthony Mateos, who lives in Evanston and has just completed his junior year at Evanston Township High School, has compiled and published a terrific book titled 'Who We Are: Stories From the Chicago StreetWise Community.' Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: The Marines that deployed to Los Angeles on orders from President Donald Trump have not yet been called to respond to the city's immigration protests and are there only to protect federal property, the Marine Corps commandant said. Read more here. More top stories from around the world:
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Column: A high schooler gives voice to the StreetWise world
'StreetWise,' the man shouts at the snazzy corner of Michigan Avenue and Walton Street as people pass him by, 'StreetWise, here.' But of course there is shopping to do, lunch with friends, all sorts of other chores and engagements. … Hurry, hurry, hurry. has long been the excuse most people have used not to buy a copy from the people who sell it for a living. The publication has been around since 1992, a means by which people could earn money by selling what was then a newspaper. In March that year, I was told, 'It gives people a hand up and not just a handout,' by its first editor, Kathleen 'Casey' Covganka, before the first issue hit the streets that September. Ever since, few have taken the time to discover anything about StreetWise salespeople, the vendors. Some don't have the time to exchange even a glance, making the vendors among the city's most faceless citizens. That's not true of 17-year-old Anthony Mateos, who lives in Evanston and has just completed his junior year at Evanston Township High School. He has compiled and published a terrific book titled 'Who We Are: Stories From the Chicago StreetWise Community.' An oral history, it contains first-name-only interviews with many vendors and a few staff members, such as editor-in-chief Suzanne, who says. 'I don't want (vendors) to just be pitied and take money, and people say, 'Oh, isn't that special? Isn't that sweet?' That's patronizing for all of us. I want them to take the magazine, read the magazine, and consider the things that StreetWise is talking about, which are marginalized people and the question, 'How do we make Chicago better?'' Says one vendor named Lonnie, 'It's a great opportunity to get out there and talk to people, not only just to sell StreetWise. To let people know at the end of the day you're not by yourself and that's going to be okay. But you have to keep going, and you have to keep working hard. You have to take it to another level, knowing it's going to be a better day. Them better days outweigh a not-good day. I make the best of every day.' Here's Jimmie, who has been a vendor for nearly 20 years, saying, 'StreetWise picked me up when I was a mess. Once I got with StreetWise, it changed my life. It put hope in front of me.' There are similar sentiments and uplifting stories expressed throughout. For the $14.50 cost of the 67-page book (available at self-publisher with profits going to StreetWise), you'll get many similar sentiments and uplifting stories. And perhaps, as Mateos writes in his brief introduction, you might 'go beyond the pages. Next time you see a vendor selling StreetWise, buy a magazine and talk with them. If you cannot buy a magazine, offer them a smile or a wave. The kindness matters.' Mateos was inspired to this project by his mother, Elizabeth Schaefer, who is a professor and director of communications and marketing studies for National Louis University. Nearly a decade ago, he accompanied her when she was working on gathering interviews that became her book 'Women Are With You: An Oral History Book About Domestically Abusive Relationships.' She also helped navigate the self-publishing world, for which she has written and published a number of books. I have written about her before and, in the small world department, also about her mom, Trish Schaefer, who I met decades ago, when she was sitting behind a piano playing and singing at a number of clubs on the local scene. I wrote that 'she was one of the bright lights on the local club scene, juggling her singing career with acting, appearing in commercials, films and a TV show called 'Lady Blue'.' She gave up show business to raise two daughters, one of whom was Elizabeth. It's a creative family but Anthony, as empowered as he is by his first published book, is not dreaming of future bestseller lists. Raised as the only child of his single mom, he is an independent thinker, an honors student and member of the ETHS rowing team. The book, he says, 'Makes me proud and happy.' StreetWise has changed much since its founding. It's no longer a newspaper but a magazine, published once a week and sold by some 150 vendors. It has operated since 2020 in collaboration with YMCA Metropolitan Chicago and thus has been able to expand its services to vendors. They pay $1.15 for each copy and then sell them for $3. No one is getting rich. But the vendors, all of whom wear badges and have undergone training, can also avail themselves of such benefits as food, clothing and the assistance of social workers. Mateos tells me that most of the vendors 'were very receptive to talking to me, to sharing their lives.' He says that many of his friends and a few of his teachers were surprised by the book. He so far raised about $1,000. He is spending the summer on the Northwestern University campus, taking classes in one of his current interests, neuroscience. Northwestern is among the universities and colleges he will be applying to in a few months and any one of them will be lucky to have him.
