Original News, Features & Opinion on local and regional news you won't find anywhere else
Midnight Flight: Chapter 2, Dividing Lines One family’s experience of White Flight and the racial transformation of Chicago’s South Side (an online novel) By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2020 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved “You never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them.” — To Kill…
Midnight Flight: Chapter 1, Introduction By Ray Hanania Midnight Flight, (C) 1990-2020 Ray Hanania, All Rights Reserved This book is about one family’s experience of White Flight from a changing and great Chicago community, South Shore Valley (also called South Shore Gardens, Calumet Heights). It is also one person’s memory of living in a wonderful…
Will controversy follow recent sale of Palos Church to Muslims? The southwest suburbs have a history of community opposition to the building of a mosque or Muslim center, reflecting growing racism and discrimination against Muslims nationwide. Have things changed? By Ray Hanania More than 15 years ago, tried to purchase the abandoned Reform Church of Palos…
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Great teachers are hard to find. Chicagoland schools in the city and the suburbs are deficient and not doing their jobs. A major responsibility falls on the teachers, whoa re not doing enough, and the excessive focus and resource commitments to school administrations. Cut the administrations and grade teachers for their work By Ray Hanania…
Common Core and our failing high schools. Too many high schools are graduating students who are “not ready” for college, achieving under 21 on ACT testing. By Ray Hanania When I was young, if my grade point average was under 60 percent, I flunked. The grading system we used then applies today: A=90+; B=80+; C=70+;…
Muslim, Christian and Jew to perform comedy for Interfaith group in Deerfield Oct. 24 Deerfield, Il. – An interfaith gathering of people committed to promoting religious tolerance and inter-cultural dialogue will host a comedy show in Deerfield Oct. 24 featuring three comedians of different faiths. The three performers at the show hosted by the Southeast…
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First Arab Church opens in Southwest Chicago suburbs By Ray Hanania Oct. 10, 2005 Although most Americans believe the myth that all Arabs are Muslims, statistics show that the majority of Arabs in Chicagoland are Christian. There are several Arab Christian Churches in the Chicago area, but the first one to serve the huge Christian…
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Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman resigned from her 13 year position on the board to take an important private sector job at a Fortune 100 company. It’s a loss for Cook County, a loss for moderation, a loss for Gov. Bruce Rauner and a loss for taxpayers By Ray Hanania Liz Gorman, the Orland Township…
Sandburg High school graduate Ashley Pickens authors a new illustrated children’s book inspired by her late father who pushed her to enjoy art as a young child. The new book, Waddle with Scuttle or Swim with Kim, will be featured at a book party Friday June 12 from 5 pm until 9 pm at Barraco’s in Mt. Greenwood….
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Would Chicago just stop whining already? Chicago’s financial mess is dominating the news and dragging the state of Illinois down. The only solution Chicago mayor’s have had over the years is to make the State bail out the city. But I think it’s time we stopped By Ray Hanania I’m so tired of listening to…
Summit Illinois Mayor Joseph Strzelczyk died Sunday, May 17, a few days before he would have celebrated his 76th birthday. Strzelczyk was a people’s mayor, kind, generous and caring. Despite his small handful of relentless critics who falsely claimed he was absent during his recent battle with cancer, Strzelczyk worked hard for the citizens of…
Too often, I see people briskly step out of their vehicles parked in handicapped parking zones and displaying handicapped licenses plates or handicapped rear view mirror tags. They just don’t look like they need the plates, but who in government is courageous enough to set this abuse straight? By Ray Hanania Three times in the past…
Pete’s Fresh Market opened a new store in Bridgeview recently that offers the widest range of fresh deli salads and buffets, the largest I have ever seen. And I love grocery stores. By Ray Hanania I love food, especially from the Middle East. That’s one reason why I spend so much time meandering around grocery stores…
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This week, another major grocery retailer entered the battle for the growing Middle Eastern food market in Chicagoland offering a wide range of Arab food products. The past half century has seen Arab food migrate from the shelves of small ethnic neighborhood food stores to the premium shelves of the largest national chains. Chicagoland has been no exception, just…
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Gorman gives Rauner some added ‘Big Mo’ By RAY HANANIA Southwest News-Herald Newspaper Friday, December 27, 2013 Winnetka Businessman Bruce Rauner may be new to politics, but he apparently knows more about Republican politics than his rivals. Rauner won the endorsement of the Cook County Republican Party over GOP rivals State Sen. Kirk Dillard and Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford,…
What’s Peotone’s Impact On Midway Airport? By RAY HANANIA Southwest News-Herald Newspaper, Friday, October 25, 2013 We hear a lot about the third airport that everyone wants to build in the “South Suburbs.” But we don’t hear enough about Midway Airport. I have been a Southwest Sider almost all of my life, migrating with my…
David Orr and Making Voting Just So ‘Easy’ By RAY HANANIA Southwest News-Herald Friday, June 21, 2013 Despite the low voter turnout, voting is already easy. But not everyone wants to take the time to vote. In fact, the vast majority of residences who could vote don’t even register to vote. They don’t want to….
Local governments not responsible for flooding By Ray Hanania Southwest News-Herald Friday April 25, 2013 When my home flooded in 1997, the Village of Orland Park provided large garbage canisters for each group of homes that had been damaged. They also provided dozens of crates of bottled bleach to kill mold and bacteria, that one…
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