At This Time
“Glow in the Dark” was the theme of this year’s Evanston High School Homecoming Dance as students filled the school’s field house at the first homecoming held indoors in three years. Hundreds wore glow necklaces and lights. Event organizers also offered a game room and a quiet space. “We want to be all-inclusive,” said Denise Clarke, director of student activities. “It’s time to get together. We don’t have many opportunities to do this.” (Photo by Richard Cahan)
You asked. WE found out.
Picturing Evanston
Mural by Jesse Hora on the side of “PalmHouse”, an event venue on Howard Street and Callan Avenue. (Photo by Joerg Metzner)
Parking study recommends higher meter rates, fee increases
A new study of Evanston’s parking system recommends that officials…
Noise and trash bug Fifth Ward residents
Thursday’s virtual Fifth Ward meeting focused on two persistent complaints…
District 65 still having payroll issues
Evanston/Skokie School District 65 teachers received their first paychecks for…
Northwestern releases early design concepts for new Ryan Field
On Wednesday, Northwestern University rolled out via a 2,459-word news…
ETHS boys golf: Wildkits advance behind regional champ Low
Kieran Low’s coming out party continued Wednesday at the Loyola…
Letter to the Editor: City’s hiring practices bypassed in police chief search
One account announcing the appointment of new Evanston Police Chief…
Letter to the editor: Is Evanston’s Climate Action Plan sustainable?
If your city had an ambitious, nationally recognized program to…
Letter to the editor: Supporting Margarita Inn is a mistake
Because of the Connections for the Homeless “hands off” approach…
Simone Larson: Making sense of the middle of the middle schooler
There is something deeply confusing about the middle-school mind. An…
TOday in Evanston
Latest news from Evanston: Your Friday daily digest
Good Friday morning, Evanston. Here are the latest news and feature stories from around the city.
Latest NEWS
Wildkits football gets a victory for Homecoming
You couldn’t blame Dylan Groff if his first-ever unsportsmanlike conduct penalty…
Anatomy Warehouse has Evanston in its bones – and a little bit of Hollywood too
If you have gone to see a health care provider within…
Sophomore Stella Davis helped ETHS cross country team get no. 2 at invitational
First-year head coach Beth Arey wasn’t fooled while taking her Evanston…
Council funds $12,800 contract to find cause of Crown Center concrete cracks
Cracks are appearing in many places in the concrete slab that…
RECENT POSTS
Evanston man charged in robberies of two postal carriers
From the Evanston Police Department: On Sept. 26, at approximately…
City looks at buying fire-damaged Howard Street property for mixed-income housing and business development
Evanston staff and City Council are currently looking into the…
‘They’re not newspapers’: The not-so-mysterious publications in your mailbox
Earlier this month, retired middle school history teacher and longtime…
COVID-19 update as of Sept. 29: Evanston and Cook County rated ‘low’ risk
The State of Illinois announced Thursday, Sept. 29, it is…
Need affordable rental housing? Get on a waiting list, agency urges
Twenty years ago Joy Grizzard moved to Evanston, hoping to…
Rank and File | ETHS chess team aims for state championship
After finishing in third place at last February’s Illinois High…
Evanston public nudity rules stricter, less inclusive than many nearby communities
The city’s debate over its public nudity ordinance has made…
Books: ‘Detective Blue & the Crew’ takes kids on a K-9 ride-along
More than 100 people joined local author Curtis Wideman on…
Deemar case set for additional briefing on District 65’s right to set curriculum
On Sept. 27, U. S. District Court Judge Robert M.…
Connections for the Homeless files permit to continue operating Margarita Inn shelter
After a long delay waiting to get a signature from…
Upcoming Events
City adopts new bird-friendly building design ordinance
Submitted by City of Evanston Evanston skies will be safer…
Downtown Evanston to host annual Fall Fest on Oct. 9
Submitted by Downtown Evanston Downtown Evanston is hosting the second annual Fall Fest on Sunday, October…
Comcast to award grants to small businesses owned by women and people of color in Cook County
Submitted by Comcast Comcast has announced it will award $10,000…
Candidate forum for 9th Congressional District race to be held Oct. 3
Submitted by The League of Women Voters The League of…
MIC celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with quartet performance Oct. 15
Submitted by The Music Institute of Chicago The Music Institute of…
CITY NEWS
Solid Waste Fund gets $1 million injection from general fund
Despite slight improvements, the city’s Solid Waste Fund has shown a negative balance for several years, prompting officials to look at curative actions. The Solid Waste Fund is used to track revenues and expenses relating to the collection of solid waste from residences and businesses and…
Council grants reprieve to three planned developments
City Council members at their Sept. 27 meeting gave developers of a mixed-use development, a residential project and an office building an additional 18 months to obtain building permits. Several factors delayed construction on the planned developments at 1012 Chicago Ave., 1900 Sherman Ave. and 605…
New animal shelter proposal headed to City Council
It’s taken almost four years, but a proposal to fund a new $6.3 million building for the Evanston Animal Shelter should be on the Oct. 10 agenda of the City Council. On Tuesday, Sept. 27, during a special 17-minute meeting, the Animal Welfare Board agreed to…
Incident at Howard ‘L’ station causes delays on multiple lines
Red, Yellow and Purple line “L” trains were stuck at the Howard Street station for about half an hour late Tuesday afternoon “due to a minor incident involving rail cars at Howard,” a spokesperson for the Chicago Transit Authority told the RoundTable. After a significant delay,…
Two postal carriers robbed in two days; police warn of package theft risks
Submitted by the Evanston Police Department On Monday Sept. 26 at approximately 4:05 p.m. Evanston Police officers responded to the 1600 block of Monroe Street for a call of a robbery. Upon arrival officers spoke with the victim, a U.S. Postal Service carrier, who stated he…
ART & LIFE
Spirit of Evanston, Future of Evanston award nominations due Oct. 3
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT A NOMINATION IS MONDAY, OCTOBER 3 Corrine Passage Spirit of Evanston Award 2022 Do you know someone who embodies the spirit of Evanston? Is there someone you know who gave in an extraordinary way to our community during the pandemic? Someone who is infused with a…
Books: Q&A with local author Lynn Sloan
Evanston resident Lynn Sloan is a writer and photographer. Her first novel, Principles of Navigation, was chosen for Chicago Book Review’s Best Books of 2015, and her second novel, Midstream, was published in 2022 and called “luminous” by Foreword Reviews. She is the author of the story…
Weekish in photos (and a video): Sept. 19-26
We need to see how you picture Evanston. What have you seen or done that you can share? What caught your eye? We would love to see your pictures and keep up with you. Send your photos to news@evanstonroundtable.com. Please put “Week in photos” in the subject…
‘Art of the Thread’ brings woven treasures to Central Street
Somewhat hidden among the hundreds of artifacts in Laura Soskin’s Gallery 1925 on Central Street are textiles of all kinds and sizes. Most of the pieces are neatly folded on shelves, waiting for visitors to ask to have them pulled out for viewing. This Saturday’s event at…
Evanston is officially for the birds!
Sept. 12 marked a milestone for birds in Evanston, particularly benefitting those that migrate through the city. City Council unanimously passed an ordinance amending Title 4 of the City Code, “Building Regulations,” by adding Chapter 24 – Bird Friendly Building Design. Evanston’s downtown has glass buildings, both residential…
SCHOOLS
District 65 to fill Tanyavutti’s seat in October
After longtime member and former Evanston/Skokie District 65 School Board President Anya Tanyavutti announced her resignation last week, the board announced in a Tuesday morning press release a plan to appoint her replacement next month. Tanyavutti’s resignation comes on the heels of…
Review: ‘YAMOLAND: The Sketchiest Place on Earth’
Fun fact: you do not need to be a current or former student at Evanston Township High School, or the parent of one, to enjoy and laugh at the new YAMO show, which opened on Thursday, Sept. 22, in the school’s Upstairs…
Woman’s death near ETHS ruled a suicide
The woman whose body was found Tuesday outside Evanston Township High School died by suicide, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday afternoon. After an autopsy, the medical examiner’s office ruled the death was caused by multiple self-inflicted stab wounds to…
Tanyavutti resigns from District 65 school board after 6 years
Anya Tanyavutti, a member of the Evanston/Skokie District 65 school board since 2016 and former president of the board, announced her resignation, effective immediately, at the board’s regular meeting held Monday night. Tanyavutti was the first Black woman to be school board…
District 65 school board appoints Tracy Olasimbo as new member
At their meeting Monday night, Evanston/Skokie District 65 school board members unanimously voted to appoint Tracy Olasimbo, the family engagement coordinator at Evanston Public Library, to fill the vacant seat left by the resignation of former board Vice President Marquise Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon…
PHOTOS
At This Time
Urban forest expert Cherie LeBlanc Fisher (in floppy hat) leads a group through the Ladd Arboretum. Instead of just identifying trees, she taught how to measure their diameter and figure out their monetary value by using the online National Tree Benefit Calculator. “Trees have a lot of social and environmental and…
Picturing Evanston
Have you ever strolled down Howard Street? Did you know there is a cabaret theater named Theo Ubique at 721 Howard St.? The theater’s newest show, Refuge, will run from Oct. 7 to Nov. 13. (Photo by Joerg Metzner)
At This Time
They survived the atomic bomb blast and traveled to Evanston with a message. Nuclear war is “unthinkable,” said Joseph Mitsuaki Takami (right), archbishop emeritus of Nagasaki, Japan. “The leaders of the countries don’t know how horrible the atomic bomb is.” He was in utero during the Nagasaki blast. Fusako Hirano and…
At This Time
“I came out and said my goodbyes and went inside and cried.” That’s how Alison Eisendrath described the morning her grand, front-yard tree was taken down section by section. The maple had lost large limbs during recent storms. “It was time,” she said. Eisendrath’s parents bought the house on Maple Avenue…
At This Time
Members of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation walk onto the pier east of Dawes Park to mark tashlich, the ritual of casting off sins that is part of the Rosh Hashanah New Year celebration. “So let us go forth,” said Rabbi Rachel Weiss. “Let us do this work that is hard and…
PUBLIC SQUARE
Les Jacobson: Beautiful days
With fall at hand, it’s a good time to look back at the last three months. And what a summer it was: Mild, clear and sunny, with little serious heat or humidity. While the rest of the country has been suffering through drought, fires, heat waves, hurricanes and…
Peggy Tarr: L’chaim*
This year, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, began at sundown on Sept. 25 and ended on sundown Sept. 27. Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days that end on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on Oct. 4. I grew up in a…
Letter to the Editor: Planning & Development Committee
[UPDATE: On Tuesday, Sept. 27, the Planning and Development Committee met and voted to reject the billboard proposal 2-6. The measure will not advance to City Council. City Council members Bobby Burns (5th Ward) and Juan Geracaris (9th Ward) voted for it.] Dear Members of the Planning &…
Letter from the Mayor: Ready to take the next step in civic engagement?
Greetings, One of the great joys of serving as your mayor is the extraordinary volume and quality of input I get from residents. Evanstonians are highly engaged and active, and the ideas I hear from people are instrumental in shaping my plans for our community. Perhaps the most…
John McClelland: A time-traveler’s Evanston
Editor’s Note: Evanston Essays is an ongoing series highlighting people’s thoughts, memories and opinions of Evanston. If you’d have an essay of about 500-600 words you’d like to share, please send it to susy@evanstonroundtable.com. I first saw Evanston in July 1969. We returned to stay in 2002. Growing…
SPORTS
ETHS girls field hockey team buries Homewood-Flossmoor
Most field hockey teams would settle for scoring nine goals in a full week of games. But this isn’t your mother’s field hockey team. Evanston…
Romisher places second in 500-yard freestyle at ETHS invitational
The most difficult part of training to be an elite distance swimmer isn’t necessarily all of the early morning laps you have to put in…
Close didn’t count for ETHS football team – again – Friday night
(Editor’s note: The original story has been updated with pictures of Friday night’s game from RoundTable photographer Saul Lieberman.) The Wildkits saw their fourth quarter…
Evanston Running Club Cross Country 5K Races set for Nov. 6
Supplied to the RoundTable Evanston Running Club Cross Country 5K Races at Canal Shores will be held Sunday, Nov. 6, starting at 1030 Central St.…
REPORTS & ANALYSES
Evanston’s lead pipes are everywhere, and could become a significant health risk
This series was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. This is part 1 of the RoundTable’s three-part series: Lead pipes in Evanston: How local government inaction…
Developing a Segregated Town, 1900-1960
Evanston’s first African American residents arrived in the 1850s, and by 1880 there were approximately 125 African Americans in Evanston. The number grew to 737 in 1900.…
Fifth Ward STEM School Plan Promises Equity
The Fifth Ward of Evanston, the historic heart of the Black community in the west-central part of the City dating to the days of redlining, has not…
Ninth Ward Residents Battle Environmental Justice Issues: ‘This Area Has Really Been Abused and Neglected’
Seven years ago an explosion in Evanston’s southwest Ninth Ward rocked the homes of some nearby residents. Highly flammable and combustible materials were densely packed behind the…