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Good Tuesday morning, Evanston.
It’s Valentine’s Day! A day to celebrate love. We’re starting with Lingzhou Yu and Matthew Marx. The two met in Korea in 2012. She was a buyer; he was a middle school teacher. Love at first sight? Read what they told the RoundTable’s Richard Cahan as they watched their young sons play in Raymond Park.
And now we’d love to present you with more local stories:
Don’t have a romantic valentine this holiday? That’s OK. RoundTable writer Cissy Lacks penned a love letter to her entire Evanston community – the new “families” of friends and neighbors that have welcomed her since she moved here seven years ago. She loves the friendships, and her dog Casper loves all the neighborly pets, head scratches, cuddles, walks and even the occasional bath.
A Chicago-based consulting company in line to get a $98,000 City of Evanston contract retweeted conspiracy theories against Black Lives Matter from its official Twitter account and followed a participant in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. The city planned to hire Hunden Strategic Partners to conduct a Ryan Field economic impact study, but on Monday night the city council removed the matter from its consent agenda and postponed the vote.
District 65 financial updates: School repairs will be more expensive than originally planned because inflation is increasing the cost of materials and construction, officials told a school board committee on Monday. The district’s business and finance team warns of a potential budget deficit in the future but is now projecting a balanced budget through fiscal year 2025.
COVID-19 by the numbers: Six new cases and no new deaths were reported Sunday, Feb. 12, the last day the city updated totals. The seven-day average is 9.71 cases per day.
More RoundTable reads
Chef and restauranteur Michael Lachowicz is beginning a new culinary endeavor: The just-opened Fonda Cantina brings sophisticated Mexican dining, with flavors from the Michoacan, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon regions, to downtown Evanston.
Meals on Wheels Northeastern Illinois warns that food instability among seniors is a huge problem – 25,000 seniors in the area are “food insecure,” said Executive Director Deborah Morganfield, who gave the RoundTable a behind-the-scenes tour of its Evanston facility.
It’s already mid-February, but there is still time and a number of upcoming events to help commemorate Black History Month. Check out the RoundTable’s roundup of Evanston presentations, exhibits, discussions and more.
Glass is not only endlessly recyclable but also extremely reusable. In the second of two parts, Meg Evans offers ideas on reusing bottles and jars, explains what kinds of glass you shouldn’t put in that blue cart and how to package broken glass.
The Art of Making Art: Anna Marie Crovetti is never at a loss for ideas of what to create. RoundTable columnist Jean Cunningham introduces us to this artist’s unconventional combinations of paint and dry and soft pigments on paper.
Checkmate! Evanston Township High School’s chess team captured second place at the state finals last weekend. This spring the Wildkits will travel to the National High School Championships in Washington, D.C.
Dear Gabby: Our advice columnist Gabby covers everything from marriage nitpicks (dirty socks!) to angry in-laws (hats indoors!) to comments about names (how to respond?). You may not agree with all her answers, but she’s never boring.
Safe Gun Storage Saves Lives: Community members who need to secure a firearm can pick up a free gun lock 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center or Robert Crown Community Center.
Join our team: Do you like to write? Are you curious about the varied and dynamic life of Evanston? The RoundTable seeks feature writers to cover human interest stories and produce profiles about our fair city. If you’d like to write, we’d love to hear from you! Email us at news@evanstonroundtable.com.
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From day one, it’s been the RoundTable’s mission to bring you unbiased, in-depth reporting about the Evanston community. But we need your help to continue investing in high-quality and in-depth journalism, reporting news that strengthens and enlightens our community, encourages civic engagement and bolsters our democracy. Please join our community of readers and become a member today.
Around the web
The business of garbage: The price of profit to residents dealing with the Church Street Waste Transfer Station. Neighbors of the transfer station share how it affects their day-to-day lives.
Investor Cameel Halim trips up Evanston homeless shelter plan. Halim argues that the Margarita Inn draws more people who need services from around the Chicago region, putting a disproportionately high burden on Evanston.
Migrant shelter planned for shuttered Chicago store. The K-Mart at 71st and Pulaski is about 96,000 square feet and would house about 600 people.
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