Good Wednesday morning, Evanston.
Clint Smith, author of the One Book One Northwestern nonfiction selection How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, is joined onstage Tuesday by Northwestern history professor Leslie Harris. The award-winning work looks at how the story of slavery has been passed down. “I wrote it for the 15- or 16-year-old … who was sitting in a high school class so desperately wanting a book that had information that would help explain why the world in front of them looks the way it does,” Smith said. (Photo by Richard Cahan)
And now more news:
Housing and Community Development Committee members on Tuesday considered options for a financial relief program to provide assistance for small local landlords who lost revenue during the pandemic. Legal requirements and a pile of documents needed from eligible landlords have made the process complicated, city staff said, but the committee hopes to green-light the program next month.
Sally McBratney and Francis Jeffrey-Idun met in 2013 as coworkers at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba in Chicago. The two would often hang out after hours with other staff members. And one particular “cold and snowy night, we were at a friend’s party and he asked to walk me home. And that’s when I thought, ‘He likes me,’” recalled McBratney, an ETHS alum. Read their love story in the Roundtable’s latest They Do column.
Please join the Evanston RoundTable and a leading champion – and critic – of the American news media for an online conversation about the threats facing journalism and democracy. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, Margaret Sullivan, former media critic of The Washington Post and public editor of The New York Times, will join the RoundTable for a webinar about her latest book, Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life.
This event kicks off our fall NewsMatch fundraising campaign – and the chance for the Evanston community to support our work as Evanston’s nonprofit news source.
COVID-19 by the numbers: Seven new cases and no new deaths were reported Monday, Oct. 17, the last day the city updated case totals. The seven-day average is 13.1 cases per day. Evanston recorded its most recent COVID-19 death Oct. 9, bringing the total number of local pandemic deaths to 157.
Elsewhere on the RoundTable website
Isabelle Reiniger: Minding Our Own Businesses | The Main-Dempster Mile. The pandemic forced many businesses to close or move away, but columnist Reiniger catches up with some of the 28 new businesses that have opened in the area over the last three years. Above, Shams Frough (left) of Kapisa Rugs and Trinity Collins of Monarch Fitness Training jointly brandish the big scissors.
City to host Reparations Town Hall on Oct. 22. Evanston is hosting a town hall at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Second Baptist Church to share updates on the city’s reparations initiative and provide community members with an opportunity to learn more about the program. You can register to attend here.
Howard Levy and Chris Siebold to jam at Unitarian church fundraiser. Levy, a legendary jazz harmonica player, and Siebold, a masterful guitarist, often came to radio listeners live from Lake Wobegon but this weekend will be playing in person at the Unitarian Church on Ridge Avenue.
ETHS boys soccer: Kits kick Maine West, advance to regional soccer finals. The Wildkits offered their fans a glimpse of what could be – and signaled that perhaps the best is yet to come in the postseason – with an eye-catching 15-minute stretch of play in the second half of Tuesday’s 4-1 victory over the Warriors.
ETHS honors Students of the Month. Staff members nominated 20 students for their efforts during the month of September, which the school celebrated at a virtual event held Oct. 13.
Picturing Evanston. A great blue heron soars above the North Shore Channel near Oakton Street. (Photo by Joerg Metzner)
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Around the web
Pritzker and Bailey accuse one another of being an extremist who is dangerous to Illinois. At the second and last gubernatorial debate, Gov. JB Pritzker and Republican challenger Darren Bailey lobbed insults at one another and described each other as too extreme for the state.
Why ghost buses, trains are still haunting commuters. Two months after the CTA president promised that he and his team would get train and bus schedules back on track, not much has actually changed. Riders are still reporting buses and trains that never show up and long delays in transit.
WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times Poll: More than half of Illinois voters want abortion to stay legal. With the Supreme Court striking down federal abortion rights, the issue has become a hot topic this election season. A recent poll found that 52% of Illinois voters want legal access to an abortion in most or all cases, while 36% said it should be against the law.
Northwestern and Evanston to co-host community monkeypox vaccine clinics. The Cook County Department of Public Health will provide 200 doses for each of the clinics, which will be open to eligible Evanston residents.
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