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Saran Howell - one of hundreds of applicants vying for 75 pot dispensary store licenses being doled out by the state - didn't make it to the next round, and she's not happy about that. Howell, her husband, her sister and her sister’s wife had hoped to be named a finalist for the lottery, the next step in awarding the so-called "social equity" licenses.
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A couple dozen people gathered at Columbus Park Sunday to remember Elijah Sims and to call for stronger witness protection.
Elijah was shot in the head about 10 p.m. Aug. 29, 2016, in the 5500 block of West Quincy Street, two days before his 17th birthday.
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State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, the West Side Heroin Overdose Task Force and community partners will mark International Overdose Awareness Day Monday by discussing ways to fight the epidemic and remembering the hundreds who die each year in Chicago from accidental opioid overdoses. “West Side communities in Chicago have the highest death rates due to opioid overdoses,” Ford said in statement.
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A few weeks ago, a young woman died at The Loretto Hospital. Her family, after talking to representatives from the Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, decided to donate her organs.
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About 50 people gathered in La Follette Park Friday, calling for police to be removed from Chicago Public Schools and for Dwayne Truss, a Chicago Board of Education member who lives in Austin, to vote for removing officers at meeting this week. Many of those who attended were BIPOC teens who attend West Side schools.
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BUILD Chicago has been hosting a summer camp in Austin for youth from kindergarten to 8th with enrichment activities, peace circles, basketball and volleyball - and a small farm with some very friendly chickens. Daniel Brown, a middle schooler who’s been participating in BUILD programs for two years, said having an in-person summer camp this year was important because “it keeps kids like me doing stuff instead of staying home and sleeping.
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Eleven students from Austin are among 575 high school seniors who've been selected for the Chicago Scholars program. Natalia Bautista, a first-generation Mexican-American, heard about the program from some upperclassmen at her school and applied in the spring after attending an information session.
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At a meeting last week, Austin College and Career Academy Principal Simone Griffin made it clear the preliminary framework published by CPS is not final and changes may yet be made. The final reopening guidance will come out in early August, she told staff, parents and others who attended the July 30th virtual meeting.
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The Austin Peoples Action Center held a "let our kids live," anti-violence rally on Friday that featured George Floyd’s brother Philonise “Po” Floyd, former NBA player Stephen Jackson and several community and elected leaders. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said gun homicides this year are up 42% compared to 2019.
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A few hundred people gathered at Columbus Park last weekend for a march in remembrance of Elijah McClain - a 23-year-old African-American Colorado massage therapist who was killed after an encounter with police while walking home - and to protest police brutality. The march was organized and led by Oak Park activist Danielle Kovack, along with members of the Revolutionary Oak Park Youth League, or ROYAL, a group of middle and high school students from Oak Park that formed in early 2019.
