When Abraham Lincoln and Sen. Stephen A. Douglas arrived in dry and dusty Ottawa, Illinois, on Aug. 21, 1858, for the first of their seven great debates, their campaigns for the Senate were consumed by the great national struggle over slavery. A large press corps covered the debates, which were big news across the nation…
The spring 2020 print issue on the history of slavery, segregation, and racism in our region was produced with the help and financial support of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. The soul of America is its promise of ever-expanding freedom, equality and opportunity. The parodox of America is that over four centuries our Founders…
For the past five years, eating out was a regular part of our family’s weekend plans. As a freelance food writer for the Chicago Tribune’s suburban newspapers, my job was to discover interesting local restaurants and tell their stories. I didn’t have to be anonymous because I wasn’t reviewing the food. I’d contact the owners…
In early March, Salvador Robles, associate publisher of Omaha’s The Reader, was planning for just the kind of story that would resonate with the alt-monthly’s readers: the hunt for the perfect margarita. But after the coronavirus outbreak, the story turned into an article on how to make margaritas at home. The publication’s film writer produced…
When Ali Ghanbari headed out to cover a story about a 5-year-old boy whose birthday was canceled because of a state-wide stay-at-home order, he was thinking about ways to shoot the story and still observe “social distancing” guidelines. A news photographer at WJW TV, in Cleveland, Ohio, Ghanbari carried at least three boom microphones in…