Author: Voxtrend News
The Chicago White Sox kept chipping away. They entered the eighth inning trailing the Minnesota Twins by four runs. A bases-loaded walk to Miguel Vargas and RBI singles from Kyle Teel and Lenyn Sosa brought the team within one run. Colson Montgomery came up with the bases still loaded and one out. He worked a full count against reliever Justin Topa and then hit a popup in foul territory down the left-field line. Twins third baseman Royce Lewis made a catch, turned and fired home to throw out Vargas at the plate for an inning-ending double play. “It was on…
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate gave final approval to a new, Republican-leaning congressional voting map early Saturday, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature. President Donald Trump has pushed for the map to help the GOP maintain its slim majority in Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. It has five new districts that would favor Republicans. Abbott, a Republican, is expected to quickly sign it into law, though Democrats have vowed to challenge it in court. The effort by Trump and Texas’ Republican-majority Legislature prompted state Democrats to hold a two-week walkout and kicked off a wave…
Illinois election officials are weighing whether to comply with a demand from Republican President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice to turn over by Sept. 1 the state’s full voter registration list, including voters’ birth dates, driver’s license numbers, signatures and partial Social Security numbers. The Labor Day deadline, sent to Illinois State Board of Elections officials via email Thursday, marks an escalation of a conflict that’s been brewing between state and federal officials since the Civil Rights Division of Trump’s Justice Department in late July requested the voter data and a laundry list of other information on Illinois elections and…
During Wafaa Bilal’s childhood in Kufa, Iraq, his parents held one rule above all others: Do not, under any circumstances, talk about the regime. The young artist and his friends wondered if the walls had ears. So, they devised a workaround. They would gather at the middle of the intersection in their neighborhood, tell each other the latest joke about Saddam Hussein’s government, then dash away. Bilal, 59, now thinks of those meetups as an “underground comedy club.” “We understood how to deal with oppression through laughter,” he said. “That was a form of empowerment.” The traveling standup show “Amreeka”…
Dear Eric: My father’s side has always hosted holiday meals. We are all in our 60s and 70s. My parents are gone, and kids are in their 20s and 30s. My cousin has taken over and puts on a great celebration. With Covid and the death of her mother she did not host/invite us, which hurt our feelings because we enjoyed the time to see everyone. I reached out in 2023 to see if we offended someone, she said no and invited us all over. She did not in 2024. Again, hurt feelings. While I am not going to reach…
George Lawrence spent his adult life sharing his love of bowling with Lake County residents. As the longtime owner of Bertrand Bowling Lanes in Waukegan, he found ways — both big and small — to make the sport fun. He let the local schools use his alley for gym classes, hosted professional tournaments and occasionally slipped doughnuts into bowlers’ bags to brighten their days. “He just went out of his way to make them happy,” his wife, Doris Lawrence, said. George Carlton Lawrence died Aug. 7 in his Gurnee home. He was 87. Born June 7, 1938, in Grayslake to…
Farmers markets are a dazzling display of America’s heartland year-round, but they shine especially during the summer months, when locals leisurely stroll the grounds, filling tote bags with just-plucked produce, enjoying live tunes and meeting the hardworking people behind the booths. Now, those folks are inviting us to come to them, opening their dining rooms and barn doors for immersive, communal feasts that offer what we crave most: connection to the land and each other. Discovery drives it all — seasonal menus from the region’s best chefs, a road trip in sight, and the chance to make a weekend of…
A 1% sales tax on groceries sold in Waukegan is under discussion by the City Council’s Finance and Purchasing Committee to replace the state’s 1% tax covering the same products currently remitted to municipalities, which expires at the end of the year. No member of the committee expressed an opinion on whether to impose the tax or not, but they shared concerns over lost revenue. Both the committee and the full council will likely vote on whether or not to impose the tax on Sept. 15 at City Hall. The City Council’s Finance and Purchasing Committee discussed the implications of…
Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden has challenged the district’s new proposed budget, expressing doubts about its heavy reliance on revenue from special taxing districts to close a $734 million deficit. The hesitancy repeatedly expressed by Harden, who was appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, during two public hearings Tuesday signals further growing tension within the school board over how to address the district’s deepening fiscal crisis. Chicago Public Schools’ fiscal road map, backed by interim CEO Macquline King, runs counter to the agenda of Johnson, a former Chicago Teachers Union organizer, who has advocated both now and in the…
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The world’s leading authority on food crises said Friday the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine, and that it’s likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said famine is happening in Gaza City, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and could spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month. The determination comes after months of warnings by aid groups that Israel’s restrictions of food and other aid into…