Chicago News

Gov. Quinn Discusses MAP Grants at DePaul

nicktmiller — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 01:03:21 +0000

Gov. Pat Quinn answers questions from reporters about MAP grants. (Photo by Josclynn Brandon)

Gov. Pat Quinn talked about MAP grants on Dec. 12 at DePaul University.

He discussed how pension reform is hurting the ability for Illinois students to get MAP grants.

NATO Summit Traffic Preparation Coverage: May 14

nicktmiller — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:48:53 +0000

Read this Storify post on the various traffic concerns that will be problematic this weekend in Chicago as the NATO Summit arrives in the city.

Eight Things To Know About The G8, A Retrospect

nicktmiller — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:54:10 +0000

One of the most interesting things about this project was doing the research and the editing. I didn’t realize how much research goes into writing an all encompassing piece like this. I also didn’t realize how much editing must go into a piece like this. While the editing was not an easy task, it was even more difficult finding appropriate and legitimate links to link off to in the piece. Many of the links that we stumbled upon where not necessarily links that could be used as link offs. For instance, if we found a piece of information about the G8 through another news website, we would then go out onto the internet and search to see where the original information was obtained from. We did this with many of the official documents that where put out by both The White House (about changing the location of the G8) as well as The Office of The Mayor.

An issue that we did have was getting people to talk to us. We figured that we would run into a problem since we are journalism students instead of full-blown journalists working for a publication after calling multiple people, with no phone calls returned, we started getting a little nervous. Luckily we were able to get Don Zoufal. He had some interesting insights into the security concerns for The G8, which we were able to use under our security concerns section of our piece.

Overall, I think the project and piece went very well. It acts as a preview to the G8 as well as gives Katie and I so background insight into both The G8 and The NATO Summit which we will be covering in a few weeks.

It’s been awhile since I have had a teammate for a team project who was so good at working with others. Katie is a very smart and capable team player whom really helped to bring this project to the next level. She really made the piece fun to work on.

Zoufal: Anarchist Groups Pose Biggest Threat for NATO Summit

nicktmiller — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 21:06:16 +0000

Don Zoufal speaks with DePaul University journalism students about the safety concerns surrounding the upcoming NATO Conference. (Photo by Mike Reilley.)

Don Zoufal spoke about the safety concerns surrounding violent protests and anarchist groups at the upcoming NATO Conference in Chicago this May to a group of journalism students at DePaul University April 2.

Zoufal, who works as a safety and security consultant, said that Chicagoan’s safety is the city’s main focus during the NATO Summit, May 20-12 at McCormick Place. Groups like Anonymous, as well as various anarchist groups such as Black Bloc, have threatened violence during the weekend of the conference.

“The 99 Percent, Occupy Chicago, and some anarchist groups are planning on holding rallies during the conference,” said Zoufal. “It is important to let them exercise their free speech, but it is also important to protect the dignitaries and the people of Chicago.”

Zoufal said that one of the more dangerous protest groups to be aware during the summit is Black Bloc. This protest group wears dark hoods and attend protests with the sole purpose of inciting violence and causing property damage.

“There is a small core of people coming to partake in the destruction of property- like Black Bloc,” said Zoufal. “I have no doubt they will cause damage. You can bet on it.”

Chicago is expecting 140-170 motorcades for the NATO Summit. This will cause traffic congestion and and major safety concerns around the city and McCormick Place, where most of the NATO Conference will occur.

“As NATO occurs, there will be much concern on how the heads of state will get to and from McCormick Place,” said Zoufal. “It will be further hindered by these protest groups.”

Zoufal was quick to point out that not all the protest groups are a problem. It is the fringe groups, the violent ones, that have city safety officials concerned, he said.

“We know that at big world events like this, there will be protests- and that is fine,” said Zoufal. “It is when these protests operate outside the realm of law and order that we have serious problems that can tie up city services and seriously harm people.”

Zoufal said that while security officials are worried about looting and destruction to property by these fringe groups -both of which could cost the city millions of dollars- officials are most worried about the safety of all those involved.

“Look whether you are pro-whale or not, I don’t give a crap”, said Zoufal. “If we can’t get an ambulance through, we have a real problem- and that is the importance of crowd control.”

Zoufal noted that another issue with the upcoming protests deal with where the protests will actually take place. The city has been reluctant to grant permits to protestors, which may become an issue.

One area of Chicago where there will be a problem is at the city’s parks. Many of the protest groups want permits that would allow them to sleep in parks- such as Grant Park and Lincoln Park. The problem arises because city parks close at dusk or 11 p.m.,- whichever comes first.

“The protestors want permits to be able to spend the night in the parks, but the city will not give it to them,” said Zoufal. “The city cannot show favoritism toward any one protest group- if they bend the rules, they will have to bend the rules for everyone.”

Overall Zoufal hopes that the weekend will yield no problems or injuries.

“Hopefully everything works out and the protest groups are behaved,” said Zoufal. “This is a great opportunity for Chicago to show it is a world-class city. Hopefully a few wayward groups won’t take that away from the city”.