Where the buffalo may soon roam. Marianne L. Hahn in Natural Area Notes (Spring): “Thirty-seven miles of chain link fence [will] permit reintroduction of bison” in the 43-square-mile Joliet Arsenal if a plan to turn it over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is approved. “To erect the fence at today’s costs would run about $4 million. Who would spend that much in today’s economic climate to restore bison to a reconstructed prairie? Yet here it’s in place.”
Commonwealth Edison: we’re there when you least expect us. Com Ed reports that nearly 63 percent of the coal ash from its fossil-fuel power plants is recycled; it can be found in the concrete of I-80, the Tri-State, the United Center, and Shedd Aquarium’s oceanarium.
On the way up, but not there yet. According to the Latino Institute’s LatStat (March), almost a third (31.7 percent) of Latino householders in Chicago owned their own homes in 1990–up from less than one-quarter (24.4 percent) in 1980, but still well below the 43 percent home-ownership rate of non-Latinos. That translates into an increase from 27,541 to 44,768 Chicago Latino home owners in ten years.
Not tonight, dear. I have poor posture. “The word ‘migraine’ is an overused label applied to all kinds of headaches,” many of which do not call for prescription medication, says Dr. Norman Harden of the Rehabilitation Institute on East Superior, quoted in a press release. “Most headaches are caused by simple things like poor posture, tension and diet.”
New horizons in museum marketing. Notice how the Chicago Academy of Sciences has started calling itself “the Nature Museum” these days? Cynthia Baniak, vice president for development and marketing, says the institution has learned from focus groups that “many people are intimidated by science, but they have a very positive association with the natural environment. Building on that point has become key to positioning the museum” (CAS Notes, June/July/August).
What, fish again tonight? The Cook County Forest Preserve District reports that its environmental-award-winning Skokie Lagoons Fisheries Restoration project included “the eradication and subsequent cleanup and disposal of 40 tons of non-desirable fish species.”
A good start may not be everything, but it’s close. The Chicago-based Child Development (April) reports that “Children whose early language-learning experiences… led to smaller vocabularies at age 3 had lower language and reading-related test scores in every grade from kindergarten through third grade.”
The best legislators money can buy. “Legislative elections in Illinois are very expensive” and getting more so, according to Kent Redfield in the Almanac of Illinois Politics–1994. “In 1990 combined spending per race exceeded $200,000 in only seven races for the house; only one senate race exceeded $500,000. By comparison in 1992 there were 17 house races with combined spending exceeding $200,000 and 5 senate races with combined spending exceeding $500,000.”
The continuing noncrisis. From the state Hazardous Waste Research and Information Center’s 1992-93 annual report: “The number of landfills permitted to accept non-hazardous waste is expected to drop from 146 in 1987 to 64 by the end of 1993. The reported remaining capacity of these landfills has increased.”
“If people aren’t prepared for jobs, two years and out just becomes a clever way to end welfare benefits,” West Humboldt Park welfare recipient Belinda Harris tells the Washington Post weekly (April 18-24). “What happens if you go off aid and you’re not ready? You’ve got no income and you’ve got no way you can make it without hitting Joey over the head. It’ll lead to more crime.”
Being censored just isn’t what it used to be. Utne Reader (May/June) lists the “top censored stories of 1993,” billed as “big news you didn’t hear.” Six of the top ten stories had originally been relegated to the obscurity of one of these publications: USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, U.S. News & World Report, Sports Illustrated, Woman’s Day, and the New York Times.
“Remember that before you had children you had a sense of humor,” Winnetka family counselor Gail Cutler reminds readers of Moments (April), “and you need to regain it for raising children.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illusatrtion/Carl Kock.