The Columbia Chronicle

Acro-Cat-ics dazzle Chicago

By Trevor Ballanger

September 24, 2012

Circuses often bring to mind bears, lions and elephants, but Chicago’s own Acro-Cats is proving pussy performers can be justas captivating.Ringleader and trainer Samantha Martin’s unique troupe of 13 housecats has been jumping through hoops, pretending to play musical instruments and ringing bells around the country for the past seven years.The feline stars have been trained to perform tasks in exchange for treats. Wh...

Imagine Dragons find their ‘time’

September 24, 2012

From humble beginnings playing cover songs at local casinos to a nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards, Las Vegas-based indie-rock quartet Imagine Dragons may seem like an overnight success. But after t...

Housing deception

By The Columbia Chronicle

September 24, 2012

Even As the housing market slowly revives throughout the country, Chicago’s publicly funded housing developments continue to struggle. Members of the city’s public housing community came together to speak out against the Chicago Housing Authority’s redevelopment plan at a Sept. 12 board meeting at CHA headquarters, 60 E. Van Buren St.The Far South Side housing complex Altgeld Gardens has become a shell of its former se...

Being ‘welcoming’ requires more than an ordinance

By Editorial Board

September 24, 2012

The Chicago City Council passed the aptly titled “Welcoming City Ordinance” on Sept. 13 to make the city friendlier for undocumented immigrants. The ordinance stops police officers from holding undocumented immigrants for immigration authorities in most circumstances. The city is not actively protecting undocumented immigrants, but resources willnot be used for the purpose of detaining and deporting. This is a step in t...

Faculty Senate Meeting [9/14/2012]

By Dannis Valera

September 19, 2012

Giving faculty and staff a 3 percent pay raise will require $5 million in cuts aimed at various units of the college given the current budget situation, Louise Love, interim provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, told the first Faculty Senate meeting of the fall semester. Specifically, $2 million will be cut from the Academic Affairs fiscal 2013 budget, she said. Love and Ken Gotsch, vice president of Business Aff...

Smartphones built by exploited workers

By Tyler Davis

September 17, 2012

They play our music. They connect us to our Facebook pages. They receive our emails and send our pictures. Our phones have become an extension of ourselves, but each gadget in our pocket has a long and dark story.Apple continuously faces scrutiny regarding its largest manufacturer, the Taiwan-based Foxconn, because of a series of factory worker suicides and, more recently, forced “internships.” Samsung is now dealing ...

Opposite-Sex friendships may be ‘too attractive,’ according to study

By Kyle Rich

September 17, 2012

Even though some college students might enjoy the idea of “friends with benefits,” many men and women are able to maintain healthy, platonic relationships with each other. However, new studies suggest that the element of attraction and the consequences that go with it may make heterosexual friendships difficult to maintain.The studies were conducted by a team of eight researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Clai...

Morals, future uncertain in ‘Looper’

By Trevor Ballanger

September 17, 2012

People can attempt to change their pasts for the rest of their lives, usually in vain. However, most people don’t have time machines. In the futuristic thriller “Looper,” director Rian Johnson gives his audience a chance to experience the consequences of altering history.The film, opening Sept. 28, stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe, a hit man, or “looper,” working for mob bosses in 2044 who use time travel to erase ...

Columbia alumna cast on “Saturday Night Live”

By Alexandra Kukulka

September 12, 2012

Columbia students, alumni and faculty are known for their outstanding accomplishments, and the latest to join the ranks of other successful alums will make her national comedic debut Sept. 15 on “Saturday Night Live.”Aidy Bryant, a graduate of Columbia’s Theatre Department and member of Second City, has been cast in “SNL’s” upcoming 38th season, according to multiple local publications, including the Chicago Sun-Times....

Unpredictable debt endangers students

By Editorial Board

September 10, 2012

This year, 390 Columbia students were barred from registration because each owed the college more than $7,000, according to Mark Kelly, vice president of Student Affairs, at the Faculty and Staff Convocation on Aug. 31. Some were able to pay up and have returned to class, but the majority will not be returning to Columbia. While it is necessary to hold students accountable for their debts, there is a deeper issue concernin...

Protestors hunger strike to draw attention to problems in poor neighborhoods

By Mark Minton

September 10, 2012

From sundown to sundown on Sept. 2–3, 13 people fasted to call attention to injustices suffered by poorer communities in the economic recession.The Affordable Power Campaign and members of other Chicago grassroots organizations participated in a 24-hour hunger strike to draw attention to exorbitant utility rates, police brutality and a long string of murders in Chicago this year.At the end of the fasting period on Sept. 4, the ...

Union Station renovates to increase passenger capacity

By Mark Minton

September 10, 2012

Station since 1984 and has a sort of landlord-tenant relationship with Metra, the largest commuter train company in Chicago.Amtrak has already relocated several of its offices to a newly renovated building attached to the station. It is working to market the available spaces surrounding the Great Hall, Union Station’s historic waiting room, and more of the unused office spaces in the adjacent eight-story building.Accord...