The Columbia Chronicle

Common Ground, Columbia’s LGBTQ student group, advocated for preferred first name changes, which lets student change their first names on student IDs, email addresses and other college documents.

College adopts new gender-inclusive policies

April 28, 2014

After a year of outcry from LGBTQ students, administrators have finalized policies for gender-inclusive housing and preferred first name changes. As of Feb. 11, students can request to change their first name on Oasis, which will officially change their first initial on their email...

Improvements in black boxes may aid investigators in searching for missing aircraft

Re-examining black box technology

April 21, 2014

In the wake of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, experts are reviving a question that has baffled aviation engineers for years: If black boxes are indestructible, why aren’t planes made from the...

What’s in a name? Inconsistencies in the weed industry could mean inaccurate strain classification and bad bud

By Assistant Campus Editor

April 21, 2014

OG Kush, PurpleHaze, Grand-daddy Purp, Sour Diesel—these are the unconventional names of some of your local dispensary’s most popular weed strains, each promising its own unique experience. But accordi...

Internet exercises get mixed reviews from fitness experts

Online workouts are not guaranteed to give desired results

By Zareen Syed

April 7, 2014

With the help of online gurus and free home-workout YouTube channels, fitness fiends can get exercise instruction and motivation from the comfort of their own homes.However, these increasingly popular on...

A new kind of ‘speed’

March 10, 2014

Aaron Paul, best known as America’s beloved, drug-addled delinquent Jesse Pinkman on AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” is headed back to the big screen to play the lead in Scott Waugh’s new street-racing fi...

Tribune explores e-content

By Alex Stedman

November 5, 2012

Past Chicago Tribune content, including articles and photos, is being digitized into e-books to make its content more widely available and generate income.In late spring, the Tribune partnered with Agate Publishing, located in Evanston, Ill., to develop The Chicago Tribune Ebook Collection, which was launched in October. Each e-book is available on Kindle, Nook and both the iPad and iPhone for $4.99.While newspapers like The Wa...

Fact checking trending in 2012

By Kaley Fowler

October 29, 2012

By Kaley Fowler and Charles Jefferson, Metro Editor and Contributing WriterFact checkers abound in the 2012 presidential election, and they are casting new light on polls and political statements in an effort to properly inform the public.According to Bill Adair, editor of the fact-checking website PolitiFact.org, verifying facts has become crucial in this year’s election because of the vast amount of available information....

Bank of America accused of racial discrimination

By Kaley Fowler

October 29, 2012

Chicago, Milwaukee and Indianapolis joined seven other cities Oct. 23 in filing a complaint against Bank of America, claiming the company is guilty of racial discrimination in how it maintains its foreclosed properties.The National Fair Housing Alliance, an organization dedicated to ending housing discrimination, launched an investigation into several lenders in 2010 that examined 505 Midwest properties owned by Bank of America. Acco...

Minority voters could impact 2012 election

By Kaley Fowler

October 15, 2012

The minority population could have a majority impact in determining the winner of the 2012 presidential election.According to Sarah Massey, spokeswoman for the nonpartisan voter advocacy website ProjectVote.org, the vote of minority citizens in swing states could potentially turn the tide of the popular vote despite the electorate’s predominately white make up.“In certain states like Ohio or New Mexico, which are considered ...

Energy efficiency key to global city

By The Columbia Chronicle

October 15, 2012

Chicago-based design firm Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture has completed the investigative phase of its ambitious plan to decarbonize the Loop by making buildings more energy efficient.The initiative is a response to the city’s call for a plan to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2030. If the firm receives approval from city officials, its plan could reduce carbon emissions 20 percent by the year 2020 and 80 ...

Senate investigation finds anti-terrorism hubs fail to protect privacy

By Kaley Fowler

October 15, 2012

The federal government’s funding of fusion centers—hubs for law enforcement agencies to investigate suspected terrorism activity—is under scrutiny after a two-year investigation led by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.The investigation, initiated by Sen. Tom Coburn (R–Okla.), examined the effectiveness of the centers, which were implemented after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to enable local and ...

New program gives CPS grads advantage in job market

By Contributing Writer

October 15, 2012

by Elizabeth Earl, Contributing WriterGraduates of Chicago Public Schools may have an advantage in finding city jobs, thanks to a new initiative proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.The plan, introduced on Sept. 29, would offer what city officials called a “leg up” to CPS graduates by requiring that they make up 20 percent of applicant pools for city jobs. According to mayoral spokeswoman Caroline Weisser, this is good news ...