The female Indiana high school student who wants to wear a tuxedo to her prom will be allowed to do so. The 17-year-old student had filed a lawsuit against the school, and she said she is a lesbian and doesn't wear dresses because they represent a sexual identity she rejects. On Friday the superintendent of the Lebanon school system released a press release that said more ›

A 17-year-old girl is suing her high school in Lebanon, Indiana because they refused to let her wear a tuxedo to her high school prom. The student says she is a lesbian and doesn't wear dresses because they represent a sexual identity she rejects. The principal at the high school, located northwest of Indianapolis, claims that there is a special dress code for the prom that requires female students to wear a formal gown, but the ACLU of Indiana--which filed the claim on her behalf--say that the policy violates federal law because the school receives federal funding and because it violates her right of expression. more ›

After printing a salacious issue about underage encounters that identified involved students by name, a Lincolnshire high school newspaper will face more restrictions that some say are tantamount to censorship. The 3,400 copies of the Jan. 30 issue of the Stevenson High School newspaper "The Statesman" disappeared from the newsstands almost immediately, though the school says they did not remove them. more ›

Would a public school that caters to gay and lesbian teens be a welcome addition to CPS? That was the question at hand during a meeting of about 200 people yesterday at the Center on Halsted who discussed The Social Justice High School – Pride Campus with leaders of the Gay Liberation Network. The idea for this new school, born of a push from Greater Lawndale Little Village High School for Social Justice, is that it would provide a safe learning environment for LGBT teens who are frequently victims of torment. more ›

Ah, high school, home of arbitrary rules and acting silly. Because there's nothing teenagers respond better to than things they deem unfair. Some suburban schools are considering a ban on letting students paint their chests at sporting events, saying it's a distraction, that students with painted chests tend to be too rowdy, and that it's hard to decide what dress codes should apply to male students and what should apply to female students—if it's OK for guys to go shirtless, is it OK for the girls to wear bikini tops? A handful of Illinois schools are in the throes of this debate right now, what with high school football season gearing up. [Trib]
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The Chicago Tribune launched its high school–focused paper The Mash yesterday, distributing 100,000 copies to Chicago Public School students. The print and online edition are mostly written by high school students, who are paid between $10 and $25 for articles, with guidance and oversight by Trib staff. [CBS 2, Editor and Publisher]
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The Chicago Tribune is teaming up with CPS to form a weekly high school newspaper and website, written for and mostly by high school students. The Mash, as the new paper is tentatively titled, should eclipse the Red Eye in terms of quality and worthwhileness almost immediately. more ›

Who wouldn’t want to support an organization that raises money that helps sick kids? At least one South Side Catholic high school expressed concern that proceeds from the South Side Irish Parade will be going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which supports embryonic stem cell research in hopes of a cure for Type 1 diabetes. more ›

The Red Line is going to be jacked this weekend. Southbound trains will be running on the elevated tracks between Cermack and Fullerton stops.[CTA] more ›

Todd Stroger dismissed a 54-page report (PDF) on patronage yesterday. The report, filed last week by retired Cook County Circuit Judge Julia Nowicki, the federally appointed hiring monitor for the county, documents allegations by more than 220 people that illegal patronage practices occurred over two years ending February of last year. more ›

With how nasty the race for Dennis Hastert's vacant seat has gotten recently, you'd think a couple of high school girls were running the campaigns leading up to tomorrow's special election for Dennis Hastert's seat in Illinois 14th Congressional District. more ›

We’re usually level-headed about other people’s opinions even if they don’t correlate with ours, and normally hold a live and let live attitude. But then something like this comes along so foam-at-the-mouth-inducing that our fingers tremble with all the rage we must type out. more ›

Ten-Second Bandit: It's more than just your high school nickname. In fact, it's the FBI's moniker for two different area bank robbers, one of whom is in prison. The other, current 10SB has been holding up local banks, demanding money within...well, you know. more ›

So here we were, doing a little poking around some Chicago radio websites on a Saturday afternoon. One link leads to another, and all of a sudden we're on Chicago Tonight correspondent Rich Samuel's site, which we've discovered is a treasure trove of old Chicago media pictures, airchecks and video. more ›

A New Trier high school student got access to the school's computer system, apparently to check his class rank. He didn't steal any personal info, and nothing was deleted or changed; he just accessed "student directory information for all students, semester grades for current students and the last three graduating classes, and ACT test scores for the class of 2008." Police are investigating. [S-T] more ›

Update on the Waukegan explosion: Nine people were injured, at least two seriously, and one person still may be unaccounted for. [Trib] more ›

A new study released today says that 44 percent of CPS freshman don't graduate, and 73 percent of those drop-outs were "over age" when they started high school. While there's no one reason students drop out, there are a lot of factors that indicate how at-risk a kid is. From the Sun-Times: more ›

Often when we think of plays, rosy cheeks and jazz hands come to mind. While a great variety of plays exist, it seems the majority try to uplift and entertain, not scare the bejesus out of us. But the WildClaw Theatre wants us to expect the unexpected. This newly-formed company is dedicated exclusively to bringing true horror back to the stage, and wastes no time kicking off their mission with The Great God Pan - their inaugural show which opened Sunday night at the Athenaeum Theater in Lakeview. more ›

Who doesn't love dogs? Besides these two, we mean. Many of us here at Chicagoist have our own pups that we lavish with too much attention and expensive things to chew. There's nothing that warms our hearts after a long day at the office like the excited look and wagging tail of our canine companions. more ›

Random things that we like: those who do what they love, and groups that help to foster that experience. That’s why we are kinda interested when we hear about organizations like the Chicago Cello Society which, since its inception in 1980, has strived to unite Chicago amateur and professional cellists to promote the art of playing the instrument as well as its standing in the musical world. more ›

It seems like everybody in town knows Tony Rezko's name. And why not? Besides being under federal indictment, he's a big player in Illinois politics. He's also gotten some national attention, with Former Gov. Jim Edgar musing that Rezko isn't really Obama's problem, and a photo of him with former President Bill Clinton surfacing on the Today show. more ›

Demetrius Warren, 17, was charged yesterday as the gunman in Amadou Cisse's murder. Warren had already been charged with other crimes from the robbery spree that night, and three others have already been charged in connection with the case. more ›

The Illinois High School Association is coming under fire from the media this week with a story in the Reader and an editorial in the Trib about the organization's recent decision to ban photographers from high school sporting events unless they sign a document promising not to sell their photos. Yikes. more ›

Last week we were channel surfing and came across "The Harlem Globetrotters: A New Generation" on Channel 50. We watched it for a little bit and were caught up in both the athleticism of the new Globetrotters and the timeless entertainment of their gags. It reminded us of the days when ABC's "Wide World of Sports" would showcase the team seemingly every other month. more ›

Here are some things to do this evening to consider bringing your voter receipt. more ›

It wasn't so terribly long ago that in order to watch any sort of semi-obscure Japanese cinema you'd have to be prepared to invest in a region-free DVD player and sit through discs with dubious subtitles (when they were subtitled at all). Even a filmmaker like Kurosawa wasn't immune. Luckily for cinephiles the situation has really changed, and access to Asian cinema in general is better than ever. more ›

More details are emerging about the Tinley Park murders from this weekend. In addition to the five women who died, one woman was shot but survived and gave police a description of the gunman, who is still at large. Lane Bryant is offering $50,000 reward for information that leads to the shooter's arrest. more ›

Made in Chicago has been buried under snow and soot for a minute, but on a cold, wintry day such as this, we're digging it out with another homemade gem to share with all of you to help you finish out the week. more ›

++ Only 34 percent of Illinois sex ed teachers talk about condom use, 68 percent talk about birth control, and 30 percent have never been trained to teach sexual health courses, according to a study commissioned by the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health. The authors of the study blame abstinence-only federal funding. more ›

In a political season that has been marked by the theme of change, Illinois's 3rd Congressional District has become one of the battle grounds over what the Democratic Party might look like going forward in 2008. Critics of the incumbent, Dan Lipinski, are unhappy with his opposition to abortion rights and stem cell research, and his siding with moderate Republicans on the war in Iraq and domestic spying. Besides his voting record, they also don't like how he came to congress: If you don't remember the 2004 general election, the elder Lipinski won renomination in the primary, withdrew during the campaign year, and then led the process to pick his replacement on the November ballot - his son Dan, a political science professor from Tennessee. Although Dan won handily in 2004, angry challenges in 2006 held him at only 54% in the primary, with the opposition split between two opponents. more ›