Results tagged “rally”

Some 250 Chicagoans braved both the cold weather and Marathon madness to converge on Daley Plaza in a solidarity rally for the National Equality March Sunday, which also just happened to be National Coming Out Day.

So the day is almost upon us. In fact, a long day of Olympic activities will kick off not only in Copenhagen, but also Chicago not long after midnight Chicago time. That's when - at around 1:45 a.m. our time - all four cities will have a chance to present their case to the IOC one last time. Every major network in town will carry it live both on television and stream it on their website. The IOC will also stream all the fun via their website. For the three of you still awake and on this site at that hour, I'll be covering it as well right here. Once that's all wrapped up, the voting begins. So how will the voting go down? The Tribune's James Janega is all over that question and breaks it down for us.

              

We'll have more on today's event at the White House, supporting the 2016 Olympic bid, tomorrow, but for now, check out some photos from today's events. Mayor Daley introduced Michelle Obama who, in turn, introduced her husband, President Barack Obama. Below is a clip of Obama's speech.

Taking the reins from Hispanic-focused immigration rallies, hundreds of Asian and Pacific Islander immigration advocates will gather for a “town hall meeting” in North Park today, Chicago Breaking News reports.

Governor Quinn and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis were among the democratic leaders at Federal Plaza Tuesday pumping up organized labor and liberal advocacy groups in support of President Obama’s health care reform proposal. Hundreds attended to unite against the current insurance system and build momentum for the president’s proposal. As no good rally is without counter-protestors, conservative activists like Eric Odom also made a showing, he told Chicago Breaking News: “We basically feel the legislation being pushed through (is) very dangerous”, and “We are really pushing for everybody to take a deep breath and really look at what we’re getting into and not just jump into something…that’s going to cost us for years to come”.

              

"I've spent all my life in America," said Saman, 29. "But I feel connected to everything back there. And it's clear from what we're hearing that something is wrong with the elections [in Iran.]" Saman, who gave only his first name, said his mother was singing the Iranian national anthem along with the protesters via cell phone for most of Tuesday afternoon as a fraction of Chicago's Iranian community rallied in protest of the allegedly falsified elections. "She knows all the words, [to the song, Sorud-e Melli-ye Iran]" he said. "They left Iran before the [1979] Revolution." Saman said he had to read the Persian lyrics, supplied by organizers, to keep up with her.

                    

Yesterday's announcement by the California Supreme Court that they would upheld Prop 8 had many gay rights supporters upset, even here in Chicago. Over 600 supporters showed up in spite of the rain for a rally held in front of the Center on Halsted.

Update: The California Supreme Court has voted to uphold the controversial Prop 8. The final vote was 6-1 in favor of upholding. The 18,000 gay and lesbian marriages already recognized will remain legal. Sister site LAist has more coverage. Salon has the full decision here [PDF, all 185 pages of it].

       

No one knows - yet - how many tons of food were collected during the local mobile food drive known as the Chiditarod this year - but more than 500 participants spent a damp Saturday afternoon hauling at least 25 pounds of food per team over the finish line.

               

If you missed Round 1, check them out here.

               

Tim already told you about yesterday's Prop 8 protest rally, so here's our first round of pics from the rally, including some reader contributed pics to our Flickr pool.

Gay and straight, black and white, young and old came together yesterday in Federal Plaza to protest the passing of California’s Proposition 8, which amends California’s constitution banning any marriage that is not between a man and a woman. Reportedly, over 2,000 people gathered, banners and rainbow flags in hand before marching on City Hall and eventually to Michigan Avenue.

Last night, about 150+ protesters showed up outside the Renaissance Hotel, where the Chicago Museum of Broadcast Communications was inducting into the Radio Hall of Fame Focus on the Family’s James Dobson. Dobson donated $800,000 to California’s Proposition 8, which passed last week, amending California’s constitution, removing the right of gay men and lesbian women to marry.

The CTA, Metra and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications are all working to handle the throngs of people expected to show up at Tuesday night’s rally in Grant Park. Complicating the plan is that they really have no idea how many people will attend, but they are planning for an event similar to the annual July 3 fireworks display--on steroids.

Well, this is interesting. Even as the Obama campaign has limited the number of tickets and is focusing on security concerns, our benevolent mayor has invited any- and everyone down to Grant Park next Tuesday night, tickets be damned!

         

The Sun-Times had a nice semi-overhead shot of the rally site in yesterday's paper, but we figured we'd go check out the rally site from locations that will look more familiar to any of the estimated million-plus people that are going to show up to Hutchinson Field in a little under a week.

City firefighters and paramedics have been asked to take home their gear so they can speed deployment during any emergency that might occur during the election night Obama rally in Grant Park. The order begins next Wednesday, and continues through until two days after the election.

             

Cubs officials, dignitaries, celebs, Blago and Daley, and, of course, Cubs Nation came out for a post-season rally in Daley Plaza over lunch today.

A "food desert," by definition, is a geographic area with no or distant grocery stores served by a plethora of fast food restaurants. An estimated 500,000 Chicago residents live in a food desert and the health implications can be staggering.