A poem to start your week, the new DePaul women’s basketball coach and the deportation of Palestinians from Gaza
plus, the newest ER television drama
Welcome back to ‘In the Loop’! It’s your newsletter team Lauren, Aidan, Ellie, Nandi, Sam, Isabella, Annabelle, Noël, Dani, Noah and Noel. We’ve got a good one for you today.
To start, we have a poem written by Aidan Piñon and information about DePaul’s new partnership with Rosalind Franklin University through the health sciences program. Then, we have information on the seasonal return of the Green City Market in Lincoln Park, the nationwide “Hands Off!” protest from this weekend, and a trilateral trade deal between China, Japan and South Korea in response to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. To wrap up, we have information on the new 35th Ward alderman and a recommendation for “The Pit,” a new emergency room drama streaming on Max.
If you want to show support for 14 East and ‘In the Loop,’ we invite you to donate directly to our newsroom. Whether it’s a one-time contribution or a monthly gift, every cent helps us build a newsroom that serves you, our readers, and we get 100% of your donation.
Tonight’s newsletter is sponsored by DePaul’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
With that, let’s get into it!
Shadow
By Aidan Piñon
Creepin’ down alley
Light Bulb flash me
Puddled Craters
Show no Silhouetted Figure
Angry Wind shoots up alley
Aback, my hoodie
I think I got a boogie!
But warm Liquid leaks
Through Pinched Nostrils
Coating my Palate
with Metallic
Red trails
Glitter
Along
bitter
Street Tracks
Icy, the steel
Shit! There goes my heel
Dropped to a Kneel
No Nostril sealed!
Bloody Ripples blur
Moonlit Water
The
Falling
Stream
Vanishing me
DePaul News
By Ellie Shelton
DePaul animation program ranked among the best nationwide — Animation Career Review has officially ranked DePaul’s animation program 13th in the nation. The school was previously ranked at 15th the previous year and continues to climb as the program garners more attention nationwide. The program has also been named the number one program in the Midwest. DePaul Newsline has more.
Chicago universities create direct admissions program for health sciences — DePaul University and Rosalind Franklin University have partnered to create a direct path from undergraduate studies to health sciences degrees. Incoming undergraduate students can now apply to DePaul and Rosalind Franklin University and earn direct admission to Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. The first cohort of this program will begin Fall Quarter of 2026. DePaul Newsline has more.
DePaul promotes Jill Pizzotti as new women’s basketball coach — Following the recent departure of Doug Bruno, long-time head coach of DePaul’s women's basketball team, the university has promoted assistant coach Jill Pizzotti to fill his position. Pizzotti was hired in 2011 and served as interim coach this season, leading the team to finish sixth in the Big East Conference. Andrew Seligman at the Associated Press has more.
Chicago Headlines
By Nandi Smith
New Arlington Heights mayor sets out to secure The Bears — New Arlington Heights Mayor-elect Jim Tinaglia will be sworn in on May 5. Tinaglia has been a long-time village trustee and has also served in the role of chairman and member of the Arlington Heights Design Commission. In addition to serving his community, Tinaglia is a business owner. He is a licensed architect and owns Tinaglia Architects. Tinaglia’s largest task upon entry into the role will be to wrap up the contract between Arlington Heights and Chicago Bears Stadium. The decision on where the Bears will call home has been ongoing. In June 2021, The Bears submitted a bid on Arlington Park, then in September 2022, a nearly $5 billion stadium and mixed-use plan was unveiled. In February 2023, the team closed on the Arlington Park sale, and then trouble hit. The team began to face property disputes with local school districts leading them to look elsewhere for the perfect place to call home for the 1986 Super Bowl Champions. The team has begun to look at lakefront locations as a possibility. Despite this pivot, the team still owns The Arlington Park Property making it a potential option for the team. Mitchell Armentrout at the Chicago Sun-Times has more.
Green City Market is back — The beloved Green City Market is back in Lincoln Park. The farmer's market returned this past Saturday kicking off its 26th year of serving the Lincoln Park community. During April, the market will operate every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will also open on Wednesdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. starting May 7. Known for being a cornerstone of the community, the market offers a host of vendors, local sustainable farmers, producers, community programs and musical performances. Customers can find anything from fruits, veggies and grains needed for their next meal to plants and flowers for gifting. Those interested in seeing what Green City Market has to offer can go to their website greencitymarket.org or show up on Saturday at 1817 N. Clark Street.
Logan Square serial rapist has been found and charged — The Logan Square community has been in a state of outrage over the last three years as numerous cases of sexual assault broke out in the area with no direction as to who was targeting women in the community. Last Friday, Chakib Mansour Khodja was arrested at O’Hare Airport returning from Algeria in connection to a string of sexual assaults. Khodja (36), who is a married limo driver, has since been charged with five sexual assaults including criminal sexual assault with a weapon and aggravated kidnapping. Prosecutors are also pressing 16 felony counts and two misdemeanor counts against Khodja. Khodja has been found to stalk women in the Northwest area of Chicago late at night often attacking his victims in an extremely violent manner with weapons and physical violence. He has denied all allegations against him and has requested a curfew instead of jail time. Before his arrest, victims had come forward describing the details of their frightful and life-changing encounters with the serial assaulter. Police officials request that any other potential victims come forward in an effort to bring justice to survivors. Mack Liederman at Block Club Chicago has more.
National Headlines
By Sam Freeman
‘Hands Off!’ protests against Trump and Musk erupted nationwide — Across the country, protesters gathered over the weekend to oppose the Trump administration. Saturday’s protests were the most widespread since Trump took office in January. According to organizers, there were more than 1,300 rallies that took place on Saturday. Demonstrators are concerned about the future of Social Security, veterans’ benefits, reproductive and LGBTQ rights, tariffs and more. Since Trump took office, the administration has implemented a series of plans and policies, from mass firing of federal workers to immigration raids to Elon Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Juliana Kim from NPR has more information.
A federal judge says deportation of Maryland man was ‘wholly lawless’ — A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to bring a Maryland man back to the United States, explaining that the U.S. government’s decision to arrest the man and send him to a prison in El Salvador was “wholly lawless.” Abrego Garcia is a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who was never charged or convicted of any crime. His attorney said he had a permit from the Department of Human Services (DHS) to work legally in the U.S., and his wife is a U.S. citizen. The White House said Garcia’s deportation was an “administrative error,” but it also said he was an MS-13 gang member. Attorneys for Garcia said there’s no evidence to support that claim. In her order on Sunday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said: “They do indeed cling to the stunning proposition that they can forcibly remove any person — migrant and U.S. citizen alike —to prisons outside the United States, and then baldly assert they have no way to effectuate return because they are no longer the ‘custodian,’ and the Court thus lacks jurisdiction. As a practical matter, the facts say otherwise.” The Associated Press has more information.
The L.A. Dodgers visit the White House on following World Series win — The Los Angeles Dodgers, who won the World Series in 2024, visited the White House on Monday, continuing a long tradition for the reigning World Series champions. The visit comes after the Trump administration removed an article on the Pentagon website honoring Jackie Robinson, who is one of the most celebrated baseball players. The Defense Department, which took down the page during a diversity, equity and inclusion purge, restored the page after backlash. During Trump’s first term, the visit was boycotted by some Black and Latino players; and before the Dodgers won the World Series in 2020, their manager, Dave Roberts, said he would skip any visits to the Trump White House. This year, the team did not skip the event. Tim Balk from The New York Times has more information.
RFK Jr. visits Texas after the death of a second child who was infected with measles — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, visited the epicenter of Texas’s measles outbreak on Sunday. It was the same day that a funeral was held for a second child who was not vaccinated and died from measles. Kennedy went to Gaines County where families buried the two young children, but he did not attend a nearby news conference hosted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about the outbreak. There are nearly 500 measles cases in Texas alone, with additional outbreaks believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mexico. The second child that died Thursday did not have underlying health conditions, according to the Texas State Department of State Health Services. This is the third known measles-related death tied to this outbreak. The two others included an elementary school-aged child in Texas and an adult in New Mexico, neither of which were vaccinated. Devi Shastri and Amanda Seitz from the Associated Press have more.
International Headlines
By Isabella Ali
Israel begins flights to deport Palestinians from Gaza — Israel has begun operating flights to deport Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, with more than 16 planes departing from Ramon Airport near Eilat, Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel confirmed today. The displacement initiative follows a controversial emigration plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in February. While the government continues to refer to the flights as part of a “voluntary departure” program, other countries such as Jordan and Germany have condemned the move as a forced expulsion that may amount to ethnic cleansing under international law. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the government is actively coordinating with Washington to implement the initiative involving outreach to countries who could potentially cooperate with the plan, as well as logistical planning for a daily relocation of 10,000 people to completely depopulate the Gaza Strip within six months. Since the beginning of the initiative, hundreds of Gazans have been flown to a third country, mostly to Germany, Romania and the United Arab Emirates. The Jerusalem Post has more to follow.
European Union launches $13.2 billion investment package for Central Asia —European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a sweeping €12 billion ($13.2 billion USD) investment package for Central Asia on Friday, marking what she called a "new era" of EU engagement in the region under its Global Gateway initiative. The announcement came at the historic first EU-Central Asia Summit held in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand. The summit brought together the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. “The landlocked region has an abundance of uranium, cobalt, copper and other essential materials,” according to the KXLG article. Just before the summit, Kazakhstan announced a 20-million-ton rare earth deposit, potentially making it the world’s third-largest holder after China and Brazil, which offers the EU a key opportunity to ease its strategic mineral vulnerability. “We are at another turning point. New global barriers arise, investments are being redirected, powers around the world are carving up new spheres of influence,” von der Leyen said in a press statement following the summit. The investment package is structured around four key priorities: international trade infrastructure, climate and energy, digital connectivity, and critical raw materials. More updates to follow from The Astana Times.
China, Japan and South Korea agree to strengthen trade ties in response to Trump tariffs — China, Japan and South Korea agreed to strengthen trilateral economic and trade cooperation to address "emerging challenges," especially as U.S. tariffs disrupt the global economic order. The deal, reached at the first trilateral meeting of the three countries’ trade ministers in over five years, aims to mitigate the impact of U.S. tariffs on key exports like cars and auto parts. South Korea and Japan are both major auto exporters, and China is also facing significant tariff pressure. The countries called for expedited negotiations on a comprehensive free-trade agreement, which has faced challenges since discussions began in 2012. Despite long standing regional disputes and historical tensions, the ministers reaffirmed their commitment to economic cooperation and also pledged to create a more predictable trade and investment environment. More to follow from Francis Tang at The Japan Times.
Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso impose 0.5% import duty on ECOWAS countries — As the United States’ sweeping tariffs sent global markets into freefall on Monday, trade tensions are also escalating in West Africa. The Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a recently established regional bloc comprising of Mali, Niger Republic, and Burkina Faso, has imposed a 0.5% import levy on goods from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member nations. The tariff, which took effect on Friday, applies to all goods from ECOWAS member states entering any of the three nations, except for humanitarian aid. Developments like this were anticipated following the AES's decision to leave the ECOWAS bloc in January, introduce a new passport, change their flags, and severing all ties with their former regional organization. This new policy counters ECOWAS’s intention of ensuring free movement of goods between its members and the AES countries, marking a significant escalation in tensions between the two blocs. For more updates, read The Premium Times Nigeria.
14 East Pueblo: New Alderman of 35th Ward announced
By Annabelle Rivera
Mayor Brandon Johnson handpicked Cook County Commissioner Anthony Quezada to be the new leader of the 35th Ward after the former alderman was promoted.
The decision came down to two candidates who were interviewed in March. This nomination comes as no surprise, however, as Quezada was recommended by former Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa to lead the ward.
Quezada is a Logan Square native who worked as the area’s county commissioner since 2022. He was the first person to announce their intent to run after former Ald. Ramirez-Rosa was promoted to Park District boss. He was the first openly gay Latino commissioner to be elected to the Board of Commissioners.
“I’m someone who leads with dialog and collaboration and conflict resolution, that is just who I am as a person, that is how I am as a leader,” he told Block Club Chicago last month. “What I’ve heard from community members and residents alike is they’re like, ‘You are the man for the job.'”
Hey, Check This Out!
With Featured Columnist Noël Bentley
Hey y’all, your favorite columnist is back! Today we are going to be talking about the new television sensation “The Pit.” The show debuted on January 9 and currently has one season with 14 episodes and counting.
“The Pit,” which is streamed on Max is a raw and riveting show, showcasing the realities of working in an Emergency Room (ER) in today’s society: the good, bad, ugly, bloody and the unapologetic entitlement that a lot of people have when visiting the ER.
The show has a great cast, showcasing some new faces such as Shabana Azeez, an Australian actress and Isa Briones, an England-born American-raised actress.
The show also has some familiar faces including Noah Wyle who is famously known for his starring role on the 90s series “ER” alongside George Clooney and Anthony Edwards. Tracey Ifeachor, a British actress, featured in “The Originals,” “Quantico” and the “Doctor Who“ series is also in the series along with Katherine LaNasa, known for her roles on “Deception,” “Truth Be Told,” and “Imposters,” as well as being married to another iconic actor Grant Show.
The standout feature of “The Pit” is the fact that each episode accounts for an hour within the day. Currently, the series is on episode 14, and each episode was struck with many controversial points such as abortion rights and the flaws within anti-vaxxer beliefs, just to name a few.
The show currently has 8.8/10 rating on IMDb, a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5/5 on the Bentley scale.
Resources
Need resources regarding cooling centers, rental assistance, abortion access, COVID-19 testing and vaccines or mental health? Check out our complete list here.
That’s it for today! See you next Monday.
The 14 East Newsletter Team