Loyola gets money to educate more minority nurses, PAGE 3
Vol. VI No. 21
MAY 25, 2022
vfpress.news
A list of discounts for vets, PAGE 4
Broadview student moves up in history contest
St. Luke 8th-grader to represent Illinois in the National History Day contest By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Broadview resident Ryann Dawson, an eighth-grader who attends St. Luke Parish School, 519 Ashland Ave. in River Forest, has read classics of African-American literature, particularly W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk. She has studied Booker T. Washington’s famous “Atlanta Compromise” speech, delivered in 1895. She’s read Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. The intellectual load is what you’d encounter in a college undergraduate or advanced high school course. For Dawson, engaging with that material is preparation both for a rare opportunity and for life. The St. Luke student will represent Illinois in the National History Day contest held virtually, June 12-16. Dawson’s history teacher, James Bratager, said she’s one of 67 students from Illinois who will compete nationally. Roughly 11,000 students across the state competed in five categories: video documentary, exhibit, performance, website and paper, he See DAWSON on page 7
Triton College graduates at the community college’s commencement ceremony on May 14. This month, graduations have been happening across the west suburbs, from preschool to college. Courtesy Triton College
Maywood mayor gets DUI, blocks car for manager Maywood Mayor Nathaniel George Booker’s May 13 DUI no deterrent in his effort to block vehicle for nemesis By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
The conversation that took place at a Maywood village board meeting on May 17 was heated, as usual. Tensions between Maywood Mayor Nathaniel George Booker and his hand-selected village manager, Chasity Wells-Armstrong, spilled over into a conversation about Wells-Arm-
strong getting a village vehicle. The board conversation and the mayor’s attempt to block the new vehicle purchase for the manager took on fresh significance after news broke the next day, May 18, that Booker had been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and obstructing traffic about a week earlier, on May 13, while driving a village-owned vehicle. The irony is that the very criticisms that Booker had against purchasing a new vehicle for the manager — that the purchase would be too costly and that, since she lives in Bolingbrook, Wells-Armstrong would be using the vehicle more for her personal use while at home than for village purposes in Maywood — are falling back onto the mayor. According to police, Booker was found
asleep behind the wheel of the Explorer, with his vehicle blocking traffic in an outbound lane at around 1:30 a.m., on the Kennedy Expressway near Halsted Street, potentially exposing the village to liability if he caused any property damages, injuries or fatalities while in the village’s SUV. Now, it falls to Manager Wells-Armstrong and the board to figure out what they’re going to do about the mayor’s village-owned vehicle, a 2021 Ford Explorer that the village is currently leasing for $49,000. The board voted 4-2 last year in favor of the lease agreement. So far, there’s no indication that the mayor has relinquished the vehicle, See MAYOR on page 3