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AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■
Vol. 32 No. 45
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Austin residents chime in on CPD’s consent decree,
November 7, 2018
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austinweeklynews.com
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Also serving Garfield Park
@AustinWeeklyChi
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@AustinWeeklyNews
Black-owned manufacturer plans West Side growth The Will Group to build 400,000-sq.-ft. addition in North Lawndale By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
MICHAEL ROMAIN/Staff
STILL FIGHTING: Alice Norris, middle, passes out a flyer advertising a $5,000 award for information leading to the arrest of the person who murdered her daughter, LaKesia Marshall, in 1993. Norris returned to the site of the murder for the first time in decades last month.
A mournful homecoming — with a purpose Alice Norris returned to Austin on Oct. 26 to find information on her daughter’s 1993 murder By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
On Oct. 26, Alice Norris did something she hadn’t done in decades — return to the site where her 14-year-old daughter, Rolanda LaKesia Marshall, was murdered. Marshall was shot in the head on Aug. 28, 1993 while sitting with a friend inside of a
Beefee restaurant on the corner of North and Lockwood in Austin. In prior media reports, Norris said that her daughter had been conversing with a young man who was the intended target. The young man was hit, but recovered. The friend was unharmed. Marshall, however, died while in a coma, nine days after she was shot.
Norris, who lived just blocks west of the restaurant at the time her daughter was killed, has since moved to Oak Park. She hadn’t been to this spot in years, she said. Twenty-five years later, Norris revisited the emotions she felt in the days and weeks after her daughter’s murder. See ALICE NORRIS on page 4
Proud to partner with Austin Talks
The Will Group, a black-owned electric power equipment manufacturer that already has a presence on the West Side, is looking to build a 400,000-square-foot plant in North Lawndale at 825 S. Kilpatrick Ave. The company and the City of Chicago are currently in the process of finalizing a deal that would allow the company to buy a 3.3acre site. Once the sale is completed, The Will Group expects the construction to take around 12 months. The company expects to hire 14 people. Jessica Davis, the company’s chief operating officer, said that they will hire local and will work with area non-profits to hire exoffenders. She said that the company is well aware that criminal records are a significant barrier to getting jobs, and believes that exoffenders who served time for non-violent crimes deserve a chance to work. The Will Group was founded 33 years ago. Davis described it as a black-owned, familyowned enterprise. It manufactures lighting and power equipment, and, most recently, has gotten into making solar panels. The Wheaton-based company has an office in the Loop and a manufacturing facility in Austin at 5261 W. Harrison, not far from the site of the new facility. According to a City of Chicago press release, the property in Austin has been vaSee THE WILL GROUP on page 5
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