Emmanuel Camarillo

1 week ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Emmanuel Camarillo

When a man snatched Cyrus Spurlock’s beloved violin out of his hands on a CTA train, Spurlock made a desperate attempt to save his instrument. “I was trying to bargain with him, knowing how important the instrument is, I offered to give him my wallet,” Spurlock told the Sun-Times on Tuesday. “But I think in that moment he knew that it was obviously super-valuable.”The man, and the instrument, disappeared into the night.

1 week ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Emmanuel Camarillo

Lorri Gyenes has been a Sky season-ticket holder for nearly as long as the team has existed. Back when they played at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, she would organize tailgates and introduce fans to each other. It earned her the nickname ‘‘The Mayor of Skytown.’’On Monday, Gyenes joined hundreds of other fans — new and old — to watch the WNBA Draft at the Sky’s official draft party at Revolution Brewing in Avondale on the Northwest Side.

1 week ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Emmanuel Camarillo

El mejor lugar para cobertura de noticias y cultura latina en Chicago. | The place for coverage of Latino news and culture in Chicago. Los residentes de los alrededores del Douglass Park mostraron sentimientos encontrados ante la noticia de que el Riot Fest había recibido un permiso de tres años para seguir celebrando el festival de música en el parque.

1 week ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Emmanuel Camarillo

Residents around Douglass Park had mixed feelings on the news that Riot Fest had been granted a three-year permit to continue staging the music festival in the park. Some who expressed familiar concerns over trash, noise and traffic said they felt dispirited because their voices haven’t been taken into account. But others like Cameron Sutton say they don’t mind the festival as a neighbor, despite its disturbances.

2 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Emmanuel Camarillo

Maryam Belopolskaya said it was “very hard” growing up in Ukraine under the shadow of World War II. Her family fled fighting and persecution. And after the war, when her family moved to Kyiv, Belopolskaya said her mom made sure they celebrated important Jewish holidays. “Even in Kyiv my mom used to make matzo herself from scratch, and we celebrated even there,” said Belopolskaya, who will be 87 next month. But now she doesn’t have family left, she said, so she celebrates the holidays with a new one.