HR1082 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1082 LRB093 22607 KEF 52196 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to honor Chinta Strausberg on her unbroken and lifelong dedication to print and electronic journalism; and

WHEREAS, Chinta Strausberg was born on Chicago's South Side; her parents, Irene, a nurse, and stepfather, General, a United States postal supervisor and entrepreneur, later moved to a larger West Side building also owned by her grandfather; and

WHEREAS, Wanting to chart their own course, Chinta Strausberg's parents later had a home built in Markham where she and her siblings attended school; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Strausberg is a graduate of Roosevelt University where she majored in journalism; she attended Northwestern's undergraduate and graduate school where she took more courses in journalism; by day, she worked as a proofreader/copy editor for the American Hospital Association and by night, she worked pro bono at the WSSD radio station, where she not only went into the community and found the news, but also wrote her own copy, and broadcast it on an hourly basis; and

WHEREAS, In addition, she had a weekly talk show where she met the late Mayor Harold Washington, who was then a State Representative; she also met and interviewed other officials such as Representatives Carol Moseley Braun, Susan Catania, Barbara Flynn Currie, and Senator Richard Newhouse; and activists Lu Palmer, Walter "Slim" Coleman, Dorothy Tillman, Helen Shiller, Rev. Al Sampson, police officials, and many others; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Strausberg joined the Chicago Defender in January 1981 as a freelance reporter; while using her personal savings for five months, Ms. Strausberg, who worked every day at the Chicago Defender, got a number of exclusives; she was finally hired on May 10, 1981; and

WHEREAS, She covered politics, the CHA, the school board, the police, 26th and California, the federal building, religion, travel, but mostly politics and civil rights; and

WHEREAS, The late John Sengstacke, publisher/editor, assigned Ms. Strausberg to cover politics and civil rights in 1981 and placed her in the City Hall press room, where she has been for more than 22 of the more than 23 years she has been with the Chicago Defender Newspaper; and

WHEREAS, While working at the Chicago Defender, she had a daily column entitled "On the Case", and she also had a talk show on WVON; in addition, she co-anchored the news with former CBS 2 reporter John Davis on V-103; prior to her Chicago Defender duties, and for nearly five years, she was a monthly columnist with the Dollars and Sense Magazine; and

WHEREAS, She currently has a live, Internet/web cast talk show, entitled, "The Strausberg Report", on the Probation Challenge Connection (PCC) Network; city, county, state, federal, and activists across the State get to showcase not only their tenure in office and their programs but they often make news on the show that has an audience of more than 30 million people; and

WHEREAS, Chinta Strausberg was honored by the Mayor of Chicago and the Chicago City Council on May 5, 2004 in Chicago; and on June 18, 2004, there is a reception being held at St. Sabina's Church, hosted by Father Michael Pfleger, in honor of her 23 years of dedicated service to the Chicago Defender; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we honor Chinta Strausberg and her unswerving dedication to the profession of journalism and we wish her good health and happiness in her future endeavors; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Chinta Strausberg as a token of our respect and esteem.