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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the
3 members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to honor
4 Chinta Strausberg on her unbroken and lifelong dedication to
5 print and electronic journalism; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Chinta Strausberg was born on Chicago's South
7 Side; her parents, Irene, a nurse, and stepfather, General, a
8 United States postal supervisor and entrepreneur, later moved
9 to a larger West Side building also owned by her grandfather;
10 and
 
11     WHEREAS, Wanting to chart their own course, Chinta
12 Strausberg's parents later had a home built in Markham where
13 she and her siblings attended school; and
 
14     WHEREAS, Ms. Strausberg is a graduate of Roosevelt
15 University where she majored in journalism; she attended
16 Northwestern's undergraduate and graduate school where she
17 took more courses in journalism; by day, she worked as a
18 proofreader/copy editor for the American Hospital Association
19 and by night, she worked pro bono at the WSSD radio station,
20 where she not only went into the community and found the news,
21 but also wrote her own copy, and broadcast it on an hourly
22 basis; and
 
23     WHEREAS, In addition, she had a weekly talk show where she
24 met the late Mayor Harold Washington, who was then a State
25 Representative; she also met and interviewed other officials
26 such as Representatives Carol Moseley Braun, Susan Catania,
27 Barbara Flynn Currie, and Senator Richard Newhouse; and
28 activists Lu Palmer, Walter "Slim" Coleman, Dorothy Tillman,
29 Helen Shiller, Rev. Al Sampson, police officials, and many
30 others; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, Ms. Strausberg joined the Chicago Defender in
2 January 1981 as a freelance reporter; while using her personal
3 savings for five months, Ms. Strausberg, who worked every day
4 at the Chicago Defender, got a number of exclusives; she was
5 finally hired on May 10, 1981; and
 
6     WHEREAS, She covered politics, the CHA, the school board,
7 the police, 26th and California, the federal building,
8 religion, travel, but mostly politics and civil rights; and
 
9     WHEREAS, The late John Sengstacke, publisher/editor,
10 assigned Ms. Strausberg to cover politics and civil rights in
11 1981 and placed her in the City Hall press room, where she has
12 been for more than 22 of the more than 23 years she has been
13 with the Chicago Defender Newspaper; and
 
14     WHEREAS, While working at the Chicago Defender, she had a
15 daily column entitled "On the Case", and she also had a talk
16 show on WVON; in addition, she co-anchored the news with former
17 CBS 2 reporter John Davis on V-103; prior to her Chicago
18 Defender duties, and for nearly five years, she was a monthly
19 columnist with the Dollars and Sense Magazine; and
 
20     WHEREAS, She currently has a live, Internet/web cast talk
21 show, entitled, "The Strausberg Report", on the Probation
22 Challenge Connection (PCC) Network; city, county, state,
23 federal, and activists across the State get to showcase not
24 only their tenure in office and their programs but they often
25 make news on the show that has an audience of more than 30
26 million people; and
 
27     WHEREAS, Chinta Strausberg was honored by the Mayor of
28 Chicago and the Chicago City Council on May 5, 2004 in Chicago;
29 and on June 18, 2004, there is a reception being held at St.
30 Sabina's Church, hosted by Father Michael Pfleger, in honor of
31 her 23 years of dedicated service to the Chicago Defender;

 

 

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1 therefore, be it
 
2     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
3 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
4 honor Chinta Strausberg and her unswerving dedication to the
5 profession of journalism and we wish her good health and
6 happiness in her future endeavors; and be it further
 
7     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
8 presented to Chinta Strausberg as a token of our respect and
9 esteem.