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Thursday, April 25, 2024

Year In Review 2022

Join us for an inside look at how we covered 2022 and how we’re approaching coverage in 2023.

Sun-Times reporter Mitch Armentrout conducts an interview in 2017.
Year In Review 2022
200 interviews and some surprising finds on ‘Pulse of the Heartland’ beat
Old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting in three Illinois cities before the midterms helped me quickly dispel assumptions about voters.
By Mitchell Armentrout
 
Reporter Frank Main takes notes at a homicide scene.
Year In Review 2022
The question that’s launched multiple Sun-Times investigations
One of my latest “what’s that all about?” moments began with a mass shooting in May outside the McDonald’s at State Street and Chicago Avenue.
By Frank Main
 
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Year In Review 2022
From the center of the ‘pit’: My summer documenting the dangerous street takeovers that gripped the city this year
ASHLEE REZIN: After a video of drivers doing doughnuts in the middle of a West Loop intersection went viral, reporter Manny Ramos and I spent several nights trying to find out who was behind the drifting events that had become the talk of Chicago.
By Ashlee Rezin
 
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Year In Review 2022
Mayor Willie Wilson and other predictions
Gazing into the media crystal ball is a sham, but we keep doing it anyway. 2022 was no different.
By Neil Steinberg
 
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Year In Review 2022
We’ve heard more from our readers in 2022. Let’s keep the dialogue going
This year, I and the other members of the Sun-Times Editorial Board learned so much more about our readers — because we made more of an effort to solicit and publish opinion pieces and letters to the editor.
By Lorraine Forte
 
The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Century and Consumers Buildings on South State Street to this year’s most endangered places list.
Columnists
From casino plans to building preservation, 2022 was a busy year in Chicago architecture
And there will be much more to come in 2023.
By Lee Bey
 
A woman holds a candle and roses during a vigil at Sunset Woods Park in Highland Park, Illinois, Thursday, July 7, 2022. Over a thousand people gathered to listen to music and guest speakers and have a moment of silence for the seven victims of the mass shooting during the July 4th parade in Highland Park. 
Year In Review 2022
Chicago’s top 10 stories of 2022
A whirlwind year saw a string of City Hall denizens bow out, thousands of families reel from ongoing violence and a wave of new arrivals looking to find their footing.
By Mitchell Armentrout
 
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Sports Media
Turnover in Blackhawks’ TV booth tops Chicago sports-media stories of 2022
Pat Foley’s departure signified the end of an era in Chicago sports broadcasting. He began with the Hawks in 1980 and was the last link to a golden age.
By Jeff Agrest
 
The U.S. Senate should act on the legislation that would bar the government from seizing records from journalists or their phone and internet providers except in a few emergency situations.
Year In Review 2022
From essential Chicago house songs to dibs etiquette, Sun-Times readers sounded off in 2022
Read some of our favorite answers to the “question of the day” this past year.
By Matt Moore
 
Except for a little health setback, Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown and his wife, Hanke Gratteau, did a lot of traveling in 2022. Here they are on safari in South Africa.
Year In Review 2022
How a brush with death reminded me to stop and enjoy it all
MARK BROWN: I don’t remember a lot about the night I almost died in a hospital bed, except for desperately wanting one more chance to tell my wife and kids that I loved them, but not wanting to unduly alarm them by waking them.
By Mark Brown
 
Fireworks explode over the Chicago River as Chicago celebrates New Years, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.
Year In Review 2022
The Sun-Times’ best photos of 2022
Our photographers covered everything from the mass shootings in Chicago and Highland Park to Chicagoans’ protesting the war in Ukraine and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Take a look at some of the top images they captured.
By Sun-Times staff
 
Reporter Stefano Esposito (in blue shirt and tie in the background) takes a video of the Oct. 15 wedding of Jeanne Gustavson and Stephen Watts, at their Beaverton, Ore., home.
Year In Review 2022
I was just another wedding guest ... with a notepad and a deadline
STEFANO ESPOSITO: Sure, I’m a middle-aged soccer-mad dad, but I’m not embarrassed to say that I really do like a good love story. The marriage of Jeanne Gustavson and Stephen Watts in October was truly one of those.
By Stefano Esposito
 
Marc Madero and his granddaughter, Ashley Golbeck, play on the swing at Loyola Beach Playground in the Rogers Park neighborhood on April 12, 2022.
Year In Review 2022
How we told the story of ‘Little Chicago’
As Sun-Times journalists dug into 2020 U.S. census data about the city, we searched for the neighborhood that most closely reflected Chicago’s racial makeup. We found it on the Far North Side.
By Pat Nabong and Elvia Malagón
 
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Year In Review 2022
Here are our photographers’ favorite photos of 2022 — and why
Sun-Times visual journalists reveal which images they were most proud of from this past year.
By Sun-Times staff
 
Red police tape is wrapped around the chain at the site where Victoria Moreno, 34, allegedly pushed her nephew into the water at Navy Pier in September.
Year In Review 2022
Why an unthinkable murder at Navy Pier hit me so hard despite my years on the police beat
TOM SCHUBA: Becoming a father during the pandemic has changed my outlook toward covering public safety — particularly when crimes involve young children. So when a woman was accused of drowning her nephew, a sense of doom stuck with me.
By Tom Schuba
 
Carmela Richardson and Rosa Sanders
Year In Review 2022
Telling the stories of 2 moms, undeterred in their quest for justice for sons lost to gun violence
MOHAMMAD SAMRA: Although their sons were killed years apart and in entirely different areas, I was struck by the resolve of Rosa Sanders and Carmela Richardson in my reporting this year.
By Mohammad Samra
 
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Year In Review 2022
How I report on Chicago’s ‘sacrifice zones’ — through the eyes of those who live in our most polluted neighborhoods
BRETT CHASE: As an environmental reporter, I dig for documents through open records requests and court filings, and I interview experts. But the most invaluable lessons come from spending time with families who say they just want clean air and a healthy place to live for their kids.
By Brett Chase
 
Chicago Sun-Times Executive Editor Jennifer Kho
Year In Review 2022
The Sun-Times wants to reflect the voices of all Chicagoans. Here’s how you can help
My vision for the Sun-Times is all about connecting with and serving our community, especially among marginalized groups that have historically been left out or underserved by the news.
By Jennifer Kho