💻 From Under the El
I hope everyone is safe after last night’s devastating storms, both in our area and across the Midwest. If you’re able to help, here are some fundraisers I’ve found for folks who were affected by the tornadoes in Kankakee and Aroma Park:
If you know of anyone else raising funds to rebuild, reply to this email with a link to their fundraiser and I’ll feature it this week. Stay safe and take care of each other, y’all. I know you will. Now here’s some good news.
⏰ tl;dr
A Chicago stylist turned her business success into a support system for Ukrainian refugees, helping resettle 23 families
UIC researchers may have found a new biomarker that could help catch lung cancer earlier — and maybe even stop it before it starts
Logan Square’s cleanup season kicks off March 22 with free hot chocolate, community care
🌻 What’s Going Right In Chicago Today
⛈ Chatham is teaming up with UIC to get smarter about flooding
Researchers and residents are working together on block-by-block solutions to flooding, extreme heat, and other climate threats in one of the neighborhoods hit hardest by severe weather.
UIC researchers are working directly with local communities, including Chatham, to address the increasingly serious impacts of extreme weather, especially flooding. The work is focused “block by block,” with scientists and neighbors building solutions together before disasters occur.
“The challenges we are facing in terms of extreme heat and extreme rain, those become stronger in cities. The risks associated with these early season spring storms — sometimes you call them shoulder season storms — are higher, and the likelihood of these storms is increasing and will continue to increase.”
Last night’s storms left some Chicago-area roadways flooded. UIC researchers on this project told CBS reporters that early-season storms like these are becoming more likely and more risky. In Chatham, that has turned planning into something very immediate: community leaders were already pushing flood alerts this week, and they’re also preparing a spring tree campaign that will plant 400 trees in the neighborhood.
Image credit: Tali Kogan
💎 Chicago stylist turns her studio into a launchpad for Ukrainian families
Through Sweet Dome Chicago, stylist Tali Kogan has helped resettle 23 Ukrainian families in Chicago, pairing housing support with real job opportunities.
There are some people who take personal success and immediately start asking how to widen the doorway for somebody else. Tali Kogan is one of those people. The local stylist, who emigrated from Ukraine and later founded Sweet Dome Chicago with her husband Jason in 2022, has used her business to help Ukrainians find housing here in the city.
If I can get myself out of that dark place, then everyone can do it. I started showing up to the world in a little bit different way. I started wearing a little bit more color.
But Kogan assists refugee families with more than just housing. Sweet Dome Chicago helps them find homes and pay rent, but also access essentials, get legal guidance, and connect to work. Kogan has said the foundation has helped 23 families resettle in Chicago, and some of those women now work with her in design, alterations, and photography.
🫁 New UIC discovery could change how we catch lung cancer
A team at UIC has identified a possible early warning sign for lung cancer that could eventually help doctors detect it sooner and intervene earlier.
Researchers at UIC, led by oncologist Dr. Frank Weinberg, studied lung cells and fluids from 20 patients with early-stage lung cancer and found a distinctive combination of molecules inside the lungs that may signal cancer much earlier than current methods can. The team looked not just at the tumor itself, but at multiple parts of the lung to get a fuller picture of what was happening.
“All of these observations add up to a potential biomarker, or biological clue, that a patient may go on to develop lung cancer. We’re using information from the immune system, the metabolism and the lung environment to create a big picture of what cancer looks like.”
What they found is promising on two levels:
First, it could become a biomarker that helps doctors identify high-risk patients earlier. Second, researchers think this pattern may not just point to cancer; it may actually play a role in causing it, which opens the door to prevention strategies too. Even better: the same warning signs also showed up in blood samples from early- and late-stage patients, raising the possibility of an easier future test. For a disease that remains the leading cause of cancer death, that’s a very big deal.
🗓️ Eye On the Chi
ChiPride Volunteering + Greater Chicago Food Depository
Pack food alongside LGBTQ+ and ally volunteers for distribution to food banks, soup kitchens, and shelters across Cook County.
When: March 21, 1 p.m.
Where: Greater Chicago Food Depository
2026 Kickoff Logan Square Cleanup with Cleanup Club
Cleanup Club opens its sixth season in Logan Square with neighborhood litter pickup and free hot chocolate.
When: March 22, 10 a.m.
Where: Katherine Anne Confections
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Till next time,
Good News, Chicago
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