'Lake Effect News' Blog Officially Dead

Lorraine Swanson

February 24, 2011 - Chicago - A blog that promised to report news in most of the northeast portion of Chicago has disappeared. Lorraine Swanson, a well-respected Chicago-area journalist, launched her Lake Effect News (LEN) in May of 2009 after she left the Chicago Journal (of Oak Park, IL), where she was the editor of the News-Star. Swanson stopped updating the blog in September, 2010 when AOL's Patch hired her as the editor of Oak Lawn Patch.

Sadly, links cannot be provided to past LEN articles because Swanson took it down. There are no cached pages available. That's a shame, because some of the articles in LEN would still be a valuable resource for anyone researching events in Uptown over the past year. Oddly, however, the Lake Effect News store at CafePress is still up.

The death of Lake Effect News is ironic. Swanson put in many hours of devoted writing because, she said, she wanted to have "a body of work," although she already had that from her years with various local newspapers. The irony, of course, is that she has ripped her LEN body of work off of the Internet. It's a real shame - and a real loss - that nobody can dig back into LEN's archives. Many of her articles would be a good addition to any historical archive.

LEN never got close to it's stated goal of covering a large swath of Chicago. It did, however, give excellent local coverage of the 46th Ward in the Uptown neighborhood on the North Side, with an occasional article about Edgewater (48th Ward), Rogers Park (49th Ward) and West Rogers Park (50th Ward, also called West Ridge).

The Community Media Workshop had a nice article about Swanson in May, 2010.

Swanson did some good reporting for LEN, and she is a talented journalist. The graph below (click to enlarge) shows that LEN got around 8,600 unique visitors in the month of August, 2010. That went down dramatically the next month, to around 5,000.

Even after Swanson was no longer updating LEN with new articles, more than 3,000 unique visitors went to the site in October. Most of those, no doubt, realized that nothing new was going on and left, never to return. Lake Effect News was a valiant effort. We are sad that it is no longer, but Oak Lawn is richer having her there.

Heather Steans Exposed

Finally, a Democrat with a combination of guts, smarts and media savvy who is not afraid to stand up to the Chicago Machine. Jim Madigan is running against Heather Steans for the 7th Illinois State Senate District seat, and he's been calling her out on hypocrisy and huge campaign contributions made by her and her husband. Now, Lorraine Swanson of Lake Effect News has weighed in with her take on what Heather Steans has tried to keep out of public debate for so long: Heather Steans was handpicked by former 7th District State Senator Carol Ronen to fill her seat after she resigned mid-term in October 2007. Since she first announced her candidacy for Ronen’s seat in 2007, two major issues have haunted her. More on those problems at LEN... RELATED: LEN: Madigan Puts Steans On Defensive In Candidates Forum CNB: Videos Jim Madigan Owning Heather Steans State Senator Heather Steans is a Coward - Loyola Republicans David Ormsby: Greg Harris Endorses Heather Steans Over Gay Rights Independent of What? Politics Chicago Reader The Chuck Cowdery Blog: Score One For Heather Illinois Review: Democrats Responsible for Blagojevich Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

Death at Malden Arms Apartments, Chicago (Update 2)

UPDATE, 2:01 a.m., July 20: A man was found dead in his room at a northside Chicago SRO apartment building. He was in his late 40s and was last seen shortly before he died. Fellow residents say he had a history of alcohol abuse and seizures. According to a report by Lorraine Swanson at Lake Effect News, "A detective came out and could be overheard reading a list of prescription medications found in the man’s room, and asking if the drugs combined with alcohol could cause a person to faint or fall. The detectives left the apartment approximately 90 minutes later. The detective said there was 'a knot' on the back of the man’s head." More from Lake Effect News (Sunday, July 19th, 2009, 8:10 p.m.)...

Chicago News Bench broke this story at 4:55 p.m., 7/19/2009: A "DOA" ("dead on arrival") was reported just after 4:30 p.m. today at The Malden Arms Aparments, an SRO at 4727 N. Malden in Chicago's north side Uptown neighborhood. This building is owned by Mercy Housing Lakefront, which owns another SRO building on the same block. 

That building is The Miriam Apartments, which has had many problems and complaints recently. (See "Mercy Lakefront Housing and the Story That Refuses to Happen") We have not yet heard the cause of death. At this writing (4:55 p.m.), police and fire officials are still investigating. 

Lorraine Swanson on the Beat

Creator of Lake Effect News and legendary Chicago journalist Lorraine Swanson prowls her beat on W. Devon Avenue in West Ridge. I took this photo on May 17, 2009. Click images to enlarge. Leave a Comment... Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Follow ChiNewsBench on Twitter

Lake Effect News, Lemons and Lorraine Swanson

Today is Day Three for "Lake Effect News," an online news site by veteran journalist Lorraine Swanson. She's been covering neighborhoods on Chicago's north side for 16 years, and most recently was the editor and primary writer of News-Star. In March, Chicago Journal sold off News-Star and Swanson was on her own. She has turned lemons into lemonade by doing what few laid-off journalists have done. Rather than sit around lamenting her fate, or complaining about the tax structure of for-profit, dying newspapers, Swanson has put her personal devotion to local journalism to work. Lake Effect News (LEN)is off to a good start. LEN was linked to overnight by about 200 other web sites. The first ones to link to LEN, of course, were local blogs such as 24/7 North of Howard Watchers (in Rogers Park) and Uptown Update. Of course, we linked up right away too; I believe that we were the only ones to publish her entire, well-crafted press release. (Whoever wrote that release should be working for major PR firm or ad agency.) Then the local "big boys" got into the act. A glowing report by Mike Miner of The Chicago Reader didn't hurt, and has helped to direct a lot of traffic to Swanson's LEN within it's first two days. You can see a list of who links to Lake Effect News by clicking here. Swanson and LEN seemed destined for well-deserved success. Chicago's north side neighborhoods are richer for having them. Leave a Comment on our Guestbook! CommieBama Hats and More Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Follow ChiNewsBench on Twitter

Lorraine Swanson Is Back With New Online News Site

May 14, 2009 - Not that Lorraine Swanson ever really went away, mind you. She's been hard at work, prepping her next big move. The former editor and primary writer of the News-Star newspaper in Chicago has been busy regrouping and readying a full frontal assault.
UPDATE, Feb. 24, 2011: 'Lake Effect News' Blog Officially Dead
She left the News-Star when the Chicago Journal sold it in March. Since then, News-Star has been a shadow of its former self, and Swanson has regularly been barraged with the same statement by her fans: "We miss you, Lorraine!" Those fans won't miss her for long. Between now and May 22, Swanson will debut her new online news site, called "Lake Effect News."

VETERAN CHICAGO REPORTER STARTS ONLINE NEWS SITE

CHICAGO, IL

MAY 15, 2009 - Lorraine Swanson, 16-year veteran reporter and former editor of the Chicago Journal’s News-Star, will debut her own online news site next week. Called “Lake Effect News” (LEN), it will cover news and events in Chicago’s North lakefront communities.

Lake Effect News will be up and running before May 22, 2009.

Lake Effect News (www.lakeeffectnews.com) will be a daily online news site. It will be updated throughout the day, offering up a daily dish of politics, crime reports, development updates, school information, entertainment tips and more, all with a hyper-local focus.

Lake Effect News will focus on Rogers Park, West Ridge, Edgewater, Andersonville, Uptown, Ravenswood, Lincoln Square, North Center, Lake View, Albany Park and other neighborhoods. LEN will combine traditional journalistic values with multi-media news presentation. Swanson has long made community journalism a personal commitment. She has covered Chicago’s North Side from Howard Street to Roosevelt Road for Lerner Newspapers, Pioneer Press and, most recently, Chicago Journal.

Swanson resides in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.

“We’ll focus on those neighborhoods, but if something else is happening in the Chicago region that affects our readers we will certainly write about it, ” Swanson said. “For that matter, if something happens anywhere in the world that impacts our neighborhoods, it’s on our radar.”

“Now more than ever our lakefront communities need an independent neighborhood news outlet,” Swanson said, “We haven’t asked for a grant and don’t want one. We won’t pander to readers and have no hidden agenda. In fact, we love to expose hidden agendas.”

“Much of what transpires in the Chicago City Council is hammered out in neighborhood church halls, school gyms and community meeting rooms,” Swanson said. “The traditional neighborhood print newspaper has always served the role of watchdog. We want to continue that role online, with our strong personal commitment to and interest in neighborhood-level news.  Unlike a traditional newspaper, we’re more environment-friendly and none of our issues will ever end up in a puddle on your front yard.”