The Daily Northwestern — February 11, 2026 by The Daily Northwestern

Serving the Northwestern and Evanston communities since 1881

The Daily Northwestern Find us online @thedailynu

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM

SPRING SPORTS SPOTLIGHT

page 7

Voter forums host candidates Congressional contenders tackle healthcare, ICE By JACK BAKER and EMILY DISSANAYAKE

the daily northwestern @jdowb2005

Candidates running to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District tackled issues ranging from rising healthcare costs to Israel’s military actions in Gaza and federal immigration enforcement across two Saturday forums. In May, i n c u m b e n t U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) announced her retirement, sparking the first competitive race to represent Evanston in Congress in a generation. There are 19 active candidates, who collectively raised more than $11 million last year. In the morning, Mayor Daniel Biss, progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh, State Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview), Skokie school board member Bushra Amiwala, State Rep. Hoan Huynh (D-Chicago), former

FBI negotiator Phil Andrew and economist Jeff Cohen attended a forum hosted by the Pan-Asian Voter Empowerment Coalition at the Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago North Shore hotel in Skokie. About 15% of people living in the district are Asian, according to 2024 American Community Survey data. Over 50 audience members representing various local advocacy groups attended the event. The PAVE forum required participants to have raised at least $500,000. Later, Biss, Fine, Amiwala, Huynh and Andrew gathered at the Levy Senior Center for a separate forum co-hosted by the Evanston/North Shore Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Democrats State Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago), Justin Ford and Patricia Brown, along with Republican John Elleson, also participated. About 75 community members filled the Levy Senior Center ’s meeting room, prompting organizers to set

» See FORUM, page 14

Illustration by Nicole Cheah

Late McCormick Prof. Roger Schank’s name appears over 1,500 times in the Department of Justice’s library of files related to convicted sex offender

NU professor close to Epstein

Prof. Roger Schank maintained long-term relationship, released government files say By SOPHIE BAKER amd LEXI NEWSOM

daily senior staffers @ak_newsom

Content warning: This story contains mentions of sexual misconduct with minors. Late McCormick Prof. Roger

Schank maintained close contact with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and was offered access to “a girl,” according to

newly released files from the Department of Justice.

» See SCHANK, page 15

Lion dance marks Lunar New Year $400k set for Student organizations host cultural games, performance in Norris By RUIXIN ZHANG

the daily northwestern @ruixinzhang_

A red and gold-patterned lion puppet, manipulated by two dancers underneath, maneuvered across the Norris University Center Louis Room to the sounds of clinging cymbals and thumping drums. Ending at the center, it “ate” the lettuce prepared beforehand on the floor, and “spat it out” towards a watching crowd. The Cantonese word for lettuce sounds like “prosperity,” so the act of “eating” and “spitting out” the lettuce symbolized the showering of blessings and good fortune, according to Jason Yu, one of the performers and owner of Yu’s Lion Dance Sports Association. The lion dance was one of the highlights of the Lunar New Year event on Saturday evening co-hosted by Northwestern’s Chinese Students Association, Korean-American Student Association and Hong Kong Student Association. “When you’re at college and you’re on your own, it’s hard to participate in events like these unless you seek it out on your own,” said former Daily staffer Brian Han, CSA Cultural Chair and Weinberg sophomore. “Our

Recycle Me

clubs hope to make it more accessible and bring a part of people’s heritage to Northwestern.” Lunar New Year is a festival traditionally celebrated in China, Taiwan, Korea and other Asian countries, beginning on the first new moon of the lunar calendar. The horse is the Chinese Zodiac of the 2026 lunar year, which is set to begin Feb. 17. The student organizations brought together activities that represented their respective cultures. KA SA, for instance, organized a simplified version of “Gonggi,” a Korean game featured in Squid Game Season 2. KASA Cultural Chair and Weinberg senior Joanna Jung said the player wins by throwing two Gonggi stones and landing them on the back of their hand, then throwing the stones again and catching them. HKSA provided sweets like traditional Chinese White Rabbit Candy for participants to put in red envelopes and give to friends. Red envelopes are usually filled with money and are given out during Lunar New Year from older to younger generations to signify wealth and prosperity for the year ahead, according to HKSA Co-President and Weinberg junior Fiorelli Wong. McCormick first-year Jason Ta grew up celebrating the Lunar New Year in Vietnam and

Black churches Funds allocated following input from community

By MAX TURETZKY

the daily northwestern @maxturetzky

Ruixin Zhang/The Daily Northwestern

Students interacted with the lion puppet as it weaved across the room.

appreciated the opportunity to try new things, like CSA’s Chinese calligraphy station. Participants wet their brushes with water to trace Chinese character strokes on a special water calligraphy paper. “I never really did calligraphy before — I suck at stroke order — but it was fun learning how to do that,” Ta said. Students earned raffle tickets for participating in the activities, which could be used to exchange for a wide variety of Asian snacks.

KA SA President and Weinberg senior Caleb Shim said the Lunar New Year event is a long-standing tradition at NU and represents a community for those that might miss home. “Home represents a lot of different things, including cultural holidays and celebrations,” Shim said. “To have a space to celebrate your holiday in a place that’s far from home is a great opportunity for students who might feel homesick.” r.zhang@dailynorthwestern.edu

Five years after the Reparations Stakeholder Authority of Evanston announced it would create its own privately funded reparations program, the organization is now set to distribute $400,000 to Evanston’s Black churches. The project has been years in the making. In February 2021, RSAE announced it would raise funds to directly benefit Black community members, complementing the city’s tax-funded reparations initiative. In June 2022, leaders from 16 congregations in Evanston’s interfaith community pledged to contribute to RSAE. The organization finished raising its goal of roughly $1 million by Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2025. Since then, RSAE has consulted with community members about how best to distribute the funds. In Januar y, Rev. Dr.

Michael Nabors, a pastor at Evanston’s Second Baptist Church who helped establish RSAE, announced the fund would begin distributing a portion of the money to historically Black churches around the city. Nabors told The Daily the funds would be distributed as grants to individual congregations. Through interviews with various members of Evanston’s Black community, Nabors said he identified three key priorities: housing, economic development and education. However, the city’s reparations program, financed through a 3% tax on cannabis, is already providing direct cash payments to Black residents to repair their homes. “We thought we would get away from housing because that’s where the money has been going from Evanston reparations,” Nabors said. Instead, Nabors envisions local churches using RSAE funds to support Black entrepreneurs, help Black residents pay their bills and fund soup kitchens and workforce development initiatives. According to data from

» See CHURCHES, page 13