Participants throw out candy to children waiting on the sidewalk on Aug. 17, during Danny Davis’ Back to School Parade. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
4. George Salter, the outreach director for Above and Beyond Family Recovery Center, engages kids on July 24, during a celebration on Chicago Avenue in Austin to commemorate the 101st birthday of Nelson Mandela. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Players race to the middle of the gym to grab bean bags for their team on March 9, during the Community Works and Sports Alternative Youth Olympics at By the Hand Club for Kids. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
2. The cellist Yo-Yo Ma applause children from Ravinia’s Lawndale Family Music School after their performance on June 21. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
An activist with No Cop Academy protests at City Hall on March 13 against a proposed 5 million police and fire training academy in West Garfield Park. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Participants drum on June 15, during the fifth annual African-American Awareness and Appreciation Parade Juneteenth Celebration on Madison Street on Chicago’s Westside. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Tierra Collins, left, makes a cookie with Mia Richardson on Dec. 16, during a toy drive and holiday party at New Moms in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
A group of kids from the Garfield Park league watch a scrimmage on Dec. 19, during youth basketball training from the Chicago Westside Police at Genevieve Melody Public School in Chicago. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
1.Volunteers from KaBOOM! out together a picnic table on Thursday, June 6, 2019, during a volunteer work day for a new playground in an empty lot on Harrison Street in Austin. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Performers dance on Aug. 17, during the 40th Annual Danny Davis Back to School Parade, held along Central Avenue in Austin. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Protestors march in the loop on Oct. 17, during a rally held by the Chicago Teachers Union. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Demonstrators chant on Jan. 12, during a Mute R. Kelly protest outside of his studio on Justine Street in Chicago. | Photo by ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
What constitutes a big news story? There is, of course, the old saying, ‘If it bleeds it leads,’ which is, frankly, true enough. But more goes into the making of a big news story than gore, shock and awe. Below, we’ve selected stories published in Austin Weekly News for each month of 2019 that were highly consequential when we reported on them and that could also be consequential in 2020.
