John Owens

By John Owens
(Podcast)

When Bennie Lee was only 13 years old he became a leader of the Apache Vice Lords, a black street gang on Chicago’s West Side. In and out of prison for years, Lee eventually landed on death row in the aftermath of a deadly riot at the Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois. Lee was acquitted, set himself straight, and is now helping the formerly incarcerated imagine a life on the outside.

By John Owens
(Story and video)
The owners of the Chicago home where film legend Walt Disney was born may open to the public by the end of 2015 as a museum and children's creativity center.

He was banned from baseball 94 years ago, accused of fixing the 1919 World Series. Now the family of former Chicago White Sox third baseman Buck Weaver is making a last-ditch attempt to get their ancestor back in baseball.

By John Owens
After decades of ignoring him, a white family finally embraces a celebrated African-American ancestor who was a celebrated Chicago photographer.

By John Owens
(Story and documentary)
The owners of two shuttered inner-city movie palaces in Chicago attempt to re-open their landmarked buildings.

By John Owens
Five years after workers were accused of digging up and dumping hundreds of bodies in a scheme to resell burial plots, Burr Oak Cemetery is trying to overcome the scandal and reassume its place in preserving Chicago's African-American history.

By John Owens
"Unshackled", a radio drama produced by Chicago's Pacific Garden Mission and heard on thousands of radio stations throughout the world, is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2015. The show premiered on WGN-AM on Sept. 23, 1950.

By John Owens
A look at Filmack Studios, which has produced classic movie trailers like "Let's All Go to the Lobby". The company, which opened in 1919, is now operated out of the Glenview, Ill. home of owner Robbie Mack.

By John Owens
Historians want William Veeck, who like his son reshaped baseball, to join Bill in the Hall of Fame

By John Owens
Four decades after Chicago's Riverview amusement park closed, fans still
find ways to keep
its memories alive.

By John Owens
(Story and radio report)

Efforts to preserve historic buildings in low-income and inner-city neighborhoods throughout the state face challenges — like the lack of access to financing and restoration projects taking a back seat to more pressing issues in the community.

By Bob Secter, Erika Slife and John Owens

A 2010 Chicago Tribune investigation shows that yellown Chicago, yellow lights are consistenly shorter in Chicago than they are in the city's suburbs. The yellow lights in Chicago usually time out at 3 seconds at intersections with red-light cameras. In such intersections in suburbs, the lights are about 4.5 seconds

By John Owens
(Story and video)

Two local collectors are putting on their second annual event dedicated to the passé precursors to contemporary music videos.

By John Owens

Chicago Film Archives collects and preserves the region's past in film -- the reel labor includes inspecting its 5,500 movies.

By John Owens

It opened in 1946. But after serving Chicago's theater community for more than 50 years, Evergreen Park's Drury Lane Theatre is now closing.