Jeff Hirsh, Author at Evanston Now

Jeff Hirsh

Jeff Hirsh joined the Evanston Now reporting team in June 2020 after a 40-year award-winning career as a broadcast journalist.

Hirsh retired in 2019 from WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio, and moved to Evanston.

He has won more than 40 local, regional and national awards for excellence in reporting, including 26 regional Emmy Awards.

Hirsh is also a three-time winner of the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the national Society of Professional Journalists, once for the Best Documentary in the U.S., and twice for the Best Investigative Reporting.

Layoffs expected at Evanston Township High School

Superintendent Eric Witherspoon told the District 202 Board of Education Monday night that the district will have to do "some layoffs" due to financial challenges from the coronavirus pandemic. Witherspoon

By Jeff Hirsh on September 22, 2020 - 06:41

District 65 enrollment expected to keep declining

The Evanston/Skokie elementary school system is expected to have fewer and fewer students over the next five years. Sarita Smith, District 65's Manager of Student Assignments, told a virtual school

By Jeff Hirsh on September 22, 2020 - 06:34

District 65 blames COVID for enrollment drop

Evanston/Skokie School District 65 is blaming the coronavirus pandemic for a lower-than-expected enrollment for the current school year. In a memo to the Board of Education, Sarita Smith, manager of

By Jeff Hirsh on September 20, 2020 - 13:30

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Big Ten schedule: NU to face Maryland Oct. 24

The Big Ten Conference today released its 2020 football schedule with eight regular season games, plus a ninth championship or bonus game for each team. Northwestern opens at home versus

By Jeff Hirsh on September 19, 2020 - 12:58

City extends fall camps to help working parents

With elementary school children in Evanston facing another seven weeks of remote learning at home, the city is extending a series of "fall camps" so parents, especially those who are

By Jeff Hirsh on September 18, 2020 - 17:15

ETHS offers way to cope with pandemic stress

High school offers videos to help students and staff keep calm and carry on.

By Jeff Hirsh on September 18, 2020 - 13:50

NU to get millions from football; city, merchants almost nothing

The school will have big TV revenue paydays, but with no fans in the stands merchants will lose out.

By Jeff Hirsh on September 17, 2020 - 16:46

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NU to resume football season Oct. 24

Big Ten officials have announced plans to resume the football season late next month.

By Jeff Hirsh on September 16, 2020 - 10:28

Metra launches campaign to win back riders

The Metra commuter rail system launched an ad campaign today aimed at convincing people its trains are safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Jeff Hirsh on September 15, 2020 - 13:13

High demand for internet hot spots in District 65

It turns out that buying portable internet hotspots for remote learning was like buying surgical masks during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic ... lots of demand searching for

By Jeff Hirsh on September 14, 2020 - 21:17

Two well-known Evanston restaurants close

Two of Evanston's more popular and visible restaurants have closed, leaving more vacant space downtown, and fewer choices for dining or for just a cup of coffee. The Unicorn Cafe,

By Jeff Hirsh on September 14, 2020 - 17:08

D65 starts first district-wide tests of the pandemic today

"It will be different," says a district official.

By Jeff Hirsh on September 14, 2020 - 07:00

NU dorms open this weekend, but few will live there

Suppose you opened the dorms and nobody came. Well, almost nobody. This is move-in weekend at Northwestern University's residence halls. But with first and second year students banned from the

By Jeff Hirsh on September 12, 2020 - 18:33

COVID means new reality for student teachers

Jessica Barrett says she "didn't even get a chance to say goodbye" to her students. When Illinois schools switched from what was normal for 200 years, learning in person, to

By Jeff Hirsh on September 12, 2020 - 05:30

NU to use symptom tracker in effort to reduce COVID spread

Northwestern University wants students to self-report health symptoms on a mobile phone app that will determine whether they can enter campus buildings.

By Jeff Hirsh on September 11, 2020 - 10:20

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NU to sophomores: Go home!

Northwestern University has a message for sophomores. Don't come to Evanston. And there's also a second message ... if you did come, go home. Those rather blunt comments were front

By Jeff Hirsh on September 9, 2020 - 19:21