Odette Yousef
Odette Yousef is a WBEZ reporter covering immigration, race and class.
Since joining the station in 2010, Odette has covered a range of stories including local and state efforts around immigration policy, DREAMers and the impact of travel bans on Muslim-Americans and refugees. She has also delved into the reality of homelessness in Chicago, with stories about tent cities and the disappearance of affordable housing on the North Side. In 2016, Odette was part of a team at WBEZ to win a National Edward R. Murrow Award for best Continuing Coverage of how local officials in Puerto Rico were sending drug addicts to unlicensed therapy groups in Chicago, with false promises of professional treatment.
Odette’s coverage includes enterprise and data reporting, and she has contributed to NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, PRI’s The World and WNYC’s The Takeaway. In 2015, she served as president of the Chicago Headline Club, which is the largest chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Prior to joining WBEZ, Odette was a reporter at WABE FM in Atlanta.
Odette received a B.A. in Economics and East Asian Studies from Harvard University.
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Hacked records purported to be from the extremist group Oath Keepers include the names of active-duty law enforcement officers in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, NPR and WNYC/Gothamist found. -
Jury selection begins in the trial of 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, charged with homicide and attempted homicide in deadly shootings in the summer of 2020 during unrest in Kenosha, Wis.
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In Charlottesville, Va., the trial of far-right extremists associated with 2017's Unite the Right rally has begun. Experts say the deadly rally helped usher in an era of extremism and radicalization.
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A violent march in Charlottesville by far-right extremists in 2017 showed how well organized the far-right had become. A trial targeting those associated with the march is seen as a bellwether case. -
This week saw a second BIGGER public release of data from Epik, a web hosting service favored by the far-right. The hack offers an glimpse into the world of extremism, but comes with cautions.
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Law enforcement is bracing, again, for possible extremist violence on Capitol grounds. The "Justice for J-6" rally — a nod to Jan. 6 when Trump supporters mobbed the Capitol — is set for Saturday.
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The pandemic may be dealing a final blow to one industry: dry cleaning. The past year's work-in-sweats norm has accelerated the decline of this mom-and-pop, and mostly immigrant industry.
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Latino and immigrant groups in Chicago say that the electronic gang database is inaccurate, that there is no way for people to remove their names and that it's leading to some deportations. -
One teenager reveals how the possibility of power drew her in.
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Wheaton College, an Evangelical school outside of Chicago, has been roiled by questions about Christianity's posture toward Islam and academic freedom at religious schools. An associate professor who vowed recently to wear a headscarf in solidarity with Muslims was suspended from her job this week. The college says it's not because of the headscarf, but because of theological questions raised by a Facebook post in which she cited Pope Francis's recent statement that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.
