The world has grown to be more and more divided. There are endless subjects that groups fight about on the basis of gender, race, sexuality and political beliefs. Throughout the years, there has been an increasing battle over the right for a woman to...

A recent decision by a federal court in the District of Columbia ordered the Department of Government Efficiency to comply with requests through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). United States citizens should FOIA for their personal information being...

Throughout life, people have a series of defining moments or lessons. They are fleeting compared to our long lifetimes, but they are key points that we will vividly remember years later as those that changed the direction of our destiny. They...

TV SHOWS SHOULD NOT COVER ADULT TOPICS: By: Emily Beebe, Opinion Editor TV shows such as Euphoria and Bluey, while geared toward children and teenagers, tend to cover adult topics such as violence and infertility. While some people may find this...

A lot has happened in the first quarter of 2025. To commemorate what life is like at NIU right now, the Northern Star will be opening a time capsule sealed in April 2000 and creating a new one.  The time capsule opening and Northern Star Open House...

Video games have taken the world by storm. The first video game, “Tennis for Two,” was created in 1958 and followed by a multitude of current popular titles like “Minecraft,” “Fortnite” and more.  There are various reasons to enjoy video...

April Fools Day occurred Tuesday and is a time for people to prank or get pranked by friends and family. NIU students provided their thoughts on whether they would rather be pranked or be the pranker and what prank they would pull. Haley Heckermann,...

When my parents gave me my first cell phone, I was not thankful or excited, but resentful. Even at a young age, I had heard plenty of stories about people becoming addicted to their cell phones and being unable to live without them. However exaggerated...

A lot happens in 25 years. Twenty-five years ago, a large chunk of NIU’s student body wasn’t born. In 2000, the most played song was Faith Hill’s “Breathe,” President Bill Clinton was in the Oval Office and the world was still mildly high from...

Have you ever wondered where your local grocery store gets its meat? Chances are at least some of it comes from a factory farm. Factory farms, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), are facilities that raise and harvest large...

In the lively, topmost layer of our lovely lithosphere – in our soils – worms and other organisms play an important ecological role. But sharing a planet with people tends to complicate their productivity. The March sky filled with a bright red...