Good afternoon! It’s Tuesday, and scientists say at this time could also be barely shorter than regular. Right here’s what else that you must know at this time.
Illinois Lawyer Basic Kwame Raoul has as soon as once more joined a coalition of different attorneys normal in suing the Trump administration over new guidelines that would bar immigrants with out authorized standing from well being and education schemes, my colleague Violet Miller stories for the Chicago Solar-Occasions.
The swimsuit, introduced yesterday, seeks to cease a sequence of orders from federal companies that may block folks from the early childhood schooling program Head Begin, Title X household planning, grownup schooling, psychological well being care and neighborhood well being facilities based mostly on immigration standing.
The federal authorities sometimes exempts nonprofit organizations from asking about immigration standing, together with about 70% of Head Begin companies. However the Trump administration passed over the same old means of proposing coverage adjustments and ready to gather public suggestions. As an alternative, officers issued a information launch asserting the change within the interpretation of the legislation.
The attorneys normal argued the federal authorities misapplied the foundations across the packages, redesignating total packages inappropriately and conditioning support already permitted by Congress — which the swimsuit referred to as unconstitutional. In addition they stated the transfer may carry hurt to households who depend on the packages, together with residents and authorized residents who might not have entry to paperwork.
Raoul has routinely joined a coalition of attorneys normal in additional than 20 different instances, together with in fits over triggers that may make semiautomatic rifles hearth quicker, makes an attempt to alter election legislation, and cuts to public well being and medical analysis funding, and federal entry to immigrant Medicaid knowledge, amongst others. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Younger mother “Maria” has been spending the lengthy summer season days ready, searching the window of her condominium on the South Facet. The asylum seeker from Venezuela scrolls by way of her telephone continually, checking for the flight the federal government stated it will put her on to return residence. She is scheduled to fly on the finish of July.
As my colleague Adriana Cardona-Maguigad stories, Maria enrolled in President Trump’s new, voluntary self-deportation program, which guarantees journey help and a $1,000 stipend. Maria stated whether or not she receives a stipend or not, she simply desires to return to Venezuela.
“What I would like is to depart,” Maria instructed WBEZ in Spanish whereas her 2- and 6-year-olds performed within the household’s practically empty condominium. Her 9-year-old laid on the ground watching a present on a small telephone. “I’ve misplaced all the pieces right here,” the mom stated.
Maria’s husband, “Marcos,” was deported to Venezuela final month. He stated he spent practically three months in 10 totally different detention facilities after being arrested in Chicago as a part of a wave of detentions beneath Trump. [WBEZ]
Chicago ought to crack down on unlawful sweepstakes machines, tax on-line sports activities betting and elevate the town ban on video gaming — however solely after demanding a higher minimize of tax income from the state, Metropolis Council members stated yesterday.
A metropolis advisor, Christiansen Capital Advisors LLC, has concluded video playing shouldn’t be value pursuing beneath a tax construction now closely tilted within the state’s favor. Proper now, Springfield receives 5 to 6 occasions greater than Chicago and different municipalities get from video playing in Illinois.
Funds Committee Chair Jason Ervin (twenty eighth) was exasperated by income estimates for Chicago from video playing — simply over $3 million in 2026 and $46.7 million by 2035 — that assumed the tax price would stay the identical.
It doesn’t “take a rocket scientist to determine” that the present tax construction is a “loser for Chicago … if we now have to get 4 occasions as a lot motion to interrupt even,” Ervin stated. “This isn’t attainable. So the query comes right down to, how can we discover a affordable ask between the state to make this all work?” [Chicago Sun-Times]
4. The ultimate act of Chicago’s Damen Silos, star of films, hip-hop movies and architectural images
Some artists are paying their “respects” to the deserted grain silos that, for many years, stood as icons of Midwest decay and as inspiration for city explorers, WBEZ contributor Robert Loerzel stories.
For some within the metropolis’s cultural neighborhood, the demolition of the historic grain silos represents a visible gut-punch. The buildings — icons of city decay as they sat empty for practically 5 a long time — have been a preferred backdrop for filmmakers, musicians and skyline photographers and served as a canvas for a lot of graffiti artists who ignored the “No Trespassing” indicators. The silos even appeared within the 2014 film “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”
Different individuals are much less sentimental about these derelict grain elevators, which have stood vacant since 1977 on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal’s south financial institution simply east of Damen Avenue. [WBEZ]
Chilina Kennedy is not any stranger to biographical roles. She performed the titular function of Carole in “Lovely: The Carole King Musical” on Broadway, stacking up greater than 1,200 performances because the famed singer and songwriter.
Now, to embody one other King at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the place the play runs by way of Aug. 10, she should rework once more, WBEZ theater reporter Mike Davis writes. This time, Kennedy has numerous intel: Kennedy hung out with Billie Jean King herself for an additional tennis play, and he or she has put in in depth work to seize the sports activities icon and activist’s essence.
As King, her mannerisms shift. She is extra animated, speaking together with her palms. Her shoulders tense. She doesn’t transfer her high lip whereas talking. All of those traits belong to King.
“So many individuals have such a deep relationship and a robust attachment to those folks,” stated Kennedy, who can be set to painting Canadian rock star Carole Pope of Tough Commerce in an upcoming musical. “They’re so well-known. Folks know their voices, their kinds — like, everybody is aware of Billie Jean’s mannerisms and her type of taking part in tennis. So, there’s numerous stress that goes with taking part in a task like this.” [WBEZ]
Right here’s what else is occurring
- U.S. Home Speaker Mike Johnson rebuffed stress to behave on an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, as an alternative sending members residence early for a monthlong break. [AP]
- NPR’s information chief introduced she is leaving, days after Congress killed federal funding for public broadcasting. [NPR]
- A cane-sugar model of Coca-Cola’s trademark Coke is coming to the U.S. this fall. [AP]
- Ozzy Osbourne, the pioneering heavy steel singer and Black Sabbath frontman, has died at 76. [NBC News]
Oh, and yet one more factor …
The title of Natalie Bergman’s new album, “My Dwelling Is Not In This World,” begins to make sense once you spend a while with the singer-songwriter at her childhood escape within the northwest suburbs.
Tucked away in a forested pocket of city accessible by a slim gravel street, the attractive farmhouse seems like a movie splice from yesteryear, Chicago Solar-Occasions contributor Selena Fragassi writes.
The lounge comes throughout like a rebuttal of contemporary life. The vibe echoes Bergman’s classic musical palette, which is at all times true to the oldies: Motown, soul, gospel, folks and nation western. There aren’t any TVs or electronics in sight — simply partitions of books, an previous Chickering & Sons piano within the nook and film home windows that reveal lush greenery and a quaint steeple within the distance.
It was right here that she selected to gap up for every week in mid-July to rehearse for her newest homecoming blitz, a sequence of exhibits in preparation for her album launch July 18. The brand new album, her second on Jack White’s Third Man Data label, delivers a swirling mixture of swinging Sixties R&B, nation soul and hazy psychedelia. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Inform me one thing good …
What hobbies are you into lately?
Jean writes:
“I’ve rediscovered my love of miniatures and dollhouses these days. I’m constructing one from upcycled packing containers and no matter I discover round the home. It’s a complete escape for me after I work on it — I suppose since I can’t management the larger world I’m diving right into a smaller one!”
V writes:
“After I went years with out seeing a monarch butterfly, I found how easy and rewarding it’s to boost caterpillars. Their solely host plant is Milkweed, which was ILLEGAL in Illinois till 2017! There’s a nice neighborhood push round enhancing their habitat, and on the time I used to be a Humboldt Park resident, and loved the huge pollinator backyard there. However after I began to carry residence eggs and caterpillars, I found that pesticide drift from the park being handled for mosquitoes additionally made the backyard lethal for monarch caterpillars!
I preserve a backyard of my very own now, and have raised them in a sheltered spot in oblique mild in my residence. We launch them as quickly as they’re prepared, and are rewarded by the identical butterflies coming again to offer us new eggs! We’ve raised about 50 to date this summer season, so I really feel like I can declare any monarch I see across the neighborhood as one in all my very own. We’ve additionally expanded into elevating jap black swallowtails and silver skippers. Each morning when we now have a batch of butterflies emerge it’s like watching a firework present, and they’re docile after they’re able to be launched in order that even my youngsters can maintain them and get a very good have a look at how stunning and particular they’re within the moments earlier than we allow them to go.”
Be at liberty to e mail me, and your responses could also be used within the e-newsletter this week.
