Good afternoon! A drone video captured a miles-long cluster of dolphins off the coast of California. Right here’s what else you must know at the moment.
The presents included jewellery, alcohol, AirPods, designer purses and size-14 males’s sneakers — and the mayor’s workplace didn’t report these presents whereas denying inside investigators entry to the room the place the gadgets are purportedly saved, my colleague Fran Spielman reviews.
Inspector Basic Deborah Witzburg’s newest advisory raises questions on obvious makes an attempt to curry favor with Johnson and his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, and the failure by each Johnson and Lightfoot to be clear about gift-giving.
Maybe most troubling to the inspector normal was how troublesome it was to safe the data, which is meant to be “promptly” reported to the Chicago Board of Ethics and town comptroller so the gadgets could be added to “a listing of town’s property.”
When the mayor’s workplace lastly supplied a present log, it was a spreadsheet exhibiting 144 presents to Lightfoot and 236 presents acquired “on behalf of town” by Johnson from Feb. 2, 2022, to March 20, 2024. Almost 70% of entries don’t determine the giver. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Democrats worry a federal price range reduce may result in greater than 900,000 Illinois residents dropping protection — a lot of them lower-income residents, my colleague Tina Sfondeles reviews for the Chicago Solar-Instances.
Republicans in Congress are discussing a plan to slash the Reasonably priced Care Act’s Medicaid growth, which drastically elevated enrollment for this system. The reduce to Medicaid prices would decrease prices for the federal authorities, however improve the associated fee for states.
The most important proposal would restrict the quantity of federal funds for every enrolled particular person, as a substitute of getting the federal and state governments cut up the medical prices of beneficiaries, in keeping with The New York Instances.
Illinois has a “set off” legislation that will mechanically finish Reasonably priced Care Act Medicaid expansions within the state if federal funding is reduce. The Medicaid cuts are a prime concern for Gov. JB Pritzker and his workers, who say it might blow up the state price range in an already difficult fiscal yr. [Chicago Sun-Times]
3. Solutions to 5 urgent questions in regards to the quickly altering immigration panorama
My colleagues Violet Miller and Mitchell Armentrout put collectively a information on present and former immigration enforcement in Chicago and across the nation, addressing questions on who the Trump administration is focusing on, how many individuals deported had been convicted of crimes and what rights individuals have when coping with ICE and different federal companies.
President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, has stated immigrants with out authorized standing who’ve prison convictions are precedence targets for deportation — although his remarks implied these with out convictions would even be focused as they moved to arrest others.
“We will’t arrest them within the county jail, so which means we obtained to go to the neighborhood and discover them,” Homan instructed CNN. “He could also be with others who don’t have prison backgrounds however are right here illegally, and we’ll arrest them too.”
Between 2021 and 2024, ICE made 33,005 arrests resulting in 16,192 detentions within the Chicago “space of duty,” which extends north to the highest of Wisconsin, to the southern and western borders of Kansas in addition to east to the borders of Kentucky. The vast majority of these arrests, 17,032, had been for individuals with out costs or convictions, although they could have violated immigration legislation in another method.
If federal brokers knock, nobody is required to open the door with out a warrant signed by a choose. And federal brokers can not search an individual, car or residence with out their consent, a warrant signed by a choose or possible trigger. [Chicago Sun-Times]
A significant renovation funded by the Richard H. Driehaus Basis will reopen the museum’s historic South Portico, enhancing public entry and introducing new options, Rafaela Jinich reviews for the Chicago Solar-Instances.
Development is scheduled to start this spring with completion anticipated by 2027.
The museum’s South Portico was designed initially as The Palace of Wonderful Arts for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. This restoration will reestablish the constructing’s connection to Jackson Park and the close by Columbian Basin. Guests can even have the ability to take pleasure in a brand new out of doors café and terrace with views of the park’s lagoon and the Obama Presidential Middle, which is about to open in 2026. [Chicago Sun-Times]
The Pitchfork Music Pageant got here very near celebrating its twentieth anniversary this July in Union Park. However late final yr, the pageant’s mother or father proprietor, Condé Nast, introduced it was completely shuttering the Chicago occasion.
For pageant co-founder Mike Reed, whose Chicago-based firm At Pluto placed on the large occasion yearly, the cancellation left him “relieved and joyful” that it might not proceed in its present incarnation, WBEZ contributor Mark Guarino writes.
Reed stated that below stress from Condé Nast, the pageant strayed from his unique imaginative and prescient of a curated weekend of unbiased music, designed for audiences and artists whose tastes don’t match with extra company bashes like Lollapalooza and Coachella.
The problem for Pitchfork turned the identical for many festivals its measurement: cash. Union prices, insurance coverage, taxes, safety, gasoline and something associated to manufacturing all skyrocketed lately, he stated. The worst wrongdoer: artist ensures. Greater than a decade in the past, Reed stated Pitchfork headliners value between $12,000 to $20,000. Now, they begin at $1 million. “Should you noticed that in another trade, it might be insane,” he stated. [WBEZ]
Right here’s what else is occurring
- The Trump administration rescinded the memo freezing federal grants. [AP]
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. answered questions on vaccines and abortion throughout his affirmation listening to. [NPR]
- The Nation’s Report Card confirmed most fourth- and eighth-graders in 2024 carried out beneath 2019 ranges in studying and math. [NPR]
- See photographs of Lunar New Yr festivities around the globe. [AP]
Oh, and yet one more factor …
There wasn’t a lot to love in Chicago sports activities final yr: 2024 was the worst yr collectively within the metropolis’s historical past, WBEZ’s Curious Metropolis reviews.
Chicago’s large 5 sport franchises — the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, White Sox and Cubs — misplaced roughly two-thirds of their video games mixed. And the 2 years earlier than weren’t significantly better: Each 2022 and 2023 rank within the top-5 worst seasons for Chicago sports activities.
Analysis exhibits 69% of avid sports activities followers turned followers by the age of 10, which means the long-term penalties of a string of unhealthy seasons could also be felt for generations. [WBEZ]
Inform me one thing good …
I don’t usually eat at sit-down eating places, however Chicago Restaurant Week all the time evokes me so as to add my checklist of locations to attempt. So I’m questioning, what’s your favourite Chicago-area restaurant for a special day?
Lynne writes:
“Not fancy however I really feel particular at Centennial Craft Beer and Eatery and the comfortable ambiance and scrumptious meals.”
Carlos writes:
“My favourite restaurant for particular events must be Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba. It’s admittedly a foolish title within the old-school Lettuce Entertain You Enterprise custom, up there with the late-lamented Lawrence of Oregano and Jonathan Livingston Seafood, however this long-lived establishment (since 1983) provides what I really feel to be probably the most legit Spanish delicacies in Chicago.
What I personally love about Ba-Ba-Reeba is that tapas — their stock-in-trade — are a convivial meals meant for sharing, which invitations teams of parents to get collectively and never simply eat but in addition take part within the act of sharing meals, which creates a singular dynamic excellent for celebration. It’s all the time busy and reservations are strongly really useful, even for two individuals. Additionally strongly really useful are their sangrias — crimson, white, white peach, cava, black raspberry, passionfruit, and a seasonal one.”
Be happy to e-mail me, and your response could also be included within the e-newsletter this week.
