Good afternoon! It’s Friday and, 9 video games into the season, the Cubs lastly play at Wrigley Subject. Right here’s what else you must know right now.
Chicago-area dealerships say they’ve seen a rise in gross sales and foot site visitors as the brand new taxes on vehicles assembled outdoors the U.S. kick in, Bob Chiarito experiences for the Chicago Solar-Instances.
The tariffs may even apply to imported auto components beginning Could 3, which can add to the price of vehicles made within the U.S., in addition to auto repairs. The tariffs had been a part of a a lot bigger transfer declaring taxes on imports from all nations.
Automotive costs affected by tariffs will range extensively primarily based on the automaker and the mannequin, however the Price range Lab at Yale College estimated “a lack of buying energy of $3,800 per family on common.”
For now, folks like Katie Lopez, a 48-year-old social employee from Mount Greenwood, are on a mission to purchase a automotive earlier than any tariffs trigger potential worth will increase.
Sellers throughout the Chicago space have been getting ready the final couple of months by rising their stock, and automotive gross sales groups have been utilizing the specter of tariffs to spur clients into motion — with some telling the Solar-Instances they’ve not too long ago skilled file gross sales. [Chicago Sun-Times]
2. A gun turned over to Chicago police wound up within the arms of a young person
The Chicago Police Division has used gun buybacks to get 1000’s of weapons off the road, however a minimum of two of them have resurfaced at crime scenes, Casey Toner, Tom Schuba and Peter Nickeas report for the Chicago Solar-Instances and the Illinois Solutions Mission.
A December 2023 gun buyback occasion was marked by pleasure, confusion and finally chaos after one cop inventorying the weapons at a police station observed a Glock handgun was lacking. In an workplace stuffed with cops assigned to stock the weapons and maintain them safe, somebody had walked off with the weapon.
Police say they discovered the stolen gun almost a yr later after chasing down a 16-year-old boy who had allegedly been pulling on automotive door handles in South Shore, about 5 miles from the place the buyback occasion happened.
The misplaced weapon’s journey mirrored an earlier occasion during which a gun turned in by a Cook dinner County decide disappeared from one other buyback in Chicago — solely to resurface at a deadly police capturing in Cicero, because the Higher Authorities Affiliation and Chicago Solar-Instances reported in 2017.
Each instances elevate questions in regards to the integrity and logistics of Chicago’s gun buybacks, that are a key component of the police division’s neighborhood policing and public relations efforts. [Chicago Sun-Times]
About two months in the past, Lurie Kids’s Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, stopped offering gender care surgical procedures for folks youthful than 19 after an govt order from President Donald Trump threatened to chop federal funding.
After the order, Raoul and 14 different attorneys normal vowed to guard entry to gender-affirming care. However this week, Raoul mentioned it might be exhausting to make a case Lurie and Northwestern are violating state legislation, my colleague Kristen Schorsch experiences.
In latest weeks dozens of households and advocates have written to Raoul’s workplace asking him to implement the Illinois Human Rights Act and demand hospitals maintain offering remedy, in keeping with paperwork WBEZ obtained beneath the Illinois Freedom of Data Act.
Many households have advised WBEZ they really feel betrayed and upset by the hospitals’ actions, and so they worry what different gender-affirming care the hospitals might cease subsequent. [WBEZ]
The request, a part of a deal Solis struck with the feds in 2018, brings his case to a shocking however long-expected conclusion and indicators the tip of an period on the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, my colleague Jon Seidel writes for the Chicago Solar-Instances.
Although he’s been labeled a “huge tax cheat” and a “malignant tumor,” he’s additionally been described as a “strolling microphone” and one of many “most important” undercover authorities moles Chicago has seen in many years. Prosecutors say he delivered “extraordinary” cooperation that helped them snare two of town’s strongest politicians.
Now, Solis seems to be sq. with the federal authorities. Barring a shock twist, he’ll stroll away together with his freedom, legal file and pension intact. [Chicago Sun-Times]
5. Illinois Humanities faces an abrupt $1 million funding lower
The Trump administration’s cuts to the Nationwide Endowment for the Humanities may have a trickle down impact on museums, historical past applications and Chicago’s fashionable humanities pageant, my colleague Mike Davis experiences for WBEZ.
Among the many listing of Illinois organizations that acquired federal humanities funding previously three years are the Adler Planetarium, the Newberry Library, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, the Artwork Institute of Chicago, a number of schools and universities and even town’s latest cultural establishment, the Nationwide Museum for Public Housing, which formally opened right now.
The cuts are important as a result of they arrive midyear, when tasks have been began with the promised funding, mentioned Gabrielle Lyon, govt director of Illinois Humanities. She mentioned she’ll be watching intently to see whether or not the federal authorities will truly be allowed to tug the grant in any respect. [WBEZ]
Right here’s what else is occurring
- The job market remained wholesome final month — however tariffs may upend issues. [NPR]
- Extreme climate killed a minimum of seven folks throughout the Midwest and South, and extra storms are anticipated this weekend. [AP]
- Canadians are canceling journeys to Chicago over Trump, sparking worries forward of the summer season vacationer season. [Chicago Sun-Times]
- Cook dinner County’s prescribed burn program, which was as soon as banned, has grown into one of many largest within the nation. [Block Club Chicago]
Oh, and another factor …
Child fever has unfold all through Brookfield Zoo.
A number of the spring infants anticipated embrace Humboldt penguin chicks, a nyala antelope calf, a western grey kangaroo joey and Lake Titicaca frogs, in keeping with the zoo.
Brookfield Zoo has led efforts in a conservation program at Punta San Juan for almost 20 years. Researchers estimate the wild inhabitants of the penguins to be beneath 24,000 and about 30 stay in a colony on the zoo.
The penguins can be on show starting in June, zoo officers mentioned in an announcement. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Inform me one thing good …
What’s the perfect guide you’ve learn not too long ago? I lastly have some room on my library maintain listing, and I all the time really feel like staying in for weeks after returning from lengthy journeys.
Susan writes:
“Wildwood by Elinor Florence is one I’d positively learn once more. A fantastically written story of Molly, a younger single mother, down on her luck, who inherits a home & farm in Canada from a great-aunt. It particulars her life along with her non-verbal little one within the Canadian backcountry-wilderness, her struggles to beat her scenario and survive her first Canadian winter. And a love story, too.”
Karen writes:
“Frozen River is the story of a well-known midwife within the 1700s, how she grew as a lady and a midwife in a neighborhood that gave all benefits to the boys. It’s additionally a thriller primarily based on her diary.”
And Lisa writes:
“The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon is such an interesting and inspirational guide. It actually highlights the superb ripple results of individuals doing what they will with what they’ve and the place they’re at. These are tales from American historical past, however they jogged my memory that there are all the time vital methods to make a distinction on the planet.”
Thanks for all of the responses this week! Now to determine what so as to add first to my library maintain listing.
