Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶
When I’ve got family or friends in town, part of the downtown tour I love to take them on includes a walk along Randolph, to show off our unique blend of architecture here.
You get to take in the juxtaposition between the Crain Communications Building and the Cultural Center; watch the L roll by above Wabash as the Nederlander sign sparkles behind it; point out the Marshall Field’s clock and take their photo near the Chicago Theatre sign. And eventually, you reach the futuristic, otherworldly James R. Thompson Center, with its metal and glass exterior.
If I had it my way, the bizarrely beautiful Thompson Center would not change. But, oddly enough, I did not have a spare $105 million like Google did when it bought the building last year. And now, with the city’s blessing, the company will soon give the building a face-lift.
Below, we detail the major changes in store. 👇
Plus we have the community news you need to know this afternoon.
⏱️: A 7-minute read
— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)
TODAY’S TOP STORY
Some Chicago migrants could end up in St. Louis amid efforts to boost jobs, stem population loss
Reporting by Esther Yoon-Ji Kang | WBEZ
Midwest diaspora: As Chicago officials scramble to shelter and find solutions for thousands of migrants who need housing and jobs, groups in St. Louis are looking to move some of those asylum-seekers there. The nonprofit International Institute of St. Louis is working with unions and philanthropic leaders to resettle possibly thousands of Latin American migrants in their city to bolster St. Louis’ workforce and stem its population decline.
How the program will be funded: Funding will come primarily from private donors, said Karlos Ramirez, vice president of Latino outreach for the International Institute. The program would provide housing for as long as three months, cellphones, apprenticeship programs and job placement through unions and assistance from immigration lawyers, Ramirez said.
Working off previous model: The Latino outreach initiative is modeled after a similar program in recent years to bring Afghan refugees to St. Louis led two years ago by Jerry Schlichter, an attorney and civic leader there. Schlichter started that effort after seeing how the Bosnian resettlement to St. Louis in the 1990s bolstered the population and created a vibrant community. Today, nearly 2,000 Afghan refugees have resettled in St. Louis, found jobs and started businesses and cultural organizations, he said.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
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Thompson Center’s next chapter: The city has granted permits to demolish the exterior and atrium of the Thompson Center — a critical early step in Google’s $280 million efforts to remake the former state government building into the company’s Chicago headquarters.
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Forest preserves improvements: Flush with money from a tax increase, the Cook County Forest Preserves budget includes plans to restore 400 acres of woodlands and floodplains and add more conservation programs.
- 4 stars for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’: Martin Scorsese’s true-crime American period piece “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a big, sweeping, glorious, heartbreaking, insightful, powerful and unforgettable epic, writes Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper.
EXPLORING THE CITY 🍎
Where to find Chicago’s best apple fritters
Reporting by Maggie Hennessy | WBEZ
We are in the thick of autumn in Chicago, which means apple fritter season is here.
Of course, at many Chicago doughnut shops you can usually find an apple fritter year-round. But there’s something special about a perfect fall day and biting into this sweet, cinnamon-scented treat, pieced together by longtime proprietors who work their magic with yeast and fry oil.
You’ll find them in almost every neighborhood in the city, but these are spots to definitely stop by this season:
Somethin’ Sweet Donuts
Availability: year-round.
📍 4456 N. Kedzie Ave.
Head here for a light, tangy fritter laced with lush pockets of cinnamony apple.
Cost: $3.49
Old Fashioned Donuts
Availability: year-round.
📍11248 S. Michigan Ave.
Call ahead or arrive early. Eighty-four-year-old proprietor Burritt Bulloch bakes just six or seven dozen apple fritters every Saturday morning for fans who flock here from all over.
Cost: $3.64
Firecakes
Availability: Through December.
📍Six locations throughout Chicago, Oak Park and Naperville
This gargantuan apple fritter has a treacly flavor and rich mouth feel, which is owed to a briochelike dough that’s mixed with cinnamon and sugar before joining chopped apples that have been previously cooked in butter and brown sugar.
Cost: $5.25
Dat Donut
Availability: year-round.
📍8251 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
You’ll find the delicious apple fritters here are thinner and crispier — made from yeast-raised dough that’s chopped together with sliced Granny Smith apples and blended with cinnamon and sugar.
Cost:$3.94
Do-Rite Donuts
Availability: year-round
📍Seven locations throughout Chicago and the south suburbs
Blending cinnamon-spiced dough and Michigan apple chunks, Do-Rite’s fritter gets extra spice from a bit of cinnamon-infused glaze.
Cost: $3.45
BRIGHT ONE ✨
Breakthrough year brings Kim Petras to Chicago for ambitious tour stop
Reporting by Selena Fragassi
It wasn’t that long ago that Kim Petras was spending some quality time in Chicago. During the holiday season last year, the German-born pop star was taking in the familiar sights of the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza while holing up on the North Side with her friend, local musician Alex Chapman, as she tried to mend a broken heart.
While a breakup brought her to Chicago then, a breakthrough year brings her back now as Petras stops at the Aragon Ballroom tonight on her Feed The Beast world tour after a series of incredible moments that have made her heart full again.
One of those moments happened in February, when Petras made headlines as the first openly transgender solo artist to win the Grammy for best pop duo/group performance alongside her collaborator Sam Smith for their raunchy escapade, “Unholy.”
In the months since, “Unholy” has become a cultural turning point, logging a billion streams, topping the Billboard, Apple and Spotify charts and leading to some of the biggest tours of the year for both Petras and Smith.
Petras brings her most ambitious tour yet to the Aragon, complete with a five-part concert that will serve as “a personal manifesto of who I am as a performer,” she said.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Where can you find the best apple fritters in Chicago? What makes them the best?
Email us (please include your first and last name and where you live). To see the answers to this question, check our Morning Edition newsletter. Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won’t miss a thing!
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Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore
Copy editor: Angie Myers
