Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
This afternoon will be sunny with a high near 72 degrees. Tonight will be mostly clear with a low around 51. Tomorrow will be partly sunny with a chance of showers and a high near 73.
Top story
Tiny homes supporters hoping for tryout in Chicago
By all appearances, the great American love affair with stuff, and with big things to accommodate it, continues unabated.
People with the means buy big homes and big garages to hold stuff. We crave giant TV screens and hulking SUVs that usually carry, maybe, two people. Many pay for self-storage units, a whole home for the stuff we don’t have room for. Entire industries, and a lot of real estate, depend on how we impress via excess.
Many others, of course, can’t afford to do any of this or even to have a home. Others just have a different mindset. So in some quarters, there’s a counter-trend dealing with a simplified life on the cheap. And that inevitably involves the movement for tiny homes — two little words that can involve big ideas.
Communities of tiny homes have popped up in many places — California, Texas and Florida are among many examples. There’s an active push for tiny homes in Detroit. Some have been built overseas. A slew of motivations can be involved. The abodes can be stylish places for minimalist living, a budget Airbnb-type offering near resorts or a product conceived to help the homeless and those who can’t afford a bigger place.
Brien Cron, president and founder of Chicago Tiny House, a nonprofit organization, said such homes exist in every state near Chicago. Listing agencies report a few available as short-term rentals in Illinois, mostly in locales distant from Chicago. But within the city and the suburbs? Cron and others involved in this issue said they know of none.
David Roeder has more on the potential for tiny houses in Chicago here.
More news you need
- Cooper Roberts, the 8-year-old boy paralyzed during the Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park, returned to school last week on a limited schedule. Cooper, who now uses a wheelchair, called his return to the classroom a “really great day,” even though he was “heartbroken” about being unable to use the playground during recess, according to his parents Keely and Jason Roberts.
- Republican mega donor Richard Uihlein keeps pouring money into efforts to defeat Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, this time donating $13.9 million to an anti-Pritzker PAC called People Who Play By the Rules. Lynn Sweet has more on Uihlein’s latest political giving in Illinois.
- University of Chicago professor Douglas W. Diamond was among three men honored today with the Nobel Prize in economic sciences. Diamond and another winner, Philip H. Dybvig, co-authored the influential “Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance, and Liquidity” in 1983.
- Steppenwolf’s world premiere adaptation of “1919,” based on Eve L. Ewing’s poetry collection, brings the author’s “interweaving of research and imagination to thrilling, kinetic life,” Kris Vire writes in a four-star review. Read the review here.
- Over the past year, local arts collective alt_ Chicago — pronounced “Alt Space” — raised over $350,000 that it now says it plans to use to hire staff, open a permanent studio, expand its educational programming and beautify the West Side area it calls home. Michael Loria spoke with co-founder Jon Veal about the group’s plans.
A bright one
Harry Styles dazzles in high-energy, sequin-filled Chicago residency opening
British pop star Harry Styles brought his high-energy “Love on Tour” to a sold-out United Center over the weekend, posing, kicking and shimmying to near-constant screams.
Clad in a shimmering, sequined, red and grayish-blue striped tracksuit — unzipped to reveal a tucked-in, scoop-neck undershirt — the 28-year-old delivered a dazzling hit parade — working every inch of the stage to give thousands of screaming fans an unforgettable night.
The performance marked the first of Styles’ six-night residency at the United Center and follows similar extended stays in New York City (15 dates) and Austin, Texas (6 dates), during the last couple of months.
Styles’ opening night was initially scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed until Monday “out of an abundance of caution” due to “band/crew illness,” the UC said. The news came as a shock to the dozens of fans camped outside the venue — some since Wednesday — hoping to score a coveted general admission “pit” wristband.
It all made for a palpable sense of anticipation among the more than 23,000-strong crowd on Saturday, who filled every imaginable space in the United Center and dressed in their best Styles-esque fits.
Common accents included fringe shirts, sequined dresses, cowboy hats, pastels, flared pants and of course feathered boas, which were so ubiquitous that trails of loose feathers charted the path from the lengthy general admission and will-call lines and into the UC. It was a spectacular aesthetic one might describe as part drag night at the “Twin Peaks” honkytonk, part Studio 54 day during spirit week at “Euphoria” high — campy, flashy and fun.
Read the rest of Matt Moore’s review of Styles’ show here.
From the press box
- Following the Bears’ 29-22 loss to the Vikings yesterday, our staff breaks it down: Rick Morrissey tries to make sense of that roller coaster performance, Patrick Finley on Darnell Mooney’s big catch, and Mark Potash on the defense’s late-game letdown.
- With only three days until the Bears hit the field again to play the Commanders, they’re hopeful cornerback Jaylon Johnson will be ready to return.
- Following Week 7 of the high school football season, Michael O’Brien ranks the area’s top 25 teams.
- Coby White enters his third year with the Bulls as one of the most intriguing players on the roster. Joe Cowley has more on what could be a make-or-break year for White in Chicago.
Your daily question ☕
If tiny homes became popular in Chicago, would you be willing to live in one? Why or why not?
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
In the last edition of the newsletter, we asked you: Early voting for the Nov. 8 election opened today in Chicago. Do you plan on voting early this year? Why or why not? Here’s what some of you said in our emails, Facebook comments and Twitter mentions...
“Completed.” — Steven Keller
“I’m an election judge. I HAVE to vote early. But even if that wasn’t the case, I’d vote by mail in advance so I don’t have to wait in line on Election Day.” — Paul Lockwood
“I plan on voting in-person this year, because I have never missed an in-person vote in 56 years, and I always say the same thing to the judges, ‘I am honored to be here to exercise my constitutional privilege to vote. Thank you for being here.’” — Gene Tenner
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