Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about an eight-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
— Matt Moore (@MattKenMoore)
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This afternoon will be mostly sunny with a high near 78 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low near 58. Tomorrow will be sunny with a high near 83.
Top story
Chicago to host 2024 Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Committee selected Chicago to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention, the Sun-Times has learned, with the city beating bids from Atlanta and New York.
The convention will take place Aug. 19-22 next year. It is expected to draw between 5,000 and 7,000 delegates and alternates and attract up to 50,000 visitors to Chicago.
Evening events will be at the United Center — the main site of the 1996 Democratic convention in Chicago — with daytime business to be conducted at the McCormick Place Convention Center, the location of the 2012 NATO Summit.
Delegates will be housed in about 30 hotels in Chicago.
For more than a year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a co-chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have led a drive for Chicago to host the Democrats in 2024.
President Joe Biden called Pritzker to tell him about Chicago’s selection on Tuesday morning before leaving for Ireland.
Biden also phoned Duckworth before he took off to tell her about Chicago’s winning bid. DNC Chair Jamie Harrison called Lightfoot and Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson got a call from the White House.
Biden has been planning to seek a second term with his team putting together his reelection campaign. He will make an “official” announcement at a later date.
By selecting Chicago for the convention, Democrats are highlighting the importance of the Midwest “Blue Wall” states — Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. The governors in these states, all Democrats, were all reelected in 2022.
Our Lynn Sweet has more on why and how Chicago was picked.
More news you need
- The 2024 DNC will mark the 12th time Chicago has hosted the convention. In his latest, columnist Neil Steinberg looks back on that complicated history and weighs what 2024’s convention will mean for our city and the Democratic Party. Read the full column here.
- Formal disciplinary charges were filed yesterday against Chicago Police Officer Eric Stillman, who fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo in March 2021, setting in motion quasi-judicial proceedings to determine whether he should be fired. Tom Schuba has more on the disciplinary charges filed to the Chicago Police Board.
- A sixth reputed member of the O-Block street gang has been charged in the killing of Chicago rapper FBG Duck. The 33-year-old is charged with committing a murder in aid of racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
- A $13,000 reward is being offered for information about the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old girl in Washington Heights. ”Everybody has to take into consideration that this could’ve been their child,” one community activist said of Demea Morris.
- Walmart announced today that four Chicago stores will close by Sunday, joining other grocery stores — particularly on Chicago’s South and West sides — that have closed in recent months. The four stores are in Kenwood, Chatham, Little Village and Lakeview.
- NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race will take place over two days of Fourth of July weekend, but it will affect traffic around Grant Park for over a month. City officials have released details about rolling road closures and traffic patterns leading up to the July 1-2 races — the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course that is set to close major thoroughfares. David Struett details the closures you can expect to see.
- A year after a fire destroyed the historic Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, plans to rebuild have been finalized, but the church still needs at least $3 million to open debt-free in 2025. Mariah Rush has more on the church’s quest for donations ahead of an expansive rebuild.
- Nearly a week after the election, community organizer Ronnie Mosley won the City Council seat representing the Far South Side’s 21st Ward yesterday. This will make Mosley the youngest member of the Council when he’s sworn in next month.
- A city panel is due to consider landmarks designation for vacant office buildings at 202 and 220 S. State St., a step that could increase pressure on the federal government to preserve them. The General Services Administration, which manages federal property, wants to tear down the early 20th century buildings to improve security for the adjacent Dirksen Federal Building.
- The number of drivers seeking repairs for pothole damage is up 57% across the country this year, AAA reported in a statement last week, issuing a pothole warning for drivers in Illinois and Indiana. So far this year, the city has patched nearly 215,000 potholes in streets and alleys across Chicago, a CDT spokesperson said. Catherine Odom and Emmanuel Camarillo have more on the toll potholes take on Chicagoans’ modes of transportation.
A bright one ☀️
Suburban TikTok gardener Ebony Jamison, AKA Brownskinbeautiful, has some ideas to help with your gardening
For Ebony Jamison — known to her 70,000 followers on social media as BrownSkinBeautiful — gardening started as a pandemic hobby.
The Chicago-area photographer and mother of two already had 26 plants in her home. Then, after a friend raved about outdoor gardening, Jamison decided to try it in her own suburban backyard.
“My kids got super-involved and invested in gardening with me,” Jamison says. “It became our pandemic activity and a way to get some fresh air but also a learning experience for all of us.”
She started getting messages from people sharing their own gardening experiences and soon found followers on social media who also were beginner gardeners.
Gardening tool brands like Little Burros took notice and signed her for product campaigns. She’d happened on something that surprised her: an audience captivated by her adventures in gardening.
Jamison started out small, planting tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers in a raised garden bed four feet by eight feet in her backyard.
She suggests that beginners and city-dwellers do something similar or try growing things like tomatoes and cucumbers in pots.
“It’s easier to control as far as fertilizer and nutrition of the soil is concerned,” she says. “It also helps cut back on the amount of weeding I have to do, which can be a real pain.”
WBEZ’s Samantha Callender has more with Jamison and her work.
From the press box
- The White Sox will be without shortstop Tim Anderson for 2-4 weeks with a sprained left knee.
- Coming off another loss last night, which kept them at the top of the NHL lottery odds, the Blackhawks take on the Penguins tonight.
- While our film critic, Richard Roeper, recently called “Air” the best movie of 2023 so far, Rick Telander says the movie also demands reflection of how it glorifies “pursuing the god of profit at the expense of morality.”
Your daily question☕
How do you feel about Chicago hosting the 2024 Democratic National Convention?
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday we asked you: Are you in a relationship with someone with differing political views from you? How has that affected your relationship?
Here’s what some of you said…
“We had to stop talking about politics. Talking about our differing views caused too many arguments. I admit to starting many fights. It’s hard for me to think about my spouse being so awful, but I’m too old for a major lifestyle change. We have an uneasy peace.” — Denise Lindberg
“We don’t discuss politics or religion, still works 20+ years later.” — Zeljka Dekic
“I dumped my fiance 11 years ago because of it.” — Ivey McClelland
“Yes, and we are just fine with having differing views. That’s what’s great about America — we each get our own political views and vote the way we want. Btw, we have been together for almost 30 years.” — Greta Berna
“I was for years. We chose to not judge each other because of a difference of opinion. That is until the in-laws incited in-fighting.” — Walter Diffee
Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
