Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a five-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
This afternoon will be mostly sunny with a high near 67 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low near 57. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high near 72.
Top story
Widow’s West Side home gets needed repairs: ‘This is a godsend’
Rosetta Scott, 78, sitting deep in the brown leather armchair in her living room, pointed to the furniture she wanted out of her West Side home.
“The couch, the loveseat, all of that,” she said.
A few volunteers hoisted up the couch and angled it out the door; on the stoop, others installed a railing; the sound of a drill rose from the basement.
“It’s a godsend,” Scott said of the work being done on her home at no charge, thanks to a local nonprofit.
Her two-story, single-family house on the 1400 block of North Mayfield Avenue in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood has been in need of upkeep since her husband passed.
A fire had damaged the roof. The basement drywall was moldy. And just when she wasn’t sure how she would manage, she found an answer in Rebuilding Together Metro Chicago, which repairs homes for people in need.
“I couldn’t afford this, not after my husband died,” said Scott, a retired Chicago Public Schools teaching assistant.
Scott and her husband, Ollie, bought the house around 40 years ago. They moved there from Cabrini-Green and raised five kids there. He died two years ago from a blood clot; she lives in the house with her eldest son.
Her daughter found out about the nonprofit last year and helped her mother fill out an application.
“Our mission is to repair homes and revitalize communities,” said Wanda Ramirez, the group’s CEO.
Michael Loria has more on Ms. Scott and her home here.
More news you need
- A nightclub in River North was shut down by City Hall yesterday after a fight outside the bar over the weekend led to a shootout in which one man was killed and three people were wounded. The quick action comes after the Sun-Times reported in September that most of the businesses closed by the city over violence concerns have been in neighborhoods on the South Side and West Side.
- This year’s General Election saw Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker win his reelection bid over Republican downstate state senator Darren Bailey. It was a decisive victory that also clears a path to any future political aspirations, our Tina Sfondeles and Emmanuel Camarillo note in their coverage of Pritzker’s victory.
- Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth yesterday also secured a second term, fending off a challenge from Republican Kathy Salvi to extend her historic Senate career another six years. With Duckworth’s victory, Illinois’ first Asian American senator becomes the state’s first woman reelected to a Senate seat.
- In other key statewide races, Alexi Giannoulias won the election for secretary of state and Kwame Raoul won reelection for a second term as attorney general, while the Democrats also retained a majority in the Illinois Supreme Court with Judge Elizabeth Rochford’s victory. Check out other results, voter reaction and more with our Election Day live blog.
- And in the aftermath of the election, pro-immigration advocates gathered today to celebrate the election results of their grassroots campaign efforts. Those results included registering 23,000 new immigrant voters, new strategies to reach Arabic speakers and the victories of reform-minded candidates they supported, our Michael Loria reports.
A bright one
‘BARDO’ star found it ‘so liberating’ to create his role with Iñárritu
“Let it happen.”
That’s the mantra that Mexican actor Daniel Giménez Cacho repeated to himself while he worked to create the main character in “BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.” Cacho, a well-known actor across Latin America and Spain, has appeared in Netflix’s “Club de Cuervos” and “Who Killed Sara?” He was also the narrator in the Oscar-nominated 2001 Mexican film “Y tu mamá también.”
The film is the latest from “Birdman” director Alejandro González Iñárritu, known for work that forces viewers to face and reflect upon the human condition. For “BARDO” (opening Friday in Chicago theaters), Iñárritu wanted Cacho to do something different: tap into his creativity and build the character from scratch.
“This was very, very new for me,” Cacho told the Sun-Times. “And I am so happy with the result that I think I grew as an actor. Now it’s going to be difficult for me to come back to the other way of working and studying. ... I found this so liberating.”
He portrays Silverio, a seasoned journalist and documentarian whose work teeters the line between brilliance and arrogance.
He said that working with Iñárritu — for the first time — felt like a “very important, spiritual encounter” between creatives.
Our Ambar Colón has more from her conversation with Cacho here.
From the press box
- Rick Morrissey on former Cubs manager Dusty Baker finally breaking through to win his first World Series.
- Justin Fields, who won NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his play last Sunday against Miami, said today he’s “not the type to get too high on one award.”
- Bears coach Matt Eberflus said he “was a little bit taken aback” by the Colts’ decision to fire head coach Frank Reich two days ago.
- Weekend passes for the 2023 Cubs Convention will go on sale Thursday as the team gears up for its return after a two-year hiatus. Maddie Lee has more on the upcoming event here.
Your daily question☕
What’s a word or phrase only Chicagoans know or use?
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday we asked you: What was your experience voting at the polls like?
Here’s what some of you said...
“Easy, breezy, lemon squeezy. I walked right in, there was no line, and I was done in 10 minutes.” — Michael Rank
“I went on Sunday and was disappointed to hear a ‘supervisor’ degrade someone - they kept telling them to be careful entering information. That conversation should have happened in private, not in front of voters.” — Sonia Hernandez
“I tried early voting [Monday] but after over an hour in line, I gave up. Set off for Henry School around 9 a.m. [Tuesday], prepared for a long wait. Walked into the building and was greeted by friendly staff who helped me identify what district I was in. They sent me to the correct table where more friendly staff set me up with ballots and warned me that the Sharpies bleed through but not to worry. I was sent immediately to a voting spot-no waiting! When I completed my ballot more staff thanked me for voting and helped me cast the ballots. Thank you to such knowledgeable and cheerful staff for making it all easy!” — Laurie Viets
“They changed my voting place after nine years. They didn’t have pens or the right ballots for provisional ballots. I mean everyone's voting polls changed without an announcement.” — Cassy Nip Williams
“Easy! In and out!” — Kaleah Nicolle
“They almost didn’t let me vote because my signature today didn’t exactly match my signature when I last voted two years ago. It seems like asking to look at my ID would have been a much easier way to verify my identity.” — Steve Kupcikevicius
“I voted Monday. The line was more than a block long which led to more than a two-hour wait. It was a small price to pay to save our democracy.” — Howard Moore
“My experience voting this time was surprisingly good. The line was short, I used the electronic voting machine for the first time (much quicker) and the young men helping out were warm and enthusiastic. However, I was sympathetic when a woman in front of me in line was frustrated and embarrassed because her usual polling place had changed. Her new polling place was half a mile away. In my opinion the polling place changes were too last minute.” — Marie Waltz
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