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)
This afternoon will see some snow, possibly mixed with rain, with a high near 39 degrees. Expect blustery conditions tonight, with more snow expected and a low near 29 — new snow accumulation of less than a half inch is possible. Tomorrow will be partly sunny with a high near 44. Similar weather is in the forecast for Sunday with a high near 46.
Top story
How the CTU marched from picket lines to political powerhouse
In 2013, Brandon Johnson was the Chicago Teachers Union’s deputy political director and was talking about having persuaded members to walk out the previous year in the union’s first strike in decades.
“Convincing our members to wear a red T-shirt on Friday was a task,” Johnson told a crowd at the Socialism 2013 conference in Rosemont. “It took us a year to convince CTU members that it’s OK to associate yourself with labor.”
That speech was featured in an attack ad last month calling Johnson, now one of two surviving candidates for the runoff election to succeed Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a socialist. It also provided a glimpse into how far the union has come, from struggling to rally its members for a contract fight to taking its best shot yet at sending an ally — this time a homegrown one and former teacher in Johnson — to the fifth floor of City Hall.
The CTU’s political activism grew out of the 2012 fight against Mayor Rahm Emanuel during Chicago’s first teachers’ strike in 30 years and solidified in a brutal battle over Emanuel’s closing of nearly 50 Chicago public schools in 2013. That’s when the union, then led by Karen Lewis, made a choice: If we have to go to such lengths to fight City Hall, why not take over City Hall? That began an effort to move from bargaining tables and Board of Education meetings to the Chicago City Council chambers and City Hall offices.
First, the union endorsed like-minded candidates. As it built its political infrastructure, the CTU shifted to developing and launching homegrown ones. In 2015, Susan Sadlowski-Garza, a school social worker, became the first CTU member elected to the City Council. Lots of time and money previously have been spent to win the mayor’s office, to no avail.
In this mayoral election, rather than back a friendly outsider, the CTU put forth one of its own.
“You do not get Brandon Johnson, who was virtually unknown as a candidate just two months ago, into a runoff without the full support of his union siblings,” says Stacy Davis Gates, the CTU president, who was the union’s political director in 2013 and chose Johnson as her deputy.
A CTU endorsement these days comes with more than headlines and increased recognition. It usually includes cash, a vast network of community relationships and volunteers who saturate neighborhoods to spread the word. The CTU endorsed Johnson and 17 City Council candidates in Tuesday’s election. Twelve won outright or advanced to a runoff — a 67% success rate. The union and its two political action committees gave all but two of those candidates a total of $1.56 million — $1.07 million to Johnson and between $10,000 and $60,000 to those running for the City Council.
In response to claims that many CTU members are upset about the union’s political activity, Davis Gates says: “My members are on fire right now. ... They have scarified for that for the last 10-plus years, and now they see the manifestation of it.”
Nader Issa and Lauren FitzPatrick have more on how far CTU has come here.
More news you need
- Robert Crimo III may have considered using homemade explosives during the attack on Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade, which left seven people fatally shot and dozens more wounded, according to newly unsealed FBI affidavits. The affidavits seem to offer the most substantive details yet about the closely guarded case.
- Bail was denied today for the man accused of fatally shooting a Chicago police officer this week as prosecutors disclosed new details of the deadly confrontation near a playground at a grade school in Gage Park. We’ve got more on the hearing, as well as a vigil held for Officer Andres Vasquez-Lasso last night here.
- John F. Gembara took over the small Bridgeport bank that his father and grandfather had run for decades, and he ran it into the ground. That much already was clear from the government-ordered shutdown of Washington Federal Bank for Savings. But now testimony in the first trial to focus heavily on the bank’s collapse has laid bare how Gembara kept giving away money and real estate to customers in an elite circle who came to be known to his trusted employees as “Friends of John.” Our Tim Novak has more in his latest Watchdogs report here.
- Loved ones and former colleagues are mourning the loss of Stella Mikhail, who made meaningful connections as the makeup artist for guests of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Mikhail disarmed with charm and worked on some of the most recognizable faces in the world. She died Feb. 12 from breast cancer at age 55.
- Deerfield-based Walgreens says it will not sell abortion pills in states in which Republican attorneys general have threatened legal action despite the drug being legal in some of those states. The decision prompted immediate condemnation from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who plans to meet with Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer about the decision this afternoon. The policy change was made after 20 Republican attorneys general wrote the company a letter threatening legal action if the drug was distributed in their states.
- Both candidates in Chicago’s mayoral runoff have declared they prefer an insider to replace departing Chicago Police Supt. David Brown. The problem is, the Chicago Police Department bench is thin after a wave of resignations among top brass during Brown’s tenure. Our Fran Spielman and Tom Schuba have more on the thin crop for top cop here.
- Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul yesterday filed a brief defending Illinois’ assault weapon ban. The brief argues that the weapons restricted by the newly enacted law aren’t commonly used for self-defense and that large capacity magazines are accessories — not “arms.” Our Tina Sfondeles has more on the brief here.
- After 75 years, Logan Square mainstay Gillman’s Ace Hardware is set to close this month. “I’m still walking through this kind of numb. It really hasn’t hit home,” said owner Alan Gillman.
A bright one
CPS eighth grader Steven Jiang buzzes to victory in citywide spelling bee
Battling competition-day nerves, 13-year-old Steven Jiang woke up at 4 a.m. yesterday to get one last study session in before the 2023 Citywide Spelling Bee Championship.
Steven, a third-year competitor, faced off against 47 other Chicago Public Schools students at 8 a.m. sharp. By 1:30, he had out-spelled them all. In May, he will head to a national spelling bee for a chance to win more than $50,000.
Students in grades one through eight within CPS are eligible for the citywide bee every year, said CPS spokesperson Sylvia Barragan. This year, only students in grades five through eight made the cut.
“This was my last chance,” said Steven, an eighth grader at Whitney Young Magnet High School. “I felt like I had to make the most of it. And so I worked very hard.”
Steven clinched his win by correctly spelling the word “saturnine,” (defined as “slow and gloomy”). He bested second-place finisher Evelyn Lust, a sixth grader at Coonley Elementary School. The tournament was single-elimination. One mistake sent bee hopefuls out of the hive. Steven nearly tripped over the word “phlebotomy” early in the tournament, then remembered struggling with the word in practice.
Ahead of the regional competition, contestants received a list of 4,000 potential words from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary. Every day, Steven and his mother would run down the list together, looking up the pronunciation and meaning of each word and highlighting words he didn’t know. Leading up to yesterday’s event, Steven studied spelling words for four to six hours a day.
Steven plans to study for an hour a day before the national competition near Washington, D.C., in May. He could win up to $52,500.
“It’s very heavy, and also a lot of fun — so competitive,” Steven’s father, Zi Feng Jiang, said. “This is a really good activity to challenge the students.”
Ilana Arougheti has more with Steven here.
From the press box
- Joliet West’s Jeremy Fears Jr. is the 2023 Sun-Times High School Basketball Player of the Year. Read our full story on Fears Jr., and check out the rest of this year’s All-Area Team by Michael O’Brien.
- Jose Abreu, seemingly happy to be in Houston now, on parting from the White Sox after unsuccessful contract talks: “Sometimes when you’re at a place where maybe you’re not being respected to the point where you think you should be, you just have to go somewhere else.”
- Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, one of the top QBs in the 2023 NFL Draft, had a message for the Bears: Stick with Justin Fields instead of drafting me.
Your daily question☕
What do you think is missing from the news media’s coverage of this year’s municipal election?
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday we asked you: Before Patrick Kane makes his debut in New York, what’s your favorite memory of Kane with the Blackhawks?
Here’s what some of you said...
“It was October 12th, 2009. Blackhawks were down 5-0 to the Calgary Flames, but there weren’t many disgruntled fans heading for the exits. We were eager to see a young Kane and Co. showcase their craft if anything really, never expecting a rally. What we got was a show for the ages as Kaner scored a goal and had two assists as the Hawks mounted a five-goal comeback to win in OT, 6-5. Legendary moment.” — Shane L. Saathoff
“Scoring the winning goal to win the Stanley Cup in 2010!” — Jo Ann Reksel
“The OT winner in game 6 for the Cup vs. Philly.” — John Prendergast
“2010 Game 5 against Nashville. Hawks were down by one, Hossa had a 5 minute major, and Kane scored with 19 seconds left in the game. Hawks killed the penalty and Hossa wins it in overtime. Wildest 10 minutes of hockey I’ve ever seen. Kane celebrating after winning the 2010 cup. He knew and everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. Watching him know he just won the Stanley Cup was amazing.” — Nick Esposito
“The first home playoff game of our last Cup. Me and my son won tickets from the Sun-Times, front row next to the Hawks' bench. Kane came over before game, and put on a stick-handling show and flipped the Puck to my son, who was a college linebacker and he dropped the puck, and a little guy was right there. My son let him grab it. My son’s now in the service. The Hawks went on the smoke them that game and ended up coming back and taking our last Cup. ... Wish you well Kaner. Chicago will miss you.” — Mark Steven
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