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 be mostly cloudy with a high near 44 degrees. Expect similar weather tonight with a low near 33. Tomorrow could see snow possibly mixed with rain and a high near 38.
Top story
Plan to move Taste of Chicago near Navy Pier draws City Council backlash
Outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to hold Taste of Chicago on the same July 4 weekend as NASCAR’s first street-course race — but move Taste to a park near Navy Pier — hit a wall of opposition yesterday.
Downtown Alderpersons Brendan Reilly (42nd) and Brian Hopkins (2nd) persuaded Special Events and Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Nick Sposato (38th) to hold the annual special events ordinance in committee to avert what Reilly called a “planning disaster.” Holding the ordinance in committee delays scheduling of the Taste.
That means Grant Park will be taken over from mid-May through mid-August by the Sueños and Lollapalooza music festivals (May 27 and 28; Aug. 3-6) and the NASCAR race (July 1-2). Setup and teardown for the downtown race could close the park for more than a month.
“The mayor’s office realized that they approved the NASCAR event while we have Taste of Chicago occurring the very same weekend and obviously you can’t access Grant Park for the Taste surrounded by a racetrack. So, without any conversations with the impacted aldermen, it was unilaterally decided by the mayor’s office that Taste of Chicago would be moved to Polk Brothers Park, the front yard for Navy Pier with no advance notice. No stakeholder input. Nothing,” Reilly told the Sun-Times.
Reilly called the decision “more of the same” from a mayor who ran roughshod over local alderpersons to cut a two-year deal with NASCAR, even though it will tie up DuSable Lake Shore Drive temporarily and a portion of Grant Park for two weeks.
“Total lack of transparency. No communication. No input. Unilateral decision-making. All the things, the key ingredients, that make a lame-duck mayor,” Reilly said.
Reilly and Hopkins said they want the nonprofit corporation that runs Navy Pier and controls Polk Bros. Park to “push back and refuse to host” the Taste on the same weekend as the NASCAR race.
Fran Spielman has more on the fate of Taste here.
More news you need
- A woman and three children were hospitalized in critical condition after a fire broke out in their home last night in Montclare. The victims were the wife and children of an active firefighter, according to Chicago Fire Department. We’ve got more on this developing story here.
- The family of Rona Rozo, an immigrant who died weeks after arriving in Chicago, has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Holiday Inn Countryside, Rincon Family Services and hospitals where she sought treatment, according to court records. Rozo’s Dec. 2 death was ruled a suicide. Her family has been pushing for answers about why more wasn’t done to get Rozo treatment.
- Illinois Department of Corrections Director Rob Jeffreys is stepping down after nearly four years heading up the state’s prison system. Department of Corrections Chief of Staff Latoya Hughes will serve as the acting director while the state searches for a permanent replacement.
- Bargaining between the concessions contractor at the United Center and its unionized employees has failed to produce an agreement and a strike could begin any time at the West Side arena. This comes as the UC is set to host the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament starting tonight.
- A Woodridge man faces a prison sentence of around three years after pleading guilty today to scamming his former employer, a Cook County agency formed to promote the redevelopment of vacant properties. Federal prosecutors charged Mustafaa Saleh in November with wire fraud in a scheme involving the Cook County Land Bank Authority.
- Illinois residents who cashed checks they received last year as part of a $650 million biometric privacy lawsuit settlement involving Facebook should expect another payment this month. A second check of just over $30 was issued at the end of February to those who cashed their initial settlement payments of $397, according to the attorney who sued Facebook.
- Preservation Chicago today released its annual list of “most endangered” sites, a rundown that ranges from two early skyscrapers on State Street to reminders of Chicago’s industrial past. Our David Roeder breaks down the list’s highlights here.
Elections 2023
What Vallas, Johnson need to do to win the first mayoral runoff debate
Brandon Johnson is the more talented communicator with a more human touch. He needs to talk with “depth and fluidity” about crime and finances and look like a “commanding figure who is up for this job” — not “another mayor with a learning curve.”
Paul Vallas needs to “connect his technocratic policy orientations to the lives of real people” and portray himself as a “leader who has empathy” as well as “technical solutions.”
That’s some of the advice debate experts are offering to the combatants in Chicago’s April 4 mayoral runoff ahead of their first debate this evening. The showdown, sponsored and televised live by Channel 5 and Telemundo, is the first since the Feb. 28 election narrowed the field of nine and eliminated incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot. On the eve of the first debate, the Sun-Times asked several prominent political strategists and seasoned debate coaches what each candidate must do.
Read the expert advice ahead of tonight’s debate, which is set to air 6 p.m. and can be live streamed at nbcchicago.com.
Endorsements continue to pour in
Millionaire businessman and former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson today endorsed Vallas in the April 4 mayoral runoff, citing concerns that Johnson would defund CPD and impose a slew of tax increases that would drive businesses and jobs out of Chicago.
SEIU Local 1 called a news conference today to announce the union’s decision to back Johnson. The union represents “more than 45,000 working people,” including janitors, security officers, window washers and employees for the contractors who work at O’Hare and Midway Airports.
A bright one
Ms. Jetsetter wants to make travel more convenient — and stylish
Tracey McGhee loves to travel, but that doesn’t mean she enjoys packing.
After years of trips to nearly 30 countries, she still couldn’t find the durable, good-looking travel accessories she wanted. The answer, to her, was simple: Start her own company.
“When I started looking for accessories that I thought would be able to address my needs while also being more stylish, I figured why not just make it happen?” said McGhee, 51, who started that company, Ms. Jetsetter, in 2019.
“My necklaces were constantly tangled while traveling,” she said. Now she offers jewelry organizers and more than a dozen other items, priced from $10 to $70.
Other offerings include tech organizers, grooming kits, laundry bags, cases for passports and vaccine cards — even reusable bottles for shampoos and lotions. They’re sold on her website, as well as on Amazon, Irv’s Luggage and 30+ boutiques across the country.
It hasn’t been easy for McGhee to get to this point. She started her company before the pandemic. When COVID-19 hit, “I thought that the business would not be able to move forward,” she said. “But luckily, I was in a retail accelerator program that is designed to assist small businesses with physical products.”
Thanks to that program, McGhee pitched a wristlet set to Walgreens, which tested, and is now available in 40 Chicagoland stores.
“I’ve been very fortunate,” McGhee said. “There are many opportunities that have started to open themselves up for me and it feels great to be where I am.”
Vanessa Lopez has more with McGhee here.
From the press box
- Former Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg will be back at the United Center this week with Nebraska looking to make an improbable run in the Big Ten basketball tournament. The Cornhuskers, who haven’t reached March Madness since 2014, face Minnesota at the UC tonight.
- Steve Greenberg has a bigger preview of the Big Ten tourney here.
- With the No. 1 pick available, “we’re getting our first look at how [Bears GM Ryan] Poles plays poker, Laurence W. Holmes writes. “... For 20 years, I’ve been covering the NFL, and I can’t remember a Bears GM being this visible or on the record as Poles has been the last few weeks. His strategy is willful and with purpose.”
- Maine South, one of the state’s elite high school football programs, will be forced to forfeit nine wins from the 2022 season due to the use of ineligible players, IHSA announced today. The team will also be on probation for the upcoming year.
Your daily question☕
What do you think of the mayor’s plan to have Taste of Chicago near Navy Pier?
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday we asked you: Ahead of the downtown and South Side St. Patrick’s Day parades this weekend, what tips do you have for a first-time paradegoer?
Here’s what some of you said...
Yesterday, we asked you: Ahead of the downtown and South Side St. Patrick’s Day parades this weekend, what tips do you have for a first-time paradegoer?
“Dress in layers. What starts out as a warm, sunny spring day can quickly turn into a cloudy, blustery day with falling temperatures.” — Irena Lathrop
“Puke is slippery. Watch your step.”— James Linehan
“Use a bathroom. Don’t get so wasted that you pass out on a random person lawn.”— Marty Longo
“This event is best to go to if you know people who live on or not far from the parade route. If you have friends who live down there, it’s like an Irish Thanksgiving, with people visiting, eating and drinking. I haven’t been in a long time but the actual parade route stuff used to get to be like a horrible spring break filled with idiot drunks. I like to think they’ve taken care of that issue, but silly types look for parades like this as an excuse to be obnoxious and drunk.” — Mike Danahey
“With regards to drinking, It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.” — Bill Kellam
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