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 cloudy with a high near 34 degrees. Similar weather will continue into tonight with a low near 24. Expect tomorrow to be mostly sunny with a high near 36. Sunday will be partly sunny with a high near 37.
Top story
City Hall went after Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. for owning a drug house in West Garfield Park
On a Saturday night in July 2019, Chicago police officers raided a West Garfield Park two-flat owned by Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) and his wife Darlena Williams-Burnett, looking for drug dealers selling heroin, marijuana and other drugs. The police arrested two men and seized 3 ounces of marijuana, 16 tablets of ecstasy and 13 bullets.
Weeks later, City Hall lawyers working for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who’d been in office only since that May, sued the Burnetts, taking the unusual step of accusing a member of the Chicago City Council of violating the city’s Drug and Gang House Ordinance and seeking more than $40,000 in fines for maintaining what they called a “public nuisance.”
Two months later, the police again raided the two-flat. They arrested the Burnetts’ tenant — a woman who was on parole, who the police said had 2.5 grams of heroin and three handguns — and two men they said were found in possession of small amounts of crack cocaine and ecstasy. The two police raids, the lawsuit and a court order that prevented anyone from living in the two-flat for a year came months after Burnett publicly backed Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s losing run in the 2019 mayoral election, Lightfoot’s first run for mayor.
Unlike high-profile FBI raids months before on the offices of two other City Council members — Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) and Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), who face federal charges in separate political corruption cases — the arrests and drug seizures at the Burnett-owned two-flat and the Lightfoot administration’s lawsuit against the couple didn’t make the news at the time. The Chicago Sun-Times discovered the Lightfoot administration’s lawsuit against the Burnetts while reporting on a story published in November on what Burnett did with $300,000 in campaign contributions that he previously had disclosed.
Asked about the matter, Lightfoot declined to comment. The mayor referred questions to her press office, which didn’t respond to questions. Burnett and his lawyer Thomas Raines didn’t respond to questions about the police raids.
Burnett is now a Lightfoot ally. On Dec. 27, he made his first campaign contribution to the mayor — $10,000.
Williams-Burnett, a real estate developer, once was Cook County’s chief deputy recorder of deeds and has run unsuccessfully for Congress. She also runs a political fund called the Chicago Intellect Political Action Committee that contributed $40,000 to Preckwinkle’s campaign about two weeks before she lost to Lightfoot.
Asked about the police raids and lawsuit, Williams-Burnett at first declined to comment.
Later, she sent a reporter a text message, saying, “My husband didn’t want to purchase the property because it was located in a drug-infested neighborhood and had I listened to his concerns, you would not be trying to associate him with drug dealers or a bad landlord.”
Running unopposed in the Feb. 28 city election, Burnett, 59, is guaranteed to win an eighth term.
More news you need
- The Illinois House early this morning cleared a measure that would immediately ban the sale of assault weapons in the state and prevent sales of large-capacity magazines that hold more than 12 rounds. The measure would also ban “rapid-fire devices” that turn firearms that fire one shot per trigger pull into fully automatic weapons. It must still clear the Illinois Senate, our Tina Sfondeles reports.
- It won’t be until March, at the earliest, before the Illinois Supreme Court rules on whether cash bail can be eliminated across the state. The schedule does not give a date for the justices to issue a ruling on the Pretrial Fairness Act, the most controversial provision of the SAFE-T Act.
- John Catanzara, Chicago’s confrontational police union boss, is facing a tough reelection challenger — Det. Robert Bartlett. WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell has more on the two candidates and the fight to lead the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7 here.
- Just weeks before their lease is set to expire, a group of vendors from the Little Village Discount Mall and supporters yesterday called on the mall’s owner to not kick them out and for the city to intervene. The mall vendors have been pushing for the mall’s owner to disclose his plans for the space and for him to include them in any changes coming after the lease expires at the end of January.
- Elsewhere in Little Village, street vendors, activists and residents gathered at the 10th District police station yesterday to demand the department provide more resources to protect vendors. The group said multiple street vendors in the area have been robbed and increasingly targeted in recent months.
- Chicago residents could see their monthly natural gas bills rise by an average of $11.83 starting next year if state regulators approve rate hikes totaling $402 million as requested today by Peoples Gas. The utility’s filing with the Illinois Commerce Commission marks the first rate increase proposal from Peoples Gas since 2014 — but it’s the biggest one the utility has ever asked for, consumer advocates say.
- Mayor Lightfoot’s administration has included new environmental requirements for asphalt plants that seek city contracts. The move follows a decision last June to reject all bids for $500 million in asphalt contracts after concerns about air pollution.
- A temporary shelter in Woodlawn for recently arrived asylum seekers that has sparked controversy isn’t expected to open up this week after all, according to Ald. Jeanette Taylor, whose 20th Ward includes the property. The former James Wadsworth Elementary School will instead open at a later date to allow for another community forum, which residents had pushed for, Taylor said.
- The CTU is accusing Mayor Lightfoot of stepping in to rescind a promise by her hand-picked CPS leadership to give rank-and-file teachers and school support staff the same 12 weeks of paid parental leave provided to all other city employees. Lightfoot’s office denies there was any reversal, our Fran Spielman and Nader Issa reports.
- In other education news, a bill that grants CPS principals collective bargaining rights passed the Illinois Senate on this morning and now only needs the governor’s signature to become law. The legislation would recognize a Chicago principals and assistant principals union and put them across the table from senior district leadership for contract negotiations.
- We are entering the road-salt season. But that salt — meant to treat roads and sidewalks — often ends up in waterways, where it can harm aquatic life. The Illinois RiverWatch Network is tackling this problem with citizen science, training anyone who’s interested to monitor those levels. WBEZ’s Melba Lara has more on Illinois RiverWatch Network’s efforts here.
- And, as the Feb. 28 mayoral election approaches, the Sun-Times and WBEZ are teaming up with the University of Chicago Institute of Politics to take any questions you have to the candidates. It’s part of our larger effort to have the community set the agenda for our mayoral campaign coverage. Here’s how you can submit your question and give your input.
A bright one
Historic mural restored at Second Presbyterian Church
The theme of the New Year’s Day service at Second Presbyterian Church was a call to parishioners about renewal in their lives. Titled “A New Heaven and a New Earth,” it could have been about the historic church itself.
The church at 1936 S. Michigan Ave. — both a Chicago landmark and a national historic landmark — recently restored a mural considered a treasure among lovers of both art and history. The church was designed by architect James Renwick and dates to 1874; the sanctuary dates to 1901 because it was rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire a year earlier. At the time, the Prairie District neighborhood was home to prominent Chicago industrialists and business people like the Fields, Kimballs, Pullmans, Armors and Swifts who expected nothing short of the finest.
The rebuilt sanctuary met their expectations with an edifice modeled after the English Gothic churches of the early 15th century and constructed with rusticated Illinois limestone. The facade had a massive wall with buttresses and pinnacles, relieved by Gothic-arched windows, horizontal bands and four large sculptured medallions symbolizing the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. As impressive as the building is, it’s what’s inside that makes it truly special.
The church sports seven large Tiffany stained-glass windows and the 40-by-30-foot “Tree of Life” mural high above the altar by renowned painter Frederic Clay Bartlett.
After more than 100 years, the vibrancy of the windows and the mural were hidden by dirt, leading supporters of the church to embark on a campaign to restore the artistic treasures to their original glory. Two Tiffany windows were cleaned in October and there are plans to finish the rest over the next year, according to Linda Miller, president of Friends of Historic Second Church, a group dedicated to restoring Second Presbyterian Church.
The largest project was restoring the “Tree of Life” mural, which wrapped up in mid-December. Preservationists worked 10 weeks meticulously cleaning the mural, stripping layers of dirt and repainting to show it in its original splendor. The project cost about $500,000 and was financed by donations and a $256,364 Save America’s Treasure Grant received in 2021, Miller said.
The mural restoration was done by Chicago-based Parma Conservation, run by the husband-and-wife team of Peter Schoenmann and Elizabeth Kendall.
Bob Chiarito has more on the mural here.
From the press box
- Bears receiver Chase Claypool discussed his sideline outburst during the recent loss to the Lions, telling reporters, “I was all fired up because we can’t lose that bad — ever. We have to have a little bit more pride, a little bit more heart, so it don’t happen again.”
- Claypool will be among the players available Sunday against the Vikings. Here’s a look at the latest on who’s expected to be active for the season finale.
- While his second pro season is seemingly over, Justin Fields is “on the right path” as an NFL quarterback, Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said yesterday.
Your daily question☕
With the conclusion of a rough season on Sunday, we want to know: how are you feeling about the future of the Bears?
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 participating in Dry January?
Here’s what some of you said...
“Yes, because I’m a glutton for punishment.” — Erik Kirkstein
“I am, but watching our government fail to function makes it difficult.” — Jacob L.
“Loose weight, feel better, save money, have time for more productive pursuits. Leads to less drinking throughout the rest of the year.” — Michael Edwards
“We are, hoping it will inspire life-long changes.” — Sandra Judith
“I’ll be observing till happy hour tomorrow. Thanks.” — Michael Coy
Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
