Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a seven-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
— Matt Moore (@MattKenMoore)
This afternoon will see some showers with a high near 53 degrees. Tonight will be cloudy with a low near 35. Similar weather will continue into tomorrow with some gradual clearing and a high near 41.
Top story
A Winnetka man spent decades trying to prove he owned a Renaissance masterpiece. Has AI finally solved the puzzle?
Tony Ayers was wandering through one of the honey-stone villages in the English Cotswolds when he stepped into an antiques shop and saw something that took his breath away.
It was 1995, and Ayers, who lived in Winnetka, was on vacation with his wife. Inside the shop, Ayers took a passing interest in an armoire. The antiques dealer eased the piece out of the shadows, and that’s when Ayers saw it: Behind the armoire was a painting coated in dust, paint flaking, its true beauty hidden beneath layers of grime. Even so, Ayers, an amateur artist, was sure he’d found a masterpiece. He tried to hide his excitement. He didn’t make an offer just then.
When he returned home, he told his business partner that what he’d seen — a portrait of a Madonna and child — looked like the work of one of the great Renaissance masters. Ayers, his business partner and friend Philippe Farcy and their landlord Ari Cohen pooled their money to buy the painting for $25,000 — setting in motion a Sherlock Holmes-like quest to prove they had a work by one of the titans of the early 1500s: Raphael.
Or, as one art historian put it, it was an obsession worthy of Captain Ahab searching for Moby Dick. With tens of millions of dollars potentially at stake, Cohen and Farcy — Ayers died last year of complications from Alzheimer’s disease — went public for the first time earlier this year. They say artificial intelligence that was used to examine the painting’s brushstrokes has finally given them the proof they need.
“We have science behind us,” said Farcy, one of the painting’s 40 investors, most of them from Chicago. “We have experts behind us. It took us 30 years to build a case.”
That new science isn’t widely accepted in the old art world, but it should be, said Carina Popovici, founder and CEO of Art Recognition, the A.I. firm Farcy, Cohen and other investors hired to examine their painting.
“Through brushstroke artificial intelligence, we offer objectivity and accessibility to clients, which has been missing in the field of art evaluation for many years,” Popovici said. “Art history, provenance, chemical analysis and other methods are all critical to the full understanding of an artwork, but attribution decisions should not be left solely to the subjective human expert’s eye.”
Stefano Esposito has more on Ayers’ authenticity quest here.
More news you need
- Illinois is leading the nation in applications for the Biden Administration’s loan forgiveness program, according to newly released data. More than 70% of eligible borrowers in the 5th, 6th, and 8th Congressional districts, all located in the Chicago area, applied for or automatically qualified for debt relief, federal data shows.
- City Council’s second-most senior alderperson — indicted Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) — has left quietly, getting a head-start on retirement. Austin had held the seat since 1994. Our Fran Spielman details Austin’s exit here.
- A $26 billion legal settlement that drug companies have agreed to with state and local governments across the country will provide Chicago with millions of dollars a year to help people suffering from opioid addiction, the mayor’s office said Friday. Heather O’Donnell of the Chicago social services agency Thresholds says the money is “an opportunity to really build up substance use care.”
- Family, friends and former bandmates are mourning the loss of musician Asrat Sellassie. Sellassie, 68, was the co-owner of reggae club Wild Hare, as well as an accomplished musician who recorded Grammy Award-winning albums with Ziggy Marley. Our Emmanuel Camarillo has more on Sellassie here.
- Loved ones are also mourning the death of Chicagoan Michio Iwao, a lifelong Cubs fan, an avid fisher and a survivor of an internment camp in Arizona, where he and thousands of other Japanese Americans were incarcerated during WWII. After Mr. Iwao left Arizona, he went to Chicago to see his beloved Cubs in the World Series and found his new home. He died last month at 100 years old.
- Concessions workers at the United Center staged a one-day walkout yesterday that affected food and beverage service during the afternoon’s Chicago Bulls game. The brief strike by members of Unite Here Local 1 was designed to ratchet up pressure on their employer for this week’s Big Ten men’s basketball tournament, which runs Wednesday through next Sunday at the United Center. The workers have authorized an open-ended strike that could be called any time.
A bright one
Polar plungers brave chilly water on sunny day at North Avenue Beach
Oompa Loompas, Vikings and Elvis impersonators took over North Avenue Beach in a rare, balmy Chicago Polar Plunge.
But despite the sunny, 40-something-degree yesterday, thousands of costumed plungers entered water that was still nearly freezing.
“My feet are freezing! It was cold, but I thought it was going to be a lot worse,” said Beverly resident Tim Delaney, 26, who was dressed as a penguin at his first-ever plunge. He was among some 4,000 plungers who raised nearly $2 million for the 23rd annual event benefiting Special Olympics Chicago. The group hopes to break the $2 million raised at 2020’s plunge.
The plunge in past years was graced with celebrities Lady Gaga, Vince Vaughn and Jimmy Fallon. Some of the first plungers this year were the casts of NBC’s “Chicago” franchises P.D., Fire and Med. Mayor Lori Lightfoot entered the 36-degree water — but only up to her knees.
The first Special Olympic games were held in 1968 in Chicago, spearheaded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of President John F. Kennedy. Special Olympics Chicago raises 60% of its annual funding through the plunge, President Ray Baker said. Donations are accepted through the end of March at chicagopolarplunge.org.
Yesterday marked “Chicago Fire’s” David Eigenberg’s 11th time plunging.
“No, it doesn’t get easier,” he said. “Anything for the Special Olympics. They take care of so many people in the city,” he said after pausing to take photos with fans.
David Struett has more on this year’s plunge here.
From the press box
- Tim Anderson is cool with what Jose Abreu said about the White Sox’ lack of togetherness last season: “We weren’t as one last year, and it showed in the way we played.”
- Willson Contreras, meanwhile, sounds happy to be with St. Louis now: “The Cardinals operate different,” Contreras said at camp. “Here, we’re always looking to improve every day, to do something to help each other, and the whole team is working in the same [direction].”
Your daily question☕
What’s the most underrated park in Chicago? Tell us why.
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
On Friday, we asked you: What do you think is missing from the news media’s coverage of this year’s municipal election?
Here’s what some of you said...
“I think the media’s coverage of Jesús ‘Chuy’ García coming in fourth has failed to mention how truly lackluster of a campaign he ran as a reason for him coming in fourth. I wanted to like Chuy and tried hard to find out what his policy positions were. I could barely find anything; what I could find were noncommittal platitudes. An AI could have generated better answers to the Sun-Times’ 23 questions. He squandered an opportunity to stand for something and that cost him at least one vote.” — Zach Baughman
“High-resolution photos and down-to-earth face-to-face questions with residents about how they feel about certain candidates' backgrounds.” — Ronaldo Santos-Cortez
“The news media hasn’t focused enough on the specifics of these candidates' plans and how they can possibly achieve what they are promising. We are hearing a lot of grandiose promises to ‘invest in people’ and make Chicago the safest city. How can we do this without attracting and retaining a taxpayer base? The news is not challenging the candidates enough to put the dollars and cents behind their plans and put forth a realistic agenda.” — Zach Shwartz
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