Good morning, Chicago.
In a big week for city sports teams, the Chicago Sky advanced to the WNBA Finals for the second time in franchise history, and the White Sox on Thursday take on the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the American League Division Series (3:07 p.m., FS1). Lance Lynn gets the start for the South Siders as they look to get the postseason off on the right foot against an Astros team the Sox struggled against this season.
It has been a long Sox season — full of defining moments — but the fruition of it starts this afternoon in Houston. Reporters LaMond Pope (@lamondpope on Twitter) and Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) and columnist Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) will be covering all the action, including what to watch for and, of course, their predictions for the series.
And in a city that sometimes feels like a Cubs town, we sought out some of the biggest White Sox fans around to ask what made them pick the South Siders in the first place, and what kept them loyal. “The Sox are for the people that make Chicago run,” said Matt Ragas, who moved to the South Loop in 2010 from Florida. “And the Cubs are for the people who run Chicago.”
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Biden visits Chicago on Thursday to promote vaccine mandate for large employers
President Joe Biden travels to Chicago on Thursday on a rescheduled visit to promote his mandate that large employers require workers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.
Biden is expected to visit a business in northwest suburban Elk Grove Village that mandates vaccines for employment.
Chicago police Officer Carmella Means sounds like the kind of member a union would like to have — she knows the contract and advises others on how to hold police bosses accountable to it, filing grievances when necessary.
But Means was instead suspended from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 for challenging the organization in a public protest outside its headquarters, taking issue with what she thought was a discriminatory and wrongheaded position leaders had taken on officers who knelt to denounce police brutality.
Illinois’ massive new clean energy bill, signed into law last this month, is a landmark in the state’s battle against climate change: a systematic plan for boosting solar and wind power, getting a million electric cars on the road, and phasing out coal and natural gas by 2050.
It’s also an opportunity for consumers to save some cash, analysts say.
Bears name Justin Fields the starting quarterback moving forward: ‘He’s earned it’
Justin Fields’ parents wanted to celebrate Tuesday night. Bears coach Matt Nagy had informed the rookie that he would be the team’s starting quarterback moving forward, reversing course from his months-long mantra that Andy Dalton was QB1. The Fields family decided it was cause for a dinner out, to which the first-round pick responded, “Nah, I’m cool.”
“Because I’m trying to win this weekend,” Fields said Wednesday.
For the past 18 months of the pandemic, the dining options in the Loop have dwindled.
Into this confusing time steps Urbanspace, a company with multiple food halls in New York that hopes to bring two large projects downtown. A Willis Tower outlet is set to open in 2022, but the location at 15 W. Washington St. is here. It’s a much-needed bright spot for the neighborhood, Tribune food critic Nick Kindelsperger writes.
