Good morning, Chicago.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has said he plans to use a U.S. House committee hearing this morning to educate Republican lawmakers on how the state’s so-called sanctuary policies have helped create safer communities.
But spiraling events triggered by the Trump administration’s recent forceful immigration enforcement tactics, including in Los Angeles and Chicago, could turn a politically contentious debate far more combative.
Beginning at 9 a.m. Chicago time this morning, Pritzker will appear alongside fellow Democratic governors Kathy Hochul of New York and Tim Walz of Minnesota, who was last year’s unsuccessful vice presidential nominee, in a long-planned hearing before the Republican-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Underscoring a key Trump talking point, the GOP lawmakers repeatedly have tried to link immigration to violent crime and have faulted Democratic officials for limiting the ways state and local police can carry out immigration enforcement. The same Oversight Committee held a March hearing with big-city mayors, including Brandon Johnson of Chicago, to argue the same point.
Here’s more on what to expect today. Want to tune in? Watch it here.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including how proposed pension changes could impact Chicago, what’s planned for the former Signature Room and where the measure allowing Airbnb bans in Chicago precincts stands.
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‘Resist in this moment’: With Trump protests roiling Los Angeles, Chicago leaders continue tough stance
With protests putting a spotlight on unrest in Los Angeles and more agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly heading to Chicago, the city’s leaders so far are not flinching when it comes to being forced into cooperation with federal authorities taking part in a crackdown.
Speaking at a City Hall news conference, Mayor Brandon Johnson went on the offensive.
“This is a necessary fight for all of us to be able to push back,” Johnson said. “Whether we use the courts or whether we continue to protest or raise our voices, dissent matters in this moment. Look, (Trump) is abusing his power. We warned people though. You all know we warned people.”
Related:
- 17 arrested as Chicago protesters march against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown
- Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration says no obligation to hand city ID records to ICE
Aldermen advance measure allowing Airbnb bans in Chicago precincts
Aldermen took a step yesterday toward giving themselves the power to ban Airbnb and other short-term rentals from opening in their wards.
The City Council’s License and Consumer Protection Committee advanced the ordinance that would allow aldermen to unilaterally block new short-term rentals one precinct at a time. It could now face a final vote by all aldermen as soon as next week.
Pension change boon to Chicago police officers, firefighters, but additional hit to taxpayers
Last-minute changes approved by Illinois lawmakers in the waning days of the session will cost Chicago taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in their first year and billions over time by giving some police officers and firefighters more lucrative pensions.
School board picks Macquline King as interim CPS chief
The Chicago Board of Education yesterday approved Macquline King as interim schools chief, replacing outgoing CEO Pedro Martinez as the search for a permanent leader continues.
Graduate test prep program to lose state funding
A state program that provided free test preparation to students at public universities and some community colleges that organizers said has helped some 4,700 students since its launch in February went unfunded in the state budget approved by Illinois lawmakers last month.
New paper sheds light on experience of Black prisoners in infamous Illinois prison malaria experiments
Much has been said and written over the years about controversial malaria research conducted on inmates at Illinois’ Stateville Penitentiary starting in the 1940s.
But at least one part of that story has been largely ignored until now: the role of Black prisoners in that research, which helped lead to the modern practice of using genetic testing to understand how individual patients will react to certain medications, according to the authors of a newly published paper out of the University of Utah.
Chicago baseball report: The White Sox have a youth movement while the Cubs eye the trade deadline
The Cubs return to Wrigley Field following a three-city trip where they faced three of the best starting pitchers in the majors.
They continue their stretch of 26 games in 27 days with a 10-day homestand that kicks off today with four against the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates.
Chicago Stars players started trivia nights for fun. The result was a stronger team bond.
The NWSL season is long, with games starting in March and rolling through November. The Chicago Stars have found a fun way to release the pressures of the year — and bond.
The soccer players meet up weekly to try their hand at Waddayaknow Trivia, a free event started in 2008 at multiple bars in Illinois to keep family and friends connected in the Chicago area. Everyone needs a break, but trivia keeps the mental — and competitive — juices going.
‘Patience’ review: A detective show that takes autism seriously
A police detective in Yorkshire teams up with an autistic woman working in the records department in the British series “Patience” on PBS. Patience Evans is content to be squirreled away, working alone amid all those file folders, but when Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf requests some information, Patience slips in another file that, at first glance, seems unrelated. But there are shared patterns between the two cases. Detective Bea (as Patience calls her) is intrigued and compels the young woman to leave the comfort of her solitary workspace to come out into the field and help her solve crimes.
This new experience is at turns thrilling, distressing and overwhelming for Patience, depending on the moment. When she pushes through the discomfort, it’s because she has a genuine curiosity and is a puzzle-solver by nature. And she cares. She’s emotionally invested.
‘Materialists’ review: A matchmaker is torn between Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans
After too many mediocre rom-coms messing with us, can our own questions about romantic love and long-range sustainability ever be entirely free of either practical considerations or the other stuff — the stuff you can’t take to the bank?
Writer and director Celine Song’s second feature, “Materialists,” ruminates on the subject within the broad outlines of a romantic-comic triangle.
Observation deck operator in former John Hancock Center plans major expansion and a new ‘immersive experience’
The operator of the 360 Chicago observation deck near the top of the former John Hancock Center said the attraction is taking over two additional floors, creating the city’s first multilevel observation deck, a new three-story atrium and a 14,000-square-foot private event space.
