Happy New Year, quotes readers!
Thousands of Chicagoans braved the cold to celebrate New Year’s Eve at the corner of Wacker Drive and Franklin Street in the Loop and were treated to fireworks, musical performances and a countdown to midnight projected on the Merchandise Mart. This year’s expanded festivities were part of the national broadcast for “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest,” which featured the Windy City for the first time.
But while downtown Chicago rang in the new year with raucous revelry, a quieter celebration took place at Mount Sinai Hospital, when Brandon Alexander Whittington entered the world as the first Chicago baby of 2026. A day later, Elizabeth Branske and Melissa Nunez became the first couple married in Cook County in the new year, making history as the first lesbian couple selected for the annual honor by the Cook County clerk’s office.
The start of the new year signifies a time of change for many — local governments included. In Illinois, hundreds of new state laws took effect Jan. 1: expanding legal protections for abortion care providers, implementing a measure aimed at police accountability and regulating the use of artificial intelligence at community colleges. Meanwhile, in New York, Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor just after midnight Thursday, becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor and the first of South Asian descent.
Millions of Americans will also begin the new year with higher health insurance costs after Affordable Care Act subsidies expired, which Cook County Health leaders warn could affect hospitals across the state. At the same time, flu cases are on the rise nationwide. Chicago is reporting a spike in flu-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations, and in suburban Cook County, flu activity has jumped to high levels.
In education news, the school board voted Monday to hike its property tax levy, and Chicago Public Schools formally challenged a petition in favor of unionizing 1,600 “miscellaneous” district workers.
Also this week, a state investigation revealed that roughly 400 government employees fraudulently obtained Paycheck Protection Program loans meant to keep small businesses afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, the national Sports Betting Alliance sued the city to prevent a sports betting tax from going into effect and President Donald Trump announced on social media that the National Guard will leave Illinois, as his administration drops the push to deploy troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon.
The past year was a good one for all kinds of Illinois football fans — and 2026 is shaping up to be even better. The Illini won the Music City Bowl, Northwestern’s $862 million stadium is set to open in the fall and the Chicago Bears went from worst to first in their division, clinching the NFC North title and a chance to win in the wild-card round at home.
But before the bright lights of the NFL playoffs, the regular season is still underway. On Sunday, the Bears ran out of late-game magic, coming up short of a game-winning touchdown in the final seconds and falling to the San Francisco 49ers 42-38. Now the team is preparing for one final regular season game — and the stakes couldn’t be higher. The Bears and first-year coach Ben Johnson will take on the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Soldier Field. And with the No. 2 seed in the NFC on the line, Johnson says they’re “playing to win” against his former team.
Well, that’s all for this week! Here’s the Tribune’s Quotes of the Week quiz, this time with excerpts and utterances from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3. Want more quotes? You can find our past editions, here. And in case you missed it, check out the Great 2025 Chicago Tribune holiday news quiz.
Happy quizzing!
