Good morning, Chicago.
Nearly a year after a toxic asphalt spill in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, state and local officials and environmental advocates say the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended the cleanup effort before it was completed.
A week before Thanksgiving, the agency posted a notice on its website that federal operations in the canal had been concluded.
“That was kind of shocking that (the EPA) is not living up to the things that they need to do, protecting the environment and monitoring this,” said Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council. “It was a half-million gallons of liquid asphalt that was just poured into the river. That’s incredibly problematic.”
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Christiana Freitag.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including why the Justice Department will not open a civil rights investigation in the Minnesota ICE shooting, this week’s Bears mailbag and 5 concerts across 5 genres for your MLK weekend.
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Trump says anything less than having Greenland in the United States’ hands is ‘unacceptable’
President Donald Trump said today that anything less than U.S. control of Greenland is unacceptable, hours before Vice President JD Vance was to host Danish and Greenlandic officials for talks.
- Denmark, Greenland leaders stand united against Trump’s Greenland takeover call ahead of key meeting
Justice Department sees no basis for civil rights probe in Minnesota ICE shooting, official says
The decision to keep the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division out of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good marks a sharp departure from past administrations, which have moved quickly to probe shootings of civilians by law enforcement officials for potential civil rights offenses.
- Six prosecutors quit after push to investigate ICE shooting victim’s widow
- Tensions flare in Minnesota as protesters and federal agents repeatedly square off
Illinois 9th Congressional District candidate Bruce Leon drops out, backs ex-FBI agent Phil Andrew
Long-shot congressional candidate Bruce Leon, who has said the influential pro-Israel lobbying organization AIPAC pressured him into dropping out of the race for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, officially filed paperwork to remove his name from the ballot and endorsed Phil Andrew, a former FBI agent.
‘He was watching them:’ Murder trial opens in case of slain Cook County judge
Before presiding over his courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Court Building each morning, Cook County Associate Judge Raymond Myles was known to rise early and go to the gym.
But unbeknownst to him, prosecutors said, someone was watching him, studying his movements over the course of several days as he and his girlfriend left to work out in the morning before work.
Indiana doxing bill passes; firing squad bill held in Senate committee
The doxing bill was amended and passed out of the Indiana Senate Corrections and Criminal Law committee, while the firing squad bill was held — with an ominous message from the committee chairman about the death penalty.
Supreme Court seems likely to uphold state bans on transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports
The Supreme Court on appeared ready yesterday to deal another setback to transgender people and uphold state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams.
The court’s conservative majority, which has repeatedly ruled against transgender Americans in the past year, signaled during more than three hours of arguments it would rule the state bans don’t violate either the Constitution or the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.
Autopsy: Missing CPS teacher drowned in apparent suicide
An autopsy performed yesterday determined that Linda Brown, the Chicago Public Schools teacher whose body was pulled from Lake Michigan after going missing earlier this month, drowned in a suicide.
“I wish she knew how much of an impact she had,” Brown’s niece, Jen Rivera, told the Tribune, “and how much she was loved.”
Chicago Bears Q&A: Is Caleb Williams throwing over the middle more? How is Matthew Stafford in the cold?
The Green Bay Packers are in the rearview mirror. The Los Angeles Rams are coming to Soldier Field for an NFC divisional-round game Sunday against the Bears.
But before we turn the page on Saturday’s epic comeback, the Tribune’s Brad Biggs fields one more question in his weekly Bears mailbag about coach Ben Johnson stoking the Packers rivalry.
- What is Bears coach Ben Johnson’s ‘good, better, best’ victory speech?
- Bears’ wild-card win over Packers sets NFL streaming viewership record with 31.61 million average
For Dry January, hospitality industry experts discuss why they’re cutting back on alcohol
This time of year, with Dry January in full swing, it’s hard to ignore the sobering (pun intended) stories and stats on alcohol consumption. According to a 2025 Gallup poll, a record-low 54% of Americans reported that they consume alcohol. It was the third consecutive year the poll found declines in Americans’ reported drinking. For the first time, a majority of Americans say drinking in moderation — one or two drinks a day — is bad for their health.
5 concerts across 5 genres for your MLK weekend
Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend has become a special time to celebrate the life and legacy of the reverend and civil rights activist. Besides being a national day of rest and service, the weekend has also become a great time to support a variety of Black artists and musicians. And this year is no exception, with something to appease the tastes of listeners across genres as different as country, classical, R&B, and house music, among many others. We’ve selected some of the most eclectic and special events taking place across the city.
