Good morning, Chicago.
The Trump administration yesterday repealed the scientific determination that underpins federal greenhouse gas regulations, delivering one of the most dramatic reversals of U.S. climate policy.
The reversal drew an immediate outcry from environmentalists and other critics, who said it comes as climate change intensifies. In the Midwest, this is fueling extreme heat, toxic algal blooms in the Great Lakes and tornadoes across Illinois. The move is widely expected to upend numerous U.S. policies aimed at curbing pollution.
“ This is a really profound and utter rejection of decades of scientific consensus. It shows a willingness to sacrifice the lives of Americans to boost the profits of the oil industry,” said the Sierra Club’s Illinois Chapter Director Jack Darin. “Just like we regulate ozone or particulate matter or lead, we need to be protected from carbon and other greenhouse gases as well.”
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including a look at the push to legalize human composting in Illinois, why Matas Buzelis is the new face of the Chicago Bulls and a review of “Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till.”
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Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration cuts to health care grants in Illinois, other states
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from cutting more than $600 million in health care grants meant for Illinois and three other states.
In their lawsuit, the states argue that the Trump administration has targeted them for “devastating funding cuts to basic public health infrastructure based on political animus and disagreements about unrelated topics such as federal immigration enforcement, political protest, and clean energy.”
Illinois Republicans weigh fealty to Trump as president’s agenda faces backlash and shutdown threat
House Republicans have used a slim majority to push through some of President Donald Trump’s biggest priorities — and shield him from political and legal trouble — since Trump returned to the White House last year.
But as Trump’s approval ratings slide and the federal government faces a partial shutdown this weekend, their united front is showing hairline cracks.
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas held stock in company that has county technology deal
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas held stock for years in a company with a major contract working in her office, a potential violation of the county’s conflict-of-interest rules.
Pappas has been one of the most vociferous critics of Tyler Technologies, the company that has been in charge of the rocky upgrade of the county’s property tax system, for more than a decade. Tyler has been embedded in the treasurer’s office, which calculates and mails out property tax bills, for years.
After man freed in Barrington murder-dismemberment case, online dating efforts spark anger
A convicted murderer’s recent foray into online dating is causing a stir on social media, where outraged commenters who learned of his connection to a grisly 1993 suburban slaying are warning women in search of love to swipe left.
Ex-CPD detective invokes 5th Amendment dozens of times in wrongful conviction trial
Disgraced former Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevara invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination more than 80 times yesterday in an ongoing federal wrongful conviction trial where he is accused of beating witnesses and coercing a confession in a 1989 gang-related slaying in Humboldt Park.
Human composting offers an environmentally friendly end. Some are pushing to legalize it in Illinois.
Not only is human composting affordable, but it also avoids the release of plumes of smoke from cremation and the leaking of fluids from burying embalmed bodies. In the United States, each year, cremation releases hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and funerals put hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the ground.
And for nature lovers, it is a way to return to whence they came.
US men’s hockey team opens Olympics with 5-1 rout of Latvia behind pair of Brock Nelson goals
Brock Nelson scored twice, four teammates had two assists apiece and the U.S. opened the Olympics by rolling past Latvia 5-1 yesterday in a dominant showcase of some of the country’s best NHL players.
- A 54-year-old personal injury lawyer from Minnesota becomes the oldest US Winter Olympian
- Chloe Kim falls short of an Olympic 3-peat, as the US snowboarder takes silver in the halfpipe
Column: Matas Buzelis is the new face of the Chicago Bulls — but stardom remains slightly out of reach
After a tumultuous trade deadline, Matas Buzelis is the primary option for the Bulls, the face of a team taking the first step toward redefining its identity. He’s also one of only three players available who was also on the roster a week ago. Young stars are supposed to get the spotlight treatment. But what Buzelis is receiving is something closer to a floodlight, writes Julia Poe.
Review: ‘Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till’ makes plain the injustice of that moment
Collaboraction has opened a new, 99-seat black-box theater in the Kimball Arts Center in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, a flexible venue with a spiffy attached cafe and lounge, ideal for stimulating pre- and post-show gatherings around the work of a progressive theater company with an explicit mission of confronting “Chicago’s most critical social issues” and seeking political change. Collaboraction refers to its theater as a House of Belonging — so you get the vibe.
The first show in the new space, which Chris Jones caught last weekend, is called “Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till,” and it is a re-creation of the 1955 trial of J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant for the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi.
Short film series features local Black filmmakers at Facets, Music Box for Black History Month
When Tyler Balentine was hired at the Music Box Theatre in 2023 as a concessionaire to serve popcorn and check tickets, he was informed that he could have a hand in programming too. From that seed sprouted a short film series that Balentine created, dedicated to local filmmakers of color called “Life Within the Lens.”
