Well, that’s just about a wrap on February. But before we look ahead to all that March has to offer (primary elections, the Oscars, St. Patrick’s Day and the return of baseball, to name a few), let’s catch up on what happened this week.
The Northeast started the week buried in snow, but thankfully in Chicago our streets stayed clear of the white stuff. Instead, we experienced what some are calling “weather whiplash.” Temperatures reached 60 degrees Friday but quickly fell back down to the 30s by the evening.
Whiplash is also what many Chicago Bears fans are feeling, as the team keeps residents of Illinois and Indiana guessing as to where they will end up. On Thursday, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed off on a stadium bill that creates a financial structure for the Bears to move to Hammond. In the meantime, the Chicago Park District is preparing plans of its own, proposing a $630 million revamp of Soldier Field if and when the Bears leave. And for their part, the team was focused this week on none other than football, scouting potential players at the NFL combine in Indianapolis.
Back in Chicago, residents paid their respects to the late Rev. Jesse Jackson. More than a week of memorial services and visitations began in the city Thursday, with more to be held in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina next week for the civil rights icon who passed away on Feb. 17 at the age of 84.
In other local news, the city of Chicago’s credit rating was downgraded by two agencies, making it more expensive for the city to borrow money, the state began accepting applications for Chicago businesses looking to operate video gambling machines, and City Council advanced a new hotel tax to boost tourism. A Cook County tech vendor, Tyler Technologies, also accused one public official of verbally abusing its employees this week. Plus, the driverless taxi company, Waymo, started mapping Chicago’s streets using vehicles that have a human behind the wheel, for now.
Chicago’s mayor traveled to Washington, D.C., along with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and actor Robert De Niro, to present a rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union. During his address to Congress — which was the longest ever — the president tried to convince Americans that the nation overall is doing well.
Trump’s Pentagon clashed with the AI company Anthropic, threatening to pull its contract after its CEO said that it cannot allow unrestricted use of its technology that includes the AI chatbot Claude. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced this week that another organization that works with the Pentagon, Scouting America, will change several policies, including one that targets transgender youths.
The fallout over the files about the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continued this week. The Justice Department is reviewing whether it mistakenly withheld any documents after several news outlets reported that some records related to Trump were not released, Hillary and Bill Clinton were called before Congress to speak about the nature of their relationship with Epstein, and Bill Gates apologized to his foundation’s employees for his ties to the disgraced financier, while admitting to having affairs with Russian women. Also, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will resign from his teaching position at Harvard University after the school investigated his ties to Epstein.
In other national news, the president openly criticized the Supreme Court’s recent decision on tariffs during his State of the Union, as FedEx joined a slew of other companies this week seeking a full refund from the U.S. government on import taxes they paid last year. The suburban medical supply company Medline told the Tribune it will also seek a refund if a legal pathway to do so opens up. Another Illinois-based company, State Farm, is issuing $5 billion in auto insurance dividends — or around $100 per vehicle — to its customers after the company saw lower than expected collision repair costs.
In sports, both the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey teams beat Canada to win gold in Milan. Returning from the Olympic break, the Blackhawks lost their first game back after 22 days off. The Bulls did not fare too well either, with their 11th straight loss on Thursday. Chicago’s NBA team has gone the whole month of February without winning a game — that’s historically bad.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s baseball teams are busy soaking up the sun at spring training. The White Sox are rebuilding and the Cubs are motivated to build off their success last season and make it back to the World Series.
That’s all for this week. Time to test your knowledge with the Tribune’s Quotes of the Week quiz for February 22 to 28. Missed last week? You can find it here or check out our past editions of Quotes of the Week.
