Good morning, Chicago.
Wyteria Jones’ life is as mysterious as her 1982 disappearance.
The married mother of five was last seen in late September/early October at the Douglas Hotel in Elgin, an offsite residential facility for the Elgin Mental Health Center from which she was moving.
Some said her plan was to go to Aurora, where her husband lived, and others said she was headed to Joliet. She never made it to either destination as far as police are aware and has never been seen again.
Her disappearance 44 years ago makes hers the Elgin Police Department’s oldest unsolved missing person case. And what makes it all the more difficult to solve, says detective Andrew Houghton, is how little they know about Jones, who was 45 years old when last seen.
“We’d like to get some personal information about her time here,” said Houghton, a member of the police department’s Cold Case Unit, which also includes detectives Chris Hall and Beth Sterricker.
“Wyteria is Missing” is the the name they’ve given to the third season of their “Somebody Knows Something” podcast, which launches in late March on Spotify, Apple and other streaming services. It will explore different theories as to what might have happened, including whether she might have intentionally disappeared.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: how Chicago celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, the latest from the NCAA Tournament, and what Chicago blues musician made an appearance at the Oscars.
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On final weekend before Illinois primary, candidates try to keep it local despite flood of out-of-state money
Candidates fanned out across the state to hit traditional campaign stops in the final weekend before Tuesday’s primary, wooing local audiences in an election increasingly overcome by national events and out-of-state money.
Some trooped through soupy rain along Western Avenue at the South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Others toured West and South Side churches with predominantly Black congregations. Still others held rallies in favored locales.
- Illinois voter guide to the 2026 primary election
- Tribune Editorial Board endorsements for 2026 Illinois primary election
Illinois’ Senate Democratic primary a lesson in campaign finance and a test of Gov. JB Pritzker’s power
When U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced last April he would not seek a sixth term, he created the state’s first open U.S. Senate seat in a generation and kicked off a tumultuous campaign that has unfolded amid the turbulence of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Since then, Illinois Democrats have battled through a primary shaped by Trump’s aggressive and sometimes deadly federal immigration enforcement, threats to strip federal funding from Illinois and other states that have opposed him and, more recently, a war with Iran.
Illinois General Assembly races feature open seats, big bucks and a reelection bid after corruption mistrial
For an institution that is supposed to represent every corner of the state, the Illinois General Assembly can often be a stratified place where insiders thrive, outsiders feel unwelcome and change is slow.
But with the March 17 primary just days away, fresh faces are vying to replace experienced lawmakers and outside campaign cash has infiltrated a string of races for the Illinois House and Senate.
First responders, high school sports champions, highlight South Side Irish Parade
Numbers at the 48th running of the South Side Irish parade appeared down because of a heavy rainstorm an hour before the step off. Interestingly, the sun came out at noon when the Chicago Stockyard Kilty Band stepped off, but 37 minutes later the rain returned.
St. Patrick’s Day traditions live with green-dyed river and parade
Downtown Chicago looked like a sea of green, or more precisely a river of green, on Saturday as crowds gathered for the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities.
Just before 10 a.m., boats from Shoreline Sightseeing carrying members of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 sprayed bright green dye into the Chicago River, continuing a decades-old tradition that draws thousands of spectators each year.
In Will County, a deluge of data centers, warehouses and solar farms: ‘All around us, all at once’
As a little girl, Terri Papesh learned to swim, fish and ice-skate on Jackson Creek. She and her husband, Ralph, built their dream home alongside the creek near Elwood, a suburb 40 miles southwest of Chicago. They hammered it together themselves with help from their friends and family.
Today, the bluegills, catfish and Canada geese that once populated the area have mostly abandoned the creek, which has long been polluted by runoff from farms and nearby parking lots. Every couple of years, during a hard rain, the creek floods her driveway.
And new problems are piling up at a dizzying rate. A surge of investments in data centers, warehouses and solar farms threatens to pave over many of the corn and soybean fields that have long provided both a threat and a haven for her Jackson Creek refuge.
Column: As Big Ten tries — again — to end its men’s NCAA Tournament drought, who’s under the most pressure?
Befitting its reputation, the Big Ten will send nine teams to this year’s Big Dance, with top-seeded Michigan having the best chance to end the streak, followed by Purdue, Illinois and Michigan State.
But, Paul Sullivan writes, who really knows after the Wolverines barely survived their first two Big Ten Tournament games at the United Center, then lost 80-72 to Purdue in yesterday’s title game?
- NCAA Tournament: Notre Dame women receive a No. 6 seed and Illinois is seeded 7th
- NCAA Tournament: Illinois men are a No. 3 seed and face Penn — and a familar foe — in the 1st round
Marist stuns defending champion Benet 44-28 for program’s first state basketball title: ‘It’s a dream’
With a college football career at NC State looming, Marist’s Stephen Brown had one more high school basketball game left to play. And the last one just happened to be the biggest of his career.
Brown scored eight points, pulled down eight rebounds and was huge defensively Saturday night as Marist rolled to a stunningly convincing 44-28 win over defending champion Benet in the Class 4A state championship game at the State Farm Center in Champaign. It was the first state title in program history.
‘One Battle After Another’ triumphs at 98th Academy Awards in coronation for Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was crowned best picture at the 98th Academy Awards, handing Hollywood’s top honor to a comic, multi-generational American saga of political resistance.
Early motion picture company Essanay was the Disney of its day, making 2,000 films
Hollywood was at the center of the entertainment world last night as the Academy Awards ceremony attracts what typically is the year’s largest non-sports television audience. More than a century ago, though, Chicago was sparking the fledgling film industry while Southern California had yet to get started making movies.
Nominate a Chicago Top Workplace for 2026
Great workplaces don’t happen by accident. They are built to bring out the best in people. If you know of one, nominate it as a Top Workplace in Chicagoland.For the 17th year, the Chicago Tribune will honor outstanding workplace culture in the region. Any organization with 75 or more employees in the region is eligible to compete for a Top Workplaces award. Standout companies will be honored in fall 2026.
