Good morning, Chicago.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 15-month leadership dilemma at Chicago Public Schools was finally put to rest a week ago, with the approval of its next CEO.
That’s hardly the end of the issues facing the freshman mayor when it comes to appointing top bosses at the city’s most important sister agencies, however. His bureaucratic beef with another government board, the Chicago Housing Authority, soared to new levels when he publicly angled to usurp the board’s new CEO the same week.
And with the Chicago Transit Authority lacking a permanent leader for more than a year now, Johnson’s hesitation to appoint the agency’s popular interim president has bewildered some transit advocates and members of City Council.
The turmoil across the three agencies comes less than a year out from a potential Johnson reelection bid and could fester into a campaign-trail albatross for the freshmen mayor, whom opponents hope to paint as an inexperienced executive. But he continues to argue that dissent is not dysfunction.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Alice Yin and Talia Soglin.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: why Mayor Brandon Johnson’s agenda is under fire in Springfield, why some in the LGBTQ+ community are flocking to Peoria and how restaurants are embracing the return of communal tables.
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Airstrikes on Iran kill more than 25 as new ceasefire proposal is shared
Israel and the United States carried out a wave of attacks on Iran today, killing more than 25 people and hitting the South Pars natural gas field, and Iran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors. U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz loomed as mediators circulated a new ceasefire proposal.
At Easter time, local Iranian Christians pray for regime change and freedom of worship as war rages in their homeland
At a small Persian church in the western suburbs, the pastor bowed his head on Palm Sunday and offered a special prayer for regime change and freedom of worship in his native Iran, as the more-than-monthlong U.S.-Israeli-led war there rages on.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s agenda under fire in Springfield
Illinois lawmakers head into the busy back half of the spring legislative session seeking to quash signature parts of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s agenda, from his attempts to tax businesses based on their number of employees to his policy eliminating tipped wages.
For decades, Chicago mayors have fought uphill battles in the statehouse, but the efforts by some Democratic lawmakers to forestall Johnson are unusual.
Former CPS principal enters race for Chicago school board president
Jessica Biggs, an elected school board member representing parts of downtown and the South Side, officially announced today she is running for president of the Chicago Board of Education.
In an interview with the Tribune, Biggs said her top priority as president would be to stabilize the district’s financial footing and help the new board work together collaboratively and effectively.
As Trump administration rolls back LGBTQ+ protections, some flock to Peoria for a reprieve
Parker Ross and Ellis Deputy met between a painting and a blanket.
It was last November, soon after they’d both moved to Peoria from out of state, at a local art show for Transgender Day of Remembrance. They each had works on display and that night, there was a reception for the artists.
The chance encounter is something Deputy likens to a Hallmark movie (“It was really cute,” he said of meeting his boyfriend). But it was also a moment made possible by the couple seeking solace in the same city just a few months prior.
Bridgeport family sells home after 116 years: ‘This house has known us, kept us, and loved us’
When Joseph Slajchert first bought a workers cottage at 29th and Emerald, the automobile was on its way to replace the horse and buggy. The year was 1910. A black-and-white photo from around that time in Bridgeport shows five children wearing their Sunday best on the front steps, the boys in dapper caps.Generations of the Slajchert family stayed in the home for another 116 years, through two World Wars, global pandemics, an endless series of tragic fashion trends, the rise of the Internet and the onset of self-driving cars. Now the family is saying goodbye and selling the property after the home’s last matriarch, Antoinette “Toni” Sorich, died last summer. She was 91.
Nearly two dozen help rescue horse stranded in flooded Marengo creek
A horse stranded in an overflowing creek in Marengo was rescued by first responders on Saturday morning following overnight storms.
Marengo Fire and Rescue Districts officials said they were called for an animal water rescue in an area off the 22900 block of Anthony Road in unincorporated McHenry County, where a horse was standing in floodwaters about 600 feet from the nearest shore.
‘We were just special’: Eclectic group of Illinois players says emotional goodbye after memorable season ends
When the clock hit zero, Illinois senior forward Ben Humrichous dropped to a squat and bowed his head. Freshman guard Keaton Wagler looked back toward his team’s bench as UConn celebrated its 72-61 national semifinal win over the Illini, and he saw Humrichous having a private moment.
“When I saw that, the tears started going down my face super fast,” Wagler said.
- Illinois rally — and season — falls short in 71-62 Final Four loss to UConn: ‘Definitely wasn’t our night’
- Column: Gritty Illinois effort ends with heartbreaking Final Four loss, a bitter finish to a delicious season
Restaurants embrace the return of communal tables as diners look for deeper connections when eating out
It’s 6 p.m. on a recent Saturday night and chef Dominique Leach is busy getting ready for the multicourse dinner she will soon be serving. But she’s not at Lexington Betty’s Smokehouse, her popular South Side restaurant. Instead, Leach is in a creative workspace not far from Chinatown. In the center of the open room is one long table decorated with white tablecloths, candles and place settings for the 24 guests who will be arriving soon.
Stay tuned Cincinnati: WKRP is coming to town for real, North Carolina station’s director says
Hold on to those Thanksgiving turkeys! WKRP is coming to Cincinnati — for real this time.
“I cannot, by contract, tell you when. I cannot tell you who. But I can tell you, direct to the camera, WKRP, after 48 years, is coming to Cincinnati,” D.P. McIntire, who runs the media nonprofit that is auctioning the famous call letters, told The Associated Press. “Book it! It’s done!”
The call sign was made famous by “WKRP in Cincinnati,” a CBS television sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1982. It made stars of actors like Loni Anderson and Richard Sanders, whose bumbling newsman Les Nessman reported on a Thanksgiving promotion gone bad when live but flightless turkeys were dropped from a helicopter.
