Chicago voters will consider a ballot measure on Tuesday that progressive Democrats see as a solution to homelessness. The proposal would allow the City Council to increase real estate tax revenue to help fund programs to get people off the street. But the vote will be about a lot more than that. The ballot measure […]
Read MoreTag: Chicago (Ill)
Chicago Begins Evicting Migrants From Shelters, Citing Strain on Resources
Chicago officials on Sunday began evicting some migrants from shelters, joining other cities that have made similar moves to ease pressure on overstretched resources. The process is starting gradually. Out of the nearly 11,000 migrants living in 23 homeless shelters in Chicago, according to the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, a fraction — 34 […]
Read MoreFor Ytasha Womack, the Afrofuture is Now
On Feb. 17, the Adler Planetarium in Chicago unveiled a new sky show called “Niyah and the Multiverse,” a blend of theoretical cosmology, Black culture and imagination. And as with many things Afrofuturistic, Ytasha Womack’s fingerprints are all over it. Ms. Womack, who writes both about the genre and from within it, has curated Afrofuturism […]
Read MoreIn Chicago, It’s Summer in February
February is usually frigid perfection for the ice rink at Millennium Park in downtown Chicago, a favorite winter stop for tourists and local families that stands in the shadow of the reflective sculpture known as the Bean. On Tuesday morning, the rink was melting. Under an intense sun and 70-degree air temperatures, water slowly trickled […]
Read MoreAs Buses of Migrants Arrive in Chicago Suburbs, Residents Debate the Role of Their Towns
In different times, the tiny brick Metra station in the town of Wilmette in suburban Chicago was just a place where commuters grabbed lattes and waited on black metal benches before boarding trains to the city. These days, it has also become a welcome center of sorts for migrants. Large cardboard boxes full of coats, […]
Read MoreJoliet Police Conduct Manhunt for Suspect in 8 Fatal Shootings
The police in Joliet, Ill., were searching on Monday for a suspect in the fatal shooting of eight people, seven of whom were found dead in two homes on the same block on the city’s east side, the authorities said. The suspect, Romeo Nance, 23, was believed to be driving a red Toyota Camry, and […]
Read MoreSomeone Filled the Chicago Rat Hole. Residents Took Action.
Where have you gone, Chicago rat hole? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Life, as the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once said, is a pendulum that swings between pain and boredom. But Schopenhauer could not account for the elation with which residents of Chicago embraced an unlikely attraction this month: a hole in […]
Read MoreThe ‘Chicago Rat Hole’ Is the City’s Latest Tourist Spot
Winslow Dumaine was heading to a store on Chicago’s North Side when he saw it: a hole in the sidewalk on Roscoe Street with an uncanny resemblance to a rodent. Mr. Dumaine, who is an artist and comedian, said the hole represented two themes often present in his work: morbidity and whimsy. “Had to make […]
Read MoreReggie Wells, Makeup Artist for Oprah Winfrey and Other Black Stars, Dies at 76
Reggie Wells, who parlayed a background in fine art into a trailblazing career as a makeup artist for Oprah Winfrey, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, Michelle Obama and other Black celebrities, died on Monday in Baltimore. He was 76. His death was confirmed by his niece Kristina Conner, who did not specify a cause or say where […]
Read MoreBlizzard Grounds Flights in Chicago With Warning for Millions in Northern U.S.
Planes were grounded for more than two hours at Chicago’s largest airport on Friday morning as a blizzard dumped snow and ice across much of the northern United States, disrupting commutes, air travel and the school day for millions of Americans. The blizzard also caused headaches for Republican presidential candidates in Iowa ahead of Monday’s […]
Read MoreThe Midwest Braces for a Blizzard, and More Severe Storms Will Slam the South
A relentless weather pattern that caused headaches for large portions of the United States this week will deliver blizzard conditions across the Midwest and Great Lakes on Friday and into the holiday weekend, while severe weather will again settle over the South and East, forecasters said. Nearly 30 million people, mostly in the Midwest and […]
Read MoreMore Than 1,000 Flights Are Canceled as Extreme Weather Batters the U.S.
More than a thousand domestic and international flights in the United States were canceled on Tuesday as extreme weather pummeled the country from coast to coast. With more than 70 flights called off, Chicago O’Hare International Airport had the most cancellations, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. Ronald Reagan National Airport had about 45 […]
Read MoreBiden Faces Pressure on Immigration, and Not Just From Republicans
President Biden is under growing pressure to curb record numbers of migrants crossing into the United States — not just from the usual Republican critics, but also from Democratic mayors and governors in cities thousands of miles from the border. What used to be a clear-cut, ideological fight between Democrats and Republicans has become a […]
Read MoreAdams’s Effort to Control Migrant Buses Faces Instant Obstacles
A chartered bus from Texas filled with migrants pulled onto a street near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan at 10:03 p.m. Thursday. It was about 24 hours after Mayor Eric Adams had signed an emergency executive order meant to limit the arrival of such buses to several hours in the morning in […]
Read MoreAfter Rise in Murders During the Pandemic, a Sharp Decline in 2023
Detroit is on track to record the fewest murders since the 1960s. In Philadelphia, where there were more murders in 2021 than in any year on record, the number of homicides this year has fallen more than 20 percent from last year. And in Los Angeles, the number of shooting victims this year is down […]
Read MorePro-Palestinian Protests Block Traffic at New York and L.A. Airports
More than two dozen pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested Wednesday morning after they blocked traffic heading to Kennedy International Airport in New York City during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, according to the Port Authority Police Department. In total, 26 people were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and impeding vehicular traffic, […]
Read MoreShootings Dip in Chicago, but Grow in Domestic Violence Cases
Chicago is expected to end 2023 with a double-digit decline in both shootings and homicides, a sign that the pandemic-era rise in gun violence is beginning to recede. But citywide data shows that a small subset of Chicago’s shootings — those involving domestic violence — have accelerated this year, a spike that is prompting new […]
Read MoreRichard Hunt, Sculptor Who Transformed Public Spaces, Dies at 88
Richard Hunt, a prolific sculptor whose towering metalwork became a mainstay of American public art, and whose 70-year career drew the attention of presidents from Lyndon B. Johnson to Barack Obama, died on Saturday at his home in Chicago. He was 88. The death was confirmed by Mr. Hunt’s studio and by his biographer, Jon […]
Read More$10 Million Settlement Reached After Teenager Found Dead in Freezer
The mother of a Chicago teenager who was found dead of hypothermia in a hotel’s walk-in freezer in 2017 agreed this week to a $10 million settlement, according to court records. The teenager, Ken’neka Jenkins, visited the Crowne Plaza Chicago-O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Ill., around 1 a.m. on Sept. 9, 2017, according to a lawsuit […]
Read MoreChicago Architecture Biennial Review: Floating Museum Aims High
Faheem Majeed, a member of the art collective the Floating Museum and one of the artistic directors of this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial, was standing on a patch of soil on the South Side on a brisk, sunny afternoon last month. Next to him was the artist Erika Allen, a founder and the chief executive […]
Read More5 Concierges Recommend Luxury Gift Experiences
When Muchi Gubwe was a fledgling hotel concierge in Cape Town, he would often refer to his seasoned colleagues as “moving encyclopedias.” “Forget Google,” Mr. Gubwe, now the head concierge at the Mount Nelson, a Belmond hotel in the city’s Gardens neighborhood, said on a video call last month. “These are the people you need […]
Read MoreAmtrak Train Derails in Michigan After Hitting Vehicle on Tracks
An Amtrak passenger train carrying more than 200 passengers derailed in Michigan on Thursday night after striking a vehicle on the tracks; there were no immediate reports of injuries, the national railroad company said. Amtrak said the accident happened about 10 p.m. near New Buffalo, Mich., a township near Lake Michigan, about an hour east […]
Read MoreDozens Are Injured in Chicago Train Crash
Dozens of people were injured on Thursday morning when a Chicago Transit Authority train struck a plow on the tracks on Chicago’s North Side, the authorities said. Twenty-three people were taken to hospitals in conditions ranging from serious to fair, with head injuries and other types of non-life-threatening injuries, Keith Gray, an assistant deputy chief […]
Read MoreIn Chicago, a Neighborhood of Immigrants Is Conflicted About More Arrivals
For generations, Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood has been made and remade by successive waves of immigrants. So many arrived from Poland that Pope John Paul II, who was Polish, paid a visit in the 1970s. When Polish and Lithuanian families were moving out in the 1990s, Mexican Americans bought houses, opened businesses and forged a […]
Read MoreObama’s Presidential Center Is Rising, Finally, in Chicago
More than eight years have passed since Barack Obama proclaimed that his presidential center would be built on Chicago’s South Side, where he got his start as a community organizer and politician. The announcement brought a swell of pride to the city, which beat out Honolulu, Mr. Obama’s birthplace, and New York City, where he […]
Read MoreTwo Sides of the Catholic Divide in One American Archdiocese
When the Rev. John Trout heard that Pope Francis wanted feedback from parishes before a major Vatican gathering this month on the church’s future, he decided that his suburban Chicago congregation would go all in. St. Joseph Catholic Church hung banners about the meeting, distributed surveys, and invited an expert from Loyola University Chicago to […]
Read MoreTim Scott Tackles Race and Racism in Chicago, Trying to Gain Traction
Senator Tim Scott, struggling to gain traction less than three months before the first Republican primary ballots are cast, came to the South Side of Chicago on Monday to rebuke the welfare state and the liberal politicians he dismissed as “drug dealers of despair.” The speech was at New Beginnings Church in the poor neighborhood […]
Read MoreDorothy Hoffner, Chicago Woman Who Skydived at 104, Dies
Dorothy Hoffner, the centenarian who gained international adoration for skydiving at age 104 earlier this month, all while exhibiting an air of blasé disregard for the attention the feat brought her, died in her sleep overnight Sunday into Monday at her home in Chicago. Joe Conant, a nurse who had known Ms. Hoffner for around […]
Read MoreNearly 1,000 Migrating Birds Die After Striking Chicago Building
Millions of birds fly over Chicago during the fall migration season, and a number of them die after being confused by bright lights or after trying to fly through a window, but the carpet of bird carcasses outside a convention center on Thursday morning shocked people who have been monitoring birds in the city for […]
Read MoreAs Winter Looms, Venezuelan Migrant Surge Overwhelms Chicago
The buses packed with Venezuelan migrants are now arriving in downtown Chicago day and night, doubling in number in recent weeks. City officials are struggling to open more shelters, while more than 2,300 migrants are sleeping at police stations, in lobbies and just outside in makeshift camps. At the city’s airports, migrants who have just […]
Read MoreChicago Woman Skydives at Age 104
Dorothy Hoffner, born in 1918, had survived both the Spanish flu and Covid pandemics, as well as her first skydiving attempt at age 100. That might explain what was on her mind before her second skydive as she prepared for a roughly 10,000-foot descent. “What are we having for dinner?” she recalled thinking. Ms. Hoffner, […]
Read More