Chicago Sun-Times

Four years of reader-funded journalism

This newsroom exists because readers chose to fund it. Four years later, that choice still has to be made again and again, by more people than are making it today. The Sun-Times needs to roughly double its membership by 2030, and that growth depends...

AN ILLINOIS LAW WAS SUPPOSED TO HELP FAMILIES. IT’S FAILING THEM INSTEAD.

After a traumatic week of labor with their first child that ended in a cesarean section, Eleanor Grano and her husband were burned out. They got home from the hospital after the major abdominal surgery with their newborn son, and, with the help of...

THERE WAS ‘CHEERING’ DURING ALLEGED FRAT HOUSE SEXUAL ASSAULT

She came to a fraternity party over the weekend near the University of Chicago campus, where she told the Chicago police she danced and had some drinks. But as Saturday night gave way to Sunday morning, the 21-year-old woman said she “began feeling...

COULD ELECTED CPS BOARD BE END OF MAX TAX HIKES?

Chicago’s school board has long relied on increasing property taxes annually — the only avenue the school district has available to raise revenue on its own. Those increases have generated more than $100 million every year and helped balance the...

MILE 22 MOTIVATORS

Equipped with more than 6,000 bottles of water, plastic trumpets and a DJ booth, Chloe Wilkerson, 34, and her family were ready Sunday morning for the thousands of runners to pass by the support station they had set up at Mile 22 of the Chicago...

Sox a big part of brothers’ bond

Daniel Zoric and his younger brother, Charlie, were bound by their White Sox fandom before they shared the same air. Daniel, 24, has been a fan for as long as he walked this earth. But 20-year-old Charlie’s fandom began before he was born. When their...

SPEAKING UP AND WALKING OUT

Several hundreds of students walked out of Lincoln Park High School on Thursday afternoon in solidarity with the former Cornell University student who alleged she was raped by several members of the Chi Phi fraternity at the Ivy League school in...

WAITING GAME

By the first week of October, the sea of parking lots around Rate Field typically reverts back to asphalt-desert status for its six-month hibernation period. That was certainly the case the last four years, with the White Sox piling up 405 losses...

CLINCHING THEIR THIRST?

A line of more than 20 customers stood outside of sports retail store Grandstand before it opened Tuesday at 10 a.m., but co-owners Josh and Stephanie Ganal weren’t surprised. The store at 600 W. 35th St., a few blocks from Rate Field, has been...

Four years of reader-funded journalism

This newsroom exists because readers chose to fund it. Four years later, that choice still has to be made again and again, by more people than are making it today. The Sun-Times needs to roughly double its membership by 2030, and that growth depends...

BRONZEVILLE DREAMS TURNING INTO REALITY

A network of eight community leaders says it has raised $75 million to help build or redevelop nine Bronzeville cultural sites and solidify the neighborhood as a national destination for the arts. The sites include the National Museum of Gospel Music,...

A WHOLE U BALLGAME

Northwestern University officially opened the new Ryan Field — an $875 million, 35,000-seat football stadium — for the Big Ten opener against Penn State on Friday night. Generations of fans piled into the massive structure in Evanston to celebrate a...

A MATTER OF DISTRUST

When federal prosecutors in Chicago assured a judge last spring they’d had no contact with the White House or top Justice Department officials about their pursuit of six Operation Midway Blitz protesters, U. S. District Judge April Perry took them at...

SOX AND AWE!

HOUSTON — Early in this improbable White Sox season, hitting coach Derek Shomon had a thought about second baseman Chase Meidroth that seemed bold but now seems sage. ‘‘[Assistant hitting coach] Joel [McKeithan] and I were like, ‘Dude, you can...

KNOCKING THEIR SOX OFF

Eager White Sox fans gathered Tuesday at Cork & Kerry at The Park in Armour Square in anticipation of the team’s first playoff game in five years. “I am absolutely sick to my stomach right now, but in a good way,” said Patrick Ramos, before the Sox’...

WILD, WILD QUEST

SAN DIEGO — The playoffs have arrived. The Cubs have been building to this all season long, eyeing a run deep into October. ‘‘This group is ready,’’ catcher Carson Kelly said Sunday. ‘‘It’s been a long year. We’ve had our ups and downs. But what this...

PRESIDENT AT PRESIDENTS CUP

President Donald Trump addressed the crowd at Sunday’s Presidents Cup golf tournament in suburban Medinah, saying “Our country is doing great, better than ever before.” Hundreds gathered at the first hole of the tournament, where Trump lauded the...

CHICAGO TEENS’ $50,000 QUESTION

Chicago teens would like to see more investment in job opportunities and businesses on the South and West sides, according to a survey conducted by My Block, My Hood, My City this summer. The youth empowerment nonprofit collected responses in July...

AIRFARE WARNING

Chicago travelers planning to fly this holiday season could face higher airfare as rising fuel prices put pressure on airline costs. Fares are expected to rise dramatically in the next few weeks, according to Joseph Schwieterman, director of DePaul...

HOP ON THE ‘BIKE BUS’

It might’ve looked like a bike parade at first glance. It was Friday morning in Ravenswood. A couple dozen children and parents were on bicycles. As they rode through the neighborhood, more kids and parents joined. “Big crowd today,” one neighbor...

ANTI-CTU GROUP’S BOARD GAMES?

Parents and other members of a Local School Council are asking Chicago Public Schools to sanction an organization that they say violated the district’s rules by electioneering at a back-to-school festival on school grounds. Adam Johnson, who has one...

JB ON DROPPING LBS

Gov. JB Pritzker delivered one of the most high-profile political speeches of his life two years ago at Chicago’s Democratic National Convention. But now, two years later, Pritzker, 61, said he’s astounded to see photographs and video of that...

SPOILING THE VIEW

The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry is one of those buildings that just looks good from all sides and angles — graced with perfect siting, courtesy of Daniel Burnham, and a great Greek Revival design by the hand of architect Charles Atwood. The...

WHY THERE MAY BE NO END IN SIGHT TO PUMPED-UP PRICES

Soaring gas prices have been a challenge since early this spring, but eventually came down. Are prices spiking again now? Yes. The nation’s average price of gasoline was $4.25 a gallon Monday, according to GasBuddy. The national average is up 19 cents...

CUSTOMS OFFICER SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ‘THE MOST VULNERABLE OF VICTIMS’

It simply didn’t matter whether Luis Uribe’s victims were sex workers. That’s what a prosecutor told jurors this week when he asked for a guilty verdict against the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer who used his gun and badge to commit...

FLOCK U

5 Illinois public universities use controversial Flock cameras for surveillance in hopes of combating crime and keeping campus safe, but some students and faculty are pushing back against the tech. ‘Why are we gathering this giant pool of information?’

PARKING BREAKS?

City Council leaders have brokered a proposed deal that could pave the way for approval of a New York investment firm to acquire Chicago’s parking meters for $2.5 billion, in exchange for a host of lucrative benefits for the city and motorists. Former...

CHICAGO’S MAYORAL MELEE

The crowded field of candidates running for mayor of Chicago is almost certain to narrow after the Oct. 26 filing deadline and the petition challenges that are likely to follow. But for now, 12 candidates are vying for the job and circulating...

COUNT HIM IN

HAIL TO THE KEEF

On the second night of Ye’s starstudded homecoming concert Sept. 5 at Soldier Field, Yeezy brought an unexpected special guest. In his first concert appearance within city limits in more than a decade, Chief Keef rose atop the gigantic electronic globe...

SEPTEMBER 11, 2000

On Sept. 11, 2001, my older son was 5, and some mornings played video games on my computer. So I wasn’t plugged into the world that morning. I didn’t know that American Airlines Flight 11 had struck the North Tower at 7:46 a.m. Chicago time. I did not...

TEENS’ UNWELCOME ENCOUNTER

At around 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 19, more than 160 Chicago teenagers were hanging out, eating food and taking photos at North Avenue Beach. But then, the volleyball players came. The beach party — permitted by the city — had signage around the courts....

PROUD TO PARTNER WITH THESE EXCLUSIVE BRANDS

Known for its unique blend of 23 flavors, Dr Pepper offers a truly one-of-a-kind taste experience. Since its creation in 1885 in Waco, TX, Dr Pepper has become a beloved favorite, delivering smooth, satisfying refreshment for every occasion. For those...

THE WOUNDED CITY

BEARING THE BLITZ COVERAGE BY CINDY HERNANDEZ, LAUREN FITZPATRICK AND ALDEN LOURY,

LINCOLN GLOVES RESURFACE AT CALIFORNIA MUSEUM

After being auctioned last year, bloodstained gloves Abraham Lincoln had when he was assassinated and that once were showcased at his presidential museum in Springfield have now turned up about 2,000 miles away in Southern California. The rare...

WHAT BLITZ GRAND JURORS WANTED TO KNOW

Federal grand jurors listened to more than an hour of testimony last fall about a tussle between Operation Midway Blitz protester Cole Sheridan and then-U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino — an event that lasted a matter of seconds. Prosecutors...

GARY’S ‘WARNING’ FOR COMED

ComEd customers have footed the bill for billions of dollars spent by the utility in recent years to help ensure that power stays on in Northern Illinois even during the worst weather. Yet the lights still went out in 2.4 million homes during storms...

A BRIDGE TOO AJAR

The DuSable Lake Shore Drive bridge was reopened to traffic Wednesday afternoon, more than four hours after the bridge became stuck open during a routine lift. With the bridge unable to close all the way, traffic was snarled up and down the...

CITY SEES FEWEST SUMMER MURDERS SINCE 1965

Despite historically low levels of violent crime in Chicago this year, candidates trying to replace Mayor Brandon Johnson are sweeping aside the numbers in favor of anecdotes and are depicting the city as reeling in a “crisis” of gun violence and...

THE TROUBLED HISTORY OF SOUTH CHICAGO CHAPEL

The tax bills piled up for years on an Evergreen Park couple that ran a sprawling network of crematory and funeral services across the South Side and suburbs. So did a series of professional disciplinary cases against Clark and Johanna Morgan, along...

THIS KISS

Earlier this year, Lyons Township Clerk Elyse Hoffenberg, a Democratic candidate for Cook County Board, pushed for the installation of surveillance cameras at her Countryside government office at taxpayer expense. Footage from those cameras is now at...

‘WHERE IS MY MAMA?’

Months ago, Shawnese Shannon’s family mourned her death and celebrated her life in a sea of purple. She loved Prince’s “Purple Rain” and had asked her family and friends to wear her favorite color. But recently, the memory of that celebration turned...

THE NEW TORNADO ALLEY?

So far this year, 207 tornadoes and counting have touched down in Illinois. That figure may rise as officials continue working through the remaining post-storm assessments, according to the National Weather Service. The tornado season also has yet to...

GARY POWERS ON

“We’ve been getting up trees and stuff out from people’s cars and from the front of their houses, and it’s a bunch of broken branches and everything over there from the storm that happened. I came to help out because it was in my neighborhood and my...

BLUE CROSS’ PAINFUL NEW POLICY?

The day a Chicago woman named Rachel learned Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois was “downcoding” her longtime psychiatrist’s claims and cutting his pay, she immediately got to work. She reached out to elected and state officials to see what, if...

1ST DAY ALL ABOUT POMP — AND CIRCUMSTANCES

With a DJ playing celebratory hip-hop music and blue balloons flying overhead, Leland Elementary Principal Alesia Franklin-Allen welcomed back her students. She worked to put first-timers, like five children who’d moved to the West Side school from...

‘WHY IS THIS OK?’

Melissa Dixon is on edge as she walks into Gary’s City Life Center gymnasium toward the end of the free Saturday dinner service. Three daughters, her 1-year-old granddaughter and her son-in-law surround her. Another daughter is off with a relative who...

FUNERAL HOME OF HORRORS

Latasha Johnson had given the eulogy and ended her mother’s funeral service at the South Chicago Chapel, 2939 E. 95th St., Thursday afternoon when she and her family noticed their vehicles were blocked in by Chicago police. Not long after, officers...

‘A GOOD FIGHT’ AGAINST BIG OIL

Jessica Skalka, 37, rounded the corner of a homemade bar in her dad’s garage, passing a framed collage of cutout newspaper clips marking the end of the 99-day strike at BP’s Whiting, Indiana, refinery in 2015. A row of championship banners for the...

FIRST & GOAL

Players cycled through warmups, worked at individual position drills and scrimmaged under the watchful eyes of coaches and gathered media Wednesday at Chicago State University. It was a lot like any other media day for a lot of Division I football...

FINDING HUMOR IN PUBLIC ‘BATCH-ROOMS’ — & BEYOND

Musician and comedian Al Scorch thinks he got the “last gasp” of an old-school childhood growing up in the 1980s and ’90s on Chicago’s blue-collar Northwest Side. “Pre-cellphone, pre-internet … where you’re just kind of running around the neighborhood...

DID COPS JUMP THE GUN IN ARRESTING ANTI-VIOLENCE VOLUNTEER?

Nakia Smith says he walked into a Far South Side police station to get a gun off the street. Instead, he walked out in handcuffs. Three years later, the 51-year-old antiviolence volunteer is set to go on trial Monday on gun charges that could send him...

GIANNOULIAS LAUNCHES MAYORAL BID, KNOCKS ‘REVOLVING DOOR’ AT CITY HALL

Taking aim at Mayor Brandon Johnson’s revolving door of senior leadership, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias joined the race for mayor Sunday, portraying himself as the coalition builder needed to solve Chicago’s enormous...

POURING REIGN

Zara Larsson As sweeping visuals of sun-kissed skies and crashing waves flashed behind her, Swedish popstress Zara Larsson stepped onto the T-Mobile stage and wasted no time before kicking into “Midnight Sun,” to the delight of the swelling crowd,...

LOLLA’S HOT LINES

Even with Lollapalooza in full swing at Grant Park, some fans of British pop star Charli xcx found themselves in Wicker Park yesterday for a conversation with fans ahead of the musician’s headlining Lollapalooza performance Friday. Tickets to the...

LOSS OF A CHICAGO HOOPS LEGEND

Tim Bankston, a South Side basketball star at Simeon and current boys basketball coach at Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City, was found fatally shot Wednesday morning inside a home in Auburn Gresham, according to Chicago...

SPEAKER’S UNRESOLVED SCANDAL

When Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch became speaker, a women’s group and fellow state rep called for an investigation into domestic violence and sexual harassment accusations made against him. Five years later, one person says, ‘I don’t think it was ever spoken...