Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: A federal judge’s review finds immigration enforcement agents eagerly used tear gas, slammed their brakes to cause crashes and gave reports refuted by video.
🗞️ Plus: A workforce resource center opens in Chatham, a dance workshop for Parkinson’s disease patients and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Bears beat the Steelers 31-28 in another nail-biter; the Blackhawks lost to the Avalanche, 1-0.
⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌥️
Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain and a high near 52.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES 🗞️
Judge’s review criticizes federal immigration agents’ ‘unprecedented’ use of force
By Sophie Sherry, Tom Schuba, Jon Seidel and Kade Heather
Blistering review: A federal judge has issued a blistering review of immigration agents’ use of force during “Operation Midway Blitz,” offering new insight into the aggressive deportation campaign that has torn through Chicago area neighborhoods. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis found examples of agents eagerly using tear gas, slamming their brakes to cause car crashes and using ChatGPT to write their reports.
Gunman arrested: In related news, federal officials announced a gunman had been arrested for firing at U.S. Border Patrol agents amid chaotic protests in Little Village on Nov. 8, but no charges have been revealed. But Thursday, a federal gun possession case was unsealed against a man matching the description officials had provided for the suspected shooter.
Bovino bounty?: New details involving an alleged $10,000 bounty on U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino’s head have been revealed in a freshly unsealed court document, including text messages that feds say show a street gang’s response to Bovino’s immigration blitz.
Signs mark arrests: Signs resembling temporary no-parking notices have been appearing in the city, intended to serve as reminders of the thousands of people arrested by federal immigration authorities and the pain left for loved ones and communities.
✶✶✶✶
Stratton vows to not take corporate PAC money in Senate bid despite history of doing so
By Tina Sfondeles
Stratton’s PAC money: Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has repeatedly vowed she won’t take “a single dime” of corporate PAC money for her U.S. Senate campaign. But she has a history of accepting such donations as well as direct corporate contributions into her state campaign funds.
‘Fundamentally different’: Stratton, who launched her campaign to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in April, is also benefiting from contributions from corporate owners and directors — a distinction her supporters defend as “fundamentally different” than corporate PAC dollars.
✶✶✶✶
Endangered Southwest Side chapel could be headed toward salvation
By Lee Bey
Chicago history: Ave Maria Chapel, built in 1956, was designed by and for Lithuanians who settled on the Southwest Side following World War II, fleeing Soviet occupation of their homeland. Lately, there’s been fear this unique brick building and its former monastery might be lost, as the Marian Fathers Catholic order put the entire campus up for sale last summer.
What’s next: The Brother David Darst Center, a nonprofit that educates young people on social justice issues, says it has a countersigned offer letter with the Marian Brothers to buy the chapel and monastery.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ✶
- Friday night shooting: A 14-year-old boy was killed and eight other teens were wounded in separate shootings on a bustling Friday night that saw thousands of people gather in the Loop to kick off the holiday season.
- Alleged abuse at megachurch: Kane County authorities say they’re unaware of anyone from Chapelstreet Church reporting potential child sex abuse involving Don Vanthournout, a former youth leader who, along with the evangelical congregation and one of its top leaders, was recently sued by an accuser.
- Court records revelation: Lawrence Reed, charged with setting fire to a woman on a CTA Blue Line L train, repeatedly violated the conditions of his home detention in a separate criminal case before the attack.
- Cop faces firing: Officer Aramis Williams is facing dismissal after he tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana just months after he was arrested for allegedly driving drunk and groping a woman at a bar.
- County budget OKd: The Cook County Board voted unanimously last week to approve Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s $10.1 billion budget for next year — a spending plan without a deficit, layoffs, new taxes, fees or fines.
- Turkey tally: The national average price for a 16-pound frozen turkey dropped 16.3% from last year to $21.50, or $1.34 per pound. In Illinois, the same turkey is $18.03 on average, the Illinois Farm Bureau said.
- Turkey giveaway: Thousands of halal turkeys found their way into the hands of families in need last week through citywide holiday giveaways, as residents in Chicago and beyond navigate uncertainty over federal food assistance.
MUST-READ COMMENTARY 🗣️
Mom forced to give birth at roadside is symptom of broken health care system
By Neil Steinberg
The plight of Mercedes Wells, who was about to give birth and was turned away from an Indiana hospital, reflects a bleak national reality — and is a classic Chicago story of transcending heartbreak.
____
Rewiring city’s technology ties following ShotSpotter saga
By Robert Vargas
At a moment when President Donald Trump is seeking every tool possible to target his perceived political enemies, there’s no better time for Chicago to rethink how it does business with technology firms.
CHICAGO STORIES ✶
Chicago Urban League opens entrepreneurship and workforce center at former Chatham Walmart
By Abby Miller
Resource center: The Chicago Urban League on Friday officially opened its Empowerment Center in Chatham, where it intends to provide workforce development, entrepreneurship and youth programs. It also gives the Urban League another location, joining its main office in Bronzeville.
Reworking space: The center has opened in a building that used to house Walmart’s 15,000-square-foot training center, at 8331 S. Stewart Ave. Walmart shuttered its training center and neighboring store in 2023 and donated the center to the Chicago Urban League last year.
New chapter: Chicago Urban League board chair Suzet McKinney said the Empowerment Center is a new chapter of its mission, serving an area where more than 83% of residents are of low to moderate income. The center will allow the organization to expand its reach beyond the 15,000 residents it serves annually.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈🏀🏑
- LBs lead: D’Marco Jackson and Amen Ogbongbemiga led the Bears in tackles Sunday.
- Hustle with muscle: Bulls forward Matas Buzelis spent the summer gaining 10 pounds of muscle in hopes of making a leap in physicality. He’s done that, but coach Billy Donovan wants more, writes Joe Cowley.
- WNBA draft: The Sky landed the No. 5 pick in the 2026 draft lottery.
- Northwestern champs: Northwestern University won another NCAA field hockey title with a 2-1 victory over Princeton in double OT.
- High school football: St. Rita rises to No. 3 and Loyola returns as private schools dominate the top of Michael O’Brien’s Super 25 high school football rankings for Week 14.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩
This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: Thanksgiving 🦃
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Parkinson’s disease patients tap into the power of dance at a workshop just for them
By Stefano Esposito
On Wednesday, about two dozen people came to Rush University Medical Center to take part in a dance workshop for patients living with Parkinson’s disease, a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time.
Dance is an exercise that, research suggests, can help slow the disease’s progression. Leading the workshop was 28-year-old J’Kobe Wallace, a dance captain with “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical,” which is playing at Cadillac Palace Theatre through Nov. 30. Diamond was himself diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2018.
Workshop participants sat in a circle in the hospital’s airy auditorium. They ranged in age from 40s to 90s, and all had sought treatment at Rush.
“There is no wrong way to dance, no wrong way to move, no wrong way to wiggle your toes,” a beaming Wallace said, cueing up the music.
Sonia Vargas, 65, was sitting beside Wallace in the circle. When he asked for a volunteer to come up with a routine, hers was the first hand in the air. Even though Vargas suffers from significant tremors, she loves to dance. She does so, she says, when she’s in her kitchen cooking.
“Party or no party, I dance,” Vargas said.
DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Do you think the Bears will make the playoffs this year? Tell us why — or why not.
Email us (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in Tuesday’s Morning Edition newsletter.
PICTURE CHICAGO 📷
Skaters slowly make their way around the McCormick Tribune Ice Rink ahead of Friday’s 112th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony at Millennium Park.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Morning Edition!
Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
The Chicago Sun-Times is a nonprofit supported by readers like you. Become a member to make stories like these free and available to everyone. Learn more at suntimes.com/member.