Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Illinois rolled out digital driver’s licenses touted by the secretary of state as time savers that’ll better protect your privacy — but you can’t use them to drive.
🗞️ Plus: CPS blasts a charter operator for alleged financial “negligence,” two restaurants gain Michelin stars and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: Connor Bedard got another hat trick, leading the Blackhawks past the Flames, 5-2.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER ☁️
Cloudy with a high near 45.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES 🗞️
Digital driver’s licenses, IDs are now available to Illinois residents
By Mitchell Armentrout
iPhone ID?: Many Illinois residents will be able to store their driver’s licenses and IDs on their cellphones starting Wednesday, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced. Digital IDs will first be available for iPhones and Apple Watches via the Apple Wallet app, and “will soon expand” to Google and Samsung wallets for Android devices, Giannoulias said.
Still need hard copy: Under the law passed last year by the Illinois General Assembly authorizing digital IDs, residents will still be required to have physical IDs. Mobile ones can serve as identification, but businesses aren’t required to accept them. Residents still must carry physical IDs when driving. Law enforcement is not required to accept the digital form.
Why?: “This is modernization that makes sense: Innovation that protects your privacy, saves time and makes your life easier,” Giannoulias said during a flashy announcement Tuesday, kicked off with a video touting the new IDs.
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CPS blasts longtime charter operator for alleged financial ‘negligence’
By Dan Mihalopoulos and Sarah Karp
On the brink: Chicago Public Schools officials told longtime charter school operator ASPIRA that its privately run but publicly financed network is on the brink of financial collapse and that the district will not fund its $5 million bailout request, according to documents obtained by WBEZ. In a letter to ASPIRA, CPS said a monthslong district investigation found “a failure of governance” and “a lack of financial proficiency necessary to successfully run a school.”
Key context: The charter network runs two high schools, ASPIRA Business & Finance High School and ASPIRA Early College High School, which together have about 570 students. Last school year, ASPIRA voluntarily closed a middle school in Albany Park, citing financial troubles and a decline in enrollment. ASPIRA has operated schools in the district since 2003.
Zooming out: ASPIRA is the latest charter school operator in CPS to run into serious financial problems. This school year, a small charter school in South Chicago announced plans to close in June. Last school year, one of the district’s largest networks, Acero, announced it would shutter seven of its 15 schools, but the Chicago Board of Education decided to take over the management of five of them.
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Broadview ICE facility population dwindles as feds shift focus from Chicago
By Jon Seidel
Population drops: In another sign of the sudden ramp-down of federal immigration enforcement in Chicago, a Justice Department lawyer told a judge Tuesday the population of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview had recently dwindled to only four people.
Situation snapshot: It was a snapshot of the situation inside the controversial holding facility, which continues to attract demonstrators. But the report raised eyebrows, given that U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman recently heard testimony about people being held there 100-150 to a cell.
More headlines:
- Sen. Tammy Duckworth fires staffer who allegedly posed as lawyer at ICE facility
- Broadview protest zone expands to include part of Beach Street
POLITICS ✶
- Garcia condemned: Twenty-three House Democrats on Tuesday joined Republicans in a resolution admonishing Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s last-minute resignation that paves the way for his chief of staff to be his successor in Congress.
- Pappas runs for mayor: Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, 76, is joining the 2027 race for mayor of Chicago. She told the Sun-Times she didn’t want to talk about it until after she’s safely reelected next year to an eighth term as treasurer, a job she has held since 1998.
- Acting out?: Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th), the city’s acting Zoning Committee chair, said he gave Mayor Brandon Johnson a year-end ultimatum: Make my committee post permanent with control over my own staff, or I’m out.
- No fine for Harmon: Illinois Senate President Don Harmon is off the hook for a $9.8 million fine after election board officials deadlocked again Tuesday over allegations that the Oak Park Democrat’s political committee accepted donations beyond state campaign financing limits.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ✶
- Top cop promise: At a status hearing Tuesday on court-ordered reforms to the Chicago Police Department, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling pledged to address the rise of officers pointing guns at people —a nearly 44% increase from 2022 to 2024, according to police data.
- Police shooting: Police shot and wounded a man Tuesday morning in Washington Park. Officers say they tried to stop the man, who they believed had a handgun, when he ran, and that they chased and shot him.
- CTA violence: A man reportedly set a woman ablaze Monday on a Blue Line train in the Loop, prompting some bystanders to extinguish the flames. Chicago police say they’ve taken a “person of interest” into custody.
- Crypto firm, founder indicted: Firas Isa, founder of Chicago-based cryptocurrency company Virtual Assets LLC, has been indicted on federal charges accusing him of laundering at least $10 million in wire fraud and drug crime proceeds.
- MSI, union deal: Union staff and the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry reached a tentative agreement as a Nov. 29 strike date looms.
- Sueños headliner: The springtime Grant Park music bash announced its first headliner for next year’s fest, genre-blending Mexican regional band Fuerza Regida.
SHARE YOUR STORY 🗣️
Expiring Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits were at the heart of the historic federal government shutdown.
The government has reopened, but the subsidies remain in limbo.
Do you live in the Chicago area and get health insurance through the ACA Marketplace? If so, we would love to hear from you about your premiums.
We’ve created a survey to help inform future reporting about health care costs.
Please take a few minutes to fill it out or to pass it on to someone who gets their health insurance through the ACA.
MUSIC 🎶
50 years after ‘Horses,’ Patti Smith still galvanizes
By Jeff Elbel
Patti Smith on Monday tore into her signature song, “Gloria,” kicking off the two-night golden anniversary celebration of her debut album, 1975’s “Horses,” at the Chicago Theatre.
Smith prowled the stage, taking “Gloria” from a low rumble to hurricane force, as the crowd sang along fervently.
Considered among rock’s greatest albums, “Horses” has been hailed as a fundamental influence by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acts. Smith performed the album’s eight songs with her longtime backing band — and son Jackson on guitar and bass.
The indomitable punk poet — who was born in Chicago and briefly lived in Logan Square when she was young — dedicated her song “People Have the Power” to the “resilient, tough” residents of the city.
“We are with you. We are all Chicago,” she told the crowd.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈🏒🏀⚾
- Bears analysis: Now things get difficult for the Bears, as their remaining schedule features six teams with a combined 39-20-2 record (.658), writes Mark Potash.
- NHL debate: Dialogue about the top 2026 NHL Draft prospects is heating up, but will the Blackhawks be involved?
- Good night for Bulls ‘brotherhood’: There haven’t been many games this season in which reserves Julian Phillips, Dalen Terry and Jevon Carter have all played, let alone contributed — until Monday’s against the Nuggets.
- Shota Imanaga stays: The left-hander accepted a $22 million qualifying offer to return to the Cubs in 2026.
- Boys basketball: DePaul Prep is opening its season at No. 1 as the Rams’ quest for a four-peat heads to Class 4A.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩
This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: Da Bears 🏈
Can you solve this clue?
11D: “Papa Bear” George ___
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Feld earns first Michelin star while Kasama is elevated to two
By Courtney Kueppers
One Chicago restaurant earned a coveted Michelin star while another was upgraded to two during a ceremony Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Chicago’s Kasama was elevated from one star to two stars. The Ukrainian Village Filipino restaurant, run by the husband-wife duo Timothy Flores and Genie Kwon, has won a flurry of awards since it first opened in 2020. In 2022, it became the first-ever Filipino eatery to receive a Michelin star.
Feld, which opened last year in West Town, was awarded one Michelin star. The farm-focused restaurant, run by chef Jacob Potashnick, was also recognized with Michelin’s Green Star, which celebrates restaurants dedicated to sustainability.
“We never thought we would open a tasting menu restaurant. We wanted to open a neighborhood place,” Kwon said after accepting the jacket, overcome by emotion. “We opened in July of 2020 and every decision that we’ve made has been to protect our team and ensure their job security. And looking back, I can’t even believe we’re here, it’s so cool.”
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What’s the oldest recipe that you still cook today? Be sure to tell us how long you’ve had it — and where you got it. 🍽️
Email us (please include your first and last name). We may run your answers in Thursday’s Morning Edition newsletter.
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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