Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Mayor Brandon Johnson experienced a significant defeat Monday as City Council’s Finance Committee rejected his $600 million tax package built on a corporate head tax.
🗞️ Plus: Local groups share lessons learned as feds focus on North Carolina, Christkindlmarket returns and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Bulls ended a five-game losing streak with a 130-127 victory over the Nuggets.
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⏱️ An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌧️
Rain with a high near 42.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES 🗞️
Finance Committee rejects Johnson’s $600M tax package
By Fran Spielman
New low: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s already strained relationship with the City Council sank to a new low Monday when the Finance Committee rejected his nearly $600 million plan meant, as he put it, to “challenge the ultra-rich and corporations to pay their fair share.” The vote was 25-10. The defeat came after a motion to postpone the vote failed in an 18-18 tie vote.
At issue: The mayor wants to impose a corporate head tax, a $21 monthly per-employee tax on companies with 200 or more employees. His critics say that’s bad for keeping businesses in Chicago and attracting new ones.
Key context: It was a repeat of last year’s 50-0 City Council vote rejecting Johnson’s proposed $300 million property tax increase. Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) and Ald. Ray Lopez (15th), two of the mayor’s most ardent critics, said City Council is now driving the budget conversation. Johnson remained defiant, saying the corporate head tax will stay in the budget.
What happens next: Monday’s defeat sends the budget negotiations back to square one. It’s not clear at this point how Johnson plans to get to the finish line, which he’d hoped to achieve before Thanksgiving.
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As immigration enforcement surges in North Carolina, Chicagoans share advice and whistles
By Casey He and Ambar Colón
Charlotte share: As federal immigration agencies this week ramp up enforcement in Charlotte, North Carolina, making more than 130 arrests over the weekend, Chicago-area community leaders have been sharing lessons they learned with their coastal counterparts.
The strategies: Baltazar Enriquez of the Little Village Community Council said his group met virtually with political and nonprofit leaders in North Carolina last week. On the agenda were the whistle campaign in Chicago, alerting residents to the presence of agents, and the “magic school bus,” a volunteer group that escorts children of parents who fear being detained during school pickups and drop-offs.
Staying prepared: Even though some federal immigration agents are leaving Chicago, arts and culture executives met Friday to practice protocols for instances agents appear, likening the moment to active shooter drills. Representatives from the Shedd Aquarium, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago History Museum, the Chicago Park District and other organizations gathered in Humboldt Park to discuss how to protect staff and visitors.
More headlines:
- Silverio Villegas González, killed by ICE agent in Franklin Park, had cocaine in system, autopsy shows
- As ICE operations move to North Carolina, coalition of Chicago minority groups vows to carry on fight
- Broadview mayor declares ‘civil emergency,’ moves board meetings online
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Brinshore Development puts 20 Chicago properties up for sale, including CHA units
Reporting by Lizzie Kane
Realty check: Chicago-based national affordable housing provider Brinshore Development listed a bulk of its Chicago portfolio, 2,435 units, for sale last week. The portfolio spans 20 properties across the city, including 695 public housing units with the Chicago Housing Authority, according to the listing. All but one of the properties are partnerships with the CHA.
Key context: Brinshore is one of Chicago’s top affordable housing developers and is known for being a significant partner of the CHA and the city. The developer has been instrumental in the CHA’s Plan for Transformation, the housing authority’s pledge in 2000 to tear down and rebuild tens of thousands of public housing units at mixed-income projects.
View listings: Find the full listings of properties for sale here.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ✶
- Tech training hub opens: Xchange Chicago launched Monday in its new space in Greater Grand Crossing, aiming to train people in IT skills, aid in job placements and revitalize South Side communities.
- Jackson moves out of ICU: The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., 84, has been moved out of the intensive care unit as he continues treatment for a neurological disorder.
- Arson investigation: About 11 p.m. Friday, someone started a fire outside City Hall in an attempt to set the building ablaze, the mayor said.
- Hemp hurdles: A federal ban on hemp products tucked into last week’s spending plan that reopened the federal government could put many Illinois businesses in jeopardy when it takes effect next year.
- Remembering Vivian White: As part of the Great Migration, Mrs. White moved from Arkansas to Chicago, where she was known for her lemon pound cake and indefatigable kindness. She died Sept. 22 at age 92.
- 3 stars for ‘Hell’s Kitchen’: Despite a middling plot, Maya Drake, the Alicia Keys-inspired lead, lights up the production with the force and beauty of a meteor shower, writes Catey Sullivan in a review for the Sun-Times.
- Holiday rides arrive: CTA’s holiday rides are coming to town, with a freshly redecorated bus hitting the road Nov. 25 and a brightly twinkling train hitting the rails Nov. 28. Metra’s holiday train gets to chugging Dec. 6 — tickets are on sale now.
HOLIDAYS IN CHICAGO 🎁
What to know about Christkindlmarket 2025
By Tricia Despres
Chicago tradition: This week, Christkindlmarket season returns — a time for sipping warm beverages served in collectible mugs, shopping for souvenirs like handmade glass-blown ornaments and partaking in pastries.
Key context: Since its inception in 1996, millions of people have flocked to Christkindlmarket, modeled after the 16th century holiday markets in Germany.
Where to shop: The free admission outdoor bazaar kicks off Friday in Daley Plaza in the Loop and RiverEdge Park in Aurora, where recent renovations have allowed the market to expand to 60 vendors. After a hiatus last year, the market returns to Gallagher Way in Wrigleyville Sunday.
New this year: A Krampus-themed event at Daley Plaza on Dec. 14, which includes photo opportunities with the mischievous member of German folklore himself.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈🏀⚾
- Will Bears make playoffs?: The Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley argues “yes” — but Jason Lieser has his doubts.
- White back in it: There’s a plan for Bulls guard Coby White and his minutes — sort of, writes Joe Cowley.
- Baseball HOF: Former Cubs starting pitcher Cole Hamels is among 12 newcomers on this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.
- Girls basketball: Even with only one starter returning and a young roster, Kenwood’s high school girls basketball team say they’re ready to defend their Class 4A championship.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩
This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: Da Bears 🏈
Can you solve this clue?
11D: “Papa Bear” George ___
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
How the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 rock album became an opera
By Courtney Kueppers
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is turning the 30th anniversary of the band’s career-defining record “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” into an opera. The long-teased collaboration with the Lyric Opera of Chicago will finally be revealed when it opens Friday.
The band won’t play alongside an orchestra. Instead, Corgan has helped to create a true classical concert, featuring four operatic soloists, plus Lyric’s full orchestra and chorus on stage. Corgan, 58, will also appear on some of the songs, all of which have been completely reimagined as symphonic works. That means no guitar or drum kit.
An experiment of sorts, this collaboration allows Corgan to spread his artistic wings and enable the Lyric to tap into a well of music fans who may never otherwise enter the grand downtown opera house.
The show runs Friday through Nov. 30. Tickets start around $140.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
As federal immigration agents turn their focus to Charlotte, North Carolina, what can residents there learn from Chicago?
Email us (please include your first and last name). We may run your answers in Wednesday’s Morning Edition newsletter.
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
Hat tip: Sun-Times’ Joel Carlson for today’s subject line, which you’ll find on the front page of your Tuesday Chicago Sun-Times print edition. Members can read the e-edition here.
