Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Chicago’s parking meters will change hands again — this time they were acquired by a New York investment firm. We take a look at what the new deal means for Chicagoans.
🗞️ Plus: Why one Chicago School Board president candidate is dropping out of the race, the Chicago restaurants up for top honors and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Blackhawks lost their season opener to the Golden Knights, 5-2; the Cubs were shut out by the Padres, 8-0; the White Sox beat the Astros, 6-3 — more on that below.
🌧️ Today’s weather: Showers with a high near 66.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
City Council signs off on new $2.5B parking meter deal
Reporting by Fran Spielman
New meter deal: City Council gave final approval Tuesday to New York investment firm Stonepeak Partners’ $2.53 billion bid to acquire Chicago parking meters after Council leaders brokered a compromise to sweeten the sour deal for the city. The Council approved the deal by a 46-3 vote.
What Chicago gets: The new deal calls for the city to receive a $75 million transfer fee at closing, 5% of net income going forward, and 2% of the sale price if the meters are sold again before the deal ends in 2084. It also reduces costly compensation the city is required to pay for every space taken out of service.
Stonepeak promise: One reason the deal faced opposition from some alderpersons was Stonepeak’s ties to Omni Air International, an airline that has provided long-haul deportation flights for President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign. Stonepeak has agreed to sell Omni Air.
Key context: The process started when private investors from as far away as Abu Dhabi wanted out after recouping their initial $1.15 billion investment twofold, with 57 years to go on the 2008 deal brokered by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley.
In other news: The Council also on Tuesday voted to require future borrowing to be approved by a three-fifths vote — that’s 30 votes instead of the current threshold of 26 votes. The mayor may veto the measure.
WATCH: METER DEAL EXPLAINED ▶️
EDUCATION 🍎
Illinois schools are required to teach Asian American history. Not all are.
Reporting by Minju Park
Untaught history: In 2021, Illinois passed a law requiring every public elementary and high school to teach a unit of Asian American and Pacific Islander history. Five years later, many schools throughout the state have yet to fully implement the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History Act.
WBEZ investigates: Immigration rights nonprofit HANA Center found that in 2023, 73% of students surveyed said they received “little to no” education focusing on Asian American communities during the previous school year. To find out more on how the TEAACH Act has taken shape in schools, WBEZ talked to Chicago-area educators, students and lawmakers.
ILLINOIS ‘GENIUSES’ ✶
2 Illinois academics win ‘genius grant’
Reporting by Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco and Mitch Dudek
The winners: A pair of Illinois academics were among the winners of the prestigious, so-called “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation, an honor awarded to 20 to 30 individuals each year that comes with a no-strings-attached prize of $800,000. Here’s the full list of winners.
Kaiyu Guan: An environmental scientist and professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Guan was awarded for his work combining satellite observations, process models and machine learning to build resilient agricultural systems.
Vincenzo Vitelli: A theoretical physicist and tenured professor at the University of Chicago, Vitelli’s work centers on understanding the behavior of information-processing agents — including humans, bots, cells and even individual molecules, which, he argues, all possess the capacity for adaptive, intelligent behavior.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- ‘Goonie Gang’ boss sentenced: Romeo Blackman, 30, was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday, more than three years after a jury convicted him of racketeering conspiracy and held him partly responsible for several murders.
- Cop charged with punching girl: Jeremy Sikorski, a 45-year-old embattled Chicago police sergeant, was charged with aggravated battery for allegedly punching a 17-year-old girl this summer on the Southwest Side.
- Woman accused of stealing from dead mother: Chicagoan Eva Bratcher, accused of hiding her mother’s body in a freezer while she collected her Social Security benefits, is among 17 defendants nationwide the federal government says defrauded the program of up to $1.3 million.
- New path to avoid conviction: This week, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office will start allowing defendants in certain low-level cases, like drug crimes, shoplifting and other nonviolent misdemeanors, to complete programming in exchange for having their charges dropped.
ELECTIONS ☑️
CPS School Board president candidate exits race
Reporting by Sarah Karp
Down to three: Sendhil Revuluri is suspending his campaign for Chicago School Board president, saying he cannot compete with the special interest groups pouring money into the election. That leaves Jessica Biggs, Hilario Dominguez and Victor Henderson as the three remaining candidates.
Key context: This is the first time Chicago voters will elect the school board president in a citywide contest, along with 20 members who will represent 20 geographic districts. The president is responsible for deciding what items make it onto monthly school board meeting agendas.
Voting resources:
- Find your board candidates and understand the races
- What you need to know about the historic election
- Meet the candidates
- How the campaigns are taking shape
- Key endorsements for candidates
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- New meter deal: The Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman explains what the city’s new parking meter deal means for you.
- Healthcare loss: Thousands of legal immigrants in Illinois could lose their healthcare coverage Thursday. WBEZ’s Kristen Schorsch and the Sun-Times’ Elvia Malagón join the show to explain more.
-
Obama Center beekeepers: Host Sasha-Ann Simons visits the Obama Presidential Center to meet the resident beekeepers.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- Gun laws: What do you think should change about our state and our country’s gun laws? Callers and guests weigh in.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 6A: ___ Guan, UofI food scientist awarded with a MacArthur “genius grant” this week
CHICAGO BASEBALL ⚾
- Knocking their Sox off: South Side fans are thrilled to experience postseason baseball — and a Game 1 victory — after years of losing.
- Pope pens letter: The Sox said Pope Leo XIV, a lifelong fan, sent a letter to the team ahead of Tuesday’s game, saying the Sox are in his thoughts and prayers, as well as “the Almighty’s abundant blessings.”
- Sox analysis: Whatever happens this postseason, the Sox are in better shape than after their last playoff series against the Houston Astros, writes Jeff Agrest.
- Cubs’ next starter: The Cubs on Wednesday will turn to the headlining piece of their trade-deadline haul, giving the ball to Kevin Gausman, who made six playoff appearances a year ago, including two in the World Series.
- What went wrong: The Cubs’ offense did almost nothing, while the Padres’ offensive stars put on a show.
- Cubs analysis: The Cubs have one chance Wednesday to prove that resilience is the defining feature they believe it to be and keep their season going another night, writes Vinnie Duber.
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Chefs and restaurants up for top food honors
Reporting by Courtney Kueppers
Finalists for Chicago’s top local food honor, the Banchet Awards, were announced Wednesday morning. This year’s nominees range from casual spots like the Mayfair taco trailer No Pasa Nada and Albany Park’s Noodles Party to fine dining destinations like Avec.
Throughout Tuesday, the Banchet Foundation’s Executive Director Michael Muser visited several of the restaurants on the list to deliver the news in person.
The Banchets recognize excellence across categories, including Best Heritage Restaurant, Best Counter Service and Rising Chef of the Year. Muser said the goal is to celebrate the breadth of the local food scene, including places sometimes overlooked by the national food awards.
“These are not restaurants that get recognized by organizations,” Muser said. “So we’re local enough to be able to throw some light on them, pat them on the back, tell them they did a good job.”
Winners will be announced Jan. 31 during a ceremony at Harris Theater downtown.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
If you were on an awards committee, which Chicago restaurant would you recognize? What would the award be — and why? 🍽️
Reply to this question via email (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
Wrightwood 659 assistant curator Ashley Janke in one of two mirror rooms by Yayoi Kusama, now on display at Wrightwood 659 in Lincoln Park.
Jim Urquhart/For the Sun-Times
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Editor: Michael Lansu
Copy edited by: Satchel Price