Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Federal agents deployed tear gas on civilians and Chicago police last month — even as cops cautioned officers didn’t have masks, sources say.
🗞️ Plus: The 43-day federal government shutdown has ended, but many Illinoisans face spiking Obamacare costs — and a last-minute hemp product ban stuns local businesses.
📝 Keeping score: The Bulls fell to the Pistons, 124-113; the Blackhawks suffered a 4-3 overtime defeat against the Devils.
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⏱️: A 9-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Mostly sunny with a high near 54.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES 🗞️
Two families, two responses to spiking Obamacare costs
By Elvia Malagón and Somer Van Benton
Care costs: Nearly half a million Illinois residents who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act were at the center of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Most rely on enhanced tax credits to make their Obamacare insurance premiums more affordable. If the credits expire at the end of the year as planned, experts predict insurance costs will skyrocket, forcing some to become uninsured.
Prolonged problems: Democrats had pushed to make the government reopening contingent on extending those credits. But the deal passed Wednesday night by the U.S. House and signed by the president only comes with a commitment by Senate Republicans to hold a vote by mid-December to extend their credits. Speaker Mike Johnson has not committed to bringing it for a vote in the House.
Bottom line: On average, Illinois residents are expected to pay 78% more for insurance without the enhanced credits, according to Get Covered Illinois, the state’s new Obamacare marketplace. A form of tax credit will still exist but it will be smaller.
Two families: The Sun-Times and WBEZ spoke with a single mom who expects to become uninsured, and with a couple in their 70s who plan to keep their insurance but say they can only afford 10 more years of coverage. Read more or listen via the button below.
Businesses stunned: A last-minute provision in the shutdown-ending legislation narrows the definition of hemp, now closing the loophole that allowed for an array of intoxicating cannabinoids that lawmakers in Illinois and beyond failed to regulate. Hemp farmers and business owners in Illinois told the Sun-Times the federal ban will devastate their businesses.
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LET’S HEAR FROM YOU 🗣️
Is your Obamacare health insurance getting more expensive? Fill out the form at the bottom of this page to share your story.
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City will no longer invest any of its $10B portfolio into Treasury bonds to protest Trump
By Fran Spielman
Treasurer’s protest: City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin touched off a political firestorm Wednesday by declaring that the city’s $10 billion portfolio her office controls will no longer invest in U.S. Treasury bonds, to protest what she called the “authoritarian regime” of President Donald Trump.
Key context: While Treasury bonds have yielded a healthy return for Chicago taxpayers, Conyears-Ervin said, it was the same as with corporate bonds, money market accounts and asset-backed securities. Conyears-Ervin, who is vying to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Danny Davis in the 7th Congressional District, made the announcement during a City Council hearing on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed 2026 budget.
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Feds deployed tear gas even after cops told them they didn’t have gas masks
By Peter Nickeas and Tom Schuba
Tear gassed anyway: Federal agents deployed tear gas Oct. 14 in the East Side neighborhood — sickening protesters and more than a dozen cops — despite a deputy Chicago police chief telling them his officers didn’t have gas masks and offering to clear a path so agents could safely leave a chaotic scene, according to law enforcement sources.
Not the first time: In Brighton Park 10 days earlier, federal agents deployed gas at people who lined Kedzie Avenue at Pershing Road, 39th Place and 40th Street to protest after agents shot a woman there. Police officers cleared a path at the south end of the scene so the agents could depart quickly and unobstructed. Instead, agents went north, though there was a crowd there, and fired pepper balls and launched tear gas canisters before leaving. More than two dozen officers were exposed to gas that afternoon.
MORE ON IMMIGRATION ✶
Judge will order release of hundreds arrested in feds’ deportation blitz
By Jon Seidel
The 615 detainees are from a list of roughly 1,800 arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Chicago area between June 11 and Oct. 7, and there could be more.
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Detention of woman taken from day care is ‘unlawful,’ judge rules
By Violet Miller
A judge ordered the government to hold a bond hearing within the next week for the teacher, who was pulled by armed federal agents from inside Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center on Nov. 5.
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‘We will win’: Six Broadview protesters plead not guilty to conspiracy
By Jon Seidel and Tina Sfondeles
Three politicians charged, plus social media influencer and congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, say their federal indictment is an attack on the First Amendment.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ✶
- Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. hospitalized: The 84-year-old civil rights leader was hospitalized Wednesday night for progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurodegenerative condition.
- CTA budget OKd: The Chicago Transit Authority’s board approved a $2.2 billion 2026 budget without a fare increase, while board members questioned when the agency would receive its first chunk of new state transit money.
- Mayor sues Trump: Mayor Johnson is again turning to federal court to prevent President Trump from withholding millions of dollars from Chicago. This time a grant involves $6 million for community policing.
- Garcia announces run: Patty Garcia swatted down criticism that her boss, retiring U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, had cleared her path to Illinois’ 4th Congressional District seat. She also denounced immigration enforcement agents’ actions in the Chicago area: “Let me be clear: F— ICE.”
- Rainforest Cafe building owner sued: Alecko Lending filed a $9.2 million foreclosure lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court last month, saying real estate investor Sean Conlon failed to pay back an $8.3 million bridge loan on the long-shuttered property.
- Alinea loses star: Chicago fine-dining icon Alinea has lost one of its three Michelin stars, a distinction Grant Achatz’s flagship restaurant has held since 2010.
- Dec. 15 taxes: The second installment of 2024 Cook County property tax bills are due next month, with bills beginning to be mailed Friday — months after they are typically sent.
THE WATCHDOGS 🔎
Cook County housing authority in turmoil amid firings, investigation, spending concerns
By Lizzie Kane
Still ‘troubled’: Missed audit deadlines. Poor quality property inspections. An absentee board. These were just some of the issues facing the Housing Authority of Cook County — and why it landed on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s list of underperforming agencies for two years. Last month, HUD removed the housing authority from the list. But troubles persist.
Reorg price tag: The housing authority is undergoing a significant staff reorganization, one that the board didn’t know about and that the agency has denied. Documents obtained by the Sun-Times show payments amounting to thousands of dollars for restructuring work.
Work culture: Some employees complain about a negative work environment. Staff turnover remains high, with some workers blaming Executive Director Danita Childers. Outside contractors are hired to perform work some on the board argue should be done by staff. And a board member was investigated following a complaint from the director of human resources.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏀🏒⚾
- Odd man out: Bulls rookie Noa Essengue is dealing with the growing pains of being a project, writes Joe Cowley.
- Donato in the moment: Ryan Donato is focusing on the Blackhawks’ present despite his secured place in the Blackhawks’ future.
- Sox strategy: On the White Sox’ free agency approach, GM Chris Getz said, “We’re going to be aggressive in the right places.”
- Signing day: Basketballer Mason Lockett is ready to be a hometown hero for DePaul and Oswego East.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩
This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: Chicago food 🌭
Can you solve this clue?
32A: Chicago “Bar-B-Q” restaurant so famous it had its own Wikipedia page
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Northern Lights spotted from Montrose Beach
By Sun-Times staff
Dozens gathered at Montrose Beach to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights as the solar phenomenon lit up skies over the United States for the second night in a row Wednesday.
Residents got their first taste Tuesday night when the aurora borealis brightened the night sky in pink, yellow and green. It was the most visible example of the Northern Lights in the Chicago area since at least October 2024, when another geomagnetic storm sent heads looking upward.
Space weather forecasters confirmed that storms reached severe levels, triggering vibrant northern lights in Europe, including Hungary and the United Kingdom, according to the Associated Press. In the U.S., the hues were spotted as far south as Kansas, Colorado and Texas.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Yesterday, we asked you: Where do you like to take out-of-towners visiting during our coldest months?
Here’s some of what you said…
“I’ll suggest either ice skating at Millennium Park or indoor entertainment — Museum of Science & Industry, Navy Pier, ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Metropolis [in] Arlington Heights, or the Goodman.” — Paul Lockwood
“A walk on the lakefront. Especially after a snowfall followed by a hard freeze followed by the sun!! Surreal. Beautiful. Eerie, and peaceful.” — P. Teodo
“I like to take people to Brookfield Zoo in the winter because the place is empty but all the animals are still there. One freezing winter, my mom [visiting from Arizona] wore her fur coat to the zoo and I was embarrassed.” — Doug Berman
“Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum for the warm and colorful butterfly haven.” — Miranda Hoover Kerr
“Once inside the Shedd Aquarium, seasons disappear. It is a place of pure wonder.” — Terrence Camodeca
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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