Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: An attorney and a law firm for the Chicago Housing Authority were sanctioned almost $60,000 for using ChatGPT in a court case.
🗞️ Plus: An exclusive look inside the Obama Center’s first finished building, an Englewood flower show owner is dubbed “hero of the year” and more news you need to know.
🧩 After you’re caught up: Try our brand new Chicago Mini Crossword. Scroll down for a clue.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain and a high near 35.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES 🗞️
Attorney and law firm for CHA are sanctioned nearly $60,000 for using ChatGPT in court case
By Lizzie Kane
CHA-I?: A lawyer hired by the Chicago Housing Authority revealed this summer that she used ChatGPT and failed to check her work when defending the CHA in a lawsuit involving the lead paint poisoning of two children. Now, her former firm and the lawyer who signed off on the legal motion that cited a fake court case are being sanctioned.
Key detail: Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cushing sanctioned Larry Mason and his law firm, Goldberg Segalla, on Friday for $10,000 and $49,500, respectively, for their improper use of artificial intelligence and false misrepresentations to the court. The CHA and the attorney who improperly used AI, Danielle Malaty, weren’t penalized for the error.
Key context: Malaty was fired from Goldberg Segalla in June and started her own firm, Malaty Law Group. She was sanctioned $10 in July in a separate case in which two of her court filings contained 12 nonexistent case citations.
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West Side residents demand relief from ballooning property taxes
By Kade Heather
Property bothers: Dozens of residents frustrated about hikes on their property tax bills this year attended Monday night’s community meeting hosted by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in West Garfield Park. Residents sat down with members of Kaegi’s office to find tax exemptions for which they are eligible. They also met with the Cook County Board of Review to submit appeals to their bills.
Key context: Predominantly Black neighborhoods on the South and West sides are bearing the brunt of the county’s tax burden shift from the Loop to the city’s neighborhoods, according to a Cook County treasurer’s office report. Angelina Romero, spokesperson for the assessor’s office, said a major reason for that shift is the Board of Review’s continuous reductions that are given to large commercial properties such as retail and data centers.
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Auto body shops are busy and prices are up as snow sends drivers in for repairs
By Bob Chiarito
$igns of the times?: Recent cold and record snow have caused an uptick in flat tires, dead batteries and car accidents — all at a time when prices are up and some car parts take longer to get because of increased tariffs and greater demand.
Key quote: “We’ve seen everything from minor fender-benders to very large accidents. With the ice, cars are sliding, people are hitting things, hitting other cars. Everyone forgets how to drive in the weather. It came early this year,” said Bill DeMaio, co-owner of River North Collision Repair.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ✶
- Judge keeps move-out date: Residents of the South Shore apartment building raided by federal immigration agents in September are scrambling to find places to live after a Cook County judge on Monday denied their request for more time and resources.
- Head tax negotiations?: After another weekend of failed budget negotiations, Mayor Brandon Johnson said Monday he was open to negotiating details of his already rejected corporate head tax proposal in hopes of averting an unprecedented city government shutdown.
- Krishnamoorthi reconsiders: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Raja Krishnamoorthi said he might “revisit” contributions from a GOP campaign contributor tied to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor, following a Sun-Times report on his campaign’s war chest.
- New Bally’s renderings: The images offer early looks at a poker room and a gaming floor that could welcome gamblers to Chicago’s permanent casino in September.
- Remembering Dr. Glenn Bynum: At his family practice, Dr. Bynum delivered more than 4,000 babies. As a ringside physician, he kept generations of Chicago boxers safe. He died Sept. 27 at age 90.
- School board poll: Two out of three Chicago residents do not know that the Chicago Board of Education will become a fully elected body in 2027, according to a new poll from Kids First Chicago, an education advocacy nonprofit.
- 3 stars for ‘Elf the Musical’: This production fails to capture the wit, charm and magic of the film, WBEZ’s Mike Davis writes in a review.
ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN 📐
Obama Presidential Center’s first building is complete — and here’s an exclusive look
By Lee Bey
First look: A glassy, angular multipurpose facility that features an NBA regulation-sized basketball court and views of Jackson Park last week became the first Obama Presidential Center building to reach completion. The Obama Foundation provided the Sun-Times with photos of the building, which are the public’s first look at the completed facility’s interiors and exteriors.
June 2026: The 60,000-square-foot building, called Home Court, is at 6121 S. Stony Island Ave., about a block south of the 225-foot-tall museum tower that marks the center’s campus. The foundation has been moving in furniture and art over the past two months. The entire center isn’t expected to open until June 2026.
The difference: Designed by the Chicago office of Moody Nolan, a Black-owned architecture firm based in Columbus, Ohio, Home Court is visually different from the buildings designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, located at the center of the campus. Moody Nolan CEO Jonathan Moody said former President Barack Obama — a basketball player and fan — played a role in determining Home Court’s look and feel.
Inside peek: Sun-Times Architecture columnist Lee Bey takes you inside the building for an exclusive peek.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾🏈🏀🏒
- Hoyer clears the air: Cubs president Jed Hoyer on Monday made it clear that Shota Imanaga accepting the team’s qualifying offer was “a good thing.”
- The key factor: Caleb Williams’ timing and throwing accuracy are critical to the Bears’ playoff hopes, writes Jason Lieser.
- Record weight: Losing is taking a toll as the Bulls’ unity is starting to splinter.
- Where’s this season headed?: The Blackhawks’ disastrous weekend has led to an inflection point for the team, writes Ben Pope.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue:
5A: Chicago tradition of reserving a parking spot with a chair, or a bucket, or a card table, or an old toilet, or …
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Englewood flower shop owner is named CNN’s Hero of the Year
By Mohammad Samra
Quilen Blackwell, owner of a Chicago nonprofit that employs at-risk youth to turn vacant lots into flower farms, has won CNN’s Hero of the Year Award.
Blackwell is CEO of Chicago Eco House, which grows flowers on South and West side lots, and Southside Blooms, an Englewood flower shop at 6250 S. Morgan St.
His organization has been employing at-risk youth, ages 16 to 24, since 2014 at gardens in Englewood, Woodlawn, Washington Park and West Garfield Park.
The award comes with a $100,000 prize that Blackwell says he will use to convert more empty lots into flower farms.
“This is a big win for the ‘hood — and a big win for Chicago,” Blackwell, 41, told the Sun-Times on Monday.
Blackwell says business is blooming and that he needs to grow more flowers to meet demand he expects in 2026. He says he wants to buy more vacant lots from the Cook County Land Bank to expand flower operations. This year, his group converted three lots on the West Side, he says.
DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Yesterday, we asked you: How do you feel about the city’s plan to close the State/Lake L station until 2029 for a $444M rebuild?
Here’s some of what you said …
“It’s a needed upgrade that needs to be done right. The problem is the high cost of infrastructure more broadly in the United States.”— Steven William Zwick
“That is going to be a real hardship on a lot of people for that long, and yeah, it’s going to be longer than 3 years, bet on it.” — Pam Angeloni
“The construction is going to last a few years. However, the new State/Lake will be worth it for both locals and tourists alike. It will be the next Washington/Wabash of the Loop!” — Jaime Duque
“Money well spent; the station is from the 1800s … If we want people to use modern systems of transit, we need modern stations that attract people. It’s doing a total [demolition and] rebuild in the middle of the city. Some of the most valuable land in the country … Like always, if we had done it earlier it would’ve been cheaper. We cannot delay everything forever without cost.” — Ashley Nicholas Dodson
“It’s great to renovate the station and perfectly fine for it to close, but wow, three years is an excessively long time. These things should really only take a year or less.” — Alex Scheppke
“Run more trains. Don’t make nicer places to wait for them.” — Gordon Wojdyla
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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