Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Taking aim at the Trump administration’s credibility, a judge barred the “federalization and deployment of the National Guard … within Illinois” for at least two weeks.
🗞️ Plus: Loyola University Chicago’s Sister Jean dies at 106, the “unlivable” conditions that preceded the South Shore apartment raid and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Cubs beat the Brewers, 6-0; the Blackhawks fell to the Bruins, 4-3.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌥️
Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and a high near 63.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES
Judge hits Trump administration credibility, sides against National Guard deployment
By Jon Seidel and Tina Sfondeles
Temporary block: After a historic hearing at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, U.S. District Judge April Perry temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from “ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois.”
14 Days: Perry ruled orally from the bench and promised a written opinion Friday. The order is effective for two weeks, and Perry set a hearing for Oct. 22 to determine whether it should be extended for two more. Trump’s lawyers are sure to appeal in the meantime.
Sticking point: For Perry, it all came down to credibility. She concluded the Trump administration’s “perception of events” around Chicago “are simply unreliable.” She’d seen “no credible evidence that there is danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois,” nor that Trump “is unable … to execute the laws of the United States.”
Key context: About 200 troops from Texas and 14 from California started arriving earlier this week, joining approximately 300 federalized Illinois National Guard troops. Texas National Guard members were spotted Thursday morning at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview.
More headlines:
- Judge rules federal agents can’t deploy chemical irritants at journalists, protesters who don’t pose threats
- Preckwinkle calls on chief judge to ban ICE arrests at Cook County courthouses
- Trump administration is buying Chicago property for more ICE operations, Noem says
- ‘Sanctuary’ mission of Logan Square grade school is tested by feds’ use of tear gas, teacher says
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‘Unlivable’ conditions festered at South Shore apartment building long before feds’ raid
By Mariah Woelfel, Sophie Sherry, Tom Schuba, Nader Issa, Esther Yoon-Ji Kang, Amy Qin and Alden Loury
The raid: Early Sept. 30, hundreds of agents from a range of federal law enforcement agencies stormed an apartment complex in South Shore, with some rappelling onto the roof from Blackhawk helicopters. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported that 37 people were arrested. Witnesses said they saw kids separated from their mothers, and some U.S. citizens were detained for hours.
Before it happened: City officials were well aware of abhorrent conditions in the building, where longtime Chicagoans, Venezuelan immigrants and squatters lived, but had done little to address them. The 130-unit complex is facing foreclosure, along with two other distressed buildings owned by the same Wisconsin real estate investor, Trinity Flood. The city of Chicago has sued Flood’s companies over longstanding building code violations.
‘Nasty mess’: “It was a nasty mess before ICE came,” one resident said. “So don’t nobody keep putting that s— on ICE, because that was not ICE.”
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Sister Jean, Loyola University hoops chaplain who captured nation’s heart, dies at 106
By Mitch Dudek
Remembering Sister Jean: Sister Jean Dolores Bertha Schmidt — the beloved Catholic nun who, at age 98, skyrocketed to fame as chaplain of the Loyola University Chicago men’s basketball team during its Cinderella run to the 2018 NCAA Final Four — has died. She was 106.
Campus fixture: Just three years ago, she rose daily at 5 a.m., returned emails and read news on her iPad, said her prayers, and was in her office at Loyola’s Rogers Park campus by 10 a.m. She greeted students each morning. Many stopped by to say hello or have a chat. “Go for your dreams. You’ll always regret it if you don’t,” she’d tell them. She retired from her duties with the university in August due to health struggles.
‘Source of wisdom’: “In many roles at Loyola over the course of more than 60 years, Sister Jean was an invaluable source of wisdom and grace for generations of students, faculty, and staff,” Mark C. Reed, Loyola president, said in a statement late Thursday.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED
- Fatal fire: Three people died and three others, including a child, were injured after a fire tore through a West Ridge apartment building on Thursday.
- Hopeful in ‘Little Palestine’: A crowd gathered Thursday in Bridgeview, known as “Little Palestine,” where several members of the suburb’s thriving Palestinian community celebrated the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas while expressing cautious optimism.
- ‘Deadbeat Parents’ conviction: Under the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, Evan Musikantow, son of an Applebee’s tycoon, was convicted of failing to pay more than $690,000 in child support, including interest.
- ChiArts future: Chicago Public Schools officials recommend that the school board approve a plan to take over Chicago High School for the Arts — but warned that as a district-run school, it would have to operate differently than it does now.
- Bally’s on video gambling: The casino giant warned that lifting Chicago’s ban on video gambling would cost the city $74 million in annual revenue and as many as 1,050 jobs at its temporary and permanent casinos.
- Quantum investment: French company Pasqal plans to establish its first U.S. headquarters at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, the former U.S. Steel South Works site turned massive tech campus.
- Blue Line updates: The main entrance of the CTA Blue Line’s Racine station is set to reopen Friday, to be followed by the closure of the station’s Loomis Street entrance.
WEEKEND PLANS 🎉
🤠 Swappin’ Boots
9 p.m. Friday
📍Judson & Moore Distillery, 3057 N Rockwell St.
This two-step, county-themed, queer-centered night of dancing features a live band and dance lessons.
Admission: $15
🍎 Englewood Village Market
9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday
📍Englewood Village Plaza, 58th and Halsted
Shop produce and crafts from local vendors, enjoy a DJ set by Vic Mensa and take part in wellness workshops.
Admission: Free
🛞 Slow & Low: Chicago Lowrider Festival
10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday
📍Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave.
It’s a showcase and celebration of customized cars, bikes and motorcycles, featuring more than 250 masterpieces on wheels, riding low.
Admission: $15+
❤️ Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration
12-4 p.m. Saturday
📍Dvorak Park, 1119 W. Cullerton St.
Tierra Colombiana Dance Ensemble hosts this celebration featuring music, dance performances and storytelling.
Admission: Free
💃 Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival
7:30 p.m. Saturday
📍Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn
Watch various disciplines of dance and stories from a range of perspectives, featuring pieces from Anniela Huidobro and Lilia Castillo Gomez.
Admission: $32+
🍻 Oktoberfest-iversary
11:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday
📍Belle Plaine and Ravenswood
The annual fall party from Begyle Brewing and Dovetail Brewery returns with live music, food trucks and plenty of beer.
Admission: $5 suggested donation
FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾👟🏀🏈
- Cubs stay in it: Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker and Michael Busch all homered and Cubs pitching did the rest, shutting out the Brewers to force a Game 5 on Saturday in Milwaukee.
- Marathon broadcast: Behind the scenes of NBC 5 and Telemundo’s preparations for Sunday’s Chicago Marathon; 180 staffers and 35 cameras will bring the race on screen.
- A will to play?: The Bulls have made it clear to forward Patrick Williams that the runway is short, writes Joe Cowley.
- High school football: Week 7 is stacked with must-see games — reporter Mike Clark previews a few of the best.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩
This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: The Chicago Marathon!
Here’s your clue:
29A: Like a highly skilled distance runner
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Need a cool spot to watch fall colors? Try the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool
By Lee Bey
The glorious Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool — one of the city’s finest public gardens — has reopened after a much needed two-year renovation that was the pool’s first significant rehab in 25 years.
It couldn’t come at a better time. As fall colors slowly creep in, there are few better park spaces in the city to observe the change than this 3-acre beauty spot at 125 W. Fullerton Parkway.
Designed by Alfred Caldwell and built 86 years ago, the park resembles a prairie landscape — the kind that was lost to “progress” in the 19th century — featuring trees, greenery, assorted flowers, rock formations, a waterfall and a pool.
“It’s really such a beautiful testament and ode to the Midwest landscape,” said Maeve Musgrave Callaghan, manager of park stewardship for the Lincoln Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that oversaw the lily pool’s rehab.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What makes someone a “real Chicagoan” to you?
Email us (please include your first and last name). We may include your answers in Monday’s Morning Edition newsletter.
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
Hat tip: Thank you to the Sun-Times’ Joel Carlson for today’s subject line, which you’ll find on the cover of the Friday Sun-Times.👇