Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: For the second straight judicial primary election, less than half of the seats up for grabs have drawn more than one candidate. Why?
🗞️ Plus: Mistakes stall back pay for Chicago firefighters, a renowned artist leaves Google’s headquarters project and more.
📧 Subscribe: Get this newsletter delivered to your inbox weekday mornings.
⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Mostly sunny with a high near 64, with more springlike weather this week.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Who wants to be a Cook County judge? Not many.
By Dan Hinkel and David Jackson
Up for grabs: For the second straight judicial primary election, less than half of the seats up for grabs March 17 drew more than one candidate, continuing a decadeslong slide in competition.
Key context: On paper, Cook County circuit judge is a great job. They make $258,000 a year, hold extraordinary power, and almost never get fired or even disciplined. But decreasingly fewer attorneys are seeking the post.
Contributing factors: Observers have cited factors including the cost of campaigning, increased public scrutiny on judicial elections, and a Democratic Party that dominates local politics and discourages competition against its chosen candidates.
The result: Candidates in 16 of the 28 circuit court races are virtually assured to breeze onto the bench, where they could decide who goes to prison, holds a driver’s license or keeps their kids.
Zooming in: Some candidates on a glide path have liabilities that might hurt them in a contested race, including one with an arrest record, another with a history of failing to pay income taxes and a third who only recently moved to Cook County. All four vacancies in the 13th subcircuit, which covers the far Northwest suburbs, are uncontested.
IMMIGRATION ✶
Teen who battled cancer while fighting for dad’s release from ICE detention dies
By Elleiana Green and Violet Miller
Young Chicagoan: Ofelia Giselle Torres Hidalgo, a 16-year-old Chicagoan who successfully fought for her father’s release from federal immigration detainment, reportedly died Friday. A junior at Lake View High School, Ofelia had been battling metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive soft tissue cancer, since December 2024.
Key context: A day after she was released for the weekend from Lurie Children’s Hospital to see family and friends in mid-October, her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Niles. Doctors said she was unable to continue treatment “because of the stress and disruption” caused by the arrest. Following widespread demands for his release, including a video made by Ofelia on social media, Maldonado was released on bond in late October.
Judge’s ruling: On Tuesday, an immigration judge in Chicago conditionally allowed Maldonado to receive a “cancellation of removal” due to the impact his deportation would have on his children, who are U.S. citizens.
More on immigration:
- Anti-ICE campus walkouts and a large cross-city gathering in Federal Plaza on Friday were part of an expected “spring surge” in actions nationwide.
- A shop local campaign is boosting Brighton Park after immigration raids hurt local businesses.
CITY HALL 🏛️
Mayor Johnson vetoes hemp ban as measure’s sponsor gives up
By Fran Spielman
Ban vetoed: Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday vetoed a City Council-approved ban on hemp-derived products to save Chicago’s burgeoning hemp industry. The chief sponsor of the ban, Southwest Side Ald. Marty Quinn, said he wouldn’t try for an override.
Key context: Quinn’s decision to throw in the towel means that hemp-derived products can continue to be sold in Chicago — at least until a federal ban takes effect later this year. The ban on most hemp products was aimed at keeping unregulated intoxicants out of reach from minors.
In other news: Hundreds of firefighters and paramedics are still waiting for four years’ worth of retroactive pay raises after Johnson’s administration fumbled the ball in distributing the checks. The city’s failure to deliver by the Dec. 30 deadline means the city must pay 4.5% annual interest on payments as high as $35,000, the Chicago firefighters union said.
ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN 📐
Artist Judy Chicago leaves Google renovation project
By Lee Bey
‘Nightmare’ experience: The celebrated visual artist Judy Chicago has walked away from a major commission at Google’s headquarters project in the Loop, comparing working with the tech giant to “a nightmare.” The job included creating a new decorative skin to adorn the atrium’s exposed 17-story elevator system.
Key context: The artist, born Judith Sylvia Cohen, along with her husband and collaborator, architect and photographer Donald Woodman, were picked in September to create a new terrazzo tile atrium floor at the base of the building. Renovation work has shifted to the interior of the former James R. Thompson Center as the exterior construction crane was taken down Friday.
First look: Chicago and Woodman said they left the project after four months, citing a litany of problems with Google, giving the public a first look behind the glass walls of the $300 million conversion project.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Sluggish office market: The only high-end office building to break ground in Chicago since 2023 has opened in Fulton Market. The Fulton, at 919 W. Fulston St., has risen in an area that remains one of the bright spots in the city’s sluggish office market.
- Affordability crisis: A Trump executive order barring Wall Street investors from buying single-family homes took effect Jan. 20. But some say it won’t have much impact on Illinois’ housing shortage and affordability crisis.
- Road work road blocks?: As road construction season approaches, uncertainty remains on if a contractor with ties to the Palumbo family will be allowed to start construction.
- Street runs: Joabe Bayer Barbosa set out to become the first person to run every block in Chicago — and 1,979 streets later, he’s almost done. He talked with WBEZ about what he plans after reaching his goal.
- JADE delivers in sold-out show: After an 11-year stint with the popular girl group Little Mix, the British pop star is on her debut solo U.S. tour — and Chicago fans welcomed her with open arms.
MUST-READ COMMENTARY ✍️
Iraq, like Chicago, has more to offer than ominous headlines
By Rummana Hussain
Reflections on a recent trip to Iraq, with its beautiful kaleidoscopic mosques, signs of renewal and young people forging ahead with hope.
_____
‘Boss Lincoln’ reminds us Abraham Lincoln clawed his way into presidency
By Neil Steinberg
A new book examines the 16th president’s life through the battle royale of Illinois partisan politics. It’s ugly — and familiar.
ARTS AND CULTURE 🎨
Nick Cave is excavating America’s bones at a fraught moment for the Smithsonian
By Elly Fishman
Chicagoan’s capital show: Renowned artist Nick Cave’s new exhibit “Mammoth” opened Friday at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington — the museum’s largest ever single-artist commission. It features three enormous mammoth puppets that the Chicago-based artist made right here. The figures star in a film installation, “Roam,” one of several of Cave’s works on display.
Key context: The decision to showcase a queer Black artist is not lost on Cave. And the eerie sense of resurrection, he says, is intentional.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏀⚾
- Bulls recap: How did the Bulls do at the trade deadline? Hint: It wasn’t good.
- Talking about practice: In the WNBA facilities race, the Sky hold a momentary advantage, writes Alissa Hirsh.
- Steeling himself: The Cubs’ Justin Steele is targeting a May or June return with steady spring training progress.
- Let the gaffes begin: It’s the middle of February, and already the White Sox are making little missteps that make one wonder what’s going on, writes Steve Greenberg.
- Girls basketball: Kenwood moves into the top three in Kyle Williams’ Super 25 high school girls basketball rankings for Feb. 15.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 6A: Lou ___ (Grammy winner raised in the Ida B. Wells homes)
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Shedd Aquarium’s anti-Valentine’s Day event allows cynics, singles to de-stress in nature
By Erica Thompson
There are those who spend Valentine’s Day wining and dining, and then there are those who spend it raging.
A Shedd Aquarium event at LaGrange Park Woods on Saturday catered to the latter. About 15 participants burned off steam by snapping, sawing and burning buckthorn, an invasive tree threatening native plants and wildlife in the area.
Branded as an “anti-Valentine’s Day” affair in “nature’s rage room,” the event was part of the aquarium’s regular “action days” to restore and safeguard forest preserves and other natural areas. Volunteers included singles, groups of friends and even couples. They worked for a few hours atop an ephemeral pond, which is dry during winter months. And they were rewarded with cookies, a heart-shaped box of chocolates, lollipops and s’mores.
Though participants admitted to the stress relief benefits, no one was especially angry or broken-hearted. They were more interested in the opportunity to spend Valentine’s Day in a unique way and do their part to help the environment.
“It’s a really fun and engaging way to get people to learn about the harmful things in our environment, what they can do to make an impact for their local spaces, and also a really great way to connect with other people with similar interests,” Shedd Aquarium’s Evelyn Alvarez said.
DAILY QUESTION ☕️
On Friday, we asked you: How do you save money while grocery shopping? Do you have any tips?
Here’s some of what you said, edited for clarity and space …
“By not buying meat.” — Joseph Schuman
“‘I look for sales and try not to buy name-brand products. Frozen dinner and a salad works for me. If I get takeout, it’s also my lunch the next day.” — Richard Barber
“With cold breakfast cereals doubling in price, I just skip buying unless a strong sale on multiple boxes comes up.” — John Hunter
“Shop your pantry and freezer before heading to the store. You’re often amazed at how much you already have or overbuy. Helps to keep items rotated as well.” — Christine Bock
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Morning Edition!
Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
The Chicago Sun-Times is a nonprofit supported by readers like you. Become a member to make stories like these free and available to everyone. Learn more at suntimes.com/member.