Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Residential property tax bills are rising fastest in Black neighborhoods on the South and West sides as the county’s tax burden shifts away from the economically depressed Loop.
🗞️ Plus: Pastors speak of alleged brutality by cops at Broadview immigration facility, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security vacates its Naval Station Great Lakes command center and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Bears pulled off a 19-17 win vs. the Vikings on Cairo Santos’ last-second field goal; the Bulls fell in double overtime to the Jazz, 150-147.
🧩 After you’re caught up: We’ve got a new Chicago-style crossword for you to try. This week’s theme: Da Bears.
⏱️: A 9-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Partly sunny with a high near 48.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES 🗞️
Black neighborhoods are hit hardest with Cook County property tax bill increase: Analysis
By David Struett
Bill spike: Residential property tax bills are rising fastest in Black neighborhoods on the South and West sides as the county’s tax burden shifts away from the economically depressed Loop, according to a report from the Cook County treasurer’s office.
Key context: The Sun-Times broke the news in March that the property tax burden had shifted from the Central Business District to neighborhoods. Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ report, released Monday, gets specific about how that shift has hit minority neighborhoods hardest.
Tax bills rose the highest in:
- West Garfield Park; the median homeowner tax bill rose nearly $2,000 — or 133% — the highest of any area.
- North Lawndale; home tax bills climbed almost $1,900, or 99%.
- Englewood; the increase was $609, or 82%.
How we got here: Home values in lower-income neighborhoods have recouped the value they had before the Great Recession, according to the report. And since their value is rising faster than homes in more expensive neighborhoods, their tax bills have risen the quickest.
There’s more: All of that is compounded by an overall increase in the tax levy across the county.
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CHA residents grow frustrated as agency marks one year without permanent CEO
By Lizzie Kane
Still no CEO: The Chicago Housing Authority has marked a year without a permanent CEO, and it’s still unclear who will run the nation’s third-largest public housing authority. After former CEO Tracey Scott resigned Nov. 1, 2024, the CHA launched a national search to find its next chief executive, saying it would appoint a new leader come summer 2025.
What’s the hold up?: Mayor Brandon Johnson and the embattled agency, which has a budget of more than $1 billion, have clashed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over the mayor’s candidate of choice, retired Ald. Walter Burnett, who is now unlikely to land the job. Eight other high-ranking officials have left the agency in the past year, including three who were fired. Various positions sit vacant or are led by interim leaders.
Dire conditions: Residents’ frustration drags on as they say property conditions remain dire. The CHA serves more than 65,000 households and is the largest single owner of rental housing in Chicago. Willie Wright, who has lived at Henry Horner Homes in the Near West Side since 1999, said CHA provides “a lot of lip service” without actually meeting the needs of residents.
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Pastors speak of brutality of arrests by local cops at Broadview ICE facility
By Violet Miller and Casey He
Pastor bruised: The Rev. Michael Woolf on Sunday preached from his pulpit. Under his suit, he told his congregation, his body was marked by bruises he sustained Friday, when he was arrested by state, county and local police with 20 others during a clergy-led protest outside the immigration facility in Broadview. Woolf said he spent seven hours in custody.
Key context: Friday’s gathering was intended to provide religious counseling to detainees at the facility, though an official there again denied clergy members access to detainees.
Where are the feds?: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has left its command center at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, a source associated with the naval station confirmed Saturday. Federal officials said a surge of immigration enforcement in Charlotte, North Carolina, had begun as agents were seen making arrests in multiple locations.
More headlines:
- Chicago police are told to hold back after Border Patrol shooting in Brighton Park, body-camera footage shows
- Wind, cold temps can change the impact of tear gas and pepper balls, experts say
WATCH: CONFRONTATIONS OUTSIDE BROADVIEW ICE FACILITY ▶️
Outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, 21 demonstrators, including faith leaders, were arrested. | Mohammad Samra/Sun-Times
POLITICS ✶
- Food funding: Mayor Johnson signed an executive order Saturday directing additional city resources to local organizations and businesses affected by the lapse in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program amid the historic 43-day government shutdown.
- Tariff turnaround: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to get rid of tariffs on a broad swath of commodities, including beef, coffee and tropical fruits, as part of a response to pressure from consumers who complain prices are too high.
- Airlines to resume schedules: The Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday it was lifting all restrictions on commercial flights that were imposed at 40 major airports during the country’s longest government shutdown.
- DoorDash settles with city: The food delivery app will pay $18 million to settle the city’s lawsuit that asserted DoorDash used “deceptive” practices with restaurants, customers and delivery drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic, City Hall announced.
- Budget vote coming: Mayor Johnson signaled Friday he is forging ahead to put his 2026 proposed budget to bed by Thanksgiving, even after several City Council members declared their opposition to a corporate head tax.
- About-face: Mayor Johnson last week restored a $9 million cut in domestic violence prevention funding in a compromise to get his 2026 budget passed. Advocates praised his “renewed commitment” to confronting gender-based violence.
- Investigation rejected: The school board for Broadview, Maywood and Melrose Park voted down a measure to move forward on a formal inquiry into accusations that board member Sandra Ciancio engaged in possible bid rigging and allegedly solicited kickbacks.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ✶
- Jackson stabilized: The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., 84, is breathing on his own and his condition has stabilized, his family said in a statement Sunday.
- Cold case reheated: After evading authorities for more than 20 years, 68-year-old David Barklow has been charged with first-degree murder for a fatal shooting inside a Gold Coast apartment.
- Man sentenced after assaults: Known on social media as a “puncher” who assaulted women on sidewalks and CTA platforms, Derek Rucker has been sentenced to seven years in prison — just one month after his arrest.
- Harmon staffer robbed: A staff member for Illinois Senate President Don Harmon was held at knifepoint and her cellphone was stolen at the senator’s Oak Park office Friday, authorities said.
- MSI strike date set: Griffin Museum of Science and Industry staff say they will strike Nov. 29 if an agreement is not reached before then.
MUST-READ COMMENTARY 🗣️
John Candy’s death — and my dad’s — remind that physical, mental health are closely tied
By Joanna Buscemi
The comedian often spoke of being doomed to the same fate as his father, who died at 35. What he and my own father felt wasn’t unusual. Early loss, like losing a parent, raises the risk for chronic illness and early death.
People still exist even if the Trump administration refuses to see them
By Neil Steinberg
Object permanence is a concept grasped by babies, eventually. Why does Trump’s White House have such a hard time with it?
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Woman from Chicago area living in India uses Hindi skills to teach others
By Rummana Hussain
Jessica Kumar, who has lived in India for nearly 20 years, uses her linguistic talents to coach others through her podcast, social media posts and online conversational courses.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈🏒🏀
- Bears up top: Eleven weeks into the season, the Bears are in sole possession of first place in the NFC North.
- Moore speed: Blackhawks rookie Oliver Moore is learning he really is fast enough to blow past his NHL competition.
- Another backcourt hit: Tre Jones is the Bulls’ latest guard out.
- Sky high hopes: Why fans are trying to manifest a top pick for the Sky in the 2026 draft, despite less than 6% odds of this coming true.
- High school football: Lockport makes its season debut, Oswego returns and Montini cracks the top five in Michael O’Brien’s Super 25 high school football rankings for Week 13.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩
This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: Da Bears 🏈
Can you solve this clue?
11D: “Papa Bear” George ___
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Bronzeville’s historic arts center’s glow-up is boosted by new $2 million grant
By Lee Bey
The South Side Community Art Center — a Bronzeville landmark that has been an artistic home for generations of Black creatives such as Margaret Burroughs, Gordon Parks and Kerry James Marshall — received a $2 million grant to help restore its historic building and construct a major addition.
The 9,700-square-foot addition will double the size of the center, located in a stately but aged 1892 brick-and-limestone former residence at 3831 S. Michigan Ave.
Elevators, new gallery space, archive rooms, artist studios, meeting spaces, collection storage and a rooftop deck will be included in the addition.
The award from Chicago’s Driehaus Foundation goes toward the project’s $18 million construction budget. Brinkman-Hill said some work, including the installation of underground geothermal systems that will heat and cool the buildings’ interior, is already underway.
The building opened in 1940 through funding from the federal Works Progress Administration, and it was formally dedicated the next year by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. It’s the nation’s oldest Black American art center.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
In Friday’s newsletter, we asked you: Which of Chicago’s expressways needs improvements the most?
Here’s some of what you said…
“I-55 definitely needs to be widened.” — Reginald Holliday
“The Bishop Ford is very congested and desperately needs additional lanes. Plus it floods every time it rains.” — Greg Lydon
“Remove the innermost lanes from the Ike [Eisenhower] and Dan Ryan [expressways] to make space for outer express tracks for the Blue and Red Lines, and then … fix up the Forest Park Leg of the Blue Line so it runs faster again.” — Aaron Grace
“The Eisenhower Expressway. The best way to improve it would be to get rid of it. Improve the CTA Blue Line and develop the erstwhile expressway into homes and businesses, the way it was 75 years ago before the expressway destroyed the West Side.” — James R. Anderson
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
A child plays with a leaf Nov. 8 during a walking tour by the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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