Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Over the last 20 years, the Far Southeast Side has seen big growth in same-sex households, according to Census data. We talked to those residents.
🗞️ Plus: Details revealed on the city’s failed parking meter buy-back bid, Chicago’s courtyards could get historic recognition and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Cubs beat the Mets, 4-3.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Mostly cloudy with a high near 71.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Far Southeast Side sees boom in LGBTQ couples who live there
By Lauren FitzPatrick and Alden Loury
Neighborhood development: Queer life has bloomed on the Far Southeast Side, which has seen some of the steepest growth in the number of same-sex households over the last two decades, according to our analysis of new U.S. census data. Couples we spoke with said the cost of living, compared to North Side “gayborhoods,” largely informed their decision to set down roots on the Far Southeast Side.
The data: In a city whose population of same-sex households has increased by about 72%, the numbers have more than doubled between 2005 and 2024 in the southeastern cluster of mostly Latino, Black and working-class communities that the census lumps together: South Shore, South Chicago, East Side, Hegewisch and South Deering. Almost 2% of all households, or 977 couples, are same sex, according to 2024 census data.
Zooming in: From Hegewisch to South Shore, some people who grew up in the area said they chose to return to the neighborhoods to steep in their culture as their whole selves. “When I moved back, I was not moving back and going to be the same person … I was going to be moved back as me,” said Kenny Dillon, who grew up in Hegewisch in the 1970s, where he now lives with his boyfriend and runs a salon.
CITY HALL 🚘
NY firm’s aim to buy parking meters sheds light on Chicago’s failed buy-back bid
By Fran Spielman
Firm attempt: A New York investment firm seeking to acquire Chicago’s parking meters tried Thursday to endear itself to a skeptical City Council that must approve the deal. James Wyper, a senior managing director at Stonepeak Partners, was on the same side as Council members seeking to force Mayor Brandon Johnson “out of hiding” at the start of the Finance Committee hearing.
What’s alleged: Wyper reiterated that Stonepeak waived a nondisclosure agreement that Johnson has used to shield himself from questions about the bid he submitted — then abandoned — to take back the 36,000 parking meters that Mayor Richard M. Daley famously unloaded in 2008. Wyper also disclosed that the Johnson administration offered the current owners of the meters — Morgan Stanley, Allianz Capital Partners and the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Abu Dhabi — $3.3 billion to buy them back.
Key context: Earlier this year, Johnson announced that City Hall had dropped out of the competition to take back Chicago parking meters after determining the asking price “would have made a bad deal even worse.”
More from City Hall:
- Johnson on Thursday issued an executive order to begin delivering on his promise to create a stand-alone city department focusing exclusively on reducing and preventing gun violence.
- A report commissioned by Johnson lays out an array of revenue-generating options including a sales tax on virtually “all consumer services,” taxing high-volume electricity users at a higher rate and imposing a congestion traffic fee.
ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN 📐
Could Chicago’s stock of courtyard buildings be a historic designation?
By Lee Bey
Home courtyard advantage?: Chicago’s entire class of vintage residential courtyard buildings — totaling in the thousands — could be headed for the National Register of Historic Places under a measure before a state panel Friday.
Designation decision: The nine-member Illinois National Register Advisory Council will decide whether to ask the National Park Service to approve a multiple property designation encompassing the city’s inventory of courtyard buildings.
Why it matters: The federal designation would make it easier for owners and developers to later get National Register listings for individual courtyard buildings. Individually listed structures can be eligible for state and federal tax breaks that could substantially offset the costs of a historically correct rehab or restoration.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Man convicted of deadly attack: A century of Illinois court decisions that a single-punch death isn’t grounds for a first-degree murder conviction prompted a Cook County judge Thursday to find Henry Graham, the attacker of a Northern Trust bank executive, guilty of a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.
- Pregnant cop suspended: A Chicago police officer was disciplined for posting pornographic images of the father of her child online after she found him on a date with another woman while she was pregnant, newly released records show.
- Kalshi lawsuit: The prediction market behemoth filed suit this week to block a new Illinois tax on financial exchanges like theirs that state gambling regulators have decried as illegal sports betting.
- Junk fee crack down: The ticket price you first see will be the price you pay in Illinois, under legislation signed Thursday by Gov. JB Pritzker banning so-called junk fees that often jack up costs for concerts, hotel reservations, food orders and other online purchases.
- Where art thou?: The DePaul Art Museum has officially closed to the public, but the collections will remain with the institution, according to the university.
- Music Box Theatre’s new screen: The Lake View arthouse cinema will debut its new, third screen this weekend, marking it latest expansion.
- Things to do June 26-July 1: Among events in the week ahead, the Chicago Pride Parade steps off Sunday, House of DOV performs Saturday and Sunday, and the Logan Square Arts Festival turns up the volume all weekend.
EDUCATION 🍎
CPS says it won’t cut instructional time or Safe Passage program in upcoming budget
By Emmanuel Camarillo
CPS promises: Chicago Public Schools officials say some services won’t be cut as the district works to plug a projected $732 million deficit for the upcoming school year.
Safe from cuts: Services that are safe include crossing guards and the Safe Passage program, which provides workers around schools to keep students safe during arrival and dismissal. Partnerships with organizations that provide mentoring to students, such as Youth Guidance and City Year, will also be preserved.
What’s unclear: CPS CEO and Supt. Macquline King said the district would not reduce instructional time for students to plug the budget gap, though Chicago Teachers Union officials have said they were told in meetings that a shortened school year was under consideration.
WATCH: SUN-TIMES IN TEXAS ▶️
Gov. JB Pritzker will deliver a keynote address Friday before Texas Democrats in Corpus Christi, one of many speeches he’s set to give. After touching down in the Lone Star State, Sun-Times national political reporter Tina Sfondeles breaks down what to expect. Follow her coverage here.
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- Weekly recap: The Sun-Times’ Violet Miller and Alma Campos, Block Club Chicago’s Maxwell Evans, and NBC 5’s Paris Schutz break down this week’s top stories.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- SCOTUS TPS ruling: The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disasters in Haiti and Syria. Haitian native Ludovic Comeau of DePaul University explains what this means.
- Summer produce: Paul Fehribach, author and chef at Big Jones restaurant, joins the show as callers weigh in with stories of their families’ fruit and vegetable recipes and preservation traditions.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾🏈🏀🏒
- Cub’s heart’s in Venezuela: After deadly earthquakes rocked Venezuela, Cubs infielder Pedro Ramirez said he confirmed his family is safe, but that his heart hurt for his community.
- Cha-Rizz-ma: Cubs great Anthony Rizzo is showing he has a future in broadcasting, writes Jeff Agrest.
- Pope is gifted World Series ball: In a recent visit to the Vatican, former White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski presented Pope Leo XIV with a ball from the 2005 World Series, which the pope famously attended.
- New Bears movie: The Hallmark Channel announced plans for a Bears-themed Christmas romance movie, likely featuring current and former players and coaches.
- WNBA’s queer legacy: The league has long been shaped by queer stars who, as Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve put last weekend, do it “for the gays.”
- NHL Draft: The Blackhawks are approaching the NHL draft without a first-round pick as the trade market keeps swirling.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 1A: Beer company that claims to have won its Blue Ribbon at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Chicago balladeer Andrew Sa serenades the ‘American Rough’ man on debut album
By Matt Moore
On his debut album, “American Rough,” Chicago serenader Andrew Sa offers a tender ode to love, longing and masculinity with a rich voice and country charm.
Sa guides listeners through a vast, 10-track sonic landscape dotted with images of clothes thrown on a chair in the heat of passion, boots left by the door, honky-tonking all night long, chiseled jaw lines with horse-tooth smiles, strong arms, and thunderbolt bourbon skies.
At the center of “American Rough,” out Friday, is Sa’s unique voice. It’s a dynamic, warbling birdsong that coos lovingly, soars confidently and glides mischievously, often delivered at his performances beneath the brim of a cowboy hat and neatly trimmed mustache.
Sa has been charming audiences in Chicago as the co-host of the Cosmic Country Showcase, a seasonal variety show featuring local music scene mainstays, bonkers costumes and an “anything can happen” electricity.
But now he’s set to release a collection of original songs, ready to make even the toughest “rough” man emotional.
“Men used to sing really beautiful, sensitive songs about their hearts, or their experiences,” Sa said of classic country music and how it can even compel men to cry together in bars.
“I think maybe we could use a little more of that right now — that willingness and bravery to face your emotion and feel it and express it,” Sa said.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What song sounds like summertime in Chicago to you? Tell us why. 🎶
Reply to this newsletter here please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
Yesterday, we asked you: What Chicago restaurant would you make the setting for a new TV show?
Here’s some of what you said…
“The Billy Goat, but during the 1980s when every newspaper writer hung out there.” — Vince LiFonti
“White Place Grill. It drips with Chicago! The real Chicago. Working class, head hung low, slumped over their food, piece of bread in one hand and a fork in the other, speaking to others or themselves or others in mumbled tones about politics, sports or the glory days of the city. You could just span that place with a camera, and it’d come out as a great gritty movie!” — P. Teodo
“The Athenian Room! The dimly lit, tightly squeezed atmosphere has got to be a breeding ground for some serious food drama. They get you in and out quickly, and with massive amounts of food. It looks like a grimy dive, but wow — the food is incredible. The service is young and quick, and remembers everything literally … It has a local feel: Cash only and a short menu that all frequenters know by heart … It’s quintessentially Chicago and surprisingly phenomenal.'” — Louise Imber
“Lula has a fascinating story of community ties, sustainable foodways, neighborhood development and longstanding beloved deliciousness! The chef [and] owner tells some of it himself very beautifully in the introduction to the cafe cookbook.” — Anna Kornbluh
“The old Citè restaurant at the top of Lake Point Tower. Went there quite a few times back during the dot-com boom of the 1990s and thought it was so fancy and elegant.” — Craig Holland
“Sally’s Stage, ’cause they had the waitresses on roller skates and … a big mechanical bull in the front window.” — Craig W. Berent
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
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