Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: In the wake of a Sun-Times report, the state is threatening fines and potential jail time for federal agents driving vehicles with missing or modified license plates.
🗞️ Plus: ICE on Chicago Public Schools’ doorstep renews safety worries, Gene & Georgetti fears losing Midway Airport location to slot machines and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Bulls beat the Pistons, 115-111; the Fire bested Orlando City, 3-1.
📧 Subscribe: Get this newsletter delivered to your inbox weekday mornings.
⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Mostly sunny with a high near 52.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES
Immigration enforcement reaches CPS doorstep and renews questions on student, community safety
By Emmanuel Camarillo, Cindy Hernandez and Fran Spielman
Worker detained: A landscaper with a Chicago Public Schools vendor was working on the property of Decatur Classical School in West Ridge when he was detained by immigration officers Tuesday.
Who’s safe?: This appears to be the first time in recent memory that a CPS employee or vendor has been detained by federal immigration agents on school property. It’s raising questions about the safety of parents and students around school areas as immigration enforcement continues, even as CPS has tried to assure immigrant families they are safe at school.
On city property: Relatedly, Little Village residents on Wednesday called on the city to enforce its ban on federal immigration agents using city property to gear up for President Donald Trump’s deportation effort, after agents were seen at a city-owned parking lot preparing for a raid last weekend.
Key context: When he signed the executive order Oct. 6, Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked what would happen if ICE ignored the mandate and staged immigration raids on city-owned properties. “If the federal government violates this executive order, we will take them to court,” he said.
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Illinois aims to crack down on ICE cars with illegal license plates after Sun-Times report
By Lauren FitzPatrick
Tipline created: In the wake of reports of federal immigration officers driving cars without proper license plates or modified plates, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias has created a tipline to collect and investigate plate violations. He urged the public to call 312-814-1730 or email platewatch@ilsos.gov to report violations including license plates that have been tampered with, obscured or swapped out.
Key context: The announcement comes two weeks after the Sun-Times sent Giannoulias’ office evidence of U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers driving on public streets without one or both Illinois license plates and examples of individual license plates seen on multiple vehicles.
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Judge’s order blocking National Guard remains in effect as all eyes on SCOTUS
By Jon Seidel
Guard blocked: All eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court after the Trump administration agreed Wednesday that a lower court’s order blocking National Guard deployment within Illinois could remain in effect while the high court decides whether to intervene.
Surprise move: The surprise move raised eyebrows in a Chicago courtroom. And it suggests the White House is “banking on a Supreme Court ruling in their favor,” a legal expert told the Sun-Times. If the Supreme Court sides with Illinois, Guard deployment could be blocked here for the foreseeable future.
MORE ON IMMIGRATION ✶
Elected leaders call for ICE to release father of teen battling cancer
By Michael Puente
Ruben Torres Maldonado, whose 16-year-old daughter, Ofelia, suffers from a rare form of cancer, was removed from his car and taken into custody by four masked ICE agents in Niles last weekend.
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Feds, top Border Patrol boss make arrests in Little Village and Cicero, sparking protest
By Cindy Hernandez and Mary Norkol
The arrests Wednesday resulted in a crash that drew outraged protesters to the scene. Two staff members for a city alderperson, both U.S. citizens, were among those arrested.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED
- Gene & Georgetti fears: Michelle Durpetti, owner of the iconic steakhouse with a location at Midway Airport, has been told her airport licensing agreement is being abruptly terminated, a move she believes was done to make way for slot machines at Midway.
- Hoover seeks freedom: Since President Trump commuted his federal life prison sentence five months ago, Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover remains imprisoned in “extreme” conditions in Colorado, his lawyers say. Now, he’s asking Gov. JB Pritzker to finally make him a free man.
- Auburn Gresham shooting: A 17-year-old boy was among two people killed in a shooting that also left a third person wounded Wednesday morning, Chicago police said.
- Remembering Ron Dean: An actor who overcame a troubled past to find a tough guy film niche, Mr. Dean’s filmography includes “The Fugitive” and “The Breakfast Club.” He died Oct. 5 at age 87.
- Suburban mayor hit with lien: Lyons Mayor Chris Getty is facing a federal lien demanding he cough up more than $150,000 in unpaid income taxes.
- CTA weekend work: All Loop elevated stations will be closed for track work over the weekend, starting early Saturday, impacting four train lines.
- Holy revival?: The historic Chicago landmark First Church of Deliverance was awarded a $500,000 grant by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, cementing the church’s restoration plans.
CHICAGO HISTORY 🎷
Chicago is a jazz city, but where are the jazz radio stations?
By Arionne Nettles
Jazz city: Ever since musicians like Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton were playing at nightclubs along the Black Belt on the South Side in the 1920s, Chicago has been known as a jazz city. Hearing and seeing live jazz are still ingrained in the culture, but it’s harder to find it on the radio.
Outstanding question: Today, WDCB, a radio station at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, is the only known all-jazz station in the region, but the signal is not always strong enough to reach throughout Chicago.
Listen up 🎧: A listener of WBEZ’s Curious City program wanted to know: Given Chicago’s rich jazz history, why are there no all-jazz radio stations broadcasting from the city proper? Reporter Arionne Nettles dove in to find the answer. You can read her findings, or listen to the full episode, via the button below.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏀🏈🏒
- Coach approach: Bulls coach Billy Donovan is maintaining a tough-love approach for Matas Buzelis.
- Bears connect: QB Caleb Williams is the missing piece as the Bears’ running game and defense click, writes Jason Lieser.
- Penalty kill strategy: How Ilya Mikheyev’s “nonstop effort” keeps the Blackhawks’ overworked PK afloat.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩
This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: Concert venues!
Here’s your clue:
15A: Concert venue that occupies the former Morton factory
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Crying Tiger celebrates Southeast Asian cuisine
By Ambar Colón
Renowned chef Thai Dang’s latest culinary venture is Crying Tiger, a restaurant in River North with the traditions of Southeast Asian cuisine as the focus.
At Crying Tiger, which opened last week, the blending of different cuisines and flavors — some dishes even inspired by Pilsen’s Mexican community — is possible because of chef Dang’s own story.
“Coming from an immigrant family, and then to be part of this, is pretty wild,” Dang told the Sun-Times.
The 140-seat restaurant is a collaboration between Dang — who, with his wife, Danielle, is behind the award-winning HaiSous Vietnamese Kitchen in Pilsen — and Amarit Dulyapaibul, a managing partner with Lettuce Entertain You.
Crying Tiger celebrates the tastes and ingredients commonly found in dishes throughout Vietnam, where Dang was born, and Thailand, where Dulyapaibul’s parents come from. Diners can also enjoy dishes inspired by parts of India, China, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia.
Dang said his passion for food was born in part from watching his mother, Tin Thi Do, cook. “My love of cooking was probably embedded in me at that early age, and I had no idea of it,” he said.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
How do you feel about the possibility of installing slot machines at O’Hare and Midway Airports?
Email us with your answer (please include your first and last name). We may run your answers in Friday’s Morning Edition newsletter.
In yesterday’s newsletter, we asked you to tell us about one of your important or unusual get-ready-for-winter tasks and why you do it.
Here’s some of what you said…
“I bring inside the palm trees that I grew from seeds found on the ground in Palm Springs, California. — Ernie Kaminski
“On Thanksgiving weekend, I pull out my trusty Honda snow thrower from the garage, add some gasoline, then pull the cord to start the machine. Want to make sure it’s ready for clearing sidewalks in the months ahead.”— Edward M. Bury
“My son and I get out the 18-foot ladder and make sure the gutters are clear so we can avoid the roof damage from ice buildup and ice dams during the winter months. It’s pure drudgery, and I definitely don’t look forward to it.”— Dyann Berndt
“At the end of each season I spend time outside, thanking nature for another winter, spring, summer or autumn. I touch things like the snow, a seeding dandelion, a piece of fruit or a beautiful leaf while doing so.”— Christine Bock
“I change the blankets for a down comforter and get the portable humidifiers out and ready to go.”— Mary Jane Tala
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
Hat tip: Sun-Times’ Bryan Barker for today’s subject line, which you’ll find on today’s front page. 👇
The front page of your Oct. 23, 2025, Sun-Times print edition, on newsstands now. Members and home delivery subscribers can access the e-paper here.
Bryan Barker/Sun-Times
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