Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: The Sausage King of Chicago LLC has gotten millions in federal rent subsidies even as tenants complain about years of poor maintenance and deplorable conditions.
🗞️ Plus: A mom inspires a congressional bill on maternal health care after she was turned away by hospital staff while in labor, a snowy owl surprise and more news you need to know.
🦃 Programming note: Look for a special holiday edition of this newsletter in your inbox tomorrow morning.
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⏱️: A 9-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌨️
Snow showers and a high near 36. A wind advisory has been issued, with 60 mph gusts possible.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES 🗞️
What happened when the Sausage King of Chicago bought a South Side housing complex?
By Esther Yoon-Ji Kang and Amy Qin
Complex problems: The Sausage King of Chicago LLC is the company that owns Indian Trails Apartments, a 180-unit subsidized housing development in West Pullman. The complex, once considered a good place to live by longtime residents, is now in flux as it’s poised to change hands after years of neglect.
Reference point: Public records show the business, named after a scene from the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” is primarily owned by two investors from California, Alan Smolinisky and Brian Chien-Chih Chen. Two other investors, Robert Budman and Patrick Luke, are “minority and noncontrolling” owners of Indian Trails, according to Budman.
Realty check: The story of Indian Trails and the Sausage King of Chicago is what happened when a corporation led by out-of-town real estate investors with a penchant for 1980s pop culture bought property in Chicago — and how wealthy real estate investors purchase buildings in which rent is subsidized by the federal government, then collect tens of millions of dollars in rental income without providing low-income residents a safe, clean place to live.
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WATCH: HOW TO SEE WHO’S BEHIND AN LLC ▶️
Injustice Watch’s Charles Preston gives a quick walkthrough of how to use public records to find who’s behind an LLC. | Injustice Watch/WBEZ
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Mom turned away from hospital during labor calls for changes to maternal health
By Cindy Hernandez
‘Hurtful, disgraceful’: A Dolton mother says she is still processing the trauma of delivering her baby in a truck on the side of the road, just days after staff at a northwest Indiana hospital told her to leave. “After being kicked out of the hospital and begging to stay but still being pushed away was hurtful, disgraceful,” Mercedes Wells told reporters Tuesday.
Staff fired: Mercedes Wells, now a mother of four, said a nurse at Franciscan Health in Crown Point ignored her, and the doctor on call never came to see her. The doctor and nurse who were directly involved in Wells’ case were fired.
Seeking solutions: Wells was joined Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, who said she planned to file a bill that would push hospitals and birthing centers to develop and follow safe discharge plans. Kelly’s bill also addresses systemic issues in maternal care, racial disparities and hospital accountability, she said.
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Green Era’s food waste processor creates compost and renewable energy in Auburn Gresham
By Amy Yee
Waste not?: Each day at the Green Era Campus in Auburn Gresham, trucks drive into a cavernous industrial facility to unload withered vegetables, fruit and other inedible food into a giant metal pit. The waste is sifted, then funneled to an enormous tank called a biodigester. After a weekslong process, the system will yield compost for urban farms in Chicago.
Midwestern first: The biodigester officially launched this spring and has transformed a previously contaminated South Side lot. It’s likely the Midwest’s first large urban biodigester that only processes food waste, according to Jason Feldman, co-founder of Green Era. The system is unique because it can accept food in packaging such as plastic bags — special equipment separates inorganic material.
Why it matters: The $40 million project captures methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. Organic waste often rots in landfills and releases methane, which contributes to global warming.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ✶
- Cleanup controversy: The state’s top environmental official says the feds stopped oversight of the cleanup of almost half a million gallons of liquid asphalt that spilled into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal last spring.
- Thanksgiving travel: O’Hare Airport and Amtrak expect to break Thanksgiving week travel records, while an estimated 81.8 million people will be hitting the road.
- Emmett Till memorial: The barn in Mississippi where 14-year-old Emmett Till was tortured and killed will open to the public as a “sacred” memorial site by 2030, the new owner announced.
- Oak Lawn settles: The Village of Oak Lawn says it will pay $825,000 to settle a lawsuit by Hadi Abuatelah, who was punched by a village police officer when he was 17 in 2022.
- Texas man’s crypto scam: Robert Dunlap has been convicted of federal charges after he defrauded 1,000 investors out of $14 million with a cryptocurrency scam.
- Help for Aspira: Chicago Public Schools is helping the struggling Aspira charter school network make its immediate payroll, but the privately run, publicly financed operator needs more cash to remain open.
- ‘Mellon Collie’ review: Billy Corgan’s “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness,” a two-hour extravaganza featuring 57 musicians and at least 40 vocalists, is at once intriguing and head-spinning — just don’t call it an opera, writes Kyle MacMillan.
HOLIDAY GUIDE 🦃
Chicago chefs share their unique takes on Thanksgiving sides
By Lisa Shames
Side eye: For many Thanksgiving celebrators, the turkey might be the star of the show, but side dishes play an essential role. Why not have some fun with the classics? We reached out to local chefs, who shared their recipes ranging from a British-leaning vegetable dish to sweet potatoes with a Mexican twist.
Sweet potatoes: In Tuesday’s newsletter, we suggested Manchamanteles as an option for anyone looking to dine in or order out on Thanksgiving. But if you’re feeling ambitious, Chef Geno Bahena shared his sweet potato recipe with us, in which he swaps the marshmallows for a smoky, deeply flavorful salsa macha.
Cauliflower cheese: Growing up, David Perez, corporate chef at Hawksmoor Chicago, ate Sunday roasts, with which his mom flexed her London roots with a cauliflower cheese dish dating back to the Victorian era. Perez gave us this recipe, which he says pairs well with roasted game and meats.
Brisket baked beans: Dominique Leach, owner and chef at Lexington Betty Smokehouse, says it’s a skill to make the most of what’s on hand in the kitchen. Her brisket baked bean dish is a good example. While Leach makes the beans, brisket and barbecue sauce from scratch, you don’t have to. In sharing her recipe, she told us to give the ingredients time to macerate together and allow the sugar to melt.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾🏈🏒🏀
- Wrigley Field model: Chicago teams seeking new stadiums have a blueprint with Wrigley Field and Lake View, according to a new report from the Chicago Architecture Center.
- Bears and birds: The Eagles have been too good for too long to be underestimated by Bears, writes Jason Lieser.
- Brossoit almost ready: Laurent Brossoit is nearing game readiness for the first time since signing with the Blackhawks last year. He nearly gave up on his hockey career before discovering the cause of his knee problems
- One that got away?: Pelicans rookie Derik Queen was not just on the Bulls’ radar — he was in the building for a visit leading up to the selection. They passed and went with Noa Essengue.
- ‘Stop looking for excuses’: Mount Carmel football coach Jordan Lynch is ramping up the debate on the public-private school advantage issue before the IHSA finals.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩
This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: Thanksgiving 🦃
Can you solve this clue?
30A: Teddy the ___ (mascot for Chicago’s Thanksgiving festivities)
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Bird watchers perch at Montrose Beach as snowy owls make early Chicago appearance
By Casey He
A pair of snowy owls, the latest celebrity visitors to the beach and pier near Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, have drawn hundreds for a glimpse at the Arctic birds of prey.
Several dozen birdwatchers were still gathered at Montrose Beach just before sunset Tuesday afternoon. The city has closed a section of the pier for the black-and-white-feathered guests, and signs in the area advise spectators to keep at least 300 feet away as a “warm welcome” for the raptors.
About 4:15 p.m., one snowy owl could be spotted perched atop a pole at the end of the concrete pier stretching into Lake Michigan, while the other was resting at the far side of the pier.
Snowy owls live north of the Arctic Circle during the summer, and while they aren’t rare in Chicago, the frequency of their visits, usually in December, varies widely each winter. This year, the early visits have also prompted discussions of a boom migration.
“It’s all a gamble,” a birdwatcher was heard telling a group who arrived just in time for a peek.
DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What’s something you’ll only find at a Chicago Thanksgiving dinner?
Email your answer (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in Thursday’s holiday newsletter.
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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