Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: As temperatures drop and snow piles up, housing advocates say President Donald Trump’s new homelessness policies could put more Illinoisians on the street.
🗞️ Plus: DuSable Museum is accused of misusing funds, Obama says his presidential center will open in June and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Blackhawks fell to the Golden Knights, 4-3.
📧 Subscribe: Get this newsletter delivered to your inbox weekday mornings.
⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER ❄️
Cloudy with snow likely and a high near 31.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES 🗞️
As cold weather settles over Chicago, advocates call out Trump’s new homelessness policies
By Michael Puente
Policy change: Last month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced plans to shift $3.9 billion in funding for long-term housing to transitional housing that requires work and addiction treatment. HUD says its policies restore “accountability to homelessness programs.” But the lack of affordable housing drives homelessness, the state of Illinois said.
Advocates alarmed: Just as temperatures drop and the city digs out from under record snowfall, housing advocates say the new policies could put people at risk of losing shelter. “We believe that over 7,500 people in Illinois are at risk of losing their permanent housing,” said Christine Haley, chief homeless officer for the Illinois Department of Human Services.
Chicagoans at risk: More than 1,300 Chicagoans are unsheltered, according to a snapshot taken earlier this year by the city. That includes people of color, people with disabilities, including mental illness, and people dealing with substance abuse issues. “It’s definitely hard if you ain’t got nobody out here and helping with your family,” one 23-year-old staying at a Humboldt Park shelter placement center told WBEZ.
✶✶✶✶
Group sues Trump administration for South Shore raid footage that fed propaganda videos
By Nader Issa, Esther Yoon-Ji Kang and Mariah Woelfel
Footage sought: President Donald Trump’s administration is facing a lawsuit seeking the release of all footage filmed during the high-powered overnight immigration raid of a South Shore apartment complex in September. The images captured by a government camera crew were later used in highly edited videos — which experts called “propaganda” — published by the federal government to win support for its deportation campaign. Democracy Forward, a Washington-based legal organization, is suing.
Move-out date: Residents remaining in the South Shore building have pointed to squalid conditions long before the raid and unmet calls on the city for help. Last week, tenants were ordered by a Cook County judge to vacate the premises by Dec. 12, a surprise move-out date that comes amid freezing temperatures. Residents are again asking the city to step in, calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson and other elected officials to act.
More headlines:
- Federal appeals judge questions validity of order that could free hundreds from ICE custody
- Lawyers challenging aggressive Chicago immigration enforcement move to dismiss case
- Sen. Durbin presses Kristi Noem about U.S. citizens arrested during feds’ immigration ‘dragnet’
✶✶✶✶
DuSable Black History Museum and its CEO misused public funds, whistleblower alleges
By Ambar Colón
Museum sued: An ex-employee of the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center has filed a lawsuit against the institution and its president and CEO, Perri Irmer, alleging misuse of public funds, harassment and retaliation.
Key context: The lawsuit is the latest in an ongoing whistleblower campaign by Kim Dulaney, a retired Chicago State University professor who joined the South Side museum in 2021 as director of education and programs. She later became vice president of the same department.
What’s alleged: Dulaney claims in her suit, filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, that she was retaliated against after “questioning DuSable’s irregular fiscal practices.” Dulaney alleges she was excluded from meetings, harassed and ultimately terminated in October. The lawsuit brings the claims forward under the Illinois Whistleblower Act.
POLITICS ✶
- Burke looks back: Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said one of her office’s top achievements during her first year has been increasing the pretrial detention rate for suspects charged with assault weapons possession, domestic violence and other violent crimes.
- Vaccine guidelines: Illinois public health officials now have more authority to set the state’s own vaccine guidelines under a law signed Tuesday by Gov. JB Pritzker that aims to “fill the void” left by vaccine skeptics in President Donald Trump’s administration.
- Head tax hunting: His voice breaking with emotion, Mayor Johnson tried again Tuesday to salvage a corporate head tax proposal shot down by the City Council’s Finance Committee and condemned by business leaders.
- Council’s budget pitches: City Council members opposed to Mayor Johnson’s head tax proposal pitched alternative budget options Tuesday, which include Chicagoans paying higher taxes for liquor and rides with Uber and Lyft, along with significantly higher garbage collection fees.
- Torture victim’s settlement: A City Council committee on Thursday will be asked to award $15.4 million to Robert Smith Jr., who was tortured into confessing to a double murder he didn’t commit by the “midnight crew” trained by disgraced Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge. Smith spent 33 years behind bars before his release in 2020.
- Possible hemp ban: Local business owners said they were surprised by 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn’s proposed ordinance that would ban most sales of intoxicating hemp beverages, gummies and other products. The ban would take effect before a similar federal ban set for next year.
- Obama Center opening: Following a decade of planning, construction and delays, the Obama Presidential Center’s opening has been narrowed to June — but not yet to an exact date, ex-President Barack Obama said.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ✶
- O’Hare update: City officials say unexpected increases in passengers at O’Hare Airport mean they’ll delay plans to close Terminal 2 for a massive $8 billion expansion.
- Ex-cop seeks retrial: Lawyers for Sean Grayson, convicted of murdering Sonya Massey when she was unarmed in her home, are seeking a new trial, alleging that errors by the judge swung the case against their client.
- Law center to close: Downtown-based Shriver Center on Poverty Law announced it will close at the end of the year, citing financial challenges.
- Sickle-cell clinic: Six years after the project’s initial launch, Roseland Community Hospital this week opened its new sickle-cell treatment clinic on the facility’s fourth floor.
- Food giants sued: The city of San Francisco is suing four Chicago-based food giants, as well as other major snack food makers, for manufacturing addictive ultra-processed foods and knowingly sickening consumers.
- Pope honors Muti: Riccardo Muti, the esteemed Italian-born conductor with strong Chicago ties, will be recognized by Pope Leo XIV this month with the prestigious Ratzinger Prize at the Vatican.
- We’re No.1!: Chicago has retaken the unwanted title of Worst Traffic in the Nation, beating out New York City for the top spot on data firm Inrix’s annual Global Traffic Scorecards.
CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE 📐
Church seeks to reawaken Stony Island’s architectural slice of ancient Persia
By Lee Bey
South Side stopper: The busy intersection of 79th Street and Stony Island and South Chicago avenues, where the Chicago Skyway ramps lash overhead, holds one of Chicago’s most unusual architectural finds – the Rev. John L. Conner Fellowship Hall.
Conner’s vision: The building is a Moorish Revival dream rendered in polychromatic brick and terra cotta at 7901 S. Stony Island Ave. There’s even an ornamental minaret poking above the building’s Spanish tile roof.
Key context: Built in 1928 as a high-toned restaurant called Raphael’s, the building — owned by nearby Haven of Rest Missionary Baptist Church, 7925 S. South Chicago Ave., since 1964 — has been a traffic stopper and curiosity at the intersection for nearly a century.
Better days before: The building has indeed seen better days. While the exterior still looks relatively good at nearly 100 years old, long-deferred maintenance and Father Time have wreaked havoc on its once glorious interior. So much so, the building is unusable.
Holy help: Haven of Rest Missionary’s congregation wants to get the old hall rehabbed, restored and reopened by 2028. They’re looking to raise $5 million toward the effort. The congregation is also seeking a $10,000 grant from the preservation organization Landmarks Illinois to stop the building’s sieve-like roof from leaking, while planning next steps of the renovation.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈🏀
- High school football: Fenwick shocked East St. Louis on Tuesday to win the 6A state title. A gutsy final drive pushed St. Francis past Providence for the 5A state title.
- Bears-Packers: Caleb Williams is the rare Bears QB to win at Lambeau Field, but can he do it again?
- College football: The College Football Playoff rankings leave No. 10 Notre Dame in serious danger, writes Steve Greenberg.
- Coaches suspended: Kenwood boys basketball coach Mohammed Cookbey and Leo basketball coach Jimalle Ridley are both serving four-game suspensions handed down by the IHSA, which said the two schools played a scrimmage before the official start date of the season.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Robert Townsend returns home with ‘The Bear,’ ‘The Chi’ and a pop-up film festival
By Erica Thompson
It’s been more than 50 years since Robert Townsend started acting, but the West Side native still discusses his early experiences with plenty of details and delight.
As an eager teenager, he took acting classes at the John Robert Powers modeling school downtown. He also worked with the Experimental Black Actors Guild on the South Side. But performing on the West Side with the LaMont Zeno Theatre was especially educational, he said.
“That’s where it all began for me,” said the renowned filmmaker, 68, who now lives in Los Angeles. “My heart is still in the West Side.”
This weekend, Townsend will give back to the city by hosting a pop-up film festival, which benefits the West Side branch of the NAACP and The Answer Inc. Autism Awareness and Support Agency in Hillside. On Saturday, he will teach a master class, host a game night, and show screenings of “The Spook Who Sat by the Door” and “The Five Heartbeats” at Columbia College Chicago.
On Sunday, he will present a sold-out comedy showcase at The Comedy Bar, as well as sold-out screenings of “The Meteor Man” and the episode he directed of “Power Book IV: Force” at the Chicago Cultural Center.
The event falls during a busy season for Townsend, who is working on a new film and pitching a new TV series. This winter, he will also return to the city to film Season 5 of “The Bear” as a cast member and to direct an episode of the final season of “The Chi.” Though passionate about his future work, Townsend is also reflecting on his past through his one-man show, “Living the Shuffle.” And he is working on a memoir.
DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Chicago has overtaken New York City for the worst vehicle congestion in the U.S. So we want to know:
How do you make the most of getting stuck in traffic? 🚗
Email us with your answer (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in Thursday’s Morning Edition newsletter.
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.