Good morning, Chicago. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
Good morning, Chicago.
Though the city of Chicago has lost residents in recent years, the suburbs in Cook County have lost more, while suburbs far from the city are booming, new U.S. census estimates show.
Chicago lost about 82,000 people, or 3% of its population, from April 2020 to July 2023, giving the city a total of 2,664,452 residents, according to the census. But the city’s rate of population decline has sharply slowed, falling to just 0.3% — or 8,208 people — last year.
Statewide, Illinois lost an estimated 263,780 in the same three years, or 2%, to 12,549,689.
The losses reflect larger demographic changes in recent times, including a shift in population from the Midwest to the South and West; Black migration from the Chicago area; and a lack of in-migration, demographics analyst Rob Paral said.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Robert McCoppin, Jake Sheridan and Kori Rumore. Search population estimates across Illinois here.
And here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Teachers and school employees represented by the Chicago Teachers Union swarmed the Illinois Capitol building on Wednesday to rally for full funding of the state’s largest public school system amid the depletion of federal COVID-19 relief money that has the district facing a fiscal cliff.
Northwestern’s Organ Transplant Center recently performed its 10,000th abdominal organ transplant and was the first network in the state to reach that number. Northwestern’s transplant program began in 1964 and performed 518 abdominal transplants, the most in its history, in 2023.
It is headed by Dr. Satish Nadig, who said the 10,000 patients served is an important milestone for the hospital.
In a meticulous ruling from the bench, Circuit Judge Steven Watkins said over and over that there was no forensic evidence, no eyewitness evidence, and no murder weapon in evidence that could substantively tie Gerald Reed to the 1990 double homicide.
In addition, “there was no evidence of any desire to kill either one of them,” Watkins added. “It appears all of them were friends.”
The family of an assistant principal who was shot and killed inside a residential building in the Loop filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the alleged gunman, building management and its security, saying they “violated policies and common sense.”
More than a decade after golf legend Arnold Palmer’s 1958 Masters green jacket vanished from Augusta National Golf Club, federal investigators had tracked it to an elegant brick home in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, where the jacket’s owner was looking to sell.
The price was purportedly $3.6 million, negotiated by a Houston-based collector who was acting as a middleman, federal court records show. The buyer was a well-known sports memorabilia broker who’d insisted on seeing the jacket in person first — and who also was secretly cooperating with the FBI, the records show.
The Caleb Williams era in Chicago will begin Sept. 8 at Soldier Field when the Bears open the 2024 regular season against the Tennessee Titans.
In Week 2 of his rookie year, Williams will be featured in prime time against the Houston Texans and quarterback C.J. Stroud, the 2023 offensive rookie of the year. That game at NRG Stadium in Houston will be played on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” The Bears will follow with a trip to face coach Matt Eberflus’ former team, the Indianapolis Colts.
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson considers this year’s NHL draft pool to be deep, “certainly through the second round.”
That’s a good thing for the Hawks, who own five picks in the first two rounds, including the Nos. 34, 54 and 62 selections in Round 2.
The Chicago White Sox edged the Washington Nationals 2-0 on Wednesday for their first back-to-back series wins since beating the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians from Aug. 4-9, 2023.
So, Paul Sullivan asks, what has changed with these Sox?
Newly minted Michelin-starred chef Arturo Rivera Martínez stood over an insanely hot grill Wednesday at the first Mexican taco stand ever to get a coveted star from the French dining guide, and did exactly the same thing he’s been doing for 20 years: searing meat.
“IF” is maudlin enough to force you into a defensive emotional crouch for an hour and 44 minutes, writes Tribune critic Michael Phillips about writer-director John Krasinski’s latest film.
In the best way possible, the four-part series from filmmaker Jamila Wignot feels like falling down a rabbit hole, writes Tribune critic Nina Metz. When it comes to the soundtrack of the ’60s and ’70s, Motown was an essential player. But the story behind — and influence of — Stax is just as relevant.
