Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a five-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
This afternoon will be mostly sunny with a high near 58 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low of around 42. Tomorrow will be sunny with a high near 72.
Top story
An immigrant’s life: City of opportunity brings struggle for stability
In the two months since his arrival in the United States, an immigrant from Venezuela has been bounced from Texas to Arizona to Florida to shelters in the Chicago area.
This summer, he left his four children with relatives, and he and his wife departed their native Venezuela in search of better jobs and medical care for her. Since then, the man — who asked not to be identified — has spent days walking the streets of Miami and later Chicago to try and find work to stabilize his family’s finances.
He’s spotted hiring signs and filled out applications, but his search often hits a wall because, as he tries to seek asylum, he doesn’t yet have a permit to work. He recently started training at a car wash where he hopes to gain employment.
“We don’t want to turn into a public charge for the state,” he said in Spanish during a recent interview just outside Chicago. “We want to work.”
The man and his wife are among more than 3,500 immigrants who have arrived since late August in Chicago from the southern U.S. border. His struggles to find stable employment and navigate the immigration system highlight some challenges immigrants could face as they settle into their lives in the Chicago area.
The couple arrived in Chicago in early September after an organization in Florida paid for their bus tickets, telling them there could be more opportunities in Chicago because it’s a sanctuary city, he said. They are the first in their families to emigrate to the United States. He left his government job in Venezuela, and the family sold their home and car to make the trek to the U.S. He wanted his wife to get better medical care, and he heard there were plenty of available jobs in America.
“You come with an idea that you will work as soon as you arrive,” he said. “But it’s not like that. You find a situation where people need people, but they are scared to hire undocumented people.”
Elvia Malagón has more with the man and his journey here.
More news you need
- A Pilsen-based community group at odds with city and shelter officials over how to get donations to immigrants bused from Texas says it plans to continue providing items directly to the newly arrived community. This comes after a viral video captured a confrontation between the group and a Salvation Army worker, in which the worker used expletives while telling the group to leave.
- A Northfield woman has been sentenced to a year of probation after reaching a plea deal on charges that she told a man to leave a Winnetka pier because he was Black. Initially charged with a hate crime, her charges were amended yesterday to misdemeanor battery under a deal where she pleaded guilty and attended an anti-racism class.
- Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is negotiating with President Joe Biden’s housing officials over potential city reforms after federal investigators accused Chicago officials of environmental racist zoning and land-use practices. Our Brett Chase has more on what this means for the city’s potential battle with federal housing authorities here.
- Former Teamsters boss John T. Coli Sr. is asking a federal judge to give him home confinement and probation instead of prison time next week. Coli is set to be sentenced for illegally collecting $325,000 from Cinespace Chicago Film Studios.
- Advocate Aurora Health, the largest hospital system in Illinois and Wisconsin, said data for an unspecified number of its 3 million patients was breached. In a statement, Advocate officials said they “are not aware of any misuse of information” from the recent incident.
- Mayoral challenger Sophia King today unveiled big, police-heavy plans to confront violent crime. King’s checklist includes a reserve of police to handle “crucial, but non-dangerous duties,” a shift system that would see cops work 10 hours a day, four days a week and more.
- Four delivery drivers say the owner of a Southwest Side pizza restaurant cheated them out of thousands of dollars by paying them per delivery, instead of by the hour. Naty’s Pizza misclassified them as independent contractors, and by doing that, stole their wages, the drivers allege.
- The new judge presiding over Ald. Edward M. Burke’s federal racketeering case is hoping to move up his long-awaited trial now set for November 2023 — but it’s not looking good. Calendars are full as Chicago’s federal court tries to move past the pandemic, our Jon Seidel explains.
- The CTA yesterday released its proposed 2023 budget that keeps all services, avoids fare hikes and retains discounted prices on certain passes that were implemented in last year’s budget. The transit authority also released a $3.4 billion, five-year capital improvement plan which looks to invest in major projects such as the Red Line extension and modernize CTA’s bus fleet and railroad cars.
- And robots, looking like a cross between a Mars rover and a beer cooler, have been cruising around the Near West Side, bringing meals and goods to students and faculty at the University of Illinois Chicago. Our Stefano Esposito spent some time with the roving bots for his story on the UIC pilot program here.
A bright one
13 miles of trails for mountain biking, running open in forest preserve near Hoffman Estates
Mountain bikers and trail runners now have more than 13 miles of additional single-track trails to explore in the suburbs after a new path was opened to the public Wednesday at the Paul Douglas Forest Preserve in Hoffman Estates.
The trail system — created through a partnership between the Forest Preserves of Cook County and volunteers from Chicago Area Mountain Bikers — will take riders through woodlands, grasslands and wetlands. There are multiple loops, varying in difficulty.
“A lot of folks might be surprised that Cook County can be a great place to go mountain biking,” said Forest Preserves of Cook County General Supt. Arnold Randall at the trail opening yesterday.
The Hoffman Estates project followed the success of the popular Palos Preserves single-track trails in southwest Cook County.
“It’s critically important that we invest in local transportation, as well as make our communities more bike friendly and sustainable,” Cook County Commissioner Kevin B. Morrison said.
You can read the online version of this story from the Daily Herald’s Brian Hill here.
From the press box
- After scoring 37 in the Bulls’ season-opening win over the Heat last night, DeMar DeRozan looks primed for another strong season at age 33, Joe Cowley writes.
- Our experts make their Bears-Patriots predictions for the “Monday Night Football” matchup.
- Justin Fields didn’t shy away from criticizing his play so far this season: “I’ve always got to get better at everything. I haven’t reached my full potential in any aspect of the game, of quarterback play,” the Bears QB said today.
- Five of the six vice presidents who form the Hawks’ new business management group joined the organization in either 2021 or 2022. Read Ben Pope on a new era of leadership for the franchise.
Your daily question☕
Growing up, where was the best place in Chicago to go trick-or-treating?
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you: What’s something every Chicago bar should have?
Here’s what some of you said ...
“Pretzels on the bar, paneling on the wall and a pay telephone.” — Craig Barner
“Malört. The only correct answer.” — Tom Kief
“Malört, house music, and a subtle favoritism towards the Sox.” — Ryan Mason
“Chex Mix. Savory and sweet.” — Christine Bock
“Vienna hot dogs, poppy seed buns, and all the fixings for Chicago hot dogs.” — Jackson Bly
“Pool tables definitely.” — Barbi Steineke Gennardo
“An Old Style sign.” — Augustine Tino Melecio
“Pickled eggs and a real pinball machine.” — Tom Griffin
“As true Chi-town bar owners have is an Old Style sign. I mean I don’t like that beer but that beer sign is how we know.” — Vicki Trinidad
“More men available.” — Marion Cognetti
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