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.
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Top story
Pulse of the Heartland: Dolton voters had fill of missing pols, growing crime, empty storefronts
Many residents of Dolton share a similar story.
Decades ago, thousands of Black Chicagoans moved to the village south of Chicago for a quiet suburban life. But the steel industry left the area, and the good-paying blue-collar jobs vanished. The community of about 21,000 people grew more impoverished by the year.
Disinvestment, abandoned buildings, rising crime: Those are the issues at the tops of minds of dozens of voters who spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times about the November election now just weeks away. And they share a complaint with other communities across the Chicago area. Politicians just don’t seem to care about Dolton until election time, residents say. And even then, they don’t stop by to face the voters.
It’s a refrain the Sun-Times has heard from Waukegan near the Wisconsin border to Chicago’s Northwest Side — and now in Dolton, 21 miles south of the Loop, just south of the Little Calumet River. Residents have their own theories on why they feel that elected officials ignore them.
“Maybe they do it because people don’t vote that much in the community,” said Sam Jenkins, who’s been cutting hair at Fadz 4 Dayz in Dolton for eight years.
Jenkins praised Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard for being visible in the community. The 43-year-old barber just wishes other politicians did the same.
“I’m not saying they do something crazy. But even if it’s just stopping in. If J.B. did something like that, that would make me more willing to vote” for him, Jenkins said, referring to the Democratic governor.
Or maybe politicians think they don’t have to show up in a town that already has their vote — or is unlikely to give it to them. Dolton is reliably Democratic. Over 90% of voters chose Democrat Joe Biden for president in the 2020 election.
While the Sun-Times is finding complaints of absentee politicians commonplace this election season, Dolton residents said their community needs election officials’ attention and help more than most places.
Nicole Scott founded Free-N-Deed Market a year ago. The food pantry helps feed families in need and connects them with services and education. About 22% of Dolton residents live in poverty, according to the 2020 Census, higher than Chicago’s rate of 17%. The average yearly income in Dolton is $22,135, below Chicago’s $39,000. Still,
Dolton and the south suburbs miss out on many state resources that go to Chicago, Scott says.
“With gentrification, a lot of families that need supportive services that were in Chicago are now being pushed to the south suburbs. ... We need to have services in the Southland that either match Chicago or more.”
David Struett has more with Dolton residents here.
More news you need
- Months after they abruptly stopped playing to flee gunfire amid the Fourth of July parade massacre, Maxwell Street Klezmer Band returned to Highland Park yesterday for a concert. Yesterday’s performance was “all about bringing peace and joy,” one band member told our Lynn Sweet.
- Researchers say the U.S. is experiencing a pandemic baby bump. Northwestern University economist Hannes Schwandt, a co-author of the new study, found that working from home is one of the main reasons for the rise in pregnancies.
- Four years after first-time candidates Lauren Underwood and Sean Casten flipped U.S. House seats in reliably Republican congressional districts outside Chicago, and two years after each was reelected, they’re facing much different challenges this fall. Underwood and Casten are each running — and spending big — in newly redrawn districts against GOP challengers with name recognition among suburban voters.
- It’s now easier for Chicago voters to cast an early ballot in the Nov. 8 general election, with polling sites opening today in all 50 wards. Dozens more early voting sites opened in suburban Cook County, as well, giving area residents more than 100 places to cast early ballots. Our Nicky Andrews has more on where to find those sites here.
A bright one
How Chicago helped to put Louis Armstrong on a path to jazz greatness 100 years ago
In 1967, Louis Armstrong recorded “What a Wonderful World,” a song that’s known around the globe more than five decades later. That world, for Armstrong, started in Chicago.
Considered one of the most revered musical icons of all time, the trumpeter, singer and composer has inspired a yearlong celebration in Chicago that peaks this fall and winter. Performances at multiple venues will mark the 100th anniversary of Armstrong’s arrival in Chicago from New Orleans, where he was born, and feature some of Chicago’s most celebrated modern trumpeters. Like his improvised vocals on early recordings, Armstrong’s trumpet playing was lively and loud — and continues to resonate with Chicago’s current jazz standouts.
Orbert Davis, the artistic director of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, compares Armstrong’s fundamental contribution to jazz in Chicago to Michael Jordan’s reign over the Bulls and the United Center.
“Michael hasn’t played for years, yet he built that house,” Davis says. “When you think Chicago and jazz, it is Louis Armstrong who built that house.”
Armstrong stepped off the train at Illinois Central Station on Aug. 8, 1922. He was 21. He’d grown up impoverished in a vice district of New Orleans, where he dropped out of school early and learned trumpet at a home for juvenile delinquents, Armstrong heard the early sounds of jazz in brothels and riverboats. But Chicago promised him the same things it did other Black Southerners who migrated to the city between 1910 and 1930: prosperity, sophistication and transformation.
Joe Oliver, his mentor in New Orleans, had rechristened himself King Oliver and become de facto royalty at South Side jazz clubs. As a bandleader, Oliver led concerts at clubs with such opulent names as the Deluxe Café, Dreamland Café, the Sunset and the Elite Café. King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band dominated Lincoln Gardens, the biggest dance hall on the South Side, at 31st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. Armstrong would go on to perform with Oliver.
Though he started out as a sideman in Oliver’s band, Armstrong’s playing — bright and buoyant — put him front and center. His soloing helped move jazz from a rough-and-tumble form of dance music to an art form that was more sophisticated and expressive.
In Chicago, Armstrong met his future wife Lil Hardin, and they lived in a two-story greystone at 421 E. 44th St. in Bronzeville that remains a private residence.
WBEZ’s Mark Guarino has more on Armstrong’s Chicago days here.
From the press box
- The Bears take on the Patriots tonight at 7:15 p.m. on “Monday Night Football” in an intriguing midseason matchup that’ll pin second-year quarterbacks Justin Fields and Mac Jones against each other. Will this be Fields’ breakout game?
- Rick Telander on Pats coach Bill Belichick and how continuity is crucial to success in the NFL.
- The Bulls are also in action tonight taking on the Celtics, who again look like one of the league’s best teams. Joe Cowley previews tonight’s Bulls-Celtics game.
- And with the Blackhawks being one of nine NHL teams not to add a jersey sponsor yet, Ben Pope reports on the team’s efforts to find the right fit for which brand to associate with their own.
Your daily question☕
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Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
On Friday, we asked you: What four local icons would you put on a Chicago Mt. Rushmore?
Here’s what some of you said ...
“I would include Harold Washington, the communicator — eloquently conversant with the ‘common man; or royalty. Ida B Wells, the enlightener. Maggie Dailey, the child’s advocate. Michael Jordan, the baller.” — Gwen Cohen
“Muddy Waters, Eddie Harris, Mavis Staples, Curtis Mayfield.” — Mathew Tyler Wilson
“Deep Dish Pizza, Chicago Style Hot Dog, Cheeseborger, Rainbow Cone.” — Alexandra Newman
“Richard J Daley, Mike Royko, Michael Jordan and Barack Obama.” — Richard Goldberg
“Larry Lujack, Jack Brickhouse, Michael Jordan, Walter Payton.” — Melinda Vaughn
“Four local icons of Chicago broadcasting: Roger Ebert, John Callaway, Eddie Schwartz, Frazier Thomas.” — Jim Rafferty
“Mayor Daley, Michael Jordan, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, Al Capone.” — Marty Fitzgerald
“Muddy Waters, Mike Royko, Studs Terkel, and either Terri Hemmert or Tom Skilling.” — Ron Dobis
“Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins, and Billy Williams.” — John Jones
“Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Stan Mikita, Ernie Banks.” — Scott Lundgren
“Harold Washington, Richard J. Daley, Ida B. Wells, Jane Adams.” — John Winters
“Kitihawa Point Du Sable, Eleanor Daley, Ida B. Wells, Michelle Obama.” — Thom Clark
“My Chicago Mt. Rushmore would include Barack Obama, Michael Jordan, Ida B. Wells and my Mom who wrangled a handful-of-a-son with dignity and grace.” — Gene Tenner
“As repugnant as it might be, I immediately think of Al Capone — he is certainly associated with Chicago. Second, former Mayor Richard J. Daley — how many times have we seen historic footage of him from the 1968 Democratic National Convention? Third, former Mayor Harold Washington — was recognized as the first Black mayor of Chicago. Lastly, former Mayor Jane Byrne — was recognized as being the first female elected mayor of a major metropolitan city.” — Sam Katz
“My Chicago Mount Rushmore would have Michael Jordan, Barack Obama, Bill Murray and Oprah Winfrey — but I’d hope there’d be the possibility of expanding beyond just four, because we have a large number of folks with Chicago area connections we’re proud of!” — Paul Lockwood
“Barack Obama, Ernie Banks, Mother Cabrini, Gwendolyn Brooks.” — Scott Simon
“Al, Peg, Kelly, and Bud Bundy.” — Dave Matzinger
Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
