Good morning, Chicago. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
Daywatch: The Cold War origins of NORAD’s Santa tracker
Day: December 25, 2024
Chicago basketball report: Tyler Marsh hires his first Sky assistant in Courtney Paris — and Alex Caruso gets paid
Chicago Sky head coach Tyler Marsh has hired 11-year WNBA veteran Courtney Paris as an assistant coach to work with the team’s bigs.
‘Swedish Christmas’: Chicago Blackhawks coaches Anders Sorensen and Derek King share a holiday tradition – another way they’re a package deal
Swede-ish day: Chicago Blackhawks’ Anders Sorensen and Derek King have celebrated a Christmas Eve feast — a julbord — for years.
Officials say mild weather helping to drive strong attendance at ongoing Festival of Lights in Aurora
The event at Phillips Park runs each night from 5 to 9 p.m. and closes on Dec. 29.
David McGrath: How I found love and meaning one Christmas
I told my then-girlfriend I loved her on a brutally cold Chicago afternoon. Her response would change my life.
For Chicago’s interfaith families, Christmas and Hanukkah are a chance to explore new traditions
The rise in intermarriage is particularly pronounced among American Jews: A Pew Research survey from several years ago found that about 42% of U.S. Jews were married to people who are not Jewish — and among Jewish people who had gotten married since 2010, 61% of those marriages were to people of other faiths.
Today in History: Silent Night performed for the first time
On Dec. 25, 1818, “Silent Night (Stille Nacht)” was publicly performed for the first time during the Christmas Midnight Mass at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.
Asking Eric: No thank you for Christmas gifts
Dear Eric: I got nothing from anyone. Not even an acknowledgement from the kids.
Daily Horoscope for December 25, 2024
An undeniable intensity shades today’s skies with aggression. The Sun in no-nonsense Capricorn is making an unusual quincunx to Mars in Leo, so it may be tempting to push against expectations and play the rebel without a cause. The Moon will enter secretive Scorpio at 3:06 am EST before forming a pair of difficult back-to-back squares, first to power-player Pluto in Aquarius, then to Mars. Tempers can flare at the least provocation — ouch! Confrontation isn’t likely to lead to a positive outcome.
Richard Perry, record producer behind ‘You’re So Vain’ and other hits, dies at 82
Richard Perry, a hitmaking record producer with a flair for both standards and contemporary sounds whose many successes included Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” Rod Stewart’s “The Great American Songbook” series and a Ringo Starr album featuring all four Beatles, died Tuesday. He was 82.