Good morning, Chicago.
President Joe Biden will deliver a farewell address to the nation Wednesday from the Oval Office, five days before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in.
The president’s remarks at 7 p.m. CST are set to be his last significant opportunity to speak to Americans and the world before he leaves office at noon Jan. 20. They will follow a speech today at the State Department, where he will deliver an address focused on his foreign policy legacy.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday that Biden would reflect on his “50-plus years as a public official” in his speech today.
“He has some thoughts on the future, not just of the country, but how this country moves forward as a leader, when you think about global events, important global issues, and certainly he will lay that out,” she said.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Donald Trump is planning 100 executive orders starting Day 1 on border, deportations and other priorities
President-elect Donald Trump is preparing more than 100 executive orders starting Day One of the new White House, in what amounts to a shock-and-awe campaign on border security, deportations and a rush of other policy priorities.
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Chicago Teachers Union president mocks CPS chief and apologizes
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates was criticized on social media for a comment she allegedly made at a recent union House of Delegates meeting comparing Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to a student with a specialized education program.
“Pedro is the terrible student in the classroom that can’t get suspended because he should have an IEP and maxed out his days,” Davis Gates allegedly said Wednesday night, using the abbreviation for individualized education program.
She did not respond to a request for comment from the Tribune. But she did apologize for the comment on X.
Ahead of CTA fiscal cliff, Mayor Brandon Johnson warns Springfield not to hold Chicago hostage for ‘political gain’
Mayor Brandon Johnson gave a pointed endorsement Friday of embattled CTA President Dorval Carter ahead of a potential showdown with state leaders over the future of the transit agency, at a news conference heralding the official approval of the last chunk of federal money for the Red Line extension.
The Tribune reported this week that the CTA was set to formally lock in the money before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, paving the way for the advent of the long-planned rail addition to Chicago’s Far South Side. The signing of the agreement before the Trump White House and a Republican-controlled Congress assume office on Jan. 20 safeguards the future of the project, officials said at a news conference at a church in the West Pullman neighborhood.
The announcement also doubled as an endorsement of Carter’s job performance, with the mayor sending a blunt message to members of the Illinois General Assembly who are mulling tying a bailout of the CTA’s finances to changes in leadership and other ways to hold the heads of regional transit agencies accountable.
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Final vote to lower Chicago’s speed limit to 25 mph scheduled in City Council
Aldermen are set to consider Wednesday whether the maximum speed limit on Chicago streets should be lowered from 30 mph to 25 mph.
Ald. Daniel La Spata notified aldermen Friday that he will move ahead with the final vote at next week’s City Council meeting. The Northwest Side alderman, who has for months pushed the speed limit change, touted his ordinance as a much-needed safety measure.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, face of Gov. JB Pritzker’s pandemic response, fined $150,000 for ethics violation
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the public face of Gov. JB Pritzker’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been fined $150,000 for violating a state revolving-door ethics law when she left her job as director of the Illinois Department of Public Health in March 2022 to become president and CEO of Sinai Chicago hospital system.
Ezike agreed to pay the fine and admitted the infraction to settle a complaint brought in October 2023 after the state executive inspector general found she’d violated the ethics law, according to records released Friday by the state’s Executive Ethics Commission. Her final state salary was $180,000 annually, and tax records show she received about $490,000 from Sinai in the year ending June 30, 2023.
Two Aurora gymnastics coaches, including an Olympian, suspended after misconduct investigation
Two coaches at Legacy Elite Gymnastics in Aurora, including an Olympian, have been temporarily suspended from participating in any official gymnastics programs or events after a yearslong investigation into allegations of physical and verbal abuse.
Anna Li, an alternate on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, received a nine-month suspension while her mother, Jiani Wu, a former Chinese Olympic gymnast, received a 12-month suspension, according to their attorney, who maintained that the allegations against the two are false.
Column: Next 4 weeks could define Artūras Karnišovas’ tenure with the Chicago Bulls. Is he up to the challenge?
As the Bulls play out the same pace for yet another season — despite the departure of key players and the disruption of their offensive style — it’s hard not to feel that this team is getting stuck in the amber of repetition, writes Julia Poe.
José ‘Cha-Cha’ Jiménez, founder of political group formed from Lincoln Park Puerto Rican gang, dies at 76
José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez — who in September 1968 re-established a Puerto Rican street gang in Lincoln Park called the Young Lords, transforming it into a political group modeled after the Black Panther Party that advocated for minority access to health care, education, housing and employment and expanded across the country — died Friday. He was 76.
At the time of the Young Lords’ zenith, when Lincoln Park was one of the most impoverished barrios, or Spanish-speaking quarters, of the city, the group could “call a march” overnight and get 1,000 people to come out the next day, Omar López, the Young Lords’ minister of information and a longtime comrade of Jiménez, said Saturday.
Biblioracle: British satirist David Lodge dies at 89. His work will inform our world for years to come.
David Lodge, British author of perhaps the greatest works of campus satire of all-time, died on Jan. 1, 2025, at age 89, surrounded by his family at his home in Birmingham, England.
Charles Dawes was a banker, general, vice president — and hit songwriter
Charles Dawes is the only vice president of the United States who wrote a pop music hit. The tune came to him one day in 1911 as he sat down at the piano in his baronial mansion in Evanston, he later recalled. He thought little of it, passing it off to a friend and fellow musician and saying “it has served its purpose as a diversion.”
The friend titled it “Melody in A Major” and brought it to a music publisher. A couple months later, Dawes was surprised to see his photograph and copies of the tune for sale in a store as he walked down State Street.
Tips for thriving winter houseplants
The winter gardening season is a great time to focus on houseplants and build a collection.
