Good morning, Chicago.
Telling stories is as old as time and the nearest campfire, and even though we live in an increasingly icy electronic age, in certain corners of the city there remain people talking, sharing life.
More than a decade ago, a young man named Scott Smith moved from the North Side to the South Side and “realized that while the North Side has all sorts of public reading events there was little if anything like that out south” so he started one and he called it The Frunchroom.
For those of you unfamiliar with that distinctly Chicago word, it is, by general definition, the front room of a bungalow or flat, the place for a family’s finest furniture and a space mostly used to entertain company or, as one native South Sider put it to the Tribune’s Rick Kogan, “Hey, Ma, I’m gonna take my sammich into the frunchroom so I can watch TV while I eat.”
The first Frunchroom took place in 2015 at the pleasant if relatively small O’Rourke’s Office, a tavern at 111th Street and Western Avenue, later moving to the larger, now sadly bygone Beverly Woods Restaurant and, since 2017 in the auditorium at the Beverly Arts Center. The latest will be held Thursday. It will feature actor James Gordon, Tribune music contributor Britt Julious, poet Adrian Matejka, historian Tim Samuelson and actress Maggie Winters.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Rick Kogan.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
Subscribe to more newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Today’s eNewspaper edition
Donald Trump will return to court after first day of hush money criminal trial ends with no jurors picked
The first day of Trump’s history-making hush money trial in Manhattan ended with no one yet chosen to be on the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates. Dozens of people were dismissed after saying they didn’t believe they could be fair, though dozens of other prospective jurors have yet to be questioned.
Community mourns girl, 9, killed in Saturday mass shooting: ‘These are kids that had nothing to do with it’
Hundreds of people Monday filled a Southwest Side street where a 9-year-old girl was killed in a shooting that left 10 of her relatives wounded over the weekend.
Ariana Molina, 9, died of a gunshot wound to the head when shots were fired about 9 p.m. Saturday in the 2000 block of West 52nd Street while Ariana’s family was celebrating her aunt’s confirmation.
Judge orders psych evaluation for man charged in Rockford attack
Winnebago County Judge Debra Schafer ordered the evaluation for Christian Soto when the 22-year-old man appeared in court by video link for a scheduled arraignment on charges of first-degree murder.
Johnson plan to add $70M for migrant response moves forward
The plan passed the Budget and Government Operations Committee in a 20-to-8 vote following contentious debate over the continued costly effort to care for the city’s recent migrants arrivals, including thousands of asylum-seekers who fled crisis in Venezuela.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker creates executive position at state parole board amid controversy over release of man accused of killing 11-year-old boy
Pritzker appointed a Massachusetts sheriff’s office official and former Illinois mayor to the new position of executive director of the embattled Illinois Prisoner Review Board, with a mandate to expand domestic violence training for board members.
The appointment of James G. Montgomery Jr. to the newly created post comes after Pritzker and the board came under intense criticism last month when a man the review board had allowed to be released from state custody allegedly attacked a pregnant woman he once dated and killed her young son.
Testimony begins in the unusual murder trial of Gerald Reed
The key witness testified in a gravelly voice, through a shaky Zoom connection, with long pauses for violent coughing fits. But she got a key message across: The last time she saw Pamela Powers, Powers was with Gerald Reed, and she seemed frightened. “She looked terrified, scared,” Mia Grover said Monday, describing Powers coming up the stairs of an Englewood apartment building with Reed close behind her. “Her eyes, they were so big, like they could pop out of her head.”
Grover was prosecutors’ first witness in the long-awaited trial of Gerald Reed, whose complicated legal saga has involved a murder conviction, allegations that he was abused by police, a reversal of that conviction, a reversal of the reversal, a commutation, and now a second murder trial – for which he cannot go to prison if convicted.
WNBA draft: Chicago Sky go big with South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso and LSU’s Angel Reese in 1st round
The Chicago Sky ushered in a new era for the franchise Monday, selecting a pair of national champion frontcourt stars in the first seven picks of the WNBA draft.
The Sky took South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso with the No. 3 pick and added LSU forward Angel Reese at No. 7.
‘It really motivated me’: Trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum inspires Chicago White Sox and ACE players
Colten Jones made his way through the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on April 6, sporting a Chicago American Giants cap.
An outfielder in the Chicago White Sox Amateur City Elite (ACE) youth program, Jones listened intently as museum President Bob Kendrick shared tales of Andrew “Rube” Foster, James Thomas “Cool Papa” Bell, Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe and Jackie Robinson — who Major League Baseball paid tribute to Monday with the annual “Jackie Robinson Day.”
Suzanne Vega is forever going beyond time and space
When fans tell Suzanne Vega she was ahead of her time, she doesn’t just take it as a compliment from well-meaning devotees. The 64-year-old singer-songwriter wholeheartedly agrees.
And the characterization tracks.
Leave Chicago’s winter blues behind and think cherry blossom pink with Japanese snacks and drinks
Chicago offers numerous ways to celebrate Japanese food and drink culture, so we rounded up a few suggestions for fun things to do and see during cherry blossom season.
