Good morning, Chicago.
Cook County’s property tax appeal process shifted $1.91 billion in taxes from businesses onto homeowners over the last three years, exacerbating inequities in the city and suburbs, a new report found.
Homeowners’ bills grew by a total of about 7% over that span as a result of the shift, according to the latest report from the Cook County treasurer’s office, the first to calculate how much shifting burdens have cost on property tax bills. Those increases fell more on lower-income Black and Latino taxpayers, the report found.
The report does not draw conclusions about whether those appeals were correct, but does show “that the county’s assessment appeal system works far more to the advantage of business property owners than homeowners, and at the same time favors wealthier white homeowners over lower-income minority homeowners.”
Read the full story from the Tribune’s A.D. Quig.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: what Gov. JB Pritzker and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have in common, what to know about the end of Illinois’ grocery tax and a look at the life of the late pioneering photojournalist Steve Lasker.
Today’s eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History
President Donald Trump says he will reopen Alcatraz prison
Trump’s directive to rebuild and reopen the long-shuttered penitentiary was the latest salvo in his effort to overhaul how and where federal prisoners and immigration detainees are locked up. But such a move would likely be an expensive and challenging proposition. The prison was closed in 1963 due to crumbling infrastructure and the high costs of repairing and supplying the island facility, because everything from fuel to food had to be brought by boat.
Gov. JB Pritzker and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A billionaire and a former bartender emerge as Trump resistance leaders
Many Democrats have been in and out of the spotlight as the party looks for effective counters to President Donald Trump and his second administration. But two disparate figures, Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have seen their national profiles rise by delivering messages that excite a demoralized and fractured party.
With the state’s grocery tax set to end, many municipalities are adopting their own, even as food prices climb
Voters in Bensenville recently made clear how they felt about a proposed 1% tax on groceries. In a referendum on April 1, 91% voted against it.
Even though the measure failed in Bensenville, at least 163 communities around the state have recently enacted local grocery taxes.
A life taken and won back: The extraordinary journey of Jimmy Soto
Around 8 p.m. at the notorious Stateville prison, Jimmy Soto was on the phone trying to get information about his court appearance the next day.
He was convicted of murder in 1982, but after decades of fighting, his appeal had momentum. Tomorrow could be the day he’d been waiting for. Or it could be another continuance. And anyone familiar with the ebb and flow of the hectic courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue would not rule out yet another delay.
The Art Institute’s James Rondeau talks about the donation of paintings, including the Warhol behind him, in 2015.
Art Institute of Chicago president reportedly stripped on plane, faces independent probe
The president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago faces an independent investigation amid a report that he stripped on a commercial airplane. James Rondeau is voluntarily taking time away from his office while the investigation is completed, an Art Institute spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Arlington Park’s rebirth: What closing the deal on a Bears stadium represents for the northwest suburb’s new mayor
When he’s sworn in as mayor today, it will be Jim Tinaglia’s mission to lead Arlington Park’s rebirth — to complete the long, winding journey of bringing the Chicago Bears to Arlington Heights. It’s a large part of why he ran for mayor, and also why he believes he was elected: to finish a deal that has proven elusive since a rush of early momentum, and to help convince Bears leadership, once and for all, that they should move from Chicago to the northwest suburbs.
True or false? Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams has everything he needs to break through in Year 2.
The NFL draft is behind us. Rookie minicamp and the 2025 schedule release are just around the corner. So what better time to take a breath, survey all that is happening around the Chicago Bears and forecast what may be ahead.
Tribune beat writers Dan Wiederer and Sean Hammond weigh in on four pressing topics in true-or-false format.
Alinea celebrates 20 years of modernist fine dining in Chicago, but our critic says it’s time to let go of the balloon
Alinea, the modernist tasting-menu restaurant marking a milestone 20th anniversary this month, remains the most important fine dining establishment in Chicago, but Tribune food critic Louisa Kung Liu Chu says it’s not at its best.
Review: A Black bromance under stress in ‘Hymn’ at Chicago Shakespeare
Tribune critic Chris Jones reviews how director Ron OJ Parson foregrounds the power of friendship and the strength of Black familial bonds in “Hymn” at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Steve Lasker, pioneering photojournalist who captured iconic Our Lady of the Angels fire image, dies at 94
It is an image seared into the minds of generations of Chicagoans, the photo of firefighter Richard Scheidt, cradling the lifeless body of John Michael Jajkowski Jr., as he walked from the fiery devastation at Our Lady of the Angels School.
That photo was taken on Dec. 1, 1958, by Steve Lasker, a young Chicago American photographer, and it would appear in that paper, in Life Magazine, and in hundreds of publications across the globe.
