Good morning, Chicago.
Criminal justice reform has long been one of the most divisive issues between Democrats who control the Illinois General Assembly and the Republican minority.
But it’s also created a split between progressive Democrats and party moderates, who walk a fine line as they seek to avoid being labeled as weak on crime during the next election cycle. The intra-party differences have been on display in the final weeks of the spring legislative session as lawmakers have considered bills aimed at giving a chance at freedom to people serving lengthy prison sentences for crimes committed when they were youths and dropping a requirement that inmates serve a significant percentage of their original sentence.
Last month, the divide left House Democrats unable to pass legislation that would have provided additional resentencing options for people convicted of committing crimes when they were under 21. It was a rare instance of a Democratic bill failing after being called to a floor vote.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: what Mayor Brandon Johnson has battled during two years in office, who’s in the race to succeed US Rep. Jan Schakowsky and a White Sox fan quiz for Pope Leo XIV.
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US and China take a step back from sky-high tariffs, agree to pause for 90 days
U.S. and Chinese officials said today they had reached a deal to roll back most of their recent tariffs and call a 90-day truce in their trade war for more talks on resolving their trade disputes.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. agreed to drop its 145% tariff rate on Chinese goods by 115 percentage points to 30%, while China agreed to lower its rate on U.S. goods by the same amount to 10%.
‘He’s one of us’: South Holland church celebrates bragging rights as Pope Leo XIV’s de facto home parish
Lionor Zamora went to St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church for decades, sending all eight of her children there for school. She has lived in Dolton for more than 30 years and watched both her church close and people move out of the suburb she calls home.
The 84-year-old could not believe it when she heard that the new pope was from the same parish she belonged to for years. Her son was in the second grade when Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was in eighth grade at St. Mary school.
“To me, it was a miracle” she said. “Something good came out of Dolton.”
- Pope Leo XIV’s boyhood home in Dolton was on the market until Thursday. What comes next for the house?
- Pope Leo XIV: What to know about Chicago-born Robert Prevost
Pope Leo XIV’s family gravesites in Glenwood, Alsip receive virtual visitors
As Catholics and media professionals across the world flood the south suburbs to learn the man behind Robert Prevost, the cemeteries where Prevost’s close relatives reside remained peaceful locations of remembrance.
- Pope Leo XIV calls for peace in Ukraine and Gaza, and offers a Happy Mother’s Day
- Pope Leo XIV urges release of imprisoned journalists, affirms gift of free speech and press
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s second year found him fighting unexpected battles
Though the harsh spotlight on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office on the fifth floor is nothing new, some of the thorniest issues the former Chicago Teachers Union organizer has battled in his second year have come from unexpected fronts: education, and the city’s political left.
Democratic digital creator likely facing field of local politicians to succeed US Rep. Jan Schakowsky
A day after U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky told hundreds of people at a swanky downtown Chicago hotel that she wasn’t running for reelection, the first major declared 9th Congressional District candidate sat cross-legged in her new Rogers Park campaign headquarters, painting an image of a lava lamp on the wall.
Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old newcomer to the Chicago region who is banking on her blunt messaging and massive online following to earn her a place on Capitol Hill, might have been the first to announce she was running for the congressional seat — even before the 80-year-old Schakowsky said she wouldn’t run again. But Abughazaleh won’t be the last.
In Illinois, an invisible boundary determines how dirty and costly your electricity is
The town of Ottawa lies in central Illinois 12 miles from a nuclear power plant and a wind turbine farm that stretches past the horizon. However, these facilities sit on the other side of an invisible boundary between two regional power grids.
Column: If Pope Leo XIV is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, can he pass this pop quiz?
Video evidence of the Chicago-born pope, Robert Prevost, at 2005 World Series games certifies the claim his brother, John, made that Pope Leo XIV is indeed a White Sox fan.
Paul Sullivan writes that if we take it as gospel that the pope roots for the South Siders, the next step is to find out what exactly kind of Sox fan he is.
- Vintage Chicago Tribune: Nancy Faust’s White Sox memories, from Harry Caray to ‘Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye’
- 3-run home run by Tim Elko lifts White Sox to 4-2 victory — and series win — against Miami Marlins
100 years ago, the first trains pulled into Union Station
Chicago’s Union Station has borne witness to the gamut of emotions, its cavernous waiting room echoing with everything from raucous laughter to profound despair ever since the first train arrived there 100 years ago this month.
After 35 years, Trinity Irish Dance Company is still trying to be not what you expect
The first time Mark Howard appeared on “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” was in 1989. Howard had been coaching teams to victory at the world championships for Irish step dancing — the first Americans to take home that trophy — and Carson took notice.
With the sculptures of ‘Vivid Creatures,’ the Morton Arboretum goes for color this time
As drivers on Interstate 88 zoom past the Morton Arboretum in the western suburb of Lisle, they can now glimpse a new creature overlooking the highway on the hill where Joe the Guardian, a giant wooden troll, previously stood watch from 2018 to 2021.
