Good morning, Chicago.
A security guard at the Lincoln Park Zoo was making his rounds around 2 a.m. near the polar bear habitat when he saw a man sitting on a bench in a fedora, appearing distraught.
After asking if he was OK, the security guard told the man that the zoo closed hours ago. The man stood up, shrugged, then walked into the shadows. When the guard attempted to escort him out, the man had disappeared.
Another time, a woman approached an employee at the zoo’s visitor center, her soaking-wet son in tow. Apparently, she saw a hand come out of the lagoon and pull the boy in.
“What she thought member services could do about this I have no idea,” joked Adam Selzer.
These ghost stories are courtesy of Selzer, an author and historian who runs “Haunted History” tours at the zoo in October — past dark, of course. Observing animals isn’t the point of these hour-long tours. Rather, Selzer blends historical records and the occasional anecdote from a late-night employee for dozens to learn more about what may be one of the most haunted places in the city (allegedly). After all, it was partially built on top of a cemetery.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Rebecca Johnson.
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Chicago tops daily heat record for Oct. 29, toppling previous high set in 1901
Chicago broke a record more than a century old for the warmest daily temperature recorded on Oct. 29, according to the National Weather Service.
Temperatures climbed to 82 degrees at O’Hare International Airport yesterday, topping the previous daily record of 78 degrees. Mark Ratzer, a meteorologist in the weather service’s Chicago office, said that the record had stood since 1901, though it was also matched Oct. 29, 1999.
Supreme Court rejects push to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from ballot in two swing states
Kennedy wanted to get off the ballot in Wisconsin and Michigan after dropping his independent bid and endorsing Republican Donald Trump in the tight contest. He argued that keeping him on violated his First Amendment rights.
Michigan and Wisconsin said removing his name now, with early voting underway days before the election, would be impossible.
A to-do list, size matters and a ‘petty tyrant’: Key moments from Kamala Harris’ speech
Kamala Harris on Tuesday sought to remind Americans what life was like under Donald Trump and then offered voters a different path forward if they send her to the White House, in a speech billed as her campaign’s closing argument.
Here are some key moments from her half-hour speech.
Latino politicians decry comedian’s ‘nasty rhetoric’ about Puerto Rico at Trump rally
Latino Democratic politicians forcefully denounced derisive comments about Puerto Rico made at a weekend rally for former President Donald Trump and urged Puerto Ricans to get family and friends in swing states to the polls on Nov. 5.
“To the people who take that, to that nasty rhetoric to the national stage, we say, ‘You’re not going to be there for very long, because we’re going to take you out,” state Rep. Lilian Jiménez of Chicago said at a news conference in Humboldt Park.
Walgreens laying off 256 workers, mostly in Chicago
The layoffs come as Walgreens works to turn around its business, aiming to focus more on its retail pharmacy efforts. Earlier this month, Walgreens announced that it planned to close 1,200 — or about 14% — of its U.S. stores in the next three years. Walgreens has also walked away from a previous plan to attach Village Medical clinics to 1,000 of its stores, saying it now plans to sell all or part of its VillageMD business.
Missing Korean War vet identified 74 years after death gets full military honors at Elgin funeral, burial
More than seven decades after his death, Army Cpl. Eriverto Ortiz finally received a proper funeral Monday and was laid to rest at Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin.
Ortiz was surrounded by family members, many of whom had not yet been born or had only faded memories of when he was reported missing in action in 1950 during the Korean War. His remains had been recovered sometime after his death but technology did not allow them to be positively identified until this August.
Reports: Will Venable to be named the new Chicago White Sox manager, taking over a team that lost 121 games last season
Venable spent the last two seasons as the associate manager for the Texas Rangers — where he was responsible for the team’s daily schedule and outfield instruction for a club that won the World Series in 2023.
Big Ten is taking no disciplinary action for skirmish at end of Michigan-Michigan State football game
Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller had requested that the Big Ten review what happened as time ran out in Michigan’s 24-17 win on Saturday.
Michigan tight end Colston Loveland and Michigan State defensive end Anthony Jones pushed, shoved and butted helmets, triggering a skirmish with the rivals throwing punches as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Michigan players left the nearby sideline to join the scrum and Michigan State players rushed over to join the fray.
Column: Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees caps have gone from the field to fashion
Plenty of baseball caps have logos that are pretty simplistic and don’t overpower an outfit or one’s personal style, writes Shakeia Taylor.
But how specifically did the Yankees and Dodgers logos become singular fashion caps?
Review: ‘Here’ has Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, very nearly human
Most folks seeing “Here” will likely take a chance on it for other reasons, writes Tribune film critic Michael Phillips. It’s a reunion, 30 years later, of director Robert Zemeckis and the stars of “Forrest Gump,” Tom Hanks and Robin Wright.
In “Here,” they play an ordinary couple, Richard and Margaret, from their teenage courtship to what appears to be their 80s. How this is achieved, and how you respond to the technology behind the process, will provide the make-or-break factor in your reaction.
‘The Diplomat’ Season 2 review: Keri Russell returns as an overburdened ambassador, but the show is a lesser version of itself
“The Diplomat,” starring Keri Russell, returns for a second season on Netflix. But maybe the real headline is: A streaming original you’ve long forgotten about is back, writes Tribune TV and film critic Nina Metz. If that seems petty, you could argue the pettiness emanates from media companies that do little in their power to get shows back in front of audiences in a reasonable time frame. Network shows manage to do that within the same calendar year. “The Diplomat”? A year and a half. But who’s counting?
In a first since 1938, Des Moines, Iowa, kids will trick-or-treat on Halloween
For the first time since 1938, children in Des Moines, Iowa, will go trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Going door-to-door for candy on All Hallows’ Eve has long been commonplace throughout the country. But not in Des Moines, where Iowa’s capital city took a different approach more than seven decades ago in hopes of tamping down on hooliganism.
‘A haunting in the woods’: Mushroom club searches for understudied topic that thrives in the creepiest places
A zombie ant, a pair of bats and a gorilla lurked around the shadiest alcoves of a Cook County forest preserve on Saturday, scouring the earth for decomposing life forms.
But the pack of monsters wasn’t intending to feed on the dead organisms.
Instead, the group of fungi partisans celebrating Halloween was conducting a regular survey to document the presence of fungi, a kingdom of life that often thrives in the creepiest places.
