Good morning, Chicago.
If Alex Outlaw doesn’t get monthly infusions of medication for Crohn’s disease, he experiences painful symptoms that can make it difficult to hold down a job.
But he doesn’t make enough money as a manager at a rental car agency to pay for private health insurance or to cover those infusions, which can cost more than $1,000 each.
That’s where Medicaid comes in. The state- and federally funded health insurance program covers Outlaw’s monthly infusions, allowing him to manage his condition so he can work and support his family of five, he said.
“It’s pretty much saving my life right now,” said Outlaw, 38, who lives on the city’s West Side. If something happened to Outlaw’s Medicaid coverage, “it’s the end for me,” he said.
Outlaw is one of more than 3.4 million people in Illinois on Medicaid — more than one-quarter of the state’s population — who are anxiously watching discussions in Washington, D.C., over the future of the program.
Illinois patients say they’re worried about losing their health coverage; Illinois hospitals that serve low-income areas say they may have to close or cut services depending on the depths of any cuts; and health care advocates say such a move could cost everyone more in the long run.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Lisa Schencker.
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President Donald Trump envoy says Ukrainians ‘brought it on themselves’ after US pauses aid and intelligence sharing
Ukraine was given “fair warning” by the White House before President Donald Trump this week ordered a pause on U.S. military assistance and intelligence sharing with Kyiv, a senior administration official said yesterday.
The Republican administration announced the pauses this week after Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Oval Office meeting devolved into a shouting match, with the U.S. president and Vice President JD Vance excoriating the Ukrainian leader for being insufficiently grateful for the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. assistance sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded three years ago.
President Trump signs executive order to establish government bitcoin reserve
President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday establishing a government reserve of bitcoin, a key marker in the cryptocurrency’s journey towards possible mainstream acceptance.
Under Trump’s new order, the U.S. government will retain the estimated 200,000 bitcoin it’s already seized in criminal and civil proceedings, according to Trump’s “crypto czar” David Sacks.
SpaceX’s latest Starship test flight ends with another explosion
Nearly two months after an explosion sent flaming debris raining down on the Turks and Caicos, SpaceX launched another mammoth Starship rocket yesterday, but lost contact minutes into the test flight as the spacecraft came tumbling down and broke apart.
This time, wreckage from the latest explosion was seen streaming from the skies over Florida.
Walgreens to be acquired by private equity firm for $10 billion
Deerfield-based Walgreens Boots Alliance is being acquired by an entity affiliated with a private equity firm for $10 billion, the retail pharmacy giant announced yesterday.
The company will continue to operate under the names Walgreens, and Boots in the U.K., and its headquarters will remain in the Chicago area, according to a news release. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
Existing state flag prevails in design competition
The votes are in — the people of Illinois would like to keep the state flag as it is.
The public had nearly a month to vote on 10 proposed state flag designs, along with two former state flags and the existing flag, as part of the Illinois Flag Commission’s contest that could have led to a new flag to represent the Land of Lincoln.
‘Notorious’ firearm store linked to illegal weapons closes
A south suburban firearms store once described as “Chicago’s most notorious gun shop” has closed its doors.
At Chuck’s Gun Shop and Pistol Range in Riverdale, which for years was known as a leading local source of guns recovered at Chicago crime scenes, a sign taped to the window reads “going fishing forever.” A metal folding gate blocks the storefront that drew activists for “die-ins” as recently as 2022.
Chicago Heights crematory shut down, under state oversight
A Chicago Heights crematory has been shut down after the Illinois Comptroller’s office received a complaint last month of the facility mishandling human remains, according to the state agency.
“There were bodies sort of stacking up at this crematory,” said Abdon Pallasch, communications director for the comptroller’s office, declining to elaborate on conditions as their investigation continues.
A rendering of the future women’s locker room and performance lab at Chicago Cubs’ Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz.
Chicago Cubs spring training complex set for upgrades — plus ‘optimistic’ outlook for Marquee’s cable future
The Chicago Cubs spring training facility will soon be undergoing a few upgrades.
The city of Mesa approved $16 million in funding for improvements at the complex during a Feb. 24 city council meeting, which will cover most of the cost for the new features. The project will result in a new performance hitting and pitching lab, a women’s locker room and the addition of motion-capture technology to analyze and improve player performance.
Chicago White Sox pitcher Justin Dunn has ‘special’ day with his brother — who also is Kevin Durant’s teammate
Chicago White Sox pitcher Justin Dunn had a special guest in attendance for Wednesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Fields of Phoenix.
His brother, Phoenix Suns forward Ryan Dunn, saw Justin pitch two scoreless innings in the 8-2 victory.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Meet Violet Bidwill, the NFL’s first female owner of the Cardinals
Chicago Bears matriarch Virginia Halas McCaskey, who died in February, was not the first woman to become principal owner of an NFL team. Yet the woman who was lived nearby.
Shedd Aquarium names baby beluga Opus, a musical term
As he learns to communicate with chirps, whistles and squeals, the Shedd Aquarium’s first baby beluga in over four years now has a name that sings: Opus. It’s a musical term — meaning a set of compositions — that honors his father Beethoven and nods to the high-pitched songs that have led to these whales being dubbed the “canaries of the sea.”
The Biograph Theatre in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on March 17, 2023. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
Victory Gardens Theater will reopen with a new David Mamet play and starry cast
Chicago’s historic Biograph Theatre, the home of the long-dormant Victory Gardens Theater Company, will reopen next month with a new play by David Mamet titled “Henry Johnson.” The show will be directed by Eddie Torres, a longtime Chicago actor and the former artistic director of Teatro Vista, and will star Thomas Gibson, best known for playing Greg on the TV show “Dharma and Greg,” and for his work on the CBS show “Criminal Minds.”
What to do in Chicago: Disturbed, Aziz Ansari and an early St. Patrick’s Day performance
Also around the area this weekend, Rita Rudner in Skokie and a “Magic School Bus” family performance at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.
