Good morning, Chicago.
With a wave of her bangled brown fingertips to the melody of flutes and chimes, artist, theologian and academic Tricia Hersey enchanted a crowd into a dreamlike state of rest at Semicolon Books on North Michigan Avenue.
“The systems can’t have you,” Hersey said into the microphone, reading mantras while leading the crowd in a group daydreaming exercise on a recent Tuesday night.
The South Side native tackles many of society’s ills — racism, patriarchy, aggressive capitalism and ableism — through an undervalued yet impactful action: rest.
Hersey, the founder of a movement called the Nap Ministry, dubs herself the Nap Bishop and spreads her message to over half a million followers on her Instagram account, @thenapministry.
Her first book, “Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto,” became a New York Times bestseller in 2022, but Hersey has been talking about rest online and through her art for nearly a decade.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Lauryn Azu.
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AG finds Palatine schools broke law by using cops to ticket students, urges other districts to review policies
In the strongest rebuke yet of Illinois school districts that ask police to ticket misbehaving students, the state attorney general has declared that the practice — still being used across the state — is illegal and should stop.
Madigan corruption trial turns to the Danny Solis show
For five weeks, federal prosecutors methodically built their case that then-House Speaker Michael Madigan engaged in a yearslong conspiracy to accept bribes from Commonwealth Edison in exchange for helping the utility giant’s legislative agenda in Springfield.
In some ways, it’s been the corruption trial version of a TV rerun, with the same familiar cast of characters — former legislators, precinct captains, ComEd executives and Madigan loyalists — who testified last year in the related “ComEd Four” bribery case.
Now, though, the feds have raised the curtain on new material that promises to be popcorn viewing: The Danny Solis Show.
Editorial: 4 in 10 Chicago Public Schools teachers were ‘chronically absent’ last year from a job with a median salary of $95,000
By any measure, Chicago Public Schools teachers are extraordinarily well paid given the norms of their profession, writes the Editorial Board.
The median salary for a CPS teacher is nearly $95,000. That’s 21% more than teachers make in Cook County’s suburbs, where median pay is $78,000. What’s more, CPS says it pays its teachers more than any other large school district in the nation, and that’s before whatever increases they get in union contract negotiations that are ongoing.
Chicago voter turnout was second-lowest rate in 80 years for a presidential election
Chicago voters turned out at a much lower rate in this month’s general election than in recent presidential contests, marking the lowest turnout rate in 28 years, according to the most recent data from the Chicago Board of Elections.
While election officials initially expected a high turnout, it ended up being markedly low for a presidential election.
Democrats push possible Trump response, other state legislative matters to New Year
In the days after former President Donald Trump was reelected, Illinois Democrats’ raised alarms about the ramifications of his second term and said they would consider whether the state needs to strengthen any of its progressive laws on reproductive rights and other issues that might be threatened by an unfriendly White House.
But the Democratic-led Illinois General Assembly adjourned its final session of the year without taking any meaningful steps in that direction, with some lawmakers saying more time is needed to consider what might be done.
98% of Illinois residents drink water with fluoride. Why is this mineral’s longtime role being rethought?
Made from one of the most common elements on Earth, fluoride is naturally present in human bodies and water, and common in toothpaste and mouthwash. And for decades, the mineral has been added to the water supplies of thousands of communities across the United States to help prevent dental cavities and decay.
These locals are half-Ukrainian, half-Russian: A dual heritage with a unique pain as the war rapidly escalates
Draped in a Ukrainian flag, Vasily Bublikov marched during a recent downtown Chicago demonstration marking 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion, an unprovoked attack that pit the two nations of his heritage against one another in a rapidly escalating war that threatens global peace.
His mother is Ukrainian. His father is Russian.
Too Midwestern for a megasale? In some markets, mansions are selling for $100M and up, but not in Chicago. Here’s why.
Mansions are selling for $100 million and up in markets around the country, thanks to a surging stock market and wealth created from booms such as cryptocurrency and the frenzy over artificial intelligence.
And yet, in one of the stranger conundrums of the local market, the Chicago area has yet to see a single megasale — a residence that sells for $100 million or more — or even a quasi-megasale. The Chicago area has never even seen a $25 million sale of a single residential property.
Chicago Bears drop to 4-7 — and their schedule isn’t getting any easier. Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the Week 12 loss.
The Bears will not wind up with the No. 1 draft pick for the third consecutive year. But it’s impossible to say when this losing streak will end.
Here are 10 thoughts after another loss on the game’s final play.
- Bears are writing ‘Wild Ways To Lose In The Final Second’ — and the Minnesota Vikings are the latest chapter
- Column: Caleb Williams shows ‘Superman’ flashes but the Bears once again plummet to a jaw-dropping loss
Combining their passion for cooking and the Bears, these Chicago chefs take tailgating to a new level
“Are you guys chefs or something?”
It’s a question Oliver Poilevey, Marcos Ascencio and Alex Martinez get asked a lot when they tailgate at Bears home games.
IHSA state football playoffs: Complete semifinal results — plus the schedule for championship weekend
The 2024 IHSA state football playoffs began the first weekend in November with 256 teams in the field. Sixteen remain. And come Saturday night, eight will be crowned champions.
Why did the chicken with a broken wing cross a Chicago road? To be rescued, it turns out.
A young red hen Annie is the newest — and probably most action-packed — addition to Tim Norris’ Irving Park backyard. A woman found her wandering on a road in Lincoln Square last month, picked her up to save her from traffic and found her a new home with Norris. He’s one of likely hundreds across Chicago who keep pet chickens.
