Good afternoon! You can now bet on how many times Taylor Swift will be shown during the Super Bowl, and the odds are 12-to-1 she’ll be seen eating a hot dog. Here’s what else you need to know today.

1. Mayor Johnson’s clout is on the line with Bring Chicago Home referendum

Mayor Brandon Johnson isn’t on the March 19 primary ballot, but his political muscle and prestige are on the line with a binding referendum to help fund homeless services, my colleague Fran Spielman reports.

The Bring Chicago Home referendum would hike a tax on the sale of high-end homes and properties, hoping to generate $100 million a year to combat homelessness.

At the same time, the real-estate transfer tax for homes sold under $1 million would be cut.

The plan is opposed by real-estate interests, developers, business groups and some trade unions.

But Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates argues the referendum will help scores of unhoused students.

“If you vote ‘yes’ on this referendum, you are voting for 20,000 unhoused students in the Chicago Public Schools to be in a safe, warm home,” Davis Gates says. “I like our odds.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

2. The Chicago Bears could stay on the lakefront

The team is expected to push for a new domed stadium located on a parking lot south of Soldier Field, Crain’s Chicago Business reports.

The Bears appear to be building a case for the new stadium by saying it could host “Final Four basketball tournaments, Super Bowls and other big events that have tended to skip Chicago for lack of a suitable venue,” Crain’s reports.

The news comes as the Bears face skyrocketing costs to relocate to Arlington Park.

But Crain’s reports that discussions between the Bears and Mayor Brandon Johnson have been more productive than with his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot. And a change in leadership, with Kevin Warren becoming team president, has shifted focus back onto the lakefront. [Crain’s Chicago Business]

3. A Chicago man says he has housed more than 400 migrants

Property owner Chris Amatore says he has resettled hundreds of migrants at 15 buildings throughout the city, spending $150,000 of his own money, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Amatore said he was unsatisfied with the city’s handling of the migrant crisis, so he began housing asylum-seekers in buildings he owns.

Migrants say Amatore has provided them with a sense of community on top of a place to stay.

“Thankfully, God presented this opportunity for us to come here. So we can move forward with our lives,” one migrant said.

But Amatore faces strong backlash from neighbors and city officials, with one member of the City Council allegedly threatening Amatore. [Chicago Tribune]

4. ‘Rat hole’ merch gets off the ground

The Looney Tunes imprint of a rodent in a Chicago sidewalk has inspired dozens of items that have recently popped up on Etsy, Block Club Chicago reports.

(And yes, I’m aware a squirrel may be responsible for “Rat Hole.”)

“It’s very surprising to see the tremendous impact this phenomenon has,” said Danielle Vogel, a graphic designer in Sweden who created a cookie cutter in the shape of the “Rat Hole.”

“It seems to me as if the people in Chicago form a strong community that seems to care and really love their public spaces — and I assume that they have a great amount of humor, as well.”

Among the other “Rat Hole”-inspired merch is a shirt saying, “I got the bubonic plague from slurping Malört out of the Chicago rat hole.” [Block Club Chicago]

5. Someone paid $8 million for Michael Jordan’s championship sneakers

Dubbed the “Dynasty Collection,” six Air Jordan shoes worn by Michael Jordan during the NBA championships fetched $8 million at auction on Friday, The Associated Press reports.

Sotheby’s said the sale set a new record for game-worn sneakers. The auction house declined to identify the buyer but described the seller as “a private American collector” who obtained them from a longtime Bulls executive.

As The Associated Press reports, the collection may have begun with a public relations executive with the Bulls who asked Jordan for one of his game-worn shoes before the 1991 NBA Finals.

Jordan agreed to sign a shoe and give it away, beginning a tradition after later championships. [AP]

Here’s what else is happening

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Middle East to rally support for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages. [BBC]

• About 38 million people in California are under flood alerts as a life-threatening storm moves through the area. [NBC News]

• The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday will hear arguments over whether former President Donald Trump can remain on the ballot in Colorado. [AP]

• Here’s a look at how a professor is getting people excited about physics on TikTok. [NPR]

Oh, and one more thing …

The latest composition from Orbert Davis, the director of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, confronts a long-vexing inequity in jazz, WBEZ contributor Hannah Edgar reports.

“Divas like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington are highly visible — worshiped, even,” Edgar writes. “But women in jazz are rarely showered with such praise for their compositional prowess, and it’s still woefully rare to see women on bandstands as instrumentalists.”

So Davis created Women Out of Time, which embraces three real-life subjects: Lil Hardin Armstrong, a Chicagoan who became a member of King Oliver’s legendary band and met onetime husband Louis Armstrong through it; Mary Lou Williams, whom Davis cites as “one of the bridges between swing and bebop”; and Nina Simone, who pursued a career as a classical pianist before becoming one of the most versatile singer-songwriters in jazz and beyond.

“We could have called it ‘women ahead of their time,’ ” Davis said. [WBEZ]

Tell me something good …

Valentine’s Day is coming up. And that’s got me thinking: What do you love about the Chicago area?

Me? I love, in no particular order, how every street corner appears to have a neighborhood bar, people-watching on the CTA, the Chicago urge to defend anything about Chicago and how everyone seems to dislike Navy Pier, the closest you can get to downtown and still be nowhere.

Feel free to email me, and your response might be shared in the newsletter this week.