Good afternoon! A box of Girl Scout cookies will cost a dollar more this year. Here’s what else you need to know today.

1. Thousands of migrants in Chicago are under a deadline to find apartments in a city without enough affordable housing

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is expected to begin enforcing a 60-day limit at city-run shelters on March 16.

And many migrants say the pressure of finding more permanent housing is intensified by a long list of obstacles, my colleague Adriana Cardona-Maguigad reports.

The biggest challenge is finding affordable housing — especially for large multigenerational families.

“It’s very easy for people to just float the word affordable, but … affordable for whom?” said Juliana González-Crussi, executive director for the Center for Changing Lives, which works with individuals at risk of homelessness.

Migrants also face language barriers when finding places to live. And many asylum-seekers do not have work permits, a credit history or bank account.

“Finding housing is the most important thing for us right now,” said Alfonso Carvajal, who trekked to the U.S. from Venezuela with his wife and two children. “We can’t just finish our time in the shelter and be thrown out on the streets. It’s humiliating, an entire family out on the streets.” [WBEZ]

2. What’s the best way to deploy police officers amid shrinking resources and some crime spikes?

That’s a question some members of the City Council want to answer through a staffing analysis, my colleagues Fran Spielman and Tom Schuba report.

In pushing for the review, Ald. Matt Martin, 47th Ward, cited the need to respond more quickly to 911 calls, close the gap between response times in different police districts and comply with a federal consent decree that mandates such analyses on a regular basis.

But similar studies, commissioned in 2016 and 2019, weren’t completed, and preliminary results weren’t made public.

Martin said this time would be different because Chicagoans “deserve more transparency on how decisions are made.”

The push for the study comes as staffing at the Chicago Police Department remains a highly charged political issue, with City Council members fighting over limited police resources as shifting crime patterns lead to an outcry about armed robberies and violence in neighborhoods across the city. [Chicago Sun-Times]

3. Jussie Smollett asks the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn his conviction for lying about a hate crime attack

The former Empire actor this week asked the state’s highest court to throw out his conviction, arguing he is protected against double jeopardy, my colleague Matthew Hendrickson reports.

“What should have been a straightforward case has been complicated by the intersection of politics and public outrage,” Smollett’s attorneys wrote in a court filing late Monday.

It’s unclear if the Illinois Supreme Court will hear the case.

Smollett argues he has been punished for the same crime twice, citing an earlier deal with Cook County prosecutors in which he turned over his bond and performed community service.

The news comes after a state appellate court in December upheld Smollett’s conviction in a 2-1 opinion.

The lone dissenter, Justice Freddrenna Lyle, said she would have tossed the conviction because it was unfair to appoint a special prosecutor after Smollett had already forfeited his bond and performed community service. [Chicago Sun-Times]

4. ‘Skilling It’ is among the winners of Chicago’s snow plow naming contest

And that name, of course, is a tribute to beloved WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling, who is retiring Feb. 28.

The other winning names are CTRL-SALT-DELETE, Casimir Plowaski, Ernie Snowbanks, Mies van der Snow and Bad, Bad Leroy Plow.

The names will be featured on a snowplow in one of the city’s six snow districts, the Chicago Tribune reports. And the city residents who submitted the names can have their picture taken with their snow plow.

Nearly 10,000 votes were cast for this year’s contest. The previous year’s winners were Mrs. O’Leary’s Plow, Da Plow, Salter Payton, Sears Plower, Sleet Home Chicago, Holy Plow! and Jean Baptiste Point du Shovel. [Chicago Tribune]

5. We could get a taste of spring

There’s a chance we could see record high temperatures later this week, my colleague Emmanuel Camarillo reports.

Tomorrow’s high should be in the mid- to upper 40s, and the forecast calls for warmer weather as the weekend nears, with temperatures climbing into the 50s, according to the National Weather Service.

Thursday’s forecast calls for a high of around 57 degrees, but there’s a chance it could climb higher, pushing it closer to the daily record high for Feb. 8 of 62 degrees, which was set in 1925, according to the weather service.

And there’s a greater possibility of record-breaking temps on Friday, when the high is again expected to be around 57 degrees. That would place it just past the record high for Feb. 9 of 56 degrees, a mark that was set in 1886, the weather service said.

But the warmer weather won’t necessarily mean more sun, as mostly cloudy conditions are expected until Friday. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Here’s what else is happening

• Former President Donald Trump is not immune to charges of plotting to overthrow the 2020 election, a federal appeals court ruled. [NPR]

• A suburb of Detroit is ramping up security after a Wall Street Journal op-ed called it “America’s jihad capital.” [NPR]

• King Charles III’s cancer was caught early and the monarch will “crack on” with his constitutional duties, Britain’s prime minister said. [AP]

• Taylor Swift threatened legal action against a Florida college student who runs social media accounts tracking the private flights of celebrities. [Washington Post]

Oh, and one more thing …

Who wants to see a hockey game at Wrigley Field?

The Winter Classic, the NHL’s biggest outdoor event, will be held at the ballpark for the first time since 2009, my colleague Ben Pope reports.

The NHL is expected to officially announce the news tomorrow.

Next season will mark the third time the Blackhawks have hosted the Winter Classic and the fifth time participating in it, passing the Boston Bruins for the most of any franchise.

The news comes as “rookie phenom Connor Bedard’s star power has proven to be a massive television draw,” Pope reports. This season’s Winter Classic drew lower TV ratings than Bedard’s NHL debut back on Oct. 10. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Tell me something good …

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

Carlie Hansen writes:

“The thing I love most about Chicago is absolutely Lake Michigan — I love taking people from out of town who’ve never seen it before to see it for the first time and have them wonder how a freshwater lake can look like an endless ocean, or how in the summer I can hop on my bike and in about 15 minutes I can be soaking up sun or cooling off in the water. I hope I never take it for granted!”

And Fred Lebed writes:

“There is nothing more that I love about Chicago than fishing with my son along the Lakefront, going for a beer afterwards. I did the same with my Dad years ago and hopefully my son will do the same with his son years from now.”

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