Good afternoon! This is Hunter, your flight attendant for this week’s journey into the unknown. There’s for sure going to be some turbulence, and things may feel like a downer. But then something happens, like Jennifer Coolidge doing a photo shoot for W magazine. So things kinda even out. Here’s what you need to know today.
1. Race as an issue in Chicago’s mayoral election
Mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas have accused each other of trying to make race an issue on the campaign trail.
But in a city with a long history of race serving as a fault line in just about everything, voters bear some responsibility, writes my colleague Alden Loury. And you can see this when it comes to the No. 1 issue in this election — violent crime.
Vallas drew strong support in the Feb. 28 election from majority-white areas of the city — the Northwest and Southwest sides and also the Loop — that are among the safest communities in the city, Loury writes.
But when it comes to Black and Latino communities with a high level of violent crime, voters preferred other candidates to Vallas.
“Vallas and Johnson will continue to debate their strategies to make Chicago a safer place to live. And every Chicagoan should seek to be in dialogue with them to determine who has the best plan,” Loury writes.
“But that’s not the only conversation that needs to take place. Some Chicagoans should also start talking about why they’re so afraid in the first place.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
Meanwhile, financial experts say the pension and property tax plans from Vallas and Johnson are underwhelming. [WBEZ]
2. The Illinois Supreme Court will hear arguments tomorrow on abolishing the cash bail system
The state’s highest court will hear oral arguments tomorrow on a law seeking to eliminate cash bail.
The law, which was part of a package of criminal justice reforms known as the SAFE-T Act, was slated to take effect this year. But the Illinois Supreme Court put a hold on the law.
With arguments set to begin in the case, my colleague Shannon Heffernan highlights key questions in this legal fight.
Among them is how “bail” can be defined in the state’s constitution. Critics argue that includes cash bail, and lawmakers can’t just decide to end that system without changing the constitution first.
But proponents of the SAFE-T Act say “bail” simply means defendants have the right to freedom while they await their trial. [WBEZ]
3. The ‘ComEd Four’ bribery trial begins tomorrow, but the case is all about Michael Madigan
Michael J. Madigan will loom large over the upcoming federal trial of four former political players accused of bribing the once powerful Democrat to benefit ComEd, reports Jon Seidel at the Chicago Sun-Times.
The trial of the “ComEd Four” begins tomorrow and is “expected to finally pull back the curtain on an aggressive federal investigation that reshaped Illinois politics, forced Madigan out of office in 2021 and landed him last year under a separate indictment for racketeering,” Seidel writes.
The four defendants are longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty.
They are each charged with bribery conspiracy and falsifying ComEd’s books and records, and they could face serious prison time if convicted. [Chicago Sun-Times]
4. Chicago cops say the city owes them more than $165 million in overtime dispute
Chicago police officers and supervisors are owed about $165 million because the city miscalculated the overtime they were paid for over a decade, reports my colleague Dan Mihalopoulos, citing federal court records from a case on behalf of the cops.
“Take care of the guys that are out there working for you,” said retired cop William Dougherty, one of the plaintiffs in the case.
“It’s nothing new. It’s not hard to ask them to pay guys what they’re entitled to, and they knew they were skirting the federal [law], so just pay these guys off and move on. Cut your losses. It’s costing taxpayers more money than it possibly should.”
A city spokesperson and an attorney for the plaintiffs declined to comment.
Lawyers for the officers said in a recent federal filing that the original estimate for what cops are due was about $52.1 million. But they said in the Dec. 8 filing that the final bill had skyrocketed to $164,735,255 over time, while “damages are continuing to accrue at least at the rate of $862,889 a month.” [WBEZ]
5. How bad is smoking pot for teens? A Chicago scientist searches for an answer.
One of the country’s foremost neuroscientists is working with a team of researchers at University of Illinois Chicago to get a better understanding of the long-term effects of cannabis on the teen brain, reports Zachary Nauth for WBEZ.
Scientist Kuei Tseng is hoping to find an answer by dosing teenage lab rats with THC, and his research suggests there is much more the public needs to know.
His rodent studies indicate regular marijuana use prevents the teen brain from fully maturing. But he says much remains unknown.
Why is cannabis delaying or stopping brain development? And can the effect be reversed? Tseng and scientists around the world are trying to find answers to those questions.
“There’s so much that’s not known about cannabis,” said Hanna Molla, who co-authored with Tseng a 2020 overview of rodent and human adolescent brain performance on cannabis. [WBEZ]
Here’s what else is happening
- President Joe Biden said the nation’s banking system is safe after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the second largest bank failure in U.S. history. [AP]
- The Biden administration approved a massive new oil drilling project in Alaska. [NPR]
- The Taste of Chicago will be held in September this year due to the NASCAR street race. [Chicago Sun-Times]
- The Chicago area could see more snow and rain later this week. [Block Club Chicago]
Oh, and one more thing …
Last night’s Oscar sweep for the multiverse-jumping Everything Everywhere All At Once may signal a new era for Hollywood.
“What an incredible accomplishment for a film that seemed to come out of nowhere and took the movie world by storm,” writes my colleague Richard Roeper.
There was a time when a movie starring Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan would have faced a long road to the Oscars. But all three actors took home awards in their respective categories for best actress, best supporting actress and best supporting actor.
“Ladies, don’t let anybody ever tell you are ever past your prime. Never give up,” Yeoh said during her acceptance speech. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Tell me something good ...
It always warms my heart to wake up and see my dog, Princess Leia, completely passed out in my bed. Sometimes I have to nudge her a little to see if she’s still alive because she looks so peaceful.
And it takes a lot of coaxing to get her up. If no one did anything, she’d probably still be in bed right now.
What’s something small you’ve come to love and appreciate? Feel free to email me, and your response might be shared in the newsletter this week.
