Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: A decades-old Jewish diner, a West African grocery store and a Chinese restaurant — all steps apart in Skokie — illustrate how dozens of suburbs’ populations have transformed from majority white melting pots.
🗞️ Plus: The rebirth of a once hard-luck corner in Auburn Gresham, a new look at O’Hare Airport’s new $1.3 billion concourse and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Bulls fell to the Raptors, 123-107.
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⏱️: A 9-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌨️
Snow showers with a high near 36.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Dozens of Chicago suburbs have shifted to majority nonwhite
Reporting by Amy Qin
Diversity boom: More than 30 Chicago-area suburbs have shifted from majority white communities to majority nonwhite ones in the past two decades, according to a WBEZ analysis of demographic data for nearly 300 suburbs in Cook County and five collar counties from 2005 to 2024. The figures come from the latest release of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey five-year estimates.
Zooming out: Suburban communities across the country have been diversifying for decades, but in recent years, the number of Chicago-area suburbs whose demographics have flipped has accelerated. Between 2015 and 2024, 18 suburbs changed from majority white to majority nonwhite, up from 12 during the prior period spanning 2005-2014.
How we got here: Demographic changes began after laws and practices prohibiting racial and ethnic integration in the suburbs were dismantled, like redlining and restrictions on selling homes to nonwhite residents. More recently, increased job opportunities in the suburbs and a growing cost of living in the cities have also pushed residents further out.
For example: Many south suburban communities have been majority Black for several decades, but three have flipped relatively recently from majority white to Black. Flossmoor — now 60% Black, 30% white and 5% Latino — is one. In the southwest suburbs, many places have seen significant increases in their Latino populations in the last two decades. Joliet is now 44% white, 34% Latino and 16% Black.
IMMIGRATION ✶
Can Chicago’s top prosecutor hold ICE accountable?
Reporting by Sophie Sherry
Pushback pressure: As prosecutors across the U.S. have banded together to push back against President Donald Trump’s audacious deportation campaign, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has faced mounting pressure to prosecute federal agents who’ve allegedly crossed the line.
Experts split: Legal experts are split on what Burke could, or should, do to meet this extraordinary moment. One lawyer argued her office could launch its own investigations or impanel grand juries. Aveteran defense attorney said a law enforcement agency would need first to conduct a criminal investigation, echoing O’Neill Burke.
More on immigration:
- Marimar Martinez, shot 5 times by Border Patrol in Chicago, plans to attend Trump’s State of the Union
- Federal prosecutors fear tainted jury pool if public sees evidence in Broadview Six conspiracy case
- Initiative aims to help Latino small businesses affected by immigration blitz
HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT 🏢
New affordable housing improved a once hard-luck corner in Auburn Gresham
Column by Lee Bey
Corner collapse: In 2012, at the corner of 79th and Halsted streets, a once beautiful, three-story, brick-and-terra cotta commercial building collapsed, having been rotted through by time and neglect. Four people were injured. And the South Side — Auburn Gresham in particular — got another vacant lot.
At the site: The intersection is looking a lot better these days, courtesy of Auburn Gresham Apartments, a new $47 million affordable housing development built where the 1926 retail building fell in. The 60-unit complex is made up of two buildings — one at 838 W. 79th St. and a second about a block east at 757 W. 79th St. — that are essentially two structures connected by a glassy enclosed bridge.
Key context: Auburn Gresham Apartments is part of a notable come-up for that stretch of the Seven-Nine, bringing color, life — even open balconies and green space — to a corridor that had been a commercial stronghold before hitting hard times starting in the 1970s.
PUBLIC SAFETY ✶
- Mass shooting charges: Damaurion Cherry, 17, is being tried as an adult in connection to a shooting last November, which injured seven others during a “teen takeover” as thousands of people gathered in the Loop to kick off the holiday season.
- Woman killed: Police say a suspect opened fire on a vehicle Wednesday afternoon in Auburn Gresham, killing a woman in the passenger seat and injuring a man driving. A 1-year-old girl in the back seat was unharmed.
- Family claims abuse: A south suburban family alleges Brett J. Smith, a substitute teacher recently fired by the Archdiocese of Chicago, groomed their child and “inappropriately touched” him last month, adding to the growing list of allegations against him.
- Man faces murder charge: Alexis Trader was charged in the death of Nabil Abzal, whom prosecutors say Trader shoved Aug. 30, causing him to fall into the water at DuSable Harbor and drown.
- Addressing domestic violence: Amid a 140% jump in domestic violence-related deaths since 2022, state Senate Republicans proposed a legislative package aimed at ramping up penalties for abusers and making bail more difficult for people accused of domestic violence.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- O’Hare’s next concourse: Aviation Commissioner Michael McMurray provided the first glimpse of a new $1.3 billion, 19-gate satellite concourse at O’Hare Airport, sharing an ambitious video rendering of what would be Concourse D.
- Illinois’ vaccine guidance: Illinois will formally adopt the child and adolescent immunization schedule created by the American Academy of Pediatrics, marking another break from federal officials who are limiting the number of recommended vaccines for young children.
- Controversial tour: U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited a small West Side Christian high school Thursday as part of a national tour billed as a promotion of civics education and America’s founding principles. About half of the school’s students skipped a planned assembly with her.
- Push to stop murals: Weeks after an Elon Musk-backed mural of a slain Ukrainian refugee appeared in North Center, a local group of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America is fighting to prevent a second one from going up.
- City eyes Greyhound station: The city has taken the first step toward getting funds to buy and rehab the Greyhound bus station at 630 W. Harrison St., moving to allow TIF money to be spent on the property.
- Open Books closing: Open Books, one of Chicago’s largest used bookstore chains, will close its Logan Square location March 1 after financial struggles.
- Where to watch Bad Bunny Bowl: Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny is set to put on the first ever all-Spanish-language Super Bowl halftime show Sunday — and these Chicago watch parties are celebrating.
ELECTIONS ☑️
What to know about open U.S. Senate seat to replace Dick Durbin
By Sun-Times staff
For the taking: U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s announcement last year not to seek a sixth term sparked a high-stakes political shuffle and a contentious open race among top Illinois Democrats to replace him. The seat’s six-year term begins January 2027.
Key context: Durbin’s announcement led to a seismic shift in Illinois politics, where a long roster of Democrats who had been quietly jockeying for his position were able to jump into the spotlight. U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi’s and Robin Kelly’s runs also led to open races in the 2nd and 8th congressional districts.
The candidates: They are Kelly, Krishnamoorthi, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Steve Botsford Jr., Sean Brown, Awisi A. Bustos, Jonathan Dean, Bryan Maxwell, Kevin Ryan and Christopher Swann. Meet them via our Senate race guide here or via the button below.
Key dates: Polls open for Primary Election Day on March 17 — but early mail-in voting is underway and early voting in all 50 wards starts March 2.
WEEKEND PLANS 🎉
🎭 ‘Black and Highly Flavored’
Through March 21
📍The Second City, 230 W. North Ave.
Sketches, music and improv honor Black artistry, humor, resilience and community.
Admission: $39+
🍎 Green City Market
8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday
📍Green City Market, 3057 N. Rockwell St.
Stop by the indoor market for groceries and handmade goods.
Admission: Free
🎥 ‘When the West Side Burned’
4-9 p.m. Saturday
📍Kehrein Center for the Arts, 5628 W. Washington Blvd.
A screening of the WTTW documentary capturing the aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. A panel discussion and concert highlighting music of the movement will follow.
Admission: $2+
💘 Cupid’s Vintage & Artisan Market
12-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
📍Artifact Events, 4325 N. Ravenswood Ave.
This all-ages, pet-friendly market features two floors of vintage wares and artisan finds.
Admission: $8+
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏀🏈🏒
- Bulls changes: Bulls exec Arturas Karnisovas made a flurry of changes this week, parting ways with Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Nikola Vucevic and Kevin Huerter. He’s calling it a new “stage,” not a rebuild.
- Super Bowl predictions: The Sun-Times’ sports writers make their predictions ahead of Sunday’s Seahawks-Patriots battle.
- NFL Honors: Bears’ Joe Thuney won the Protector award — but Mike Vrabel beat Ben Johnson for Coach of the Year.
- Sky’s pivotal moment: An ownership dispute involving Sky principal owner Michael Alter and minority investor Steven Rogers landed in Cook County court Thursday. It was the first hearing in a fight that could show whether the franchise is ready for the WNBA’s big-money future.
- Olympic break: After a grueling stretch of 21 games in 40 days — the likes of which many young players had never experienced before — the Blackhawks can finally relax.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 7A ___ skating (sport for Chicago Olympians Emery Lehman, Ethan Cepuran, and Sarah Warren)
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Chicago elementary schoolers delight in new chicken coop fusing science with Black history
Reporting by Sarah Karp
Teachers tried to keep excited Chalmers Elementary students in line as they brought them into the school’s courtyard earlier this week. They were about to have a meet and greet with seven chickens checking out their new digs — a silver coop that looked like a tiny house.
The brand-new chicken coop is named after Mary Logan Reddick, a pioneering Black female biologist, and its dedication kicked off a series of events across Chicago Public Schools for Black History Month.
At other events, students will sing Harlem Renaissance-era songs, Black businesses will sell goods, high schoolers will hear from engineers involved in the expansion of the CTA Red Line and district officials will convene a panel on multilingual opportunities for African American students.
The students “ooohed” and “awed” in front of the coop as they asked questions and tried to get the oblivious chickens to respond. They talked about the birds’ color and texture. They also threw out names for them, like Cluck Cluck, Bluey and Max.
“I love chickens,” third-grader Jayden White said as he shuffled out of the courtyard. “They make me laugh every single time when they walk.”
DAILY QUESTION ☕️
How do you want to see $500,000 used to improve Chicago’s parks?
Email your answer here. (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
Want more on this topic? Tune in 10 a.m. today to WBEZ’s call-in talk show “Say More,” when hosts Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith will sit down with Chicago Park District superintendent Carlos Ramirez-Rosa and take listeners’ questions. Listen live at 91.5 FM WBEZ or stream online.
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Morning Edition!
Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
Hat tip: The Sun-Times’ Joel Carlson for today’s subject line, which you’ll find on the front page of today’s Sun-Times print edition — on newsstands and online.
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