Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: After President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to destroy Iran, Gov. JB Pritzker was among a bipartisan chorus calling for his ouster. Iranian Americans in the Chicago area also expressed concern over the threats.
🗞️ Plus: Ex-Gangster Disciples king Larry Hoover’s character witnesses, Chicago’s vintage Coach handbag caretaker and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Bulls beat the Wizards, 129-98; the Cubs beat the Rays, 9-2; the White Sox fell to the Orioles, 4-2.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Partly sunny with a high near 67.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Trump talk stokes anger, fear even as US and Iran OK ceasefire
By Violet Miller, Mary Norkol, and Tina Sfondeles
Little relief: As President Donald Trump’s threat Tuesday to destroy Iran gave way to a ceasefire between the two countries and Israel, Chicagoans with ties to Iran said they felt little relief. Earlier, Trump’s words drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats, including Gov. JB Pritzker, who called for the president’s ouster under the 25th Amendment.
Key context: Trump had threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran failed to reach a deal that included reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway where about a fifth of the world’s oil is transported under Iranian supervision. A two-week ceasefire agreement was reached about 90 minutes before the deadline, but attacks in Iran and Gulf Arab countries resumed Wednesday, throwing the deal into question, the Associated Press reported. Even before the new strikes were reported, much about the agreement was unclear, as the sides presented different visions of the terms.
‘Psychological warfare’: Mehrnoush Soroush, a University of Chicago professor from Iran, has gotten used to Trump walking back threats to her home country. Still, those threats are their own form of violence, she said. “It’s psychological warfare because you’re doing this to millions of people worldwide; it’s not just Iranians,” said Soroush. “Everywhere in the Middle East, they’re all freaking out.”
IMMIGRATION ✶
Migrants face scams, sky-high rents and squalor in search for housing
By Esther Yoon-Ji Kang and Adriana Cardona-Maguigad
The challenges: Finding safe and affordable housing has become more difficult in Chicago as migrants face a precarious legal status because of changing policies under President Trump’s administration. Lack of stable income and fear of deportation have also made many migrants more vulnerable to housing scams. And a new state law has made it easier for landlords to call police and evict squatters without a lengthy process.
One family’s story: A Venezuelan family who migrated to Chicago in 2023 shared with WBEZ their story of being scammed by a fraudulent leasing agent. The agent had broken into vacant units and rented them out to desperate migrant families. Police eventually arrived and gave them one week to vacate the building.
GANGS ✶
Larry Hoover’s wife and an ex-NY mob prosecutor both urge clemency
By Frank Main
Clemency push: John Gleeson, a former New York mob prosecutor, stood up Tuesday for Larry Hoover, once the king of the Gangster Disciples for decades in Chicago. Gleeson said he prosecuted criminals similar to Hoover, but that Hoover was different. He’s “grown up” and is remorseful, Gleeson told the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. The board is considering the 75-year-old ex-gang leader’s request for clemency from Gov. JB Pritzker.
The hearing: Dozens of people, including Hoover’s wife, Winndye, attended a prisoner review board hearing downtown, where a panel heard testimony from Hoover’s supporters, along with prosecutors who oppose his freedom. Prosecutors said granting clemency would ignore the seriousness of the killing for which he’s locked up, would minimize crimes he later committed in prison and would put the public in danger.
Key context: Hoover and his supporters have increasing hope for his release despite decades of rejections in the state’s separate parole process. That’s because Hoover won a separate grant of clemency last year from President Trump for a federal drug conspiracy sentence.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Library resources for students: Chicago Public Schools students can now access books, tutors and other resources at city libraries with just their student ID number.
- Trial set in fatal stabbing: A judge set a trial date of Aug. 17 for Keshia Golden, accused of fatally stabbing her boyfriend, despite her attorneys arguing she acted in self-defense while she was pregnant.
- Advocates plan CHA suit: Last month, the Chicago Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners voted to appoint Keith Pettigrew as CEO, though the meeting’s agenda made no mention of the motion. Housing advocates are calling foul.
- Remembering Rachel Gansner: A mom who started an all-girls baseball league at Warren Park on the North Side, Gansner died Saturday at age 45.
- New Baggu: After opening its first Midwest store in Wicker Park in 2024, the California-based bag and accessories brand plans to expand its Chicago footprint with a second spot in Lincoln Park.
- Sound & Gravity returns: More than 50 artists, including Resavoir, Dos Santos and Kassa Overall, will perform across seven venues for the second edition of the multivenue festival near Avondale.
- 3.5 stars for ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’: Powerhouse performances make the production feel real and raw in the remarkable staging of the August Wilson classic, writes Mike Davis.
MUST-READ COMMENTARY 🗣️
- Neil Steinberg: The artist formerly known as Kanye West is facing the music over his ill-fated embrace of Nazism. He says he regrets that decision now, but his “Heil Hitler” song was bound to bite him.
- Liza Khalil and Rev. Ara Torosian: The U.S. welcomed us when we fled persecution. Now it’s closing its doors.
- Rich Miller: Illinoisans are pushing state leaders for more affordable housing options.
- Letter to the editor: Housing near public transit encourages car-free living, writes Cyrus Dowlatshahi of Bucktown.
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- Betting on the future: How prediction markets work and why the Trump administration is suing Illinois over regulating them. Guests Noah Henderson of Loyola University, Karl Lockhart of DePaul University Law School and Democratic state Sen. Michael Hastings (19th District) explain.
- Expo Chicago returns: The Sun-Times’ Ambar Colón explains some of the art fair’s changes this year. Artist Faheem Majeed, of the Floating Museum, discusses local art scene representation amid federal funding cuts.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- Middle East conflict: Ali Tarokh, an Iranian refugee, Aaron Hughes of About Face: Veterans Against the War and Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) talk about the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran. Callers weigh in.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾🏀🏒
- Cade Horton’s season ends: The Cubs’ right-hander will undergo elbow surgery.
- Reese trade analysis: With Angel Reese shipped off to Atlanta, the Sky can target a new star free agency. The problem is, they don’t have a compelling pitch for why the best players should join them, writes Alissa Hirsh.
- Donovan faces the media: Bulls coach Billy Donovan on Tuesday held his first meeting with the media since vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley were fired 24 hours earlier.
- Real talk for Hawks: The Blackhawks need to be logical and buy out Andre Burakovsky this summer, writes Ben Pope.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 1D: Chicago team currently hosting a chocolate chip cookie recipe contest
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Chicago content creator finds healing through the art of restoring vintage Coach bags
By Esther Bergdahl and Minju Park
Helena Kim’s compact West Loop home studio, measuring about 12 by 12 feet, keeps a place for every tool. Her closets conceal an eye-popping variety of glues, dyes, conditioners, thread and other supplies. Floor-to-ceiling shelves boast the fruits of her labor: vintage Coach handbags, luxury purses rescued from thrift shops and restored to their original blues, greens, rich browns and chic blacks.
“I do have a very, very large collection at this point,” Kim admitted. “It was nothing I set out to do. But every time I went thrifting, I’m like, ‘I need to rescue her! She needs help!'”
On social media, Kim is known by her nickname, Yoonie, which is derived from her Korean name; she has more than 1.2 million followers. In her soothing videos, she explains how to hunt for and rehabilitate the saddest of bargain bin finds. She prefers distressed and abandoned small leather goods, which she revives with saddle soap, conditioners and a jaw-dropping assortment of trade skills.
When Kim stitches together loose panels, she’s gauging the tensile response of the leather. After she suds up her horsehair brush, she listens for the scrape of its bristles against the bag’s surface. As she massages a thirsty purse with lotion, her hands remember caring for her weary parents after work.
“When I do really resonate with a bag,” Kim said, “I’m just emotionally connected to a bag, or I find this need to tell their story, or a story develops in my head.” She loves finding clues about past lives in thrifted purses: A set of bridal hair clips, a magazine clipping to bring to a hairdresser.
WATCH: CHICAGO’S COACH RESCUER ▶️
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Yesterday, we asked you: What’s a clear sign of spring in Chicago?
Here’s some of what you said…
“Full tour boats.” — Sue Wynn
“Tulips come up on Michigan Avenue.” — Tara Goodwin
“Baseball fans complaining about the bullpen and lack of offense.” — Vince LiFonti
“Automobiles with tickets for not moving the vehicle during assigned street cleaning.” — Edward M. Bury
“When the weather gets off the roller coaster and stays in the upper 60s for more than three days.” — Scott Wisniewski
“The return of the piping plovers to Montrose Beach Sanctuary signals abundant insects, warm sunshine for tiny feathered bodies and nature’s symphony ready for another beautiful season!” — Toni Scavo
“Potholes, of course.” — Christopher Vaughn
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
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