Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: The fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis has sparked renewed calls for state officials to prosecute federal law enforcement — and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot is trying to hold the feds accountable here.
🗞️ Plus: A century-old Jackson Park gem is set for restoration, the superfan inside the Bearman suit, the “Big Shoulders” poem gets reimagined and more news you need to know.
✍️ Programming note: We’ll be back in your inbox Saturday morning with a special Chicago Bears edition of this newsletter.
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⏱️: A 9-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌥️
Partly sunny with a chance of rain and a high near 45.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Can state officials prosecute the feds? Calls grow after Minneapolis shooting
By Cindy Hernandez, Jon Seidel and Sophie Sherry
Can they prosecute?: The fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Macklin Good in Minneapolis sparked renewed calls Thursday for state officials to prosecute federal law enforcement, with a prominent lawyer saying local authorities have “fallen short” by not using that tool amid the feds’ deportation campaign in Chicago.
Official response: Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s office said in a statement that it “does not conduct independent investigations into criminal conduct. We do not have jurisdiction over federal agencies or facilities.” Instead, it reviews “evidence appropriately collected by law enforcement” and makes charging decisions.
Ex-mayor’s move: Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot launched a new effort Thursday to hold accountable federal agents who have “crossed the line.” The ICE Accountability Project is an independent initiative aimed at collecting and verifying reports of alleged criminal and abusive conduct by federal immigration agents that will be available to the public, she said during a news conference at the Union League Club in the Loop.
How-to: Pathways exist for state-level prosecutors like Burke to file criminal charges against federal agents under certain circumstances. The key legal question is whether federal agents are acting reasonably in fulfilling their duties, experts say.
Portland shooting: Federal immigration enforcement was involved in another violent incident Thursday when an agent shot and wounded two people outside a hospital in Portland, Oregon, the Associated Press reports.
MORE ON IMMIGRATION ✶
Judge cites Minneapolis ICE shooting, pauses dismissing Chicago-area use-of-force lawsuit
By Jon Seidel
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis on Thursday cited her obligation to protect the class governed by her preliminary injunction, telling lawyers that she wants to do more research before closing the matter.
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Residents voice frustrations with Chicago police during immigration raids: ‘Who protects us?’
By Violet Miller
Chicago residents packed Thalia Hall in Pilsen on Thursday for a special meeting, by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, on the police’s interactions with federal law enforcement agents.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Illinois files suit: Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced that his office and officials in California, Colorado, Minnesota and New York filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s freezing of $10 billion in federal funding for child care assistance and social services.
- Remembering Vera Jeanne Materre: A former jazz singer, teacher and mother of WGN anchorwoman Micah Materre, Mrs. Materre died Jan. 1 at age 95.
- Early-bird tax filing: The IRS will start accepting 2025 tax returns on Jan. 26, marking the official start of the 2026 tax filing season.
- New housing proposal: A Skokie-based real estate firm has proposed converting an eight-story building in West Loop into apartments with retail space — and building a 27-story complex with more apartments next door.
- Barnes & Noble expands: Citing its “successful” national expansion plans, the book selling chain is set to open four area stores in the first half of the year, including its largest Chicago location in the Loop.
- Art Institute’s adds: The museum has added more than 1,000 artworks to its collection, including a rare 17th-century textile from India and a “razor-sharp” German oil portrait by painter and photographer Christian Schad.
ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN 📐
Long-neglected Jackson Park pavilion will finally get full makeover
By Lee Bey
Landmark makeover: The Burnham Building, a century-old, temple-like pavilion in Jackson Park that for years has lain in near ruin, appears set to receive a restoration. Designed by D.H. Burnham & Co., the firm led by the legendary architect and planner Daniel H. Burnham, the open air structure at Marquette Drive north of 67th Street will get a top-to-bottom makeover starting this year, according to the Chicago Park District.
Key context: The Burnham Building has been in rough shape for at least a decade, with its facade crumbling away and the roof collapsing to the point that it had to be removed. In better days, the pavilion was a rest spot for visitors and golfers on the southern end of the park’s 18-hole golf course. Its center courtyard also provided pretty nice views of Lake Michigan.
How much?: The park district is keeping mum on the exact cost of the job until construction bid documents hit the streets this quarter or next. But Chicago Park District Director of Planning and Development Heather Gleason said the project is likely to be “a few million.” The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has kicked in $500,000 toward the effort. Park district capital improvement bonds would cover the rest, Gleason said.
Faded jewel: The Burnham Building, like the 551-acre Jackson Park, suffers from decades of chronic underinvestment. Jackson Park is still a jewel thanks to its lakeside location and Frederick Law Olmsted’s design, but it’s a faded one. And that’ll become even more apparent come June when the $850 million Obama Presidential Center, with its new buildings and landscapes, opens on 20 acres at the park’s north edge.
DA BEARS 🏈
How a mild-mannered suburban Chicago delivery driver transforms into Bearman
By Mohammad Samra
No. 1 fan?: Face paint, shoulder pads, bear-head hat and fake fur separate Don Wachter from the Bearman. The costume, which Wachter has fine-tuned over three decades, changes him from a mild-mannered Plainfield truck parts delivery driver to someone widely considered the face of Bears fandom who leads thousands of fans at home games.
Key quote: “I was a little bit of a shy guy years ago,” said Wachter, 63. “When I put the costume on, I can change into somebody.”
Saturday showdown: On Saturday night, Wachter will bring his Clark Kent-turned-Superman-like persona to the Bears’ playoff clash with rival Green Bay Packers.
Becoming Bearman: It takes nearly an hour for Wachter to get into full costume. The Sun-Times went to his home, which doubles as a shrine to his beloved team, to see him transform.
WATCH: QUIZZING BEARS FANS ▶️
WEEKEND PLANS 🎉
🎞️ “Ayenda” screening
6 p.m. Friday
📍Sauce Bread Kitchen, 6338 N. Clark St.
This documentary centers on an Afghan girls’ soccer team’s journey escaping Taliban rules into Portugal, and two team players will share their story at the cafe.
Admission: Free
🛍️ Vjosa Market
10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday
📍1010 W. 35th St.
Local vendors sell art, flowers, jewelry, handmade goods, pastries, coffee and more.
Admission: Free
🎶 Bring a Record, Catch a Vibe
7-9 p.m. Saturday
📍Parallel Play, 825 N. California Ave.
Grab one or two of your favorite vinyl records, meet fellow collectors and music lovers, and find your new favorite song.
Admission: $5+
📽️ Working Girl: The Films of Barbara Stanwyck
Saturday to Feb. 27
📍Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.
This film festival highlights the work ethic and resourcefulness that made the iconic actress a favorite among Hollywood’s top directors. Movies include Preston Sturges’ “The Lady Eve,” Samuel Fuller’s “Forty Guns” and Frank Capra’s “The Miracle Woman.”
Admission: $11
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 4A: The ___ (sculpture actually named Cloud Gate)
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Hear Chicagoans read Carl Sandburg’s poem ‘Chicago’
Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” has been a beloved local anthem for more than a century.
The 1914 poem, which coined the phrase “City of Big Shoulders,” has inspired prideful political speeches, launched a comic series and even decorated buildings. The work has been analyzed in classrooms and has surely served as a rousing nightcap at many an Uptown poetry slam.
But the poem recently gained fresh relevance when a judge read it aloud in a court ruling addressing the use of force by federal immigration agents.
As the year begins anew, with a rush of civic pride going into this weekend’s Bears playoffs, WBEZ’s arts desk asked some well-known Chicagoans to recite it.
We got on tape broadcaster Bill Kurtis, Mayor Brandon Johnson, emcee Sir Michael Rocks of the Cool Kids, author Sandra Cisneros, Congressman Danny Davis, Bears tight end Colston Loveland and WBEZ host Mary Dixon.
DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Today’s daily question is inspired by a prompt from WBEZ’s Say More call-in show:
If UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural agency, can recognize yodeling and Italian cooking on its list of intangible cultural traditions, what could we add from the Chicago region?
Email us here with your answer (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in our newsletter or in a future article.
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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