Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶
By now, you’ve probably heard of President Donald Trump’s administration making sweeping cuts to federal agencies and programs.
In today’s newsletter, we’re zooming in on the administration’s attempt to address federal research funding — and what that means for student researchers.
Plus: reporting on Lyric Opera’s new season, the artists who’ve made a North Lawndale apartment building sing and more community news you need to know below. 👇
⏱️: A 7-minute read
— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter
TODAY’S TOP STORY
Student researchers’ work and career opportunities are jeopardized by Trump’s cuts
Reporting by Lisa Kurian Philip
Work at risk: Britney Smart, a doctoral student at the University of Illinois Chicago, went into public health research to answer one question: Why are Black women in America three times more likely to die while giving birth? But her work and that of countless other student researchers is now imperiled by President Donald Trump’s upending of federal research funding.
DEI targets: Although a court has temporarily blocked the administration’s drastic cuts to funding for research institutions, the flow of grants from federal agencies has slowed to a trickle. The administration has particularly focused on defunding research in any way related to diversity, equity and inclusion, which some scientists and health researchers say has become integral to more federal grants in recent years.
Zoom in: The situation is hitting UIC researchers who are starting their careers, like Smart, especially hard. They’re unsure whether federal grants, a key source of funding for public health research, will exist to support their work.
Smart’s story: Smart is originally from Trinidad and Tobago and relies on a National Science Foundation fellowship to fund her Ph.D. The agency has started flagging keywords as simple as “racism,” “diversity” and “women,” so she’s not sure if she still has that funding.
Key quote: “Public health is under attack — maternal and child health is under attack, and it feels particularly insidious how the infrastructure we’ve developed is being stripped for parts,” Smart said.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
- Processing a plea: Robert Crimo III pleaded guilty to one of the worst mass shootings in Illinois history last week. Yet across Highland Park, people are still trying to make sense of the collective trauma they experienced at their community parade in 2022.
- Lyric Opera’s new season: One standout on the newly announced calendar is a 30-year anniversary celebration of the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” album.
- New restaurant and venue: Grateful Dead fans (and everyone else, too) will soon be able to celebrate the music and legacy of the late Jerry Garcia when Garcia’s Chicago, an intimate concert venue and restaurant, opens March 21 in the West Loop.
- Metra considers changes: In hopes of simplifying rail line names that can be challenging for some of its riders, Metra says it may replace those names with numbers and letters.
- 3.5 stars for ‘Elvis Presley was a Black Man Named Joe’: Paralleling her real-life story with more than two dozen songs, Jackie Taylor’s hallelujah of a musical feels like a celebration, a benediction and a cause for optimism all at once, writes Catey Sullivan in a review for the Sun-Times.
ARTS BEAT 🎶
JoJo’s self-acceptance journey stops by Chicago
Reporting by Erica Thompson
A propulsive beat. An Uncle Luke sample. Lyrics about surrender and self-forgiveness.
On paper, the combination might seem strange, but singer JoJo has transformed the elements into a danceable self-help anthem in “Porcelain,” a single from her new EP “NGL.”
Chicago fans will hear the track live Saturday at the Ramova Theatre.
The pop and R&B artist’s knack for experimentation has been a trademark of her more than 20-year career.
She circumvented a long legal battle with her label, Blackground Records, by recording independent mixtapes and one-off song covers. In 2018, she regained control of her first two albums by rerecording them and making them available to stream. Between projects, she played Satine in “Moulin Rouge!” making her Broadway debut in 2023.
Last year, she wrote a memoir, “Over the Influence,” which became a New York Times bestseller.
Now on her own independent record label, Clover Music, the former child star is continuing to forge her own path.
“I think success is being able to like what you do and how you do it and look at yourself in the mirror and be proud,” JoJo told the Sun-Times.
BRIGHT ONE ✨
Chicago music mosaics, murals gild apartment building
Reporting by Genevieve Bookwalter
As residents walk into their newly renovated North Lawndale apartments, musicians like Mavis Staples, Frankie Knuckles, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, the Microphone Misfitz and Minnie Riperton welcome them home.
Chicago artists Alexie Young, JoVonna Jackson, Mike Stidham and Nailah Golden created the two mosaics and 25 glass murals at the Lazarus Apartments, paying tribute to Chicago’s music history and culture.
Organizers hope they will inspire smiles all year, as the artwork covers what used to be plain brown panels on the building’s first floor.
The panels and mosaics were part of last year’s redevelopment of Lazarus Apartments by Lawndale Christian Development Corp. The building, along with a sister property across West 19th Street, provide about 50 affordable rental apartments.
“Being able to link the past, historical presence of North Lawndale with the present and future in these ways was incredibly important to me, and it was an honor to do so in the [neighborhood] I call home,” Golden said.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What is one place in Chicago that has not changed for as long as you’ve lived here? Be sure to tell us how long you’ve lived here.
Email us (please include your first and last name). To see the answers to this question, check our Morning Edition newsletter. Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won’t miss a thing!
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Afternoon Edition.
Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Written by: Matt Moore
Editor: Dorothy Hernandez
Copy editor: Angie Myers