Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman who survived being shot five times by a Border Patrol agent, discusses her experience, the federal government’s failed attempt to prosecute her and the role she sees for herself in a fight for accountability.
🗞️ Plus: Reshona Landfair — who was victimized by R. Kelly — reclaims her name with a new memoir, tension over recent cuts at the Chicago History Museum and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Blackhawks bested the Sharks, 6-3.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Mostly sunny with a high near 27.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Marimar Martinez, shot by Border Patrol in Chicago, speaks out after Good, Pretti deaths
By Jon Seidel and Adriana Cardona-Maguigad
Shot by Border Patrol: After a Border Patrol agent shot Marimar Martinez in October, she lost control of her right hand while driving away from a collision with three agents at 39th and Kedzie. Martinez thought she wouldn’t make it to a hospital. The blood covering her phone made it impossible to dial 911. She used her car’s Bluetooth to call for help and pulled over near a repair shop, where she ran inside as consciousness began to recede. Someone helped her to a chair and held onto her. “I could have really died,” she said.
Speaking out: In a wide-ranging interview with the Sun-Times and WBEZ, Martinez, 30, discussed her shooting, the federal government’s failed attempt to prosecute her and the role she now sees for herself in a fight for accountability.
Government narrative: After the shooting, the federal government splashed Martinez’s photo online and labeled her a “domestic terrorist.” The government has yet to rescind the claim, two months after Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros dropped the charges against her.
Her POV: Martinez spoke about fear within immigrant families, and her refusal to give in to it. She also discussed Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti, two fellow U.S. citizens fatally shot by immigration authorities last month in Minneapolis. Like her, federal authorities applied the “domestic terrorist” label to each of them after their deaths.
Key quote: Martinez says she realizes she’s been given an opportunity that wasn’t afforded to Good and Pretti: “Living.” Martinez said, “I am their voice. I am here for a reason.”
MORE ON IMMIGRATION ✶
Hundreds of CPS students walk out to protest Trump’s deportation campaign
By Emmanuel Camarillo
Students from several high schools including Mather, Northside College Prep, Roosevelt, Amundsen and Von Steuben marched in Lincoln Square, calling on ICE to stand down. Some urged their oldest peers to get to the polls.
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Immigrant father and autistic son want to be with family, face deportation
By Cindy Hernandez
Steven and his father, Victor Romero Martinez, sought asylum in suburban Glen Ellyn, where they settled with the teen’s mother. They were arrested in December and sent back to the same facility where they started.
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Chicago couple separated by Midway Blitz is determined to reunite
By Adriana Cardona-Maguigad
The newlyweds were arrested eight days after getting married. Now he’s getting sent back to El Salvador. She wants to bring him to Mexico.
BOOKS 📖
Reshona Landfair reclaims her name with new memoir
By Violet Miller
Sharing her story: Reshona Landfair has gone by several names, among them “Jane Doe” and Cho. Both stem from abuse at the hands of her now convicted godfather, the disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly. Landfair, who was filmed in the video tape that was key evidence in two of Kelly’s trials, said he took her passions from her, and that the infamy took her name. For years, she hid her identity with pseudonyms.
Key context: In 2022, Kelly was convicted by a federal jury in Chicago of producing child pornography and enticing minors into criminal sexual activity.
‘Reclaiming my name’: On Tuesday, Landfair is releasing her memoir “Who’s Watching Shorty?” to take back her own name. The book is published by Legacy Lit, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. “I’m reclaiming my name because I don’t want it to be a dirty word,” she says in the opening chapter.
ELECTIONS ☑️
Governor hopeful took money from executive of garbage hauler dogged by mob allegations
By Robert Herguth and Mitchell Armentrout
Campaign contributions: A waste hauling business whose reputed mob connections years ago helped tank a casino project in Rosemont — and more recently was discovered hauling debris from the construction site of the Bally’s permanent casino without approval from regulators — is now surfacing in video gambling magnate Rick Heidner’s campaign for governor.
Heidner’s haul: The president of D & P Construction Co. Inc., Sherri Clementi, contributed $1,000 in recent days to Rick for Illinois, Heidner’s main campaign fund, as he runs in the March 17 Republican primary, according to records with the Illinois State Board of Elections. The FBI once alleged D & P Construction Co. was secretly controlled by late mob figures John and Peter DiFronzo.
The response: Heidner is unapologetic about taking that $1,000, saying he’s not going to return it “to grandstand because you say something to me.”
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Third case beat: Last week, a Cook County judge found Robert Ellis, 67, not guilty of a felony charge of impersonating a police officer. It was the third such case since 2018 in which he prevailed after representing himself.
- Deadly cold: Authorities said Irine Hyzny, 86, died in her Bridgeview home of cold exposure, marking the ninth Cook County death related to cold temperatures this winter.
- Remembering Basil Talbott Jr.: A legendary Sun-Times political editor, chief political columnist and Washington correspondent, Mr. Talbott spent more than 30 years at the Sun-Times and was widely respected by his colleagues as a truth-seeker who bluntly challenged obfuscation. He died Jan. 28 at age 89.
- Lot pitches wanted: The city is looking for developer proposals for a 2.5-acre parcel across from the 95th/Dan Ryan Red Line station in Roseland that offer a mix of housing, retail and other uses.
- 3 stars for ‘Mary Jane’: Running through Feb. 22 at Skokie’s Northlight Theatre, playwright Amy Herzog’s 95-minute drama is simultaneously bleak and uplifting in its powerful critiques of a flawed health care system, writes Catey Sullivan in a review for the Sun-Times.
MUSEUMS ✶
Community warns Chicago History Museum cuts could impact scholarship of city history
By Erica Thompson
The demands: Community members and former employees are calling for new leadership at the Chicago History Museum to repair relationships with workers and mend fences with scholars after the Jan. 7 exit of CEO Donald Lassere. They’re also asking the museum to restore hours at the Abakanowicz Research Center, which were limited after the center’s staff was reduced to part-time status in July.
The stakes: Advocates say heeding these calls will help strengthen the museum’s identity as a prestigious institution that informs visitors from all over the world about the history of Chicago and America.
Key context: Like other museums across the country, the Chicago History Museum is grappling with economic pressures. More than half of U.S. museums saw fewer visitors in 2025 than in 2019, according to a report by the American Alliance of Museums. But some employees say additional positions were eliminated as retaliation for their efforts to unionize.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈🏒🏀
- ‘Finish what we started’: The Bears’ Kevin Byard wants to re-sign, as he hopes for a new contract before free agency.
- Jone reflects: Now a Seahawks practice squad RB, Velus Jones says getting cut by the Bears was the “most relieving thing ever.”
- NHL Draft: The Blackhawks could have two top-16 picks in the 2026 NHL Draft — if the Panthers don’t make a late run.
- Bulls need help: Nikola Vucevic said the team would move forward with or without the front office adding help at the trade deadline Thursday.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 8A: Chicago baseball team that plays just off the 35th St. Red Line stop
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
The quiet, wintry thrill of a freezing Illinois canyon hike
By Zachary Nauth
There is nothing quite like the snap-cold solitude of a winter hike in the canyons of Matthiessen State Park. The footprints of the last snowfall are a hiker’s only companion — and trail guide. At times, even those disappear, and the lonely hiker is left to imagine the well-trod trail that lies under a pristine layer of snow, and where it might lead.
Matthiessen, with its mature hardwood forest surrounding sandstone dells, sits 90 miles west of Chicago between Ottawa and LaSalle-Peru. Winter is a great time to hike here and at its more popular neighbor, Starved Rock. The parking lots at the pair — especially in single-digit temps — are ghostly, a welcome change from summer crowds.
In January and February, the trees are stripped of leaves, except for the clattering rustle of the giant white oaks, and some feathery stemmed hop hornbeams in the understory. A few tall pines whisper as the wind passes, stinging cheeks.
But a solitary hiker here is not alone, as they’re surrounded by wildlife, making this a fitting winter outing for those with an adventurous spirit, some planning, and proper winter wear.
WATCH: HIKING MATTHIESSEN STATE PARK ▶️
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Yesterday, we asked you: Where’s your favorite place to take a winter weather walk in the Chicago area?
Here’s some of what you said…
“My favorite place to walk in Chicago is the Country Lane Woods in Palos Woods at 95th, west of La Grange Road. The woods are well maintained and the trails are paved.” — Edward Sullivan
“I love the North Pond/zoo/conservatory/nature museum area in Lincoln Park [including] the nature boardwalk area through the zoo … You’re around … plant and wildlife and are not far from the lakefront … You can see the skyline as well from most vantage points. It never gets old. I’m really proud of this area in our city and it brings me a sense of calm.” — Jennifer Nelkin
“Up and down the aisles of a great bookstore or hardware store.” — Harve Tucker
“The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. It is so peaceful and relaxing. Great place to de-stress!” — Kevin Beese
“We walk through LaBagh Woods and Gompers Park. The two adjacent sites, with the North Branch of the Chicago River running through both, have open and wooded areas, picnic pavilions and athletic fields. We see deer and other wildlife quite often. For more ambitious walks, LaBagh Woods is the trailhead for the North Branch Trail.” — Bruce Dean
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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