Good morning, Chicago.
It’s now seven days since primary day yet the winner of the Democratic primary for Cook County state’s attorney remains unknown.
Clayton Harris III registered just 1,643 votes behind Eileen O’Neill Burke yesterday as a wave of nearly 5,300 Democratic mail-in ballots from the city and suburbs were tallied by the Chicago Board of Elections and Cook County Clerk’s office. Harris won 56% of the new batch of mail-ins from the city and 52% of the new suburban ballots, a lower percentage than he’d been getting from city mail-in ballots over the weekend where he cut O’Neill Burke’s lead from nearly 6,800 votes to 2,015.
Monday marked the first tallying of votes since Thursday from suburban Cook County where O’Neill Burke has led by a roughly 54% to 46% margin since Election Day. Harris’ lead among the 317,000 city voters whose ballots have been counted so far is about 52% to 48%.
Read the latest from the Tribune’s A.D. Quig and Claire Malon.
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Illinois Prisoner Review Board official quits amid controversy over release of man accused of killing boy, 11, attacking mother
LeAnn Miller resigned from the 13-member Illinois Prisoner Review Board after deciding the parolee, 37-year-old Crosetti Brand, should not go back to prison after he was accused of contacting his former girlfriend, the boy’s mother, Laterria Smith, when he was paroled in October in another domestic violence case.
When the board decided earlier this month against keeping Brand in prison for that separate case, authorities say he went to Smith’s Chicago residence on March 13 and fatally stabbed her son, 11-year-old Jayden Perkins. Smith was stabbed during the attack but survived.
In Chicago, French ambassador warns freedom at stake in stalemate over Ukraine aid
A continued stalemate led by congressional Republicans over U.S. aid to Ukraine in fighting its war with Russia fails to take into account that freedom around the world is at stake, the French ambassador to the U.S. said Monday.
Ambassador Laurent Bili, making his first visit to Chicago since being appointed to the post more than a year ago, also said Russia President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to blame Ukraine for a deadly Islamic State attack at a concert venue outside Moscow coincides with a stepped up Russian disinformation campaign being waged in France.
States have spent $25 billion to woo Hollywood. Is it worth it?
In Illinois, public records show, Dick Wolf’s “Chicago” franchises have earned nearly $260 million in tax credits in the past six years, with much of those being sold to Comcast. The department store Kohl’s bought more than 70 credits from various productions for a total of $10.6 million.
Some of the tax credits the state handed out with the goal of increasing film and television production were purchased by people whose wealth made the credits worth buying: Foremost was Peng Zhao, the CEO of Citadel Securities, who spent $13 million.
Century Aluminum says preferred site for new smelter is a region of Kentucky hit hard by job losses
An aluminum company headquartered in Chicago has singled out northeastern Kentucky as its preferred site for a new aluminum smelter that would bring about 1,000 permanent jobs to an Appalachian region hard hit by the loss of coal and steel production, Gov. Andy Beshear said.
The IRS has 940,000 unclaimed tax refunds from 2020 that are about to expire. Is one of them yours?
The IRS said that roughly 940,000 people in the U.S. have until May 17 to submit tax returns for unclaimed refunds for tax year 2020, which totals more than $1 billion nationwide.
Dave van Dyck, a pioneering Chicago sports journalist, dies at age 76
Chicago Tribune baseball writer Dave van Dyck asked White Sox slugger Paul Konerko on a cold April day in 2013 whether he was having any sleepless nights over an early season slump.
“Always,” Konerko replied. “There are moments when you know you’ve got it and when you feel like you’re swinging the bat, you’re working hard to keep it. And then there’s other times when you know you don’t feel great up there and you’re working hard to get it.
“You’re always working hard. There’s no real in between.”
Konerko could have been describing Van Dyck, one of the hardest-working sportswriters in a town where sports is king, writes Paul Sullivan.
An afternoon with Nelson Algren and some seniors as part of CPD’s ‘Chicago in Film’ series
Wednesday afternoon, in a small room inside the Chicago Police Department 24th District, a couple dozen people, free popcorn and water in hand, sat through an old movie about a guy dealing with a drug addiction.
This event was part of an ongoing program titled “Chicago in Film,” a series of monthly film screenings for senior citizens who live within the 24th district, which covers parts of the Rogers Park and Edgewater neighborhoods.
Refracted, Kokandy and Theo are big winners of 2024 Non-Equity Jeff Awards
The winners of the 2024 Non-Equity Jeff Awards were announced Monday in a ceremony at the Park West, with Refracted Theatre Company, Kokandy Productions and Theo Ubique among the most celebrated. This was the all-volunteer Joseph Jefferson Awards committee’s 50th anniversary in recognizing Chicago’s non-union theater community.
67 Easter specials in Chicago and the suburbs, from buffets to take-and-bake treats
There are decadent buffets with carved ham, seafood and tables piled with treats, plus plenty of spots offering family fun with visits from the Easter Bunny or egg hunts.
