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Concejales de Chicago aprueban nuevo presupuesto sin aumentos a los impuestos de propiedad

Jane Wells
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Concejales de Chicago aprueban nuevo presupuesto sin aumentos a los impuestos de propiedad

El mejor lugar para cobertura de noticias y cultura latina en Chicago. | The place for coverage of Latino news and culture in Chicago.

El presupuesto de $17.3 mil millones del alcalde Brandon Johnson —menos un propuesto aumento de $68.5 millones a los impuestos a la propiedad— fue finalmente aprobado por el Concejo Municipal el lunes, pero las divisiones políticas que causó persistirán y podrían poner en peligro la agenda futura de Johnson.

Los copresidentes de un grupo progresista de 19 concejales que suelen ser la base de apoyo de Johnson transmitieron ese mensaje alto y claro antes de la votación de 27 a 23 sobre un presupuesto que incluye $165.5 millones en otros impuestos, multas y tasas.

Amonestaron al alcalde por una serie de errores presupuestarios que crearon una profunda desconfianza entre el atribulado alcalde y un envalentonado Concejo.

“Señor alcalde, hemos oído mucho sobre sus valores progresistas a lo largo de este proceso y no lo dudo. Pero cómo se hacen las cosas es tan importante como lo que hacemos. Y la forma en que usted ha dirigido este proceso ha dejado al Concejo Municipal fracturado, a los habitantes de Chicago con menos confianza en el gobierno y ha dejado a nuestra ciudad en una posición extremadamente vulnerable… con la promesa de ataques de una nueva administración presidencial”, dijo la concejal Maria Hadden (49°).

“No estamos preparados y la culpa es totalmente suya y de su administración… Este presupuesto puede tener algunos resultados progresistas, pero el proceso para llegar hasta aquí fue todo menos progresista”.

‘Falta de confianza’

El concejal Andre Vasquez (40°) estuvo de acuerdo en que una “falta de liderazgo y colaboración” de la administración Johnson “hizo que un presupuesto difícil fuera aún más difícil”.

“Este proceso presupuestario ha dejado a muchos habitantes de Chicago, incluyendo muchos miembros de este Concejo, sintiendo una falta de confianza en el gobierno de la ciudad”, dijo Vasquez.

“Chicago tiene un historial de tomar decisiones financieras en interés de la conveniencia política a corto plazo que conducen a consecuencias desastrosas a largo plazo y este presupuesto representa más de lo mismo. … No podemos seguir por este camino que socava el movimiento progresista, que socava la capacidad de gobernar responsablemente y que erosiona aún más la confianza del público en el gobierno. Los habitantes de Chicago ya no tienen paciencia para las excusas, las respuestas evasivas y huecas, y la indiferencia de su alcalde”.

Veterana del concejo a Johnson: trabaje en “esta cuestión de la confianza”

Incluso la concejal Emma Mitts (37°), con 25 años de experiencia y otra integrante del equipo de liderazgo de Johnson, le rogó a Johnson que aprendiera de los errores que cometió durante uno de los presupuestos “más estresantes” en cuya negociación ha participado.

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La concejal Emma Mitts (37°) analiza el presupuesto propuesto para 2025 por el alcalde Brandon Johnson durante la reunión del Concejo Municipal de Chicago del lunes.

“Si tiene la intención de hacer avanzar esta ciudad, es mejor que se encamine por el camino correcto con esta cuestión de la confianza porque, cuando todo el mundo empieza a desconfiar de usted, tiene un problema”, dijo Mitts.

“Veo que tiene algunos con los que trabaja aquí en este Concejo. Pero como su concejal de mayor antigüedad en esta ciudad, le digo que tiene que unir a todos. Tiene que intentarlo. Y cuando no lo intentas, vas a fracasar cada vez. Seguirás teniendo esta división en este Concejo”.

Johnson logró anotarse una victoria en la votación más importante del Concejo del año solo después de varias rondas de cambios y de cancelar una votación el viernes pasado que estaba destinado a perder.

Desde la tribuna y nuevamente durante una conferencia de prensa que siguió a la votación del lunes, Johnson agradeció al Concejo por trabajar con él para aprobar un presupuesto que “no recorta servicios, no recorta empleos, no aumenta los impuestos a la propiedad y sostiene programas clave e inversiones en empleo juvenil, seguridad comunitaria, salud mental y vivienda asequible”.

A pro-immigration protester is removed from a Chicago City Council meeting at City Hall, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Una manifestante pro-inmigrante es expulsada de una reunión del Concejo Municipal el lunes. Las fuertes protestas durante la reunión obligaron a un receso en un momento dado, ya que el alcalde Brandon Johnson ordenó al sargento de armas que desalojara la sala.

No concuerda con las quejas de que no ha estado a la altura de su autoproclamado apodo de “colaborador en jefe”.

“Hubo varios concejales que dijeron que querían que encontráramos más recortes y eficiencias. Lo hicimos. … Querían que hiciéramos algunos ajustes a algunas de las inversiones que estamos haciendo. Hicimos esos ajustes. Querían que recortara mi oficina. Los escuchamos. Lo hicimos. ¿No es esa una prueba de que realmente trabajamos juntos?”, dijo.

A quienes afirman que tiene relaciones que construir y daños que reparar, Johnson dijo: “Mi teléfono está disponible. Mi puerta está abierta. Y no puedo esperar a seguir trabajando juntos para ir a Springfield a desafiar que los ultra ricos paguen su parte justa en impuestos” trabajando para implementar impuestos escalonados.

Johnson propuso un aumento del 34% en el impuesto a las bebidas alcohólicas, luego acordó eliminarlo por completo después de una protesta de la industria hotelera y los concejales cuyos bares, restaurantes y licorerías podrían perder negocio a favor de los suburbios circundantes.

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El alcalde Brandon Johnson preside la reunión del lunes del Concejo Municipal de Chicago, que aprobó un presupuesto municipal de $17.3 millones para 2025 después de semanas de negociaciones.

El alcalde también acordó restaurar 162 puestos de trabajo de la Policía de Chicago vinculados a la implementación de un decreto de consentimiento que describe los términos de la supervisión de la corte federal del Departamento de Policía de Chicago después de que el Fiscal General de Illinois, Kwame Raoul, amenazara con pedirle a un juez que declarara a la ciudad en desacato.

Obteniendo los votos

Recortó $90 millones en gastos de los fondos federales de ayuda para la pandemia, en parte eliminando una segunda ronda de un ingreso básico garantizado y un programa de asistencia a los negocios pequeños.

El presupuesto revisado del alcalde también afectará a los bolsillos de los habitantes de Chicago de otras maneras, como añadir un impuesto a los servicios de streaming, impuestos más altos a la computación en la nube y al alquiler de software empresarial y de equipo, e impuestos más altos al estacionamiento y a la congestión del centro.

La ciudad también espera generar $11.4 millones con la “aplicación automatizada de los límites de velocidad”, presumiblemente añadiendo más cámaras de velocidad en los vecindarios donde los concejales lo permitan, y $4.6 millones aumentando una serie de tasas de licencia, de transferencia y multas, así como el costo de los permisos de estacionamiento residencial.

Otro cambio tardío en el presupuesto de 2025: $10 millones en “recuperación de costos” cobrando a los organizadores de eventos los servicios de policía y tráfico y programando mejor esos eventos para reducir los costos de horas extra.

El presupuesto final también supone otros ahorros: $1 millón recortando 10 puestos de trabajo en la alcaldía; $2.8 millones mediante la eliminación de puestos de gestión intermedia de los subcomisionados y sus asistentes; y $5 millones mediante “eficiencias en la gestión de la energía y las instalaciones” no especificadas.

En total, se eliminaron 26 puestos de gestión intermedia, la mitad en el Departamento de Policía de Chicago, incluyendo 10 directores asistentes de programas y tres administradores de proyectos.

Traducido por Jackie Serrato, La Voz Chicago



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Crosstown class: Local guy Mike Tauchman joining group of players to suit up for Cubs and White Sox

Jane Wells
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Crosstown class: Local guy Mike Tauchman joining group of players to suit up for Cubs and White Sox

What do Sammy Sosa, Oscar Gamble, Ron Santo, Steve Stone, Phil Cavarretta, Don Kessinger, Rich Gossage, Jeff Samardzija, Craig Kimbrel, Steve Trout, Lance Johnson and Geovany Soto have in common?

Oh, and Mike Tauchman (soon) as well? They’re one of 205 players, per Baseball Reference, to play for both the Cubs and White Sox.

Cavarretta (Lane Tech) and Samardzija (Valparaiso, Ind.) were local guys who made good and Tauchman, who prepped at Fremd High School in Palatine, is too, which was a significant reason why the 31-year-old signed with the Sox after the Cubs non-tendered him following a season which saw him bat .248/.357/.366 with seven homers in 350 plate appearances, including a walk-off shot against the Sox on June 5 at Wrigle Field.

The Sox, rebuilding and coming off a dispiriting 41-win season, appealed to Tauchman because he can have a bigger role than the fourth-outielder’s job he handled without spot. What’s more, he and wife Eileen welcomed their first child two months ago, and staying near family mattered.

“The grandparents and aunts and uncles are here,” Tauchman said on a conference call Tuesday. “Everybody is local. You don’t understand the phrase ‘it takes a village’ until you have a kid of your own, and our village is great. To have that continue and have that support system in our house was a really big factor for my wife and I.”

When the Cubs didn’t tender a contract, the Sox made quick work to bring Tauchman, 31, into their village for his veteran clubhouse presence and his disciplined plate approach as a left-handed hitter.

“He puts together a quality at-bat, a guy who historically has gotten on base,” Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “You look at how many pitches he averages per plate appearance, it’s something that will be a welcome addition to our lineup.”

Tauchman, who owns a .241/.344/.374 batting line, knows the importance of young players having sound role models.

“I reflect back on veteran players [who] set an example for me,” said Tauchman, noting Charlie Blackmon, Brett Gardner, DJ LeMahieu and CC Sabathia, “and I was very fortunate to play for awesome veterans who really cared about the team and the clubhouse and those intangible things. It’s on me now to continue that.

“I know the guys who made me feel good or comfortable and in a couple situations I know the guys that didn’t. And I would never want to a young player to feel the way a couple guys at different points in my career made me feel. That does matter to me a lot.”

Having a place in that notable class of Cubs and Sox isn’t lost on Tauchman, who attended games on both sides of town. His mother is from the South Side and the game he attended was a Sox interleague tilt against the Cardinals and Mark McGwire.

“I was just such a huge baseball fan growing up,” Tauchman said. “When I was really, really young, we would watch a lot of Sox baseball, because that was on at night. That’s when my dad would get home from work, and that would be on the TV at night, some of those great teams with Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura. As I got older, the Wrigley Field experience is pretty cool, so once I got my driver’s license, me and my friends would go to more Cubs games.

“Two very passionate fan bases.”

Tauchman said he never thought he’d play for a Chicago team, let alone both.

“I’ve felt extremely fortunate to have the career I’ve had,” he said. “Realistically, I probably didn’t think I’d play this long, especially a couple years ago going overseas [to play in Korea in 2022]. So just to have the opportunity to play on both sides of town, it’s awesome. There’s a handful of guys that have, and it’s kind of exciting to be on that list now.”



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Owen Ashworth of Advance Base sets his new record in a horror-movie town

Jane Wells
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Owen Ashworth of Advance Base sets his new record in a horror-movie town

Owen Ashworth of Advance Base stands smiling with his arms folded on a high seaside bluff with blue water and sky stretching into the distance behind him and a lighthouse visible on the shore far below and behind him
Owen Ashworth of Advance Base Credit: Jenn Herbinson

Advance Base main man Owen Ashworth creates tender character portraits of people in moments of struggle. Advance Base’s Color Club concert this week is also a release party for the project’s fourth studio album, Horrible Occurrences, released earlier this month on Run for Cover. As Reader contributor Ed Blair notes in their preview of the show, the new record is cloaked in the darkness that haunts the fictional town of Richmond. Ashworth landed on the concept while writing album opener “The Year I Lived in Richmond,” in which a woman fends off a home intruder with a knife.

“I didn’t want to put these stories in a specific place, ’cause it was meant to be a pretty dark record,” Ashworth says. “I had been thinking a little bit about The Simpsons and Springfield, and also Haddonfield, where the Halloween franchise takes place, and how that was a made-up Illinois town.” Ashworth named the woman in “The Year I Lived in Richmond” after Debra Hill, cowriter of the 1978 Halloween, in homage to the place-setting inspiration for Horrible Occurrences—Hill grew up partly in the real town of Haddonfield, New Jersey. Ashworth also drew inspiration from Strange Behavior, a 1981 horror movie made in New Zealand but set in the real Illinois town of Galesburg. 

“I came to realize, while putting this record together, that I’m imagining all of my albums as horror-movie locations,” Ashworth says. “It’s just this small cast of characters in these traumatic situations, but I made it more literal on this record than usual.” He worked on the album over the past five years, and its cursed aura gave him some trouble. “I was having a really challenging time working through the stories and not sure if I wanted to commit to making such a dark record,” he says. “I kept scrapping it and trying to write different kinds of songs, but some of these songs stuck with me. I thought I had to push through it and get it done, because I didn’t think I was able to commit to another project until I got this one out of my system.”

Ashworth kept the material on Horrible Occurrences close to his chest too. “I have a little paranoia about losing a lot of momentum if I talk about stuff too much while it’s in progress,” he says. He got feedback during the process from just a couple of friends: Nicholas Krgovich and Karima Walker, both musicians with releases on Ashworth’s label, Orindal Records. Walker also toured with Ashworth over the summer. “I was really stripping back a lot of the new songs to match the feel of her set,” he says. “She ended up really guiding the way the record sounded, from her music and her friendship.”

The cover of the new Advance Base album is a painting by Owen Ashworth’s great-grandfather George L. Berg.

For the cover of Horrible Occurrences, Ashworth used a painting of a wooded path that he says has a touch of the Richmond darkness. He’s owned it for years, and it hangs in his dining room, where he can look at it all the time. It’s the work of George L. Berg, one of his maternal great-grandfathers.

“He was an itinerant painter who went around the country, painting landscapes and selling them or gifting them along the way,” Ashworth says. “I’ve always felt the connection between his artistic pursuits and what I do for a living. I like the idea of honoring him with a record cover.”

When Ashworth headlines Color Club for his annual Christmas concert on Friday, December 20, he’ll mix material from Horrible Occurrences into his usual holiday fare. Karima Walker opens.

On Saturday, December 21, Bridgeport Records and the Ramova Theatre present a night of dance music in the Ramova Loft. The two artists are Vick Lavender, who co-owns Bridgeport Records, and Chicago house veteran Rahaan, who recently released The Ones, an ambitious, heartfelt album stuffed with symphonic disco flourishes and modern-funk arrangements. The “Bridgeport Sessions” night starts at 9 PM.

Rahaan’s September release The Ones is available as a double LP.

On Friday, December 20, experimental Chicago rock band TV Buddha release the EP 10,000 Buddhas. Eli Schmitt, a workhorse of the local all-ages scene, launched the band last year with Fallen Log talent buyer Cole “Johnson Rockstar” Hunt. They issued their debut full-length, 2023’s Simple Bodies, shortly before Hunt graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, and he’s since relocated here. “When Cole moved to Chicago, it changed the nature of the whole band,” Schmitt says. “Our first record was this momentary encounter, but with 10,000 Buddhas we really got to sit with the songs and live in them.”

Since the release of Simple Bodies, 15 other musicians have played in TV Buddha at one point or another, helping Schmitt and Hunt flesh out their material. TV Buddha’s June live recording, June 9 [Alive], includes contributions from Amaya Peña, all three members of Lifeguard, and Eli Winter. Each of those 15 musicians has left fingerprints on 10,000 Buddhas, even though only four guests appear on the recordings. 

TV Buddha released this live recording in June 2024.

“Since the musicians playing with us live are constantly in flux, we’ve had to teach the parts to so many different people while also absorbing each unique approach to those parts that each person brings,” Hunt says. “Some of the things that our friends came up with became inextricable elements of the songs and are captured here in the recordings, although those people may not be performing with us recently.”

Working with Lifeguard and Sharp Pins front man Kai Slater as their engineer, TV Buddha recorded 10,000 Buddhas in a couple days. The soaring, sprawling EP crescendos into its closing track, “Baby, Woah!” Hunt describes the song as “trying to figure out how Phil Spector or Brian Wilson would have produced a Spacemen 3 track if they had fallen in love with Mahayana Buddhism rather than American blues.”

The guest musicians on 10,000 Buddhas include Lifeguard members Asher Case and Kai Slater.

Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or email [email protected].

Reader Recommends: CONCERTS

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UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione indicted by Manhattan district attorney

Jane Wells
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UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione indicted by Manhattan district attorney

NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione was indicted Thursday by the Manhattan district attorney in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Mangione was hit with multiple charges, including one count of murder in the first degree and two counts of murder in the second degree.

Bragg and New York City Police Commissioner Commissioner Jessica Tisch are holding a news conference at 3:30 p.m. that you can watch in the live player above.

The announcement from DA Alvin Bragg came as Mangione was in a Pennsylvania court to face charges related to his arrest on Dec. 9.

Mangione’s is now in the process of being extradited to New York. Bragg had said late last week the 26-year-old suspect was considering waiving his extradition after previously fighting it.

Mangione is currently being held in a Pennsylvania state prison on charges related to possession of a gun and a fake ID.

Luigi Mangione’s arrest in Pennsylvania

Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 after a customer at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, saw him eating breakfast and noticed a resemblance to the person being sought by police in the killing of Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.

Police said Mangione was found with a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thompson was arriving for his company’s annual investor conference. 

The New York City Police Department told CBS News that there are no indications that Mangione was a UnitedHealthcare customer.

Hours after Mangione’s arrest in Pennsylvania, Bragg’s office in Manhattan filed paperwork charging him with five counts, including intentional murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of a forged instrument.

Suspect adds high-power lawyer to defense

Mangione has added prominent defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo to his legal team. Agnifilo was a high-ranking deputy in the Manhattan DA’s office for years before entering private practice. Friedman Agnifilo’s law firm, Agnifilo Intrater LLP, confirmed in a statement to CBS News on Saturday that she had been retained to represent Mangione. 

The firm said Agnifilo, a longtime veteran of the Manhattan DA’s office, served as the second-in-command for seven years under DA Cyrus Vance, in addition to serving for four years as the Chief of the Office’s Trial Division.

Jeff Capellini

Jeff Capellini has been digital producer at CBS New York for 18 years. He previously worked for The Associated Press and several newspapers.

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Chicago Film Office leader Jonah Zeiger ousted

Jane Wells
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Chicago Film Office leader Jonah Zeiger ousted

The head of Chicago’s Film Office is out.

Deputy Commissioner Jonah Zeiger’s departure, which was confirmed Tuesday by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, is the latest in a series of high-profile staff changes in recent months at the department.

Zeiger — who often greeted the public at events like Millennium Park’s movie series and other film festivals — is at least the fourth DCASE deputy commissioner to exit since Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed Clinée Hedspeth to lead the department in March.

Johnson fired her predecessor, Erin Harkey, in February. Harkey was a former Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointee. Lightfoot also appointed Zeiger to the role of deputy commissioner for the Chicago Film Office in 2022.

The Film Office is responsible for attracting feature films, TV shows, commercials and more to film in Chicago, according to the city. The office is also the hub for permitting and logistical support for production crews while they are in town.

In addition to housing the Film Office, DCASE oversees large-scale events like Taste of Chicago and Blues Fest. The department also administers grants to Chicago cultural organizations and artists. The high churn in recent months has concerned some close observers that institutional knowledge is being lost.

A DCASE spokeswoman did not respond to a question about the circumstances of Zeiger’s departure and would not say whether or not the Film Office vacancy has been filled internally. But the leadership change comes at a key time: The city is grappling with how to drum up more revenue, and during a contentious budget season, several alderpersons said they’d like to see the film industry bring in more dollars.

In 2022, it was estimated that the Chicago Film Office generated about $575,000 in permit revenue, according to the state.

The desire for growth was stressed frequently during DCASE’s City Hall budget hearing last month, where Zeiger was on hand to reply to film-specific questions and concerns.

Chicago’s film industry has scored some big wins in recent years, including mega-hit The Bear, which has filmed three seasons in Chicago so far and has attracted both loyal fans and critical acclaim. It is the most-nominated TV show at the upcoming 2025 Golden Globe Awards.

Zeiger told WBEZ in February that it’s the type of project that can only come out of Chicago.

“It really couldn’t be made anywhere else; it just wouldn’t be the same project,” Zeiger said at the time. “I’d love to see more and more shows and projects that are really pure Chicago, and yet they’re getting a national and even a global audience.”

The city also hosted a collaboration with the Sundance Institute over the summer; it was the first such event to be held outside the esteemed festival’s longtime home in Park City, Utah. Zeiger called the three-day festival a chance to “elevate and supercharge our community.”

“Chicago is legendary as a talent magnet,” Zeiger said at the time. “Creatives come here. They thrive here, but they also struggle to get access to the higher levels of the industry that’s more built out on the coasts. An organization like Sundance is frequently seen as a gateway to the real movers and the shakers, especially in the independent film space.”

Prior to arriving at DCASE, Zeiger worked in film production and in higher education at both Northwestern and DePaul universities.

Zeiger and Betsey Grais, with the Film Office, were recently featured in NewCity as among Chicago’s film industry’s finest. In the interview, Zeiger said he’s guided by a favorite saying: “Everything you can imagine can happen. But not in the way you imagine.”

“For me, it’s a dream challenge of a lifetime: to help move the needle in the media space for the greatest city and talent source in the country,” he told the publication.

Zeiger did not respond by presstime to a request for comment.



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From rooftop, CPS principal — as Elf on the Shelf — watches over top tier South Shore elementary students

Jane Wells
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From rooftop, CPS principal — as Elf on the Shelf — watches over top tier South Shore elementary students

The smallest of kids at South Shore Fine Arts Academy stepped outside into the sun after school on Monday and were confused by the commotion.

Children were yelling. Parents and staff were pointing up at the school’s roof. Students stopped in their tracks, turned around and saw the visitor.

Some wondered if the person dressed in all red was Santa Claus. Pretty quickly, word spread that it was the Elf on the Shelf.

“Somebody take a picture!” a little girl yelled.

A young boy asked: “How did she get on the roof?”

Principal Vicki Brown, donning a red costume, hat and shoes, stood atop the school holding a clipboard with a sign that read “I’m making a list and checking it twice.”

“Our principal having this creative idea to do it for the students, it’s just phenomenal,” said Tangela Echols, a special education classroom assistant, who called the kids’ reactions “priceless.”

“She always engages. Anything we have in the school, she participates,” Echols said of the principal.

Brown said she dressed up as Elf on the Shelf to keep students interested in coming to class the final week before winter break.

“It’s awesome to be able to give our students a ‘remember when’ moment,” Brown said. “I could hear them say, ‘Wow! Is she Santa? And then I could hear the kids say ‘No, she’s Elf on the Shelf! And so it was just a great feeling.”

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Students at South Shore Fine Arts Academy on Monday see their principal perched on the roof.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

It was windy on the roof. But Brown did her best to stay still while she looked down on the kids to decide who was being naughty or nice — such a good job, in fact, that some kids didn’t realize she was a real person at first.

“She isn’t moving, I love it,” a teacher shouted while filming a video on her cellphone.

The plan didn’t go off without a hitch, though. Brown ordered a costume that didn’t come in time, so she made hers at the last minute.

“We’re a fine arts school, so it’s a great way to show students that we can be creative,” she said.

The elf is expected to make appearances at the school the rest of the week. Tuesday she sat atop a milk cooler in the cafeteria to monitor whether students behaved at lunch. Her observations throughout the week will feed into this year’s naughty and nice list.

Christopher Strong, whose son is in 4th grade at South Shore, said he was “shocked” to see the principal on the roof when he arrived for after-school pickup.

“I love this school; they’re always doing different things,” Strong said. “It makes them want to come. My son is up before me, excited for school.”

Not all the kids were tricked by the elf’s appearance, though.

A teacher asked a student if they knew who was on the roof, looking for the answer “Elf on the Shelf.”

“I do know who that is,” the girl responded. “It’s Ms. Brown.”

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At South Shore Fine Arts Academy on Monday, student wondered how their principal, Vicki Brown, got onto the roof. The administrator, dressed as Elf on the Shelf, went up high to keep students excited about school during the week before winter break.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times



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The Bears defense is getting worse — and the league’s best offense is coming to town

Jane Wells
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The Bears defense is getting worse — and the league’s best offense is coming to town

It wasn’t exactly Lions coach Dan Campbell kicking onside with 12 minutes left in a game, but Bears interim coach Thomas Brown showed the world what he thought of his defense two minutes into Monday night’s loss to the Vikings.

He went for it on fourth-and-one from his own 39, handing off to D’Andre Swift, who was stuffed at the line of scrimmage.

The Bears had fourth-and-three-or-less on their half of the field 11 times this season before Monday night’s 30-12 loss to the Vikings. They punted six times. They were trailing in the five other games they went for it, and by a combined 46 points, until Brown decided to get aggressive in a scoreless tie.

That’s how you coach when you don’t believe in your defense. And with good reason — since Week 12, the Bears have allowed a league-high 121 points and a league-high 1,638 yards.

Brown, though, said he didn’t see it that way.

“I think it’s less about that, more about, ‘Hey, if we don’t get it, I still trust our defense to stop them.’ Which they did, and forced the field goal.”

The Bears turning the ball over so deep in their own territory that a stop still yielded three points in nothing to celebrate. Neither has been a defense that’s gotten worse, and not better, since the Bears jettisoned head coach and defensive play-caller Matt Eberflus.

Just as Eberflus was responsible for a sputtering offense because he was the head coach, Brown must answer for the defense.

In the past four weeks, the Bears have given up the second-most first downs in the NFL, the fifth-most rushing yard and the seventh-highest passer rating.

A franchise that has long prided itself on a stout defense doesn’t have one. It will take an offseason retooling of their offensive line — and perhaps elsewhere, too — before they can say any different.

The Vikings converted half their 14 third downs Monday night, including a third-and-17 checkdown to running back Aaron Jones and a third-and-15 completion to tight end T.J. Hockenson.

“To be able to go and get that first down the way that they did on those two plays was very crucial in the game,” quarterback Sam Darnold said.

The Bears also let the Vikings convert a third-and-10 pass to receiver Brandon Powell and a third-and-seven on safety Kevin Byard’s pass interference flag.

Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson had one, too, when he shoved receiver Jordan Addison to the end zone turf on a fourth-quarter pass. The pick wouldn’t have counted any way; defensive end Montez Sweat, who is second on the team with only 4 ½ sacks, was flagged for roughing Darnold.

“Ball was in the air, I played back,” said Stevenson, who had his first interception since Week 1 earlier in the game. “I thought once the ball in the air, I look back, it becomes a 50-50 [ball] — a little shove is allowed. It’s not my fault he’s 135 pounds and he fell.”

But it was Stevenson’s fault — the same way it was his fault when the Fail Mary landed in the arms of the Commanders to start a losing streak that reached eight games Monday with no sign of stopping.

Cornerback Jaylon Johnson could only shake his head minutes after the game

“Looking forward to going home and getting into bed,” he said. “That’s the only thing I got.”

It wasn’t, though. Johnson later said the Bears defense hasn’t given up yet.

“Have you fought through adversity in your life? And what’d you do?” he said. “I’m no different.”

The Bears defense is going through more than just a little adversity. It won’t get any better, either — Sunday’s opponent, the Lions, lead the NFL in scoring.



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Reader Bites: BBQ jackfruit sliders at Bonus Round Game Cafe

Jane Wells
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Reader Bites: BBQ jackfruit sliders at Bonus Round Game Cafe

Charli Renken (they/them) is the social media engagement associate at the Chicago Reader and a multimedia storyteller with experience in investigative journalism, beat reporting, social media management, and entertainment news.

While they write on a variety of topics, their work tends to revolve around the city of Chicago, queer culture, online subcultures, and marginalized voices.

Previous to joining the Reader, Renken worked as a news reporter for Built In, and was the founding editor of Secret Chicago, associate editor of the Jackalope, a staff writer for Hush Comics, and resource coordinator and writer for Fandom Forward.

They have been published by a number of other publications including Block Club Chicago, Wizards in Space, Glyph Literary Magazine, the Denver Post, Calling Upon Calliope and many more.

Their first collection of creative nonfiction, Interrobang, was published in 2017 and explores trauma, addiction, grief, and pop culture analysis.

Renken lives in Chicago. They speak English and can be reached at [email protected].

More by Charli Renken



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The Moviegoer: Now streaming – Chicago Reader

Jane Wells
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The Moviegoer: Now streaming – Chicago Reader

The Moviegoer is the diary of a local film buff, collecting the best of what Chicago’s independent and underground film scene has to offer.

It’s a cinephile’s quandary. Streaming has made it easier than ever to view great art and quality entertainment in the comfort of one’s own home, where it once may have been inaccessible. Long before this, as a child, I remember falling in love with cinema watching Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) during a middle school social studies class. My town only had two small, mom-and-pop video stores generally lacking in the wide range of directors, countries, and genres I’m now used to dabbling in. (The originally disrupted paragon, video stores are oft romanticized, and for good reason. But usually, the extent to which one in a more culturally conservative flyover-country town gets to be interesting is through popular indies and the fabled back room.) Thus, Old Hollywood subsequently became my still-good-but-admittedly-rather-conventional entryway into realizing that there was more to the movies than what I could see at the multiplex, the wider range of possibilities then far beyond my limited purview. 

This landscape has, of course, changed drastically in recent years, sometimes in a confounding way. Case in point: Jaume Collet-Serra’s latest action thriller, Carry-On (2024), was released straight to Netflix recently—straight-to–streaming being the indiscriminate graveyard of great and terrible “content” alike—with not even a weeklong theatrical run. Many years ago, it likely would have been prime late winter or early summer theater viewing (dare I say, with bigger stars, maybe even a blockbuster), the kind of thing I’d have been sure to see at a theater before any more presumably nuanced fare. I was very sick most of the week, so, in the absence of going out to see anything else, my husband and I watched this at home over the weekend, and it’s a blast. 

the silhouette of a man standing by a big airport window
A still from Carry-On (2024) Credit: Netflix

The Spanish filmmaker is something of a vulgar auteurist cause célèbre. Carry-On is the third of his films since 2014 to have a similar construct. All taking place in a constrained setting—Non-Stop (2014) on a plane, The Commuter (2018) on a train, and now Carry-On in an airport—each is about a flawed protagonist who’s targeted by the baddies and must then save the day. In Carry-On it’s a TSA agent with aspirations of being a police officer (nobody’s perfect) who must prevent a bio-logical weapon from being detonated on a plane after he’s made to help get it through security. I jokingly referred to Collet-Serra as the Ernst Lubitsch of action thrillers, but there’s truth to it: he excels at nimbly creating a sense of rapport among the characters—even the bad guys—that makes the stakes feel higher and more intense. There’s also humor where it might otherwise seem out of place in the hands of a less sophisticated director. 

My husband and I also watched Mati Diop’s Dahomey (2024), which wasn’t direct-to-streaming—it had a somewhat limited arthouse release, but catching it when it played at the Gene Siskel Film Center didn’t work with my schedule.In this experimental documentary, Diop traces the repatriation of 26 Beninese artifacts (the country having once been called Dahomey), at times anthropomorphizing one of the objects so as to tell the story of its plundering from the sacred artifact’s viewpoint. This is an example of the type of film whose proliferation—in the absence of a sea change in which these types of films would begin to receive widespread release in the first place—is benefited by the streaming environment. 

Then there are those which have the fullest impact seen and discussed with other people. Last Monday, I went to see Bill Morrison’s Incident (2023) at the Film Center, about the 2018 police killing of Harith “Snoop” Augustus, after which there was an almost hour-and-a-half-long discussion with Morrison, investigative journalist Jamie Kalven, and moderator Yohance Lacour from the Invisible Institute, who started off by declaring, “That was some bullshit” (referring, of course, to the racist events contained therein). Watching the film online was powerful; watching it with a roomful of people and hearing the involuntary verbal responses to what we were witnessing was explosive, a bomb amidst complacency. The juxtaposition of solitary streaming experiences and such communal moments underscores the filmgoer’s quandary: even as streaming widens access to art, it can’t replicate the irreplaceable power of shared, in-person engagement. 

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Amazon workers in Skokie authorize potential strike

Jane Wells
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Amazon workers in Skokie authorize potential strike

We break down complex business news to help you understand how money moves in Chicago and how it affects you.

Amid the busy holiday shopping season, hundreds of workers at an Amazon delivery station in Skokie have voted to authorize a potential strike as they continue demands for a union contract with the online retail behemoth.

Workers are not currently on strike, but a work stoppage could happen any time, said a spokesperson for the Teamsters labor union, which represents hundreds of delivery drivers at the Skokie facility.

Delivery station DIL7 in Skokie serves thousands of Chicago-area households, according to the Teamsters. Workers there organized this summer and are demanding union recognition and a contract from Amazon. Others at 10 Amazon facilities across the United States have organized with the Teamsters.

Last Friday Amazon workers at two New York City sites represented by the Teamsters also authorized a possible strike.

“Workers sent a strong message to Amazon that they’re united and demanding union recognition and a contract so they can have better wages, safety and working conditions,” said Kara Deniz, a Teamsters spokesperson, on Tuesday.

Since workers in Skokie joined the Teamsters, the online retail giant “has illegally refused to recognize their union and bargain a labor agreement. The Teamsters gave Amazon a deadline of Dec. 15 to come to the bargaining table and negotiate a contract,” said a statement the labor union released Monday, when drivers voted to authorize the strike. “Amazon chose to ignore that deadline and is pushing workers across the country closer to launching a strike that could disrupt operations for customers at the height of the holiday season.”

Earlier this month Amazon announced record sales during Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday from Nov. 21 through Dec. 2 compared to previous years.

Riley Holzworth, a worker at the Skokie facility, said in the Teamsters’ news release, “Amazon is one of the biggest companies on Earth, but we are struggling to pay our bills. Other workers are seeing our example and joining our movement, because we are only going to get the treatment we deserve if we fight for it.”

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien added, “Amazon executives risk ruining the holidays for their customers because of their addiction to putting profits over people.”

Amazon has not recognized the union at the Skokie facility. According to a company spokesperson, subcontractors who drive for third-party delivery companies are not Amazon employees. Therefore there is no obligation to negotiate, Eileen Hards, an Amazon spokesperson, said Tuesday.

She added that previous strikes at other Amazon sites have not affected operations and deliveries.

“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public — claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers,’” Hards said Tuesday in a statement. “They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative about the independent small businesses who deliver on our behalf.”

The Teamsters claim that Amazon avoids responsibility for its drivers through its “delivery service provider” subcontractor business model, yet has “total control over the wages, workplace conditions and safety standards of the drivers.”

Preliminary findings from a National Labor Relations Board investigation in California this summer found that Amazon is a joint employer of its subcontractor drivers, and has a legal duty to recognize and bargain with the Teamsters.

“The NLRB confirmed what every Amazon driver already knew: The [delivery service provider] system is a sham, and Amazon is our true employer. It is time for Amazon to take responsibility for the low pay and unsafe working conditions drivers face,” Deibi Reyes, a Skokie Amazon driver, said in a Teamsters news release this summer.

Hards of Amazon said in Tuesday’s statement, “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.”

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million people in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.



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