Category: News
Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro set to make first appearance in US courtroom on drug trafficking charges
NEW YORK — Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is set to make his first appearance Monday in an American courtroom on the narco-terrorism charges the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him to New York.
Maduro and his wife are expected to appear at noon before a judge for a brief, but required, legal proceeding that will likely kick off a prolonged legal fight over whether he can be put on trial in the U.S.
Illinoisans react with both hope and dread after Venezuelan president ousted
The couple will be brought from a Brooklyn jail to a Manhattan courthouse just around the corner from the one where President Donald Trump was convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records.
As a criminal defendant in the U.S. legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime — including the right to a trial by a jury of regular New Yorkers. But he’ll also be nearly — but not quite — unique.
Maduro’s lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.
Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega unsuccessfully tried the same defense after the U.S. captured him in a similar military invasion in 1990. But the U.S. doesn’t recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state — particularly after a much-disputed 2024 reelection.
Venezuela’s new interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has demanded that the U.S. return Maduro, who long denied any involvement in drug trafficking — although late Sunday she also struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, inviting collaboration with Trump and “respectful relations” with the U.S.
Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed U.S. hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources.
The U.S. seized Maduro and his wife in a military operation Saturday, capturing them in their home on a military base. Trump said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that it would not govern the country day-to-day other than enforcing an existing ”oil quarantine.”
Trump suggested Sunday that he wants to extend American power further in the western hemisphere.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, he called Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long.”
He called on Venezuela’s Rodriguez to provide “total access” to her country, or else face consequences.
A 25-page indictment made public Saturday accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. They could face life in prison if convicted.
It wasn’t clear as of Sunday whether Maduro had hired a U.S. lawyer yet.
He and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been under U.S. sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first securing a license from the Treasury Department.
While the indictment against Maduro says Venezuelan officials worked directly with the Tren de Aragua gang, a U.S. intelligence assessment published in April, drawing on input from the intelligence community’s 18 agencies, found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.
Maduro, his wife and his son — who remains free — are charged along with Venezuela’s interior and justice minister, a former interior and justice minister and Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, an alleged Tren de Aragua leader who has been criminally charged in another case and remains at large.
Among other things, the indictment accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders of those who owed them drug money or undermined their drug trafficking operation. That included a local drug boss’ killing in Caracas, the indictment said.
Maduro’s wife is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between “a large-scale drug trafficker” and the director of Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office, resulting in additional monthly bribes, with some of the money going to Maduro’s wife, according to the indictment.
Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One and Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/05/maduro-court-drug-trafficking-charges/
Owners of Altiro open fine dining restaurant, Enigma, in Geneva
On Anderson Boulevard, a couple blocks off State Street in Geneva, sits a modest building inscribed with the name Enigma.
Area residents who head over for a bite may not at first realize that anything’s different — that it’s no longer Altiro, the first of a chain of Latin fusion eateries created by Roberto Avila, who first opened the restaurant in Geneva more than a decade ago with his wife, Erika Villanueva.
No, Altiro’s Geneva location moved downtown — to Third Street, just steps away from the city’s Metra station.
But that move paved the way for Avila and his wife to undertake their latest project: Enigma, a new restaurant concept they opened in July, that serves seasonal dishes and is meant to be more of a fine dining experience than their other ventures.
Avila, 50, is no stranger to the restaurant business — or to the western suburbs, where all of the restaurants he owns that are currently operating are located. The chef and owner of Altiro — who is a former professional soccer player and real estate developer in Mexico City — first moved to Geneva more than two decades ago.
After landing in the United States, Avila began working in restaurants, eventually working his way up.
“When you come to this country, it’s like … you have to work in whatever, you know?” Avila said of his start in the restaurant business. “You can work in any kitchen.”
But, eventually, he and Villanueva ultimately decided to try starting a place of their own.
Altiro opened in Geneva in 2013, he said, and the pair later opened locations across the area: in Aurora, Plainfield, Wheaton, Chicago and more.
The COVID-19 pandemic eventually led them to close a few locations, Avila told The Beacon-News recently, and focus more on the suburbs closer to them.
Next, they tried their hand at an Italian restaurant, with Amore Mio in Aurora — and its accompanying speakeasy.
Villanueva has been the interior designer for all of the restaurants, and their children and daughter-in-law work in the business, too.
Then, after opening up an Altiro in downtown Geneva, Avila and his wife ultimately decided to make their original location off of Anderson something different.
So, Enigma replaced their original restaurant location, a few months after the downtown Geneva Altiro got going.
Enigma, a new restaurant concept by the owners of Altiro, is located at 308 Anderson Blvd. in Geneva. (Molly Morrow/The Beacon-News)
Nevertheless, some regulars still come into the restaurant expecting the restaurant they knew, Avila noted.
“A lot of people, they don’t know we’re here yet,” he said. “When they see, like, ‘Oh, that’s different,’ so they (get this) experience, different food and everything. People like it.”
He described Enigma as more modern, more of a fine dining experience compared to his other ventures. It didn’t make sense to make another Altiro, he said.
“The thing that here on this menu (is) we try to do seasonal,” Avila said of the latest project. The restaurant’s plan, he explained, is to rotate dishes out every few months.
Right now, for example, their menu features things like pumpkin soup, ravioli, lamb chops and paellas.
Their “salmon fumet” is a customer favorite, Avila said, as are their tetelas, a sort of corn masa pocket that is stuffed with fillings.
“The good thing with this one (is) we can make it everything,” Avila said.
Avila also has plans to bring in chefs to spend stints at the restaurant making different kinds of dishes, he said.
The family doesn’t have plans to open another restaurant — not yet at least. They’re putting more attention into their family as they have a grandchild now, Avila explained.
But, having weathered years of business, the pandemic and several different restaurant concepts, Avila said their success in the restaurant business over the years has come down to customer service and the experience they provide.
“If you don’t have … customer service, people, they, they’re not coming back,” Avila said. “Even if the food is really good.”
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
Meet The Democrat Congressman Crushing Pelosi’s Stock Returns
Meet The Democrat Congressman Crushing Pelosi’s Stock Returns
Move over Nancy Pelosi, there’s a new insider trader, err, investor in town whose portfolio has you beat.
Pelosi’s investment record during her decades in Congress has long drawn criticism, with her portfolio posting a whopping 54% return last year. The California Democrat, who plans to depart at the conclusion of her term in January 2027, recorded a more modest 18% gain in 2025—still a figure that would make some on Wall Street blush.
In 2025, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D- NY) led all Democrats with the strongest portfolio performance, according to data reviewed by The New York Post. The figures come from alternative-data platform Quiver Quantitative, which tracks congressional stock transactions amid heightened public and political fallout from lawmakers’ investment returns.
Suozzi’s portfolio rose 35%, substantially exceeding major market indexes, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 14% gain, the S&P 500’s 17% advance and the Nasdaq Composite’s 21% increase, according to data provided exclusively to The Post by Quiver Quantitative.
“Some members seemed to spend more time managing their portfolios than they did at their day job on Capitol Hill,” Quiver Quantitative CEO Christopher Kardatzke told The Post. “We have seen members making day trades, options trades, and – for the first time ever – meme coin trades.”
Suozzi, who serves on subcommittees handling tax policy and oversight and was first elected in 2016, previously faced a House Ethics Committee investigation related to his trading activity. The New York Democrat closed 2025 with a stock portfolio valued at approximately $9.5 million, reflecting a $2.5 million increase. Much of the gain stemmed from a large position in Nvidia, which rose about 40% during the year and represented an estimated $8.2 million of his holdings.
House Republican leadership has pledged to bring legislation banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks to a floor vote in the first quarter of 2026, according to Bloomberg.
The commitment comes after intense pressure from rank-and-file Republicans, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who in late 2025 threatened a discharge petition to force action. GOP leaders struck an intraparty deal to advance “comprehensive legislation” focused solely on lawmakers, excluding the executive branch – a key concession to avoid broader partisan fights.
President Donald Trump has voiced support for banning congressional stock trading, accusing some lawmakers of profiting from non-public information. In interviews last year, Trump singled out Pelosi, whose husband’s trades has raised eyebrows, declaring she exemplified why reform is needed.
“The reason that this idea to put a ban on stock trading for members of Congress is even a thing is because of Nancy Pelosi,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in July, Fox News reported at the time. “I mean, she is rightfully criticized because she makes $174,000 a year. Yet she has a net worth of approximately $413 million. In 2024, Nancy Pelosi’s stock portfolio — this was a fascinating statistic to me — grew 70% in one year in 2024.”
“I think the president stands with the American people on this,” Leavitt added. “He doesn’t want to see people like Nancy Pelosi enriching themselves off of public service and ripping off their constituents in the process.”
Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/05/2026 – 06:55
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/meet-democrat-congressman-crushing-pelosis-stock-returns
Tickets on sale this week for 2026 Chicago Theatre Week
Chicago Theatre Week, the annual promotion of area theater presented by the nonprofit League of Chicago Theatres, is coming Feb. 5-15 this year, with discounted theater tickets on sale Tuesday.
The tickets of $30 or less will be available for some 75 shows at 57 theaters in the city and suburbs. Along with theater productions such as “Hamnet” by the visiting Royal Shakespeare Company at Chicago Shakespeare, events on offer include concerts, such as by Angel Bat Dawid at the Harris Theater, programs such as “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me” by NPR and WBEZ at the Studebaker Theater, and comedy at Second City and iO.
Theatre Week, which lasts closer to a week and a half, is presented in partnership with the city tourism nonprofit Choose Chicago in coordination with Chicago Restaurant Week, running Jan. 23 to Feb. 8 (more information at choosechicago.com/chicago-restaurant-week). Participants of both can compete in “Chicago Theatre Week x Chicago Restaurant Week Bingo” for a chance to win restaurant gift cards and theater tickets.
Tickets go on sale beginning at 10 a.m. Jan. 6 via HotTix (more information at choosechicago.com/chicago-theatre-week).
Other participating area productions include:
“Birds of North America” at A Red Orchid Theatre
“Devil’s Daughter” at iO Theater
“Eureka Day,” presented by TimeLine Theatre and Broadway in Chicago at the Broadway Playhouse
“Little Shop of Horrors” at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire
“Mary Jane” at Northlight Theatre in Skokie
“Hedda Gabler” by Remy Bumppo Theatre Company
“Miss Julie” at Court Theatre
“Kitty and the Beanstalk” at Lifeline Theatre
“On Your Feet!” at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace
“Holiday” at Goodman Theatre
“PIVOT” by Rivendell Theatre Ensemble
“The Dance of Death” by Steppenwolf Theatre Company
“The Enormous Crocodile, The Musical” by the Roald Dahl Story Company at Studebaker Theater
Teatro ZinZanni at the Cambria Hotel
Renée Fleming in Recital: Voice of Nature at Lyric Opera of Chicago
Salonen conducts La mer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
“Trial in the Delta: the Murder of Emmett Till” at Collaboraction Theatre Company
“Top Girls” at Raven Theatre Company
dgeorge@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/05/tickets-2026-theatre-week/
Energy Levers Shift As US Strikes A Geopolitical Blow With Maduro Arrest
Energy Levers Shift As US Strikes A Geopolitical Blow With Maduro Arrest
Submitted by Thomas Kolbe
The new year begins with a geopolitical thunderclap. With the arrest of Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. positions itself as a decisive player in the global energy market. This move has far-reaching consequences for the balance of power.
Peering through the dense fog of leftist crocodile tears following the arrest of Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro, one can conclude: the U.S., with its intervention in Venezuela, has removed a key piece from the geopolitical chessboard. This step marks a turning point in a conflict that has long transcended regional boundaries, revealing the tectonic tensions of the international order.
The Caracas Breakpoint
Everything that can be said about Nicolás Maduro has essentially been said. A communist dictator, an individual who pursued his policies through systematic human rights suppression—in the name and interest of his allies. Whether it was China’s energy hunger or functioning as South America’s resource hub, which for years primarily operated on Beijing’s behalf.
Since the mid-2000s, there has also been military cooperation between Iran’s mullah regime and Venezuela, with Iran primarily supplying the Mohajer-series drones, later continued in Venezuela as the ANSU-series. These drones were assembled, maintained, and partly armed in Venezuela, militarily supporting the Caracas regime. Deepened relations with Russia, China, and Iran are now history.
Accordingly, the saber-rattling from China and Russia in response to the U.S. military strike was sharp in the media. Europe, by contrast, once again appeared uncertain, hesitant, and divided in its assessment of the military intervention. Yet the night of January 2–3 marks a turning point. It was an impactful blow—not just against Caracas, but against all opponents of the new American policy line.
This policy line essentially revives the Monroe Doctrine. President Trump made this unmistakably clear at a press conference, stating that now everyone must understand that foreign influence in the United States’ backyard ends here.
In Colombia, Peru, and Cuba, the unmistakable subtext is that relevant actors should start packing their bags.
The era of happily financing clandestine intelligence operations with drug money and trading with China in open hostility to the U.S. ends with this administration. And one should not forget: the trail of drug money regularly leads to Europe.
At this point, we can only speculate, but it is not unlikely that intelligence activities of the Five Eyes, including funding leftist radical structures and mobs in the U.S.—from Black Lives Matter to the No-Kings demonstrations—were at least partially fueled by these money flows.
That the link between intelligence agencies and drug money is no mere speculation is clear to those familiar with the Iran-Contra affair, the CIA, and funding of Contra rebels in Nicaragua in the 1980s.
And no one disputes the deep entanglement of the Maduro regime with activities of the drug cartel “Cartel de los Soles,” which involves high-ranking Venezuelan military and other government members.
The U.S. is in the midst of a defensive struggle against what one might call a Color Revolution, against which the new administration is vigorously countering, including through the dismantling of the NGO complex around USAID.
The next geopolitical move of the U.S.
With the return of American energy corporations like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips to previously annulled Venezuelan production contracts, the U.S. gains a decisive new space on the geopolitical chessboard.
Venezuela possesses massive oil reserves of over 300 billion barrels—difficult to extract, difficult to refine, but strategically invaluable. With U.S. companies re-entering production, the U.S. gains practical control over the flow of this crude. Exports to China, in particular, come under U.S. oversight.
China was at times Venezuela’s largest oil customer. For Washington, this now provides an additional lever: it could slow the subsidy machine of the Chinese export sector to give its own industry breathing space, and it creates leverage to push Beijing toward concessions in ongoing disputes, such as over microchips and rare earths.
Meanwhile, Gulf Coast refineries in the U.S., specifically configured to process heavy crude from Venezuela and Canada, can once again be supplied from the south. Another geopolitical opponent, hostile to the U.S., is now partially forced to retreat.
Canada, which recently openly sided with the EU Commission—on sanctioning U.S. tech companies, censorship policy, and increasingly in the Ukraine war against U.S. interests—will need to find new buyers for its heavy crude.
For the government of Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England, this could be problematic. His globalist ideological project, a direct inheritance from predecessor Justin Trudeau, loses further economic and political traction.
Not to be forgotten: along its northern border, the U.S. faces an ideological counterweight. With the reorganization of energy flows, this actor is now gradually being squeezed.
Europe at a crossroads
The new year has begun with a bang, and critical weeks and months lie ahead, in which the players on this power field are forced to make moves. While the U.S., with a single step, has removed or neutralized multiple pieces from the board, Europe faces a different situation.
Here, the alliance of Brussels, London, Berlin, and Paris continues to try to solve its resource problems through escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Hovering over all of this is the hope, expressed by EU foreign affairs representative Kaja Kallas on behalf of the alliance, to weaken the Russian state through military success—and, by inference, gain influence over the massive resource complex.
A reminder: Europe has no significant domestic raw materials, is around 60 percent net energy importer, and now finds itself largely exposed as major players—the U.S. and China—gradually make their moves and wield powerful levers over the resource complex.
It is time to decide. Either Europe continues down the path of climate-socialist destruction toward the inevitable collapse of the European Union, or it accepts the strategic leadership of the U.S., follows Washington’s rules—which essentially imply dismantling the censorship apparatus and the climate-socialist control complex—and returns to a Europe of regions: a promising concept based on competitive free-market principles and preservation of regional cultural traditions.
* * *
About the author: Thomas Kolbe, born in 1978 in Neuss/ Germany, is a graduate economist. For over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/05/2026 – 06:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/energy-levers-shift-us-strikes-geopolitical-blow-maduro-arrest
Letters: What a ‘great’ America looks like
The huge division in our country is not just political; it has grown to be personal. We look with hate toward those whose beliefs, policies or color do not match our own. We are told those who differ from us threaten our freedom, jobs and our family.
We used to advocate for the underdog and pursue justice. We used to build bridges; now we build walls. After World War II, we displayed our moral convictions. We fed the poor, aided the downtrodden and welcomed those at the margins.
This year gave us the Big Beautiful Bill, which gave huge tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy while making health care unaffordable for millions of our fellow citizens. Our elected officials reject the moral obligation of helping those with too little, both here and around the world.
Our nation for most of its existence has accepted the human equality of all people along with the task to wipe away the suffering of fellow human beings. The hopes of the world once rested upon the United States. Today, we are adrift and divided. If our leaders will not stand by the principle that the rights of everyone are diminished when the rights of one person are threatened; we have a moral crisis, not just a failure of conscience.
Our 250th anniversary as a nation and a democracy will be celebrated in 2026. Let us return to seeking the well-being of others and defense of the persecuted.
Insist that our elected officials return America to a nation of caring compassion with a determination to end the suffering of our own people and those around the world.
Helping others does not make us suckers and losers; it just makes us good Americans again.
— Jerry Hanson, Elkhorn, Wisconsin
A new New Deal needed
Life in America has been deteriorating for generations. And we’re all a tad complicit.
Whether it boils down to consistently settling for stale establishment politicians — regardless of party lines — or allowing our social structure to further deteriorate, America’s cumulative environment presents a transparent picture.
Whatever happened to “America vs. The Establishment”? Whatever happened to the lot of us collectively understanding that leadership in America is at times inept? Or full well knowing that having a multitude of affluence creates a multitude of influence?
When one person generates an insidious amount of money, this leads to an abundantly ignorant worldview coupled with an ability to walk across the chessboard and steal the pieces in front of your face, change the rules, then proclaim themselves victorious.
The constitutional picture was never sustainable for one reason and one reason alone: lack of reform.
Without proper constitutional amendments for the betterment of the American people, I personally do not know exactly where this sinking ship is going to land. But I, like many of my fellow U.S. citizens, do not like the feeling we have in our gut on a daily basis.
At the end of the day, the solutions look similar to President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. You can even ask penitentiary inmates.
“If you could go back in time, what would prevent you from committing the crime that landed you in a situation that most would choose to abstain from?” The majority of answers would look the same: social programs, job training, affordable housing, health care/mental health support, trade school and college-level educational opportunities that do not unnecessarily put people into debt.
The solutions that benefit the collective whole are actually the way to prevent crime, increase innovation, create jobs, etc.
Without a new New Deal, our cratering democracy may actually not survive. But we’re smart enough to know how to demand better.
— Jordan Getty, Naperville
Make us sane again
2025 has been more than a bit exhausting. A year of empty promises, petty vengeance and rampant lies. A year of trampling on our Constitution. A year of presidential favors bestowed in exchange for ego feeding and personal enrichment. A year of divisiveness, hatred and chaos.
For 2026, let’s all consider making a New Year’s resolution to work to “Make America Sane Again.”
— David Haeckel, Chicago
Biden’s border failures
The Dec. 28 Tribune was largely dedicated to the effects of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol in Chicago (“64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz, a mission unlike anything in recent American history”). There was little to no mention or acknowledgement of what the Joe Biden administration did to bring this upon us. That was four years of what we had not seen in our entire history! Millions of unvetted immigrants came into this country. A country without a border is not a country.
Perhaps what we are seeing now is the Donald Trump administration going too far, but the Biden administration and its “open door” policies is what brought our country to this point in time.
This could all have been avoided by simply enforcing our border policies to begin with.
— David Bohac, Willow Springs
Cmdr. Bovino’s ancestors
It would be interesting to if someone did an ancestry search on Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino. I have a feeling his ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower.
— Richard Schultz, Crete, Illinois
‘Animal Farm’ lessons
This month, we will be acknowledging the first full year of the second term of Donald Trump’s presidency. To avoid being classified as “woke,” teachers may find it difficult to explain the many changes that have happened in the U.S. during past 12 months without becoming too political. The solution to this dilemma is for English and/or social studies teachers to assign George Orwell’s book “Animal Farm.”
The students can read the book at their own pace and take any notes of what they find relevant. If any incident in the book reminds them of some current event, they can just independently research it and compare it with the newspaper account or the TV explanation of the event.
Then the actual assignment begins!
Students can align each animal group to today’s ethnic groups, class or political party they represent. What follows automatically is matching the names of the main animal leaders with today’s politicians whose actions mirror the actions on the farm.
After reviewing the farm’s seven commandments printed on the barn wall, students can examine the effects of the slight rewording of each commandment in the light of today’s reinterpretation of the Constitution.
What would follow is the shocking realization that the multiple “small adjustments” have distorted the animal farm’s original goals. The farm’s revised way of life differs drastically from its original intent (despite the animals’ hard work), mirroring the breakdown of social equality in the U.S. today.
The teacher need not intervene. Let tomorrow’s Americans consider their choices.
— Mary Ann McGinley, Wilmette
Override those vetoes
Recently, President Donald Trump vetoed two bills that Congress unanimously passed. The first bill addresses the financing of a drinking water project in Colorado, a state the president has previously vowed to punish. The second bill addresses flood control for land in the Everglades occupied by the Miccosukee Tribe, which is participating in a lawsuit against the Trump administration that seeks the closure of the infamous “Alligator Alcatraz” detention camp.
It is troubling that there is doubt that Congress will override the vetoes. The concern for retaliation is understandable; after all, we would not be in this position if the President did not retaliate.
But the decision not to override these vetoes would be dangerous. If they do not, either all members of Congress went derelict in their duty to represent what they believe is in the best interests of the American people and Trump was right to save the people from their mistake. Or the president has amassed enough power that he alone can cause more than a third of Congress to change their mind and cower in fear of his anger being redirected at them.
Our forefathers fought the American Revolution to get away from a tyrannical monarch and indifferent legislators, not to create our own homegrown version of it. Whichever explanation is true, it undermines the deliberate work of our Founders and the institutions that they worked hard to create.
There is only one solution: Congress must override the vetoes to maintain its own legitimacy. The continued success of our republic demands it.
— Jeremy Bell, Elk Grove Village
Resolving Russia’s war
I generally read Daniel DePetris’ and Elizabeth Shackleford’s foreign policy commentaries with interest, and I commend the Tribune for presenting them. Americans need to know more about what is happening in the world.
However, when I read DePetris’ column (“The foreign policy moves Donald Trump got right this year,” Dec. 30) crediting President Donald Trump for “pushing Ukraine and Russia into a diplomatic process to end the nearly four-year war,” I thought: Wait. What?
There is scant evidence that Trump has pushed Russia into anything. It does not refuse to open the door to Trump’s amateur envoys, but that is about as far as Russia (which, these days, is simply Vladimir Putin channeling Louis XIV’s apocryphal “I am the state” assertion) goes, and it only does that to lead Trump on and distract him from understanding that he is being played so he does not take more effective action.
Ask Ukrainian citizens — who are bombed nightly as Putin attempts to win through demoralization of the population what he is having difficulty winning on the battlefield — if their lives are better because of these pantomime negotiations.
Those U.S. Tomahawk missiles that appear to have been wasted on the wrong target in Nigeria would have done more good flying eastward from Ukraine. Persuading Putin that we will back Ukraine in a longer war than Russia’s puny economy can support is the nudge that he needs to start real negotiations.
— Curt Fredrikson, Mokena, Illinois
Trump’s patronage army
President Donald Trump is not just firing experienced government workers. He is selectively hiring supporters for a patronage army. Trump wants loyalists, not competence.
Trump’s patronage hires owe their livelihood to him. They will do anything to keep him happy.
Trump’s patronage loyalist knows that whenever needed, Trump can yank our attention away from economic numbers. Trump’s circus has many unused distractions: Rename the District of Columbia as D.T. (the District of Trump); invade Greenland, Venezuela or both; coordinate Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on preschools; and impose tariffs on interstate trade. While citizens recover from Trump’s clown show, the patronage economist remains safe and stands ready to change the numbers whenever Trump honks.
Patronage, or the spoil system, had its American heyday between 1820 and 1883, when the Pendleton Act slowed it down. Patronage saturated the government with corruption and incompetence at that time and will continue to do so today if we let it.
At one time, Americans learned to base government hiring on merit, competence and experience, not loyalty to one person. Following Trump’s every dictate lacks merit, breeds incompetence and ignores experience.
— J. Michael Atherton, Dover, New Hampshire
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
David Blobaum: Admitting unprepared students into college isn’t equity
As the regular application deadlines approach this month, getting into college is top of mind for many high school seniors. But students assume that if a college admits them, it means the school has accurately assessed that they can handle the work. That is hardly the case anymore.
Even though COVID-19 lockdowns no longer prevent students from taking the SAT or ACT, most colleges have remained test-optional, many citing that requiring the tests would diminish their ability to compete for applicants.
Yet we are seeing the consequences of these admissions policies: Less-informed decisions lead to worse decisions. And the data proves it.
After the University of California San Diego stopped using SAT and ACT scores in admissions beginning in 2020, the percentage of its students who placed into remedial math jumped from 1% to 12%. Even worse, the school had to redesign a remedial math course, Math 2, and teach students not just high school or even middle school math but also elementary school math — meaning what students learn in first to fifth grade. Yet, despite UCSD’s best efforts, the report shows that these students never catch up to their peers — and suffer the consequences.
Nearly one-third of students who take Math 2 are unable to complete their degrees in psychology and biology because they drop, withdraw from or fail the final calculus course required for graduation in these majors. Worse, it appears that “few, if any students who place into Math 2 have successfully completed an engineering degree.”
Admitting underprepared students hurts those students, who complete all the credits leading up to math courses they then cannot pass. Their dreams of graduating in their chosen profession are crushed, and they then have to switch majors, spend additional time in college, take on more debt and often earn less in life. For instance, students who graduate with degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics have, on average, 50% higher incomes than those of other college graduates.
Compounding the problem, even the remaining information that college admissions officers use (grades) is less reliable. According to the Higher Education Research Institute, in 2024, 84% of students in its survey of freshmen at four-year bachelor’s degree-granting universities had A averages in high school. When almost everyone has an “A,” then no one does because grades cease to accurately communicate the academic preparedness they did before.
This is exactly what the UCSD researchers found as well: “Grades achieved in high school math classes are not helping UC to evaluate math skills much more either.” In 2024, over 25% of the students in remedial Math 2 had a math grade average of 4.0.
That’s stunning. One-fourth of the students who could not do elementary and middle school math had perfect grades in high school math. Their high school math grades were essentially meaningless, rising even as their actual math skills declined. In 2024, the National Center for Education Statistics found the same trend: The vast majority of 12th grade students are not proficient in reading and math.
In fact, 12th grade students have the lowest ever recorded proficiency in reading and math. But inflated grades hide the problem from parents: 90% of parents in the U.S. believe that their children are at or above grade level proficiency.
The situation is not hopeless. While I don’t think high schools will return to grading based on academic preparedness — their students would have lower grades and likely face lower chances of getting into colleges — both high schools and colleges can use long-established, statistically valid standardized measures of academic preparedness.
For instance, the College Board is already expanding its Advanced Placement exams to cover a broader range of courses. Students, parents, high schools and colleges don’t have to wonder whether an A in, for example, pre-calculus means the student actually learned pre-calculus; they can now look at the AP exam score to more accurately understand how much pre-calculus a student knows. Recognizing this, Caltech and Stanford recently became the first colleges to require that students submit their AP exam scores. All stakeholders need to know how well-prepared a student is.
The colleges remaining test-optional or test-blind should follow the lead of a majority of the nation’s most prestigious institutions (and plenty of middle-of-the-road ones as well): Return to using standardized measures of academic achievement. As the UCSD report notes, “the single best predictor for math placement has been the SAT (math section) score, with the ACT score being an equally good predictor.”
This echoes what other schools, such as Yale, Brown and Dartmouth, have publicly stated: SAT and ACT scores are the best predictors of success at their institutions. A 2024 multi-institution study found that SAT/ACT scores are 3.9 times better predictors of success at Ivy and Ivy-plus colleges than are high school grades.
When students are not academically ready for a major or a college, they have lower rates of completing their desired degrees, take longer to graduate (and are less likely to do so), and take on more debt. In fact, according to National Student Clearinghouse data, the six-year college completion rate in 2024 was only 61.1%. That means nearly 40% of college students fail to graduate within six years or at all.
But students are not aware that they are not being fully vetted. Like a homebuyer who takes out a loan, they assume the professionals did their job to determine whether they can actually afford it. As nonprofits, colleges are supposed to serve a public benefit; admitting underprepared students, taking their money and watching them fail is the opposite of that.
Colleges should immediately return to fully vetting applicants to ensure that they are enrolling students who are prepared for the coursework in their desired major and will graduate without taking on excessive debt from additional years of college.
David Blobaum is on the board of directors and is the director of outreach for the National Test Prep Association, a nonprofit that works to support the appropriate use of testing in admissions.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Palestinian orphanage gets 15-seat van donated by Chicago nonprofit
When Mohammed Abuobaid went to pick up a van for Palestinian orphans to go to school roughly two months ago, he was happier than if the vehicle were his own.
“The happiness felt is like walking in a cloud,” Abuobaid told the Tribune in Arabic, using Refugee Life Foundation co-founder Nader Abuzir as a translator.
The 15-seat 2022 GMC Savana gives about 30 children from the Center for the Protection of Childhood, an orphanage in the West Bank, a safe ride to and from school, he said. The large white van was funded by Chicagoans and others who took part in the Refugee Life Foundation’s Humanity 5K last April.
On April 27 of last year, about 500 runners and brisk walkers lined up for the third annual Humanity 5K, a family-friendly race organized by the foundation at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, and raised about $76,000 for the orphanage’s van.
Rashad Darwish, the chairman and co-founder of Refugee Life, chose the orphanage because he felt the children in that area had been “forgotten,” especially as Gaza reels from war with Israel.
The war erupted two years ago after Hamas-led fighters went into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, The Associated Press reported. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect two years later on Oct. 10. Over 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war as of November, according to the AP, while Israeli settler violence persists in the West Bank
For the Palestinian orphans in Tulkarem, a West Bank city near Israel’s eastern border, a van for school pickups and drop-offs was a pressing need. Before the van, children from all over the West Bank had to be car-pooled by volunteers to different schools around the area, said Abuobaid, the secretary of the orphanage and a volunteer there since 2012.
Sometimes the orphans were unable to attend school because there were not enough vehicles to take them, said Darwish.
“If the van was used for medical emergencies, that means the kids were stuck and did not go to school,” he said. “So we’re very proud that the folks from Chicago and nationally, but mostly in Chicago, donated and sponsored the 5K.”
Now with the van, school pickups and drop-offs are faster and more efficient, Abuobaid told the Tribune.
The children were extremely happy, Abuobaid said, as it was something they felt they owned. “They have been looking for this for a long time and finally they got it.”
The ample van with its red crescent logo also helps volunteers driving children to school or medical appointments avoid cumbersome checkpoints and searches by Israeli forces, said Abuobaid.
In December, the foundation posted a Facebook video showing grinning Palestinian children in the van, their backpacks strapped and winter jackets zipped, on their way to school.
The van, which was modified to add three more seats, is also used for recreational activities like guest dinners with locals and play time, said Abuobaid. When the weather improves and the kids are done with final exams, Abuobaid hopes to take them out for a picnic.
The Center for the Protection of Childhood orphanage in Tulkarem was founded in 1981 and is part of Palestine’s Red Crescent Society. It hosts boys and girls ages 1 to 14 who lost their parents or whose families could not support them, and provides them with food, shelter and health care, according to Abuobaid.
A native of Bethlehem in the West Bank, Nader Abuzir co-founded Refugee Life Foundation with four others in 2020 after years of volunteering with the Palestinian Children Relief Fund to expand his aid to underserved children.
He learned about Tulkarem’s orphanage because a friend of his was an orphan there after her father was killed. Abuzir then connected with the organizers there and realized they needed a van, which the foundation thought was doable.
“Our mission is the children,” said Abuzir, who moved to the Chicago area in 1987 and lives in Lockport. “It doesn’t matter what’s their nationality, what’s their religion, as long as it’s something we can help with, we will participate.”
They looked at dealers in Ramallah and contacted a lawyer there to make sure the transaction was clean. Finally, Abuobaid went to pick up the van.
“They were ecstatic,” Abuzir said about the children.
Abuzir, 58, has been running for humanitarian causes since 2010. He has run 14 Chicago Marathons, 20 half marathons and one Bethlehem marathon — all to raise awareness for the plight of Palestinian children and the world, he said.
Some of the foundation’s programs include local initiatives like Back2School Kicks, which donates shoes and backpacks to Chicago kids, and the Amir Darwish scholarship for refugees.
They plan to hold a 2026 Humanity 5K race and Abuzir is already looking toward who to help next.
“Every time I help somebody, the feeling is like no other,” Abuzir said. “When we volunteer and help people, we think we are helping them, but we are helping ourselves.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/05/palestinian-orphanage-van-chicago-nonprofit/
Chicago’s vegan restaurants struggled in 2025. But the reasons why are complicated.
When Chicago Diner, which has long been a fixture in the city’s vegan and plant-based scene, announced that it would be closing its Logan Square doors for good, the reaction from its loyal customers was expectedly fervent.
A few days before the closing of the restaurant, known for serving corned “beef” sandwiches and convincingly realistic cubanos to satisfy even the meatiest of eaters, many longtime customers huddled into booths for old times’ sake, grieving not just the loss of their favorite local diner, but also many like it.
The Chicago Diner is one of at least four vegan or plant-based restaurants in the city that announced closures in late 2025. And several of them — like the diner on Milwaukee Avenue — had outwardly appeared to be prospering, only to suddenly shut down.
Kitchen 17 in Avondale closed on Nov. 25, after 13 years. The restaurant had become the home of the original vegan deep-dish pizza, shipping over 20,000 frozen pies across the United States. Native Foods, the Loop-based creative, Californian-style vegan eatery, cited financial challenges and lower foot traffic when it announced it was closing on Nov. 28. Chicago Raw in Streeterville ended a 16-year run in November, too.
The Lakeview Chicago Diner location will remain, but for some customers, the larger Logan Square location, with its funky vibe and sprawling bar, held special meaning.
“Honestly, there’s nothing I haven’t done that I didn’t celebrate with dinner here — this has always been a core memory for me. It’s really like a refuge,” said Kevin Hernández, a Logan Square resident who was having lunch at the diner on a recent Wednesday with his partner, Rachel. “It’s a little bit disheartening in the sense that not every place or location can fill that need, of I can go there and just be, feel fine, and now with a lot of things regressing in the vegan scene… OK, well, now where am I gonna go?”
Customers have dinner at The Chicago Diner on Milwaukee Avenue during its final day of business at the Logan Square location in Chicago, Dec. 12, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Hernández, 27, has been vegan since he was 15 years old. He’s the only one in his family and friend group that adheres to a strict vegan diet, but celebrating big moments at Chicago Diner was never an issue for a communal meal. The food is actually really good, he said.
Hernández made a point to stop by during the last week of service. He ordered his favorite Monte Cristo sandwich with bacon-style seitan, Creole mustard and a potato hash, and split a stack of pancakes with Rachel.
“I’m pretty sad about it,” he said. “But I get it.”
Michael Hornick, owner and partner of Chicago Diner, was sad too. He said there was an influx of customers during the location’s final weeks, which was deceiving to people wondering why the restaurant was shutting down.
“I was like, if you were here two weeks ago, there would have been one table,” Hornick explained. “I mean, people really stopped coming in.”
Hornick said part of it was the lingering impact of COVID-19 on sales, which have tripled since the pandemic but customers are spending less overall, especially on things like alcohol. That and general economic woes, coupled with the logistical challenges of limited parking along Milwaukee Avenue’s protected bike lanes, made for a situation hard to bounce back from, he said, noting a guest who complained that it took him 25 minutes just to find parking to pick up a to-go order.
“Things like that are the reality, unfortunately. Plus, everybody’s watching the dollars they spend and then they’re using DoorDash and UberEats, and those sales can help, but it’s still highly discounted and it takes away from what we do,” he said. “We’re not a fast casual restaurant and we’re not fast food — we’re a full-service diner.”
Karla Martínez grabs a Portobello Prime Burger, front, and Buddha Burger to deliver to customers at The Chicago Diner during its final day of business at the Logan Square location in Chicago, Dec. 12, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Hornick said he intends to always keep the doors open at the Lakeview diner, as they have been since 1983.
“We read the newspaper every day about how restaurants aren’t doing what they’re used to,” he said, noting that the vegan scene itself has gone through many iterations over the decades, affecting consumer behavior.
Like many of his longtime customers, Hornick said he’s been trying to unpack what happened, particularly because Chicago was recently named the “most vegan-friendly city in the country” by the animal welfare organization PETA.
For one, the vegan scene in 2025 is entirely different from what it was in the late ‘80s or ‘90s, when Hornick’s uncle (the original owner) used to borrow books written by nutritionists from the library to research the early versions of the diner’s menu or subscribe to print magazines focused on vegetarianism.
Perhaps years ago, vegan food was considered to be more of a niche concept that diners sought at specialized restaurants. Now, Hornick admitted, one can find a vegan meal at pretty much any restaurant.
“But is it going to be good? I don’t know,” he said.
Michael Hornick talks with customers during the dinner rush at The Chicago Diner during its final day of business at the Logan Square location on Dec. 12, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Part of why all-vegan restaurants are struggling is because plant-based food is everywhere now, offered Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association.
“An all-vegan restaurant no longer holds the same necessity as it once did,” Toia said. “I think a lot of mainstream restaurants throughout Chicago have put vegan options on their menu, and that might have been what hurt some of the specialty vegan restaurants, because a lot of people could go anywhere now.”
Toia added that most consumers now expect restaurants, regardless of category, to offer plant-based options, and recent trend forecasts from industry insiders also back that up. Plus, the percentage of Americans who identify as vegetarian or vegan hasn’t moved much in recent years, at just 4% and 1% respectively according to a 2023 Gallup poll.
In June, a PETA representative told the Tribune it chose Chicago as the most vegan-friendly because of how easy it was “to enjoy classic Chicago dishes” in vegan form, citing Buona’s Italian beefless sandwich and Kitchen 17’s vegan deep-dish pizza. Months later, Kitchen 17 also announced that it would be closing.
But Toia said rising labor and supply costs, plus the thin margins of the food industry, make it even more difficult for restaurants offering alternative menus to make a sizable profit, pushing so many to close doors.
Bloom Plant Based Kitchen was the latest to announce that it too would be closing after a four-year run. Bloom’s Instagram post announcing the closure was flooded with commenters disappointed at the news. The restaurant’s last day is slated to be Feb. 21.
Rodolfo Cuadros, chef and owner of Bloom Plant Based Kitchen, said it was hard to escape the reality of the industry. He ultimately lost money in the venture, but top of mind for him is ensuring his staff is paid through the holidays. If a buyer comes around, Cuadros said he would field an offer, but for now, he’s working on a new chapter for Bloom, one that merges different dietary preferences.
Rodolfo Cuadros, chef/owner of Bloom Plant Based Kitchen, at his vegan restaurant at 1559 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago, Dec. 30, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
“I respect what I did. I’m proud of what I did. We tried to do things the best way we could, but ultimately it was not sustainable,” Cuadros told the Tribune. “Whether it be because of economic anxiety throughout the country, or a lot of people looking at plant-based as a fad, which I think is completely wrong.”
Nutrition experts have been unpacking — and debunking — fad diets for decades and decades, including Bethany Doerfler, chief clinical research dietitian at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Doerfler offered that long-term plant-based eating unequivocally has health benefits, but there is consumer fatigue associated with what “plant-based” means.
“People can say, well, I tried that and it didn’t really help me, and I think we saw this with the fat-free days, and we saw this with the low carb days,” Doerfler said. “I think plant-based eating takes a lot of commitment; it’s not as addictive to our bodies. Eating a vegetable-forward meal with toasted beans might be delicious, but isn’t really as addictive and maybe instantaneously pleasurable as eating a burger and fries. People aren’t lining up and down the street for those restaurants like they are with other ones.”
Doerfler said she finds Chicago’s vegan food scene to be more of a slow-food trend, making it harder for casual vegan restaurants to compete with places serving faster options.
“I think that eating plant-based food can be quick and can fit into convenience eating,” she added. “But I think one thing that’s a blessing and a curse in Chicago is we have such a great food scene that people could dine out every night of the week and never eat at the same restaurant.”
At Bloom, the clientele is diverse, Cuadros said. Many returning customers strictly adhere to a vegan diet and seek out the restaurant’s vegetable-forward menu, but there are also customers who may find the menu limiting for flexitarians.
The menu is plant-based and vegan, offering house-made, cultured plant-based cheeses and creative plant-based dishes that mimic seafood, like crispy oysters (made from mushrooms), plant-based salmon (farro with veggies) and sun-dried tomato sashimi. Those items prove one doesn’t need actual fish for ocean flavors, Cuadros noted.
“I never saw Bloom as a vegan restaurant — we were just out to cook the tastiest vegetables that we could,” Cuadros said.
Cuadros said that while he disagrees with the assessment that mainstream restaurants broadening their offerings to include vegan or plant-based items is a big reason for the closures, he’s looking at the broader picture more positively. Though the restaurants are facing headwinds, Cuadros said the concepts he and other chefs and vegan diners pioneered are flourishing in unexpected places. And that he considers a win.
Still, the growing loss of vegan restaurants in the city is especially gutting for diners with food allergies.
Charity Simpson, a customer who was having lunch with her girlfriends the week of Chicago Diner’s closing, said she brings her kids to the restaurant several times a month because the servers understand the severity of food restrictions.
“My kids have food allergies, so it’s a great place where I know I can trust that things are actually dairy-free and gluten-free if they say they are,” Simpson said. “My kids love the grilled cheese with sweet potato fries, the cinnamon rolls and they can also get a shake without dairy.”
Nachos are placed on a shelf for delivery to a customer at The Chicago Diner during the last day of business for the Logan Square restaurant on Dec. 12, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Simpson said in her experience, vegan restaurants take dietary restrictions and allergies much more seriously.
“And they have actual substitutes. At many other restaurants, if you can’t have dairy, you almost can’t eat there, or you can’t have a full meal. Sometimes you’re stuck with a salad, because that’s all they have,” she said.
Simpson said she’ll try to visit the Lakeview location every now and then, but nothing will beat having the diner within walking distance. But she owns “The New Chicago Diner Cookbook: Meat-Free Recipes from America’s Veggie Diner,” which came out in 2002.
“They’ve left a lasting impression on so many of us,” Simpson said.
Hornick, the diner’s owner, said that despite the Logan Square spot struggling for many months — some days having a two-hour lull without a single customer — servers would turn a switch immediately as the door swung open. Obviously, he said, he wishes he didn’t have to close.
“But it had to happen for us to keep this going, the reason we do what we do,” Hornick said. “Where else can you go and entertain 200 people in a day and know that the place is going to be spotless when you leave? It’s magic when everything works, it really is.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/05/chicago-vegan-restaurant-closures/
Here’s what we learned from top Cook County candidates’ tax returns, ethics filings
As Cook County voters begin to decide who will oversee billions in public spending and the county’s property tax system, a review of tax returns from leading Democratic candidates shows sharply different sources of wealth, investment strategies and levels of financial disclosure.
Two-term incumbent Assessor Fritz Kaegi reported seven-figure investment gains, and he paid nearly $780,000 in combined state and federal taxes over four years. His challenger, Lyons Township Assessor Patrick Hynes, disclosed income from several suburban properties he owns.
Four-term County Board President Toni Preckwinkle relied on her public salary, pension and Social Security income, while her challenger, Brendan Reilly, made do with his Chicago aldermanic salary and a recent reentry into media production work.
The Chicago Tribune requested the past four years of tax returns from the Democratic candidates for Cook County Board president and assessor and compared them with mandatory statements of economic interest filed with the Cook County clerk and the Chicago Board of Ethics. The exercise, voluntary but common in major elections, offers a window into candidates’ financial lives — including potential conflicts of interest — and into how much information each is willing to share with voters.
The candidates varied slightly in what they provided. Preckwinkle released both federal and state returns with full itemized deductions. Kaegi supplied four years of federal and state returns but withheld details about his deductions. Reilly released only the top pages of some federal returns and did not share state filings. Hynes supplied state and federal returns, but only after assurances that Kaegi’s camp did the same.
Kaegi: Investments paying off
Unsurprisingly, Kaegi, a former mutual fund portfolio manager, reported the highest income of the group.
Before his 2018 election as assessor, Kaegi spent more than two decades in finance, including 13 years at Columbia Wanger Asset Management. His personal wealth has allowed him to self-fund his campaigns and refuse contributions from property tax attorneys, though the scale of his investment income has not previously been disclosed in detail.
Kaegi’s public salary ranged from $125,000 in 2021 and 2022 to $137,500 in 2023 and $141,625 in 2024. But joint federal filings with his wife, Rebecca, a Russian teacher in the Noble Network of charter schools, show adjusted gross income fluctuating between about $350,000 and $1.3 million over the four years.
Most of that income came not from wages, but from investments. Kaegi reported between $77,000 and $90,000 in annual dividends, along with capital gains of $680,000 in 2021, $590,000 in 2022, $109,000 in 2023 and more than $1 million in 2024.
Required county disclosures show Kaegi owned and sold stock or securities in major corporations, including 3M, Boeing, PepsiCo, General Electric, Visa, Bank of America and Procter & Gamble, as well as tech giants Meta and Alphabet. He also owned stock in Berkshire Hathaway, run by Warren Buffett. Exact values are not required to be disclosed in the county ethics statements, but Kaegi earned enough from investments in three of the four years to trigger the 3.8% net investment income tax.
How and when Kaegi invests will affect his overall yield if and when he cashes out, but so far, market data indicate he’s chosen wisely. GE stock is up nearly 500% over the past five years. Berkshire Hathaway is up 113%, Google is up 260% and Meta is up 138% over the same span.
Kaegi paid just under $780,000 in combined state and federal taxes from 2021 through 2024. His effective federal tax rate — total taxes divided by total adjusted gross income — ranged from 13% to nearly 20%.
Hynes: Took losses on rental properties
Hynes, the Cook County Democratic Party’s endorsed challenger to Kaegi, reported far lower total income overall, ranging from about $97,500 to $304,000. He filed jointly with his wife, Margaret, a former teacher at St. John of the Cross in Western Springs and a current accountant at the nonprofit Helping Hand.
Patrick Hynes, candidate for Cook Couty assessor, heads to the lectern to speak during the Cook County Democratic Party primary slating on July 17, 2025, in Chicago. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune))
Hynes’ adjusted gross income dipped as low as $89,000 in 2022 and peaked at $303,000 in 2023, when he reported a capital gain of about $200,000 tied to the sale of a home in LaGrange Highlands.
His campaign said in a statement that Hynes and his family sold the property “in order to help cover the cost of college for one of his children.”
The sale was one of several real estate holdings disclosed on his county economic interest statements. Over the years, Hynes reported owning multiple rental properties — including homes, condos and a small apartment building — in Summit, Countryside, LaGrange Highlands and Crestwood.
Hynes’ father, Tim, “also purchased and renovated rental properties when Pat was a kid and taught him how to do a lot of the work on his own. He’s been renovating and fixing residential properties since he was a teenager,“ Becky Carroll, a campaign spokesperson, said in an email.
One of those other properties “will also eventually be sold to help cover the cost of college for one of his other children,” she said.
Hynes’ returns show he took losses on all of his rental properties between 2021 and 2024. While he made somewhere between about $63,000 and $88,000 in rental income, that was offset by expenses, depreciation and the cost of mortgage interest. Those losses reduced Hynes’ “additional income” line.
In addition to serving as Lyons Township assessor, a position that paid $58,707 in 2024, Hynes has worked as a temporary assessor in Lemont Township, which his campaign said earned him $1,000 per month. He also serves as an unpaid volunteer firefighter in Western Springs and previously worked in the Cook County assessor’s office, including briefly under Kaegi. His township assessor job was a pay cut compared with his county salary.
Hynes took the standard deduction each year and paid about $61,000 in federal taxes over four years. His effective federal tax rate ranged from 3.7% to 13.3%.
Preckwinkle: Pension supplementing salary
Preckwinkle, the longest-serving official in the field, reported income between $160,700 and about $285,000 over the four years reviewed.
Her public salary rose from $170,000 in 2021 and 2022 to $192,610 in 2024. But a significant portion of her income came from retirement benefits. At 78, Preckwinkle receives both a city pension from her years as a 4th Ward alderman and Social Security.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle speaks after filing her nominating petitions Oct. 27, 2025, at the county clerk’s office. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
In 2023, she received a nearly $126,000 distribution from her city pension, according to her campaign. Her annual pension payment in 2024 was $84,759, while Social Security benefits increased from $13,000 in 2021 to $15,516 in 2024.
Unlike Kaegi, Preckwinkle reported little investment income. Her only notable capital gain was about $24,000 in 2021, the year she sold a condominium in the 5000 block of South Woodlawn Avenue. She also owns a cabin in her home state of Minnesota and recently purchased a new $1 million home in Kenwood.
Preckwinkle itemized deductions for charitable giving — between roughly $8,000 and $13,500 annually — and mortgage interest. Her effective federal tax rate ranged from 14.4% to 20.5%.
Reilly: Uptick due to TV projects
Reilly, an alderman for much of Chicago’s downtown area who is challenging Preckwinkle, released partial federal returns showing total joint income with his wife, Kristin, ranging from about $155,000 in 2022 to $334,000 in 2024. He did not provide 2021 or any state returns, citing difficulty reaching his accountant.
Reilly’s aldermanic salary rose modestly from $117,600 in 2022 to $125,208 in 2025 — Reilly has at times turned down inflation-adjusted raises. The spike in 2024 income came from renewed consulting and media production work. Reilly said he earned $40,000 producing television projects that year, while his wife returned to her career in media buying.
Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, appears at a news conference Dec. 18, 2025, following a City Council meeting. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Reilly disclosed outside work for Relentless Campaigns and an ownership stake in Uncle Dougie’s Sauce Co. in city ethics filings. The sale of the sauce company in 2022 generated a $15,000 capital gain and offsetting loss, he said.
After taking the standard deduction and $38,000 in qualified business income, the couple reduced their 2024 taxable income to about $251,000. They reported minimal investment dividends and took no property tax deductions, renting a River North loft.
Reilly’s effective federal tax rate climbed from just under 12% in 2022 to 24% in 2024.
