Good morning, Chicago.

Samantha Steele’s opponent in the race for the Cook County Board of Review has alleged Steele tried to get her to drop out in exchange for a six-figure job in Steele’s office.

Liz Nicholson, who’s running against Steele in the March Democratic primary for the seat on the board that considers property tax appeals, has filed a complaint with the county’s Inspector General and sent a letter to Democratic party officials about the allegation late last week. Steele’s offers, the complaint claims, were made through intermediaries.

Read the full story from the Tribune’s A.D. Quig.

Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including which custom license plate applications Illinois put on the “naughty” list this year, how the White Sox secured Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami and a music critic’s favorite Christmas albums.

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U.S. Reps. Delia Ramirez, 3rd, Jonathan Jackson, 1st, Jesús “Chuy” García, 4th, and Danny Davis, 7th, depart on Dec. 22, 2025, from the immigration processing facility in Broadview after touring it for oversight purposes. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Democratic lawmakers visit ICE facility in Broadview after judge confirms they cannot be denied access

A group of Democratic Illinois lawmakers made it inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview yesterday after months of being denied access.

U.S. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García, Danny Davis, Delia Ramirez and Jonathan Jackson arrived carrying a federal court order confirming that members of Congress cannot be blocked from conducting oversight at immigration detention facilities.

In a YouTube video, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announces some of the vanity and personalized license plates rejected this year due to indecency. (Illinois secretary of state)

Illinois puts 550 custom license plate applications on the ‘naughty’ list this year

Hundreds of Illinoisans made the secretary of state’s naughty list this year after trying to customize their license plates in a lewd or indecent manner.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias read aloud some of the rejected license plates this year due to indecency in a YouTube video. Applications for “IBPOOPN,” “BRICKED” and “PRIUSSY” were all kicked to the curb.

A worker defoliates cannabis plants in a greenhouse and flowering room on Aug. 15, 2025, at the Curaleaf cannabis growing facility in Litchfield. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Federal push to relax marijuana classification should help the industry in Illinois. But the effects for consumers may take time.

A renewed federal push to relax restrictions on marijuana likely will mean bigger profits for cannabis companies and more research into the effects of the plant, industry participants say. It may eventually ease high prices slightly, but otherwise isn’t expected to make an immediate difference for consumers in Illinois.

Friends hug Angel White, 15, during a gathering in memory of her sister, Senobia Brantley, at a dance studio in the 400 block of East 75th Street on April 2, 2019, in Chicago. Brantley, 19, was one of two women fatally shot while sitting inside a car in the 7700 block of South Eggleston Avenue on April 1, 2019. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Six alleged Chicago gang members indicted in federal racketeering case alleging 13 homicides

A federal grand jury has indicted six purported Chicago gang members for racketeering conspiracy, accusing the gang of involvement in 13 homicides as well as spates of other violence across the city in service of protecting their South Side territory.

White Sox executive vice president and general manager Chris Getz presents Munetaka Murakami with a Chicago White Sox jersey during a press conference at Rate Field on Dec. 22, 2025, announcing the acquisition of Murakami. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

How the Chicago White Sox secured Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami: ‘A significant moment’

Munetaka Murakami described yesterday as feeling like he had “finally reached the starting line.”

The Japanese slugger signed a contract, put on a new hat and No. 5 uniform and took photos at Rate Field a day after agreeing to a two-year, $34 million deal with the Chicago White Sox.

Column: Munetaka Murakami is the low-risk gamble the White Sox had to make in Year 4 of the rebuild

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams goes around the entire field as he high-fives fans after an overtime victory over the Packers at Soldier Field on Dec. 20, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams and safety Kevin Byard III place among Pro Bowl’s top 5 in fan votes

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and safety Kevin Byard III drew the fourth- and fifth-most fan votes for the Pro Bowl, according to the final results released by the NFL.

Does Ben Johnson deserve NFL coach of the year? 5 pressing questions ahead of Week 17
5 things we learned from the Bears yesterday: ‘All these games are playoff games’

Angelo Hernandez prepares a breakfast dosa on a dosa grill at Sarima Cafe, 1924 W. North Ave., Chicago, on Dec. 17, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Restaurant reviews: Sarima, Lilac Tiger and Mirra intertwine Indian, Mexican and Filipino culture in Chicago

Mirra, Lilac Tiger and Sarima Cafe in Chicago draw on historic and mythic cultural threads to create a stunning Indian Mexican restaurant, a convivial South Asian cocktail bar and an ambitious Filipino Indian coffeeshop.

Chef Zubair Mohajir connects all three culinary enterprises. He may be best known now as a contestant on “Top Chef” this past year. You might know him from the Coach House, his pioneering South Indian-inspired tasting menu restaurant in the city.

“A Christmas Record” (ZE Records, clockwise from top left); “A Very Special Christmas 2” (A&M Records); “Best of Motown Christmas” (20th Century Masters); Robert Glasper’s “In December” (Loma Vista Recordings); “Merry Christmas from José James” (Rainbow Blonde Records); “Christmas Jollies” by Salsoul Orchestra (Salsoul Records).

A music critic’s favorite Christmas albums

As a genre, Christmas music is more than just the classics. As a true connoisseur of the season and a fanatic who writes a Christmas-themed newsletter, Britt Julious finds the months of November and December to be a perfect time to relish in the perfections of old Christmas tunes and discover new tracks released by contemporary artists that deserve a first (and second) listen. Here, Julious has compiled a list of her top Christmas albums and compilations. Hopefully, you will find something new, surprising, or delightful to complement the rest of your season.

George Wendt speaks during an interview on Aug. 19, 2019, outside Soldier Field in Chicago. Wendt was filming a segment with actor, writer, producer and director Robert Smigel of “Bill Swerski Super Fans,” the “Saturday Night Live” sketch in which they play Bears fans. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

Who We Lost in 2025: Actors to astronauts, remembering those departed in this last year

It never gets easy, our yearly look back at the many people — and some places, trends and other things — that departed in the past 12 months. But in so doing,  we — meaning some of the Tribune’s critics, writers and contributors — are reminded of what a rich and rewarding spot we live. Though many of the people you will read about have had a global impact, most have plied their magic here, a nurturing place. We have been fortunate enough to share their talents, and if there is a minor joy to the making of these yearly lists, it is in knowing that you may never have heard of these people or tasted their creations. And doing so will surely make 2026 a bright new year.

A shopper heads into a Walmart store, Oct. 16, 2025, in Englewood, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Here’s what stores are open, and which ones are closed, on Christmas

From department stores to grocery stores, most retailers across the U.S. close early on Christmas Eve and shut their doors entirely on Christmas Day — while others opt to cut back hours. But there’s also a handful of businesses that will be open during the holiday.

Here’s a rundown of major chains on Christmas Day this year.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/23/daywatch-board-of-review-hopeful-alleges-incumbent-offered-her-job-to-withdraw/ 

“Much-Needed Win”: Novo Shares Jump Most In Nearly Two Years After US Approval Of Wegovy Obesity Pill

Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/23/2025 – 07:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/much-needed-win-novo-shares-jump-most-nearly-two-years-after-us-approval-wegovy-obesity 

The Chicago Bears clinched a playoff spot Sunday thanks to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ win over the Detroit Lions. For the first time since 2020, the Bears are heading to the postseason.

The Bears are still coming off the high of Saturday’s dramatic comeback against the Green Bay Packers, punctuated by DJ Moore’s 46-yard touchdown grab in overtime. Coach Ben Johnson has his team sitting at 11-4 with two regular-season games remaining against the San Francisco 49ers and the Lions.

Tribune Bears beat reporters Sean Hammond and Phil Thompson tackle this week’s pressing questions.

1. The Bears are officially playoff-bound. Does Ben Johnson deserve NFL coach of the year? If not, who is more deserving?

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen speaks after a game against the Denver Broncos in Denver, on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Hammond: This is certainly a pretty subjective award. Oddsmakers right now have Mike Vrabel (New England Patriots), Mike Macdonald (Seattle Seahawks), Johnson and Liam Coen (Jacksonville Jaguars) as the four most likely candidates. Vrabel, Johnson and Coen all came into similar situations with a new team that underperformed last year, but already had a starting quarterback in place. Macdonald is in year two with the Seahawks, where he has rebuilt the defense and bet big on Sam Darnold over the offseason. Certainly, they’re all deserving. If the Seahawks finish as the No. 1 seed in the NFC, I’d probably vote for Macdonald.

Thompson: The award typically goes to a coach who has dramatically turned around a franchise. That gives you a short list of Vrabel, Coen and Johnson, with only the Jaguars having yet to clinch a playoff spot ahead of the Monday game. Vrabel has prior experience (leading the Tennessee Titans to three postseasons), so that knocks him off my list. Both Coen and Johnson (each 11-4) have revitalized their running games and course-corrected their young franchise quarterbacks, though Trevor Lawrence has three seasons on Caleb Williams. The Jags look greatly improved, but the Bears were a demoralized train wreck under Matt Eberflus last season (with a 10-game losing streak) and Johnson flipped the culture.

2. Saturday’s comeback was the most memorable Bears-Packers game since when?

Chicago Bears free safety Eddie Jackson makes an interception during the second half against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on Sunday Dec. 16, 2018, in Chicago. The Bears defeated the Packers 24-17 to clinch the NFC North title. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Hammond: It has to be the NFC championship game following the 2010 regular season. There just haven’t been a whole lot of memorable Bears-Packers games since then. It’s rare that both teams have been good at the same time. The Aaron Rodgers “I still own you” game in 2021 was a memorable moment, but does anybody really remember anything about the game itself? Saturday night’s game will be talked about for years.

Thompson: I’m sure most people’s first thoughts go to Dec. 16, 2018, when Eddie Jackson intercepted Aaron Rodgers in the fourth quarter to clinch the NFC North at Soldier Field. But Jordan Love’s exit from Saturday’s game with a concussion reminds me of Bears pass rusher Shea McCellin breaking Aaron Rodgers’ collarbone, with former high school coach Josh McCown leading the Bears to a 27-20 win on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013.

3. We asked this question several weeks ago, but with two games remaining, it’s a good time to circle back. Fill in the blank: The best team in the NFC is _________?

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold makes a pass against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Hammond: When we last discussed this in this space, I said the Los Angeles Rams. I still think it’s smart to bet on the team with the most experienced quarterback who has done it on the biggest stage. Maybe it’s recency bias after an epic overtime duel on Thursday night, but I do think the Rams and Seahawks are the best teams in the conference. They have two of the best defensive lines in football. Sam Darnold came through on Thursday, but I’d still rather bet on Matthew Stafford in January. I’ll stick with the Rams.

Thompson: I said earlier that the Seattle Seahawks are the scariest road team to host in a potential first-round matchup, so just think if they hold onto the No. 1 seed and get a bye and home-field advantage. Their defense presents problems — third-ranked on run defense (94.1 per game) and second-ranked on third down (33.64%) — and their offense is third in points per game (29.5). Most importantly, they topped the king of the hill, the Los Angeles Rams. I believe it was the Bard, Ric Flair, who said, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.”

4. This has been a pretty unorthodox year for the Bears defense. The D has given up plenty of yards, but also leads the NFL in takeaways. Who is your MVP of this defense right now and why?

Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard III tackles Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs in the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Hammond: It’s hard not to go with the team captain who leads the NFL in interceptions. Kevin Byard III is the emotional leader of this group, and he’s one of the best at his position in the NFL. He’s more than deserving. Tremaine Edmunds is also deserving and Nahshon Wright has surprised everyone this season, but I’ll go with Byard.

Thompson: It has to be Nahshon Wright. I certainly can’t consider any of the pass rushers after watching Malik Willis throw passes while reclined on a chaise lounge. The Bears D is surviving on an NFL-leading 31 takeaways, and Wright’s the team’s takeaway king with five interceptions, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.

5. Caleb Williams needs 438 passing yards (219 per game) to match the franchise’s single-season record of 3,838 passing yards. For reference, he has topped 219 yards in eight of 15 games this season. Do you think he will set a new record?

With center Drew Dalman blocking, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams throws a pass against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Nov. 28, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Hammond: I’ll say Williams gets there. On paper, the 49ers and Lions sound like tough matchups, but some of the advanced metrics suggest the Bears should be able to throw the ball against these teams. Both defenses rank in the bottom third of the league in terms of passing yards per game and passing EPA (expected points added). It’s also unclear how the Bears will approach Week 18 with their playoff spot already locked up. If they beat San Francisco in Week 17, they will lock up the NFC North and a home game. But that also would mean the No. 1 overall seed, and the first-round bye, remain in play heading into Week 18.

Thompson: He should. The 49ers give up 227.6 passing yards per game (ranked 23rd) and 232.5 (25th). The 49ers also rank last in sack rate (3.3%). Given the way this tightly contested season has gone, the Bears likely will be fighting to protect their current playoff seeding to the last tick of the clock.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/23/chicago-bears-pressing-questions-ben-johnson/ 

It was an eventful 2025 for Chicago’s professional and college sports teams, on the field and off. Here’s what we saw — and here’s what to watch for in 2026.

Want the latest Chicago sports news? Subscribe to the Chicago Tribune to read it all — and sign up for our free  newsletters.

Chicago Bears

A year ago, the Bears were spiraling, losing 10 consecutive games and firing coach Matt Eberflus. Now, under first-year coach Ben Johnson, they have won 11 games for the first time in seven years and are one of the best stories of the 2025 NFL season.

A lot has happened between then and now.

Most notably, team owner and matriarch Virginia Halas McCaskey died in February at age 102. McCaskey, the daughter of Bears founder George Halas, had been present for many of the NFL’s seminal moments during her childhood in the 1920s and 1930s. She later became the team’s principal owner after her father’s death in 1983.

However the Bears fare as the 2025 season wraps up, this will be the first time in more than a century that McCaskey won’t be there to witness it all.

Team Chairman George McCaskey, Virginia’s son and George Halas’ grandson, said in the spring that the family has no intention of selling the team after his mother’s death.

There’s no easy segue from that to the football field, but the on-field news has been largely good for the Bears in 2025. They hired Johnson in January, and he quickly has turned the team into a contender in the NFC North.

After an 0-2 start, the Bears won nine of their next 10 games to position themselves well for a playoff spot heading into January. Johnson’s offensive prowess, combined with a reworked offensive line, has the Bears rolling.

Here’s a look back at the biggest Bears stories of 2025:

Bears end the 2024 season with a win over Green Bay, snapping a 10-game losing streak
Bears hire Ben Johnson as head coach in January 2025
Chicago Bears owner Virginia Halas McCaskey dies at 102
Bears rework offensive line with 3 new veteran starters
Kevin Warren, Bears focus their stadium pursuit on Arlington Heights
Bears draft rookies Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, Ozzy Trapilo, among others
Bears open the 2025 season on Sept. 8, ushering in the Ben Johnson era
Surprise win over the Eagles on Black Friday, Ben Johnson pulls off his shirt
Kevin Warren changes his tune and says Indiana is an option for the Bears stadium

As for the year ahead, the Bears are on the verge of their first postseason appearance since 2020. They have blown all expectations out of the water. Regardless of whether they find success in the playoffs, the hype heading into 2026 will be strong.

The biggest question becomes this: How can the Bears build off their 2025 success? They need to make sure this isn’t a repeat of the Matt Nagy-era Bears, who won the NFC North in the coach’s first season but never found consistent success after that.

The continued development of quarterback Caleb Williams will remain a big part of the narrative. With a year in Johnson’s offensive system under his belt, could Williams be even better next season?

— Sean Hammond

Chicago Blackhawks

There have been some cold times on the ice since the Blackhawks last won the Stanley Cup in 2015. The team has seen some franchise legends go and new players sport the logo that has been around for 100 years now.

The Hawks finished 25-46-11 in 2024-25 — the second-worst record in the NHL — setting themselves up for another top-three draft pick. They used their No. 3 pick on forward Anton Frondell as part of their 8-player draft class.

Are the 2025-26 Hawks better? They hired coach Jeff Blashill this offseason to usher the next stages of the rebuild.

After an 0-2-1 start, the Hawks soared to a 10-5-4 record, the fastest they hit 10 wins (19 games) since the 2016-17 season, when they did it in 14 games.

Connor Bedard was off to the best start of his young career — 44 points on 19 goals and 25 assists in 31 games — and his name was mentioned in Hart Trophy and Team Canada conversations. Those talks are on pause, however, until early January at the earliest. Bedard, 20, suffered an upper-body injury in a 3-2 loss to the Blues on Dec. 12 and was placed on IR.

Then in mid-December, center Frank Nazar took a puck to the face in a loss to the Ottawa Senators and exited the game. Nazar, 21, will be out about four weeks, Blashill said.

— Kalen Lumpkins

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls began 2025 with an ending — the departure of longtime star Zach LaVine, who was traded at the deadline in February after years of speculation. LaVine ultimately spent eight seasons in Chicago, where he averaged 24.2 points while earning two All-Star selections. Despite his prolific output, LaVine played in only four playoff games in his tenure with the Bulls before he was traded to the Sacramento Kings in a three-team deal for full rights to the Bulls’ 2026 first-round pick and a trio of new players: Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter and Tre Jones.

Securing that 2026 first-rounder allowed the Bulls to forge full steam ahead for another attempt at a postseason bid. But after a 39-43 season, the Bulls crashed out of the play-in tournament with a demoralizing blowout loss to the Miami Heat — marking their third consecutive season of missing the playoffs.

In June, the pick secured in the LaVine trade was utilized to draft 18-year-old Noa Essengue of France with the No. 12 pick. At the time, the Bulls front office emphasized that Essengue would be a long-term project with the goal of eventually molding the rookie into a defensive-minded wing who could complement Matas Buzelis. But Essengue’s development was even slower than expected. He played only six minutes before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery to repair a weakness in his shoulder that had resulted in multiple dislocations.

Outside of the draft, the Bulls made few moves over the summer — re-signing Josh Giddey to a four-year deal and swapping Lonzo Ball for Isaac Okoro. With these minimal changes to the roster, the Bulls entered the 2025-26 season with the simple goal of improving their young core of Giddey, Buzelis and Coby White to prepare for an inflection point in the 2026 offseason once the roster is cleared of its expiring contracts.

A 6-1 start buoyed hopes for the Bulls, but those expectations quickly crashed back to earth as they suffered a seven-game losing streak that highlighted the team’s lack of defensive rigor and stalled-out offense. The team is currently outside of playoff position.

Nostalgia once again dominated the extracurricular focuses for the Bulls. In January, the team celebrated Derrick Rose Night to highlight the former MVP’s retirement from the NBA at the end of 2024. The Bulls will retire Rose’s jersey in a ceremony in January 2026 at the United Center. The team in November also inducted six new members — Bill Cartwright, Horace Grant, John Paxson, Johnny Bach, Neil Funk and Norm Van Lier — into its Ring of Honor.

The Bulls and the Blackhawks also secured crucial approval for the 1901 Project, a $7 billion proposal for an expansion of the infrastructure surrounding the United Center. The project aims to build an entertainment district in the blocks around the arena, which are currently dominated by parking lots. The proposal includes housing, commercial space, a new performance center and a hotel. Phase 1 of the project is expected to be completed as early as 2028.

— Julia Poe

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs entered 2025 with one goal: Get back to the postseason.

Their quest was tested early after opening the season in Japan for the Tokyo Series then losing left-hander Justin Steele for the season following left elbow surgery after four starts. The Cubs, though, got rolling, led by a deep lineup that helped them go 15 games over .500 in April and May.

By the All-Star break, the Cubs had one of the best run-scoring offenses in the majors fueled by Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker, the latter two earning starts in the Midsummer Classic. Tucker, acquired from Houston in the offseason, was the difference maker the organization envisioned with his patient approach and power from the left side.

The Cubs navigated further injuries to their rotation, losing Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon for weeks, in part by a bullpen that evolved into a weapon by the end of the season. The 92-win Cubs secured the top wild-card spot to host the San Diego Padres for their first postseason appearance since 2020. They had not won a playoff series since 2017.

That changed when the Cubs took the best-of-3 series by winning Game 3 at Wrigley Field to advance to the National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Disastrous starts by Matthew Boyd and Imanaga quickly put the Cubs on the brink of elimination. Raucous Wrigley crowds helped the Cubs survive two elimination games to force a decisive Game 5 in Milwaukee, where they ultimately fell short against their division rival.

Crow-Armstrong’s breakout performance put him in rare company in franchise history, becoming only the second to record a 30-steal, 30-homer season, joining Sammy Sosa. Although his offensive production dropped off in the second half, Crow-Armstrong’s elite defense earned him a Gold Glove award, one of three Cubs to receive the hardware along with second baseman Nico Hoerner (second career) and left fielder Ian Happ (fourth straight).

The Cubs are positioned to build upon their strong season and are currently positioned to rely largely on the same offensive group, besides Tucker, who is still looking to sign somewhere in free agency. Rebuilding the bullpen has been an offseason priority. But beyond those investments, the organization hasn’t handed out a contract this offseason that goes past two years. No matter what other upgrades the Cubs make in the lead-up to spring training, fans expect them to return to the playoffs in 2026.

— Meghan Montemurro

Chicago Fire

A new coach. A return to the MLS playoffs. Oh, and concrete plans for a new downtown stadium.

The Chicago Fire in 2025 put together their best season in eight years — and made headlines off the field.

The groundwork started in October 2024, when they hired Gregg Berhalter as the 10th coach in franchise history and put him in charge of their soccer operations just three months after he was fired as coach of the U.S. men’s national team.

“I really see this opportunity as a sleeping giant,” Berhalter, now 53, said at his introductory news conference. “We want to be a dominant team in Major League Soccer. It will take some time, but we will get there.”

Behind leading scorer Hugo Cuypers (17 goals) and playmaker Philip Zinckernagel (15 goals, 15 assists), the Fire went 15-11-8 in 2025 and finished eighth in the Eastern Conference, earning their first playoff berth since 2017.

They beat Orlando City 3-1 in the wild-card game for their first postseason victory since 2009 before bowing out against the top-seeded Philadelphia Union in two games in a best-of-three first-round series.

“The message after the game was that we made progress,” Berhalter said after the Game 2 loss. “I think this year was a step.”

In more ways than one. Fire owner Joe Mansueto in June announced plans for a privately financed $650 million soccer stadium at The 78, a 62-acre site along the Chicago River at Roosevelt Road in the South Loop. The proposed 22,000-seat, open-air venue won approval from the Chicago City Council on Sept. 25, and Mansueto wants it finished in time for the 2028 season.

“It’s transformative for the club, and I think for the city as well,” Mansueto said.

— Chris Boghossian

Chicago Sky

Another year of transition for the Sky resulted in heartbreak and controversy as the team failed to make the playoffs for a second consecutive season. The Sky ushered in a new era under first-year coach Tyler Marsh, who previously served as an assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces, Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors. Marsh suffered a slow start in a league-worst 10-34 season.

The season began with a nostalgic return. Point guard Courtney Vandersloot re-signed with her longtime team after two years in New York, where she won her second championship with the Liberty after leading the Sky to their first title in 2021. Vandersloot was intended to serve as a veteran centerpiece to aid in the development of young stars Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, but that vision was cut short when the guard suffered a torn ACL in a June 7 game against the Indiana Fever.

The Sky made three draft selections, adding TCU’s Hailey Van Lith and Notre Dame’s Maddy Westbeld to the roster while also making a long-term decision by drafting Slovenian teenager Ajša Sivka, who did not report to Chicago in 2025 in part due to international commitments for the EuroBasket tournament. Van Lith and Westbeld both played limited minutes.

Reese continued her domination of the boards on both sides of the court, leading the league with 12.6 rebounds per game. She was the Sky’s lone selection to the All-Star Game after spending the first half of the season transitioning to a “point forward” position that challenged her to play farther from the basket with the ball in her hands.

However, Reese played only 30 games for the Sky because of a back injury that lingered for the latter half of the season. Her year ended in frustration after a series of comments made to the Tribune resulted in ownership suspending the star for a half-game. Reese did not play in the Sky’s final three games because of her back injury and opted out of media exit interviews.

Off the court, the Sky continued to work toward the franchise’s primary goal of the past two years — completing a training facility in Bedford Park, which is expected to open within the first month of the 2026 season. Construction on the training facility was delayed because of several changes to the original plans, which included expanding the building’s footprint.

The WNBA enters the new year facing uncharted uncertainty after the players’ union authorized a strike vote amid contentious negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. Players and executives alike expect that CBA negotiations could delay the start of the 2026 season if a work stoppage is called for by either party. Once a deal is struck, teams will face a mad dash to assemble their rosters with 80% of the team currently waiting in free agency to sign deals under new minimum and maximum restrictions, which could see average salaries rise above $500,000.

— Julia Poe

Chicago Stars

The Stars will want to forget about their on-field results from this past year.

Without star forward Mallory Swanson — whose pregnancy and birth of her daughter with husband and Cubs shortstop Dansby kept her out for the season — the Stars struggled to get rolling en route to just three wins, the fewest in the National Women’s Soccer League. Their 20 points tied them for last to accompany a league-worst minus-22 goal differential.

The Stars fired head coach Lorne Donaldson following a 1-5 start after taking over the role in 2024. The club played better later in the season under interim coach Ella Masar, but ultimately fell short of producing a consistently good result on the pitch.

They get a fresh look in 2026 under new head coach Martin Sjögren and Swanson back in the fold — and a new playing location in Northwestern’s Martin Stadium. The Stars are also bringing back Olympic goaltender Alyssa Naeher.

— Meghan Montemurro

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox made a 19-game improvement one year after suffering a modern-day MLB record 121 losses. Still, that wasn’t enough to avoid a third consecutive 100-loss season as they finished 60-102.

The season featured a parade of young players receiving valuable big-league experience during Will Venable’s first season as manager.

Shortstop Colson Montgomery went from hitting the reset button with individual work at the team’s Arizona facility to hitting 21 home runs after being called up to the majors on July 4.

Infielder Chase Meidroth, catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero and reliever Grant Taylor were among those also to make the jump from the minors to becoming impactful major-leaguers.

Teel and Meidroth were acquired as part of the offseason trade that sent pitcher Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox in December 2024. Among the trades of note during the season, the Sox dealt 2019 first-round pick first baseman Andrew Vaughn to the Milwaukee Brewers in June after he was optioned to the minor leagues in late May. The club held on to center fielder Luis Robert Jr., who drew interest leading up to the trade deadline.

Off the field, the team received buzz when news spread that the new pope is a Sox fan. They later unveiled a mural in his honor at Rate Field.

And the Sox put in place the plan for the next chapter in the organization, announcing in June that Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and Justin Ishbia had reached a long-term investment agreement that establishes a framework for Ishbia to obtain a future controlling interest in the team. Reinsdorf has the option to sell his controlling interest to Ishbia from 2029-33. After the 2034 season, Ishbia would have the option to acquire the controlling interest.

Back on the field, the Sox saw Rule 5 pick pitcher Shane Smith emerge as an All-Star.

The Sox had periods during the second half in which everything clicked — winning nine of 11 from Aug. 31-Sept. 11 — and stretches of growing pains — the 1-11 record that followed from Sept. 12-25.

General manager Chris Getz said a key to a more competitive 2026 for the team will be the continued development of the young core. The Sox received a boost at the winter meetings in late December when they won the lottery to secure the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, which will take place in July in Philadelphia.

— LaMond Pope

College sports

Illinois football didn’t quite live up to early expectations, which had the Illini ranked No. 12 in the Associated Press preseason poll. But behind a veteran group that included quarterback Luke Altmyer and outside linebacker Gabe Jacas, the Illini finished the regular season 8-4 to tie a program record with 18 wins over the last two seasons. If Illinois can top Tennessee in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30, it would be the first time in program history that the team has had nine or more wins in consecutive years.

Illinois basketball lost to Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and sent Kasparas Jakučionis and Will Riley off to become first-round NBA draft picks. The Illini retooled to create the Balkan Five — five players with Balkan heritage — who, with Champaign native Kylan Boswell, played to a 2-3 record over ranked teams early this season.

The Illini women’s basketball team also made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament behind a senior-led group that included all-time rebounding leader Kendall Bostic. Coach Shauna Green, who led a second NCAA Tournament appearance in three seasons in Champaign, is trying to follow that up with a young team.

Northwestern football rode a solid defense to a 6-6 record and an appearance in the GameAbove Sports Bowl against Central Michigan on Dec. 26, its second bowl appearance in three seasons under coach David Braun. The Wildcats played their second home season at the lakefront Martin Stadium and Wrigley Field as they await the opening of the new $862 million Ryan Field.

Nick Martinelli was the Big Ten scoring leader last season for the Wildcats basketball team, but injuries, including to leader Brooks Barnhizer, marred the quest for a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Martinelli and transfer Arrinten Page lead a new-look group this season.

Northwestern women’s sports had a banner year, with women’s golf winning its first national championship in May, field hockey winning its second straight title in November and women’s lacrosse making it to the national title game for the third straight year. Wildcats women’s basketball coach Joe McKeown announced he will retire after the 2025-26 season.

In May, Northwestern reached settlements with football players who alleged hazing under former coach Pat Fitzgerald. The university then reached a settlement in Fitzgerald’s wrongful termination suit in August, saying it found no evidence that Fitzgerald directed or condoned hazing or had it reported to him by players. Three months later, Michigan State hired Fitzgerald to be its new coach.

Notre Dame football finished its 2024 season as the national runner-up after losing to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff championship game. The ending to the 2025 season drew a lot of attention too. The Irish started the season 0-2, losing to ranked Miami and Texas A&M by a total of four points, but won the next 10 games. That wasn’t enough to get into the CFP, and the Irish decided as a team to opt out of the bowl game that likely would have been played without some of their stars. Running back Jeremiyah Love finished a program-record-breaking season in third place in Heisman Trophy voting.

Notre Dame women’s basketball reached No. 1 in the AP rankings in February behind star guards Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, but the Irish lost in the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight season. Miles shocked the basketball world by transferring to TCU, but Hidalgo, a two-time All-American, returned for this season. In a Nov. 12 game against Akron, she set the NCAA Division I record with 16 steals and also set a Notre Dame record with 44 points.

Loyola men’s basketball lost its biggest fan in October. Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the chaplain who rose to national fame during the Ramblers’ NCAA Tournament runs, died at age 106.

DePaul men’s basketball, under new coach Chris Holtmann, broke a 39-game regular-season Big East losing streak with a win over Georgetown in January. The women’s basketball team turned a page when coach Doug Bruno retired from coaching after 39 seasons, handing the reins to his longtime assistant, Jill Pizzotti.

Northern Illinois announced that it would leave the Mid-American Conference after 39 seasons over two stints and join the Mountain West in football and the Horizon League in almost all of its other sports.

North Central College football won the Division III national championship, the program’s third national title in five seasons. The Cardinals will play to defend their title on Jan. 4, facing UW-River Falls.

Most Division I schools across the country began implementing revenue sharing with athletes in the wake of the House vs. NCAA settlement, with the majority of the $20.5 million per year going to football and men’s basketball players.

Looking ahead to 2026, will Notre Dame football come back hungry to avenge its CFP snub? Does Illinois basketball have what it takes to compete against the Big Ten’s best this season? Can Notre Dame women’s basketball get over the Sweet 16 hump? Can Northwestern rack up more women’s national championships in the spring season? There will be plenty to watch.

— Colleen Kane

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/23/chicago-sports-2025-recap/ 

Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry had some strong words following an embarrassing loss over the weekend, and the WNBA players’ union is taking the next step in contentious negotiations with the league.

The Bulls are headed for a stretch of home games, but are hoping Coby White can get back up to speed.

Every Tuesday, Tribune writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Bulls, Sky and local college basketball teams. Want more? Sign up for our Tribune sports newsletter.

WNBA players authorize strike

Chicago Sky forward Michaela Onyenwere, left, speaks to center Elizabeth Williams before the game against the Atlanta Dream at Wintrust Arena on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

The WNBA players’ union is ready for the next step in a contentious negotiation over a new collective bargaining agreement.

The players voted to authorize a strike last Thursday with a 98% majority vote from participating players. This vote does not mean a work stoppage will occur in the near future; however, it gives the union’s executive committee the authority to initiate a strike in the future. Chicago Sky center Elizabeth Williams is one of the seven players on that executive committee, in addition to Nneka Ogwumike, Kelsey Plum, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart and Brianna Turner.

“The players’ decision is an unavoidable response to the state of negotiations with the WNBA and its teams,” the WNBPA said in a statement. “Time and again, the players’ thoughtful and reasonable approach has been met by the WNBA and its teams with a resistance to change and a recommitment to the draconian provisions that have unfairly restricted players for nearly three decades. The players’ vote is neither a call for an immediate strike nor an intention to pursue one. Rather, it is an emphatic affirmation of the players’ confidence in their leadership and their unwavering solidarity against ongoing efforts to divide, conquer, and undervalue them.”

The league issued its own statement that the owners “strongly disagree with the WNBPA’s characterization of the current state of negotiations.” The two parties will now continue their work toward a Jan. 9 deadline, which was extended several times from an original expiration date in October.

Can Coby White get back up to speed?

Chicago Bulls guard Coby White drives on Cleveland Cavaliers’ Thomas Bryant in the second half of a game at the United Center in Chicago on Dec. 17, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

This season is coming along slowly for Coby White, who played only his 12th game of the year in Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks.

White missed the entirety of training camp, preseason and the first three weeks of the season with a calf strain that occurred in late August. Even after his return on Nov. 16, the guard has been hampered by tightness and discomfort in both calves, which resulted in four additional missed games. White wears sleeves on both calves during practice and games to help facilitate recovery in both injured legs — and avoid the risk of worse damage to his calves or Achilles tendons.

In recent weeks, the Bulls have seen a return of the version of White who could lead their offense in scoring. White scored 20 or more points in three of his last four games, including a 25-point heater in a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. He dove back into a heavier workload to play nearly 30 minutes per game without setbacks. But one area of White’s game still hasn’t caught up — his 3-point shooting.

White is shooting 29.8% from behind the arc, nearly eight percentage points below his career average of 36.7%. No one within the Bulls — teammates, coaches, staff — is worried about this bumpy start from 3-point range. It’s expected for a player still getting his wind and his bearings back after an extended absence. But White is still anxious to regain his comfort on the court and from his favored spot behind the line.

“I’m still trying to get it back,” White said. “I’ve never not had a training camp and preseason, so this is my first time ever not having this. It’s going to take some time. I was like, ‘Nah, I’ll be good.’ And now I’m starting to go through it. It’s tough for sure because everybody else is kind of ahead of the curve and I’m trying to catch up.”

International pipeline continues

Illinois men’s basketball brought in yet another international player last week, though this one won’t play this season.

The Illini signed 6-foot-8, 210-pound Croatian forward Toni Bilić last week. Bilić played three seasons for KK Cedevita Junior Zagreb in the Favbet Premier League in Croatia. Illinois announced that once he arrives on campus he will focus on strength training and development for the rest of this season and will not play in games.

Bilić joins an Illinois group that already consists of Croatian twins Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivišić, Montenegrin forward David Mirković and Serbian point guard Mihailo Petrović. The players share an agent.

“It’s an opportunity for him to come in here and not have any pressure of having to play,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood told reporters. “Very, very skilled downhill player. He fits what we’re looking for in terms of positional size. I love his IQ and his feel is extremely, extremely competitive. He plays really hard.

“He’s got tremendous perimeter skills. He sees the floor. He’s a passer. He’s got a lot of ability to make plays for others as well as himself and just needs strength. This will give him a great opportunity to do that.”

Intra-Indiana stunner

Head coach Micah Shrewsberry of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish looks on against the Missouri Tigers on Dec. 2, 2025, in South Bend, Indiana. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry offered a unique thank you Sunday after his Irish lost to Purdue Fort Wayne 72-69 at home.

“Whoever booed me on the way out, thank you,” Shrewsberry said in his postgame news conference. “Thank you. I appreciate it, every single bit of it. Because it was deserved. It was deserved by us and how we played and how we coached them. But we’re not going to quit after tonight. What it did is ruin my Christmas. I’m going to watch this film. And there ain’t no Christmas in my house. There might be for everybody else in the family. But I have a huge chip on my shoulder.”

Shrewsberry said the Irish had a “total lack of leadership” that started with him, but also gave Purdue Fort Wayne credit.

Corey Hadnot II scored 29 points and had six rebounds, three steals and two assists to lead Purdue Fort Wayne to its first program victory over Notre Dame. The Mastodons have had wins against major conference opponents before — against Indiana in 2016 and 2017, and DePaul in 2023.

Number of the week: 12

Hannah Hidalgo of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish handles the ball against Bree Robinson of the James Madison Dukes on Dec. 14, 2025, in Harrisonburg, Virginia. (Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Career 30-point games for Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo. She broke the Irish record, held by Arike Ogunbowale, on Sunday when she scored 30 points on 13-for-17 shooting in 22 minutes against Bellarmine. Hidalgo also had 13 steals and 10 assists for the first 30-point triple-double in Notre Dame history in the 110-38 win.

Week ahead: Bulls

Tuesday: @ Hawks, 6:30 p.m. (CHSN)
Friday: vs. 76ers, 6:30 p.m. (CHSN)
Saturday:  vs. Bucks, 7 p.m. (CHSN)
Monday: vs. Timberwolves, 7 p.m. (CHSN)

It’s early to talk about tiebreakers, but the Bulls are already facing several key matchups for their year-long Eastern Conference standings. One of those matchups is on Tuesday against the Hawks, when the Bulls can sweep their season series with Atlanta. The Bulls already clinched a tiebreaker over Atlanta with Sunday’s win. Sweeping the series would give the Bulls another advantage to leapfrog the Hawks, who are currently one game ahead in the East.

Week ahead: Best college basketball games

Sunday: Illinois women at Purdue, 11 a.m. (Big Ten Network)
Monday: Southern men at No. 20 Illinois, 2 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
Monday: Pittsburgh women at No. 18 Notre Dame, 5 p.m. (ACC Network)

After Illinois’ Braggin’ Rights blowout over Missouri on Monday night, it’s a light week for many area basketball teams.

But the Illini women, who are now 11-1, continue Big Ten play this weekend at Purdue, while the Illini men host Southern in a weekday afternoon game Monday. Notre Dame hosts an ACC matchup with Pittsburgh.

What we’re reading this morning

Shea Serrano tackles Michael Jordan’s numerology and Dennis Rodman’s brilliance in ‘Expensive Basketball’
Is it time for the Bulls to move Coby White? Is there still a market for Nikola Vučević?
3 takeaways from the Bulls’ 3rd straight win — and the NBA’s highest-scoring game this season
Hannah Hildago posts triple-double in No. 20 Notre Dame women’s 110-38 win over Bellarmine
Angel Reese will return to the Chicago Sky in 2026 as both sides focus on ‘building that relationship’
Las Vegas and Seattle are the front-runners if NBA expansion to 32 teams happens
Nick Martinelli sits out with a concussion as Northwestern loses to Butler 61-58 in Indy Classic

Quote of the week

“I looked at it at halftime and it was like 83 points. It was crazy. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘We have 83 points?’ And nobody had a reaction. I was like, this might be normal.” — Matas Buzelis after the Bulls and the Hawks combined for 302 points in the highest-scoring NBA game of the season

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/23/chicago-basketball-report-wnba-notre-dame/ 

The Box Office Crisis Is Worse Than It Looks

Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/23/2025 – 06:55

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/box-office-crisis-worse-it-looks 

It never gets easy, our yearly look back at the many people — and some places, trends and other things — that departed in the past 12 months. But in so doing,  we — meaning some of the Tribune’s critics, writers and contributors — are reminded of what a rich and rewarding spot we live. Though many of the people you will read about have had a global impact, most have plied their magic here, a nurturing place. We have been fortunate enough to share their talents, and if there is a minor joy to the making of these yearly lists, it is in knowing that you may never have heard of these people or tasted their creations. And doing so will surely make 2026 a bright new year.

From Tribune columnist Rick Kogan

It is a long way from Lake Forest to the moon — 240,000 miles, give or take — and James Lovell made that trip twice, never setting foot on the moon but seeing things that few people have ever seen and living a life of estimable grace. He died in August in that leafy northern suburb where he had lived for many of his 97 years, running with his son Jay a terrific restaurant named Lovell’s.

It served good food and was filled with some of the memorabilia he had accumulated during his long, high-flying and honor-filled career. There was a moon rock and a framed “Apollo 13” movie poster signed by actor Tom Hanks, who portrayed Lovell in the 1995 film. Many of his obituaries understandably focused on Hanks, who posted his thoughts online, saying in part, “There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to places we would not go on our own. Jim Lovell, who for a long while has gone further into space and for longer than any other person on our planet, was that kind of guy. His many voyages around Earth and on to so-very-close to the moon were not made for riches or celebrity, but because such challenges as those are what fuel the course of being alive.”

Lovell wore the tag “hero” lightly. He was self-effacing, gentlemanly and energetically friendly. As an astronaut, he was a member of a very exclusive club. There have been 600-some people who have flown into space. By comparison, there have been more than 900 Nobel Prize winners and more than 3,500 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients.

To know him was to like and admire him. Local author Robert Kurson wrote about him in 2018’s “Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon” that vividly captured that 1968 flight and its crew, Lovell and fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Bill Anders, the first humans ever to leave Earth for another destination and how this mission helped save the country’s space program.

The three of them are gone now, Borman dying in 2023, Anders in 2024 and Lovell in June. But they come to vivid life in the book. Kurson tells another wonderful story: “In all the time I knew Jim, he expressed just a single regret — that he’d been forced to give up flying at age 85.”

George Wendt was a child of Beverly, that tightly-knit, leafy neighborhood on the South Side. He was also a product of Old Town, that equally lovely but more frenetic neighborhood where he lived for a time and enlivened the stage of the Second City.

Wendt died of cardiac arrest on May 20 in Los Angeles, where he had lived since 1980 with his wife, Bernadette Birkett, whom he had met at the Second City. He was 76 years old.

He had grown up in a home near the corner of 92nd Place and Bell Avenue, where a street sign now features his name. The neighborhood is filled with fans and friends and many remember Wendt’s mom, Loretta Wendt, who died in 2010. That’s when George told me, “She was of her time, a housewife and mom, but I have always thought that had she been born in another era, she could have been as successful as Elaine May or Tina Fey.”

Some famous folks showed up at a second City memorial service in October. Thoughtfully organized and hosted by two of Wendt’s oldest friends and collaborators, Tim Kazurinsky and Peter Burns, the event included film clips of Wendt’s decades-old work at the Second City, some riotously funny, some zany. These peppered a parade of speakers who offered anecdotes most pleasingly upbeat, and among them were Jim Belushi, Joel Murray, Mark Nutter, Tom Tulley, Bruce Jarchow and Nancy McCabe-Kelly, and all the way from Ireland, Vinnie O’Shea.

Wendt’s fame as Norm on “Cheers” — and the many Emmy nominations that came with it — understandably overshadowed his other work in TV, film and theater, of which there was plenty. He was also made larger than life through his turn on the popular Saturday Night Live bit about “Da Bears.”

The Second City memorial lasted a little less than two hours and it ended with a singalong (“Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” natch) and people walking out into the Old Town night knowing a little bit more about their old friend, colleague and relative, appreciating him more than ever, missing him too.

When George Freeman was about to turn 92 years old in 2019, the Tribune’s former jazz critic Howard Reich sat with him and heard him say, “I’ve played with Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz, my brother Von, Johnny Griffin, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins. And, of course, I played with Charlie Parker. It’s just amazing.”

Yes, it was, and Reich was among those with whom Freeman shared his “extraordinary wealth of information … his experiences, insights and anecdotes.” George was also a world-class conversationalist and storyteller.

I thought of Reich when Freeman died on April 1 and I recalled with pleasure the times that I was lucky enough to hear Freeman talk and play. I was also reminded what a glorious family he had, being the elder brother of Chicago tenor saxophone giant Von Freeman (who died in 2012) and their brother, drummer Eldridge “Bruz” Freeman (who died in 2006), and Von’s son, tenor saxophonist Chico Freeman.

I was also drawn to the many stories Reich had written about this remarkable family and to George’s many late-career albums brought forth as the result of his relationship with Joanie Pallatto and Bradley Parker-Sparrow and their Chicago-based Southport Records. Just listen to any (or all) of these: “Rebellion,” “George Burns!” “George The Bomb!” and “Everybody Say Yeah!”

You may have noticed that the above story is punctuated with more than one “!” Few lives deserve them more.

Tony Fitzpatrick was a boundlessly creative man in many realms — visual arts, theater, film, radio, literature and random conversations — who died in October while awaiting a double lung transplant. He was only 66 and his family was with him, wife Michele and their kids, daughter Gaby (Gabrielle) and son Max, who said, “He put up an honorable fight, never gave up. He can now rest with Studs Terkel, Mike Royko, Nelson Algren, and Lin Brehmer as one of the greatest Chicago storytellers there ever was. He did everything and he did it his way.”

Yes, he did.

A relatively aimless and hard-drinking young man born and raised in the western suburbs, a child of a loving family, he was a little angry and a bit crazy, searching for ways to express himself. He would find it first in art and then, after stopping drinking and finding Michele, dive into life with stunning energy.

There came an astonishing stream of paintings, poems, performances, etchings, radio and film work, prolific and successful and internationally acclaimed enough to make other artists envious.

His voice was common on radio stations, especially WLUP. He could be found at poetry slams and eventually on stages and screens, in such films as “Primal Fear,” “Mad Dog and Glory” and “Philadelphia,” and most recently as a security guard in the “Patriot” TV series.

He remained busy in his final weeks. A steady stream of pals, journalists and admirers visited his hospital room. One of them, the actor Richard Kind, the day after seeing Fitzpatrick in the hospital, was at Wrigley Field and dedicated (“Tony Fitzpatrick, this is for you”) his rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

From the hospital, he “hosted,” via Zoom, the opening of his new art exhibition, “Songbirds and Crucifixions,” at Great Lakes Tattoo. He gave interviews about his new book, titled “The Sun at the End of the Road,” filled with Fitzpatrick’s distinctive art, poetry and prose, and as he put it, “some of what I remember, some of what I have learned and damn near all of what I love — birds, stories, people and dogs.” Mostly people.

From Tribune writer Nina Metz

One of the biggest movie stars of the 1970s, who could tackle everything from wry comedy to paranoid thrillers, Robert Redford’s appeal on screen was rooted in his elusiveness, thawing perhaps most effectively when playing opposite Paul Newman in 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and in 1974’s “The Sting.” The driving force behind the Sundance Film Festival, he was integral in helping boost the work of indie filmmakers. Perhaps it’s poetic that a man so essential to the movies died as the film industry is experiencing its own kind of death.

Director Sydney Pollack, left, appears with actors Robert Redford, center, and Barbra Streisand during the filming of “The Way We Were” in New York on Nov. 28, 1972. (Marty Lederhandle/AP)

HBO’s streaming platform began as HBO Max, was changed to simply Max for reasons that defy good sense, and then changed back again to HBO Max earlier this year as part of the death of coherent media company branding. Who wants to bet a bunch of consultants made bank somewhere in this process? Joining the pack is Apple, which launched its streaming platform as Apple TV+ and then recently announced, with no fanfare, that the app would simply be known as Apple TV going forward. Sure. Whatever. At least cable channel MSNBC had a reason to rebrand as MS NOW; that’s because parent company (and NBC owner) Comcast is spinning off its cable channels that were formerly under the NBCUniversal umbrella into a new company and needed to create a distinction between (the old) MSNBC and NBC News. So “NBC” needed to be stripped of its identity. No doubt, there will be more rebrands in the year to come. Like that old saw about the weather, if you don’t like it, just wait a few minutes.

Sure, Disney only temporarily capitulated to the current presidential administration by suspending late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel earlier this year. But that there was any suspension at all, thanks to pressure from the FCC, does not speak well for how media companies view their independence at the moment, or for the spines of their CEOs. Just look at Paramount Global, which pulled the plug on its late night talk show host, Stephen Colbert (whose CBS show will end this spring) and agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, leading many to speculate that both were done to ensure federal approval of Skydance’s recent acquisition of the company.

From Tribune writer Christopher Borrelli

When Michael Sumler died last spring in a car crash outside Atlanta, you could feel his obituaries straining to explain exactly what Sumler did as a member of Kool & The Gang. For Rolling Stone, he “worked alongside” the ‘70s funk legends. In Billboard, he was their “Beloved Hype Man.” Mitch Dudek, writing in the Sun-Times, was the most gracious: “Chicago Mike” kept “tabs on the group’s wardrobe” but also “hyped up crowds with dance moves and sang backup.” In a social media post after his death at 71, the band itself described the South Side native as their “longtime wardrobe valet.”

Michael “Chicago Mike” Sumler, left, of Kool & the Gang greets House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at the Madame C.J. Walker Museum, Sept. 1, 2022, in Atlanta. (Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Sumler, no matter what you might call his role in the group, was a member of a loosely affiliated fraternity of entertainers who, though rarely celebrated, come to the stage first, working a waiting crowd into shape, prepping the room for the promised riches to come.

The most famous of these men (they were always men) was Danny Ray, who died in 2021 at 85. He was known for his superlative-fueled introductions of James Brown (“The Godfather of Soul! The Amazing Mr. Please, Please Please!”). Hype Men, as they’re best known, were once a must-have for a great R&B show, but hip hop made the role a stepping stone: What would Public Enemy be without Flavor Flav hyping Chuck D? Jay-Z was Big Daddy Kane’s hype man; Diddy played the part for Notorious B.I.G.

Sumler — who was more like Jerome Benton in The Time, attending to the look of the group and its choreography, then slipping in with the backup singers for the rest of a concert — was discovered by a member of Kool & the Gang’s security while playing a South Side club with his band Power Pac. He started touring with Kool & Co. in 1985, just as their ‘70s hits were being dwarfed by their 1984 blockbuster album, “Emergency.”

“My father was a modest man, and yet … no, he was not!” said Monica Ford, one of Sumler’s two daughters. “We would go shopping and we would always end up talking to someone about Kool & the Gang — perfect strangers! My father loved being in music.”

Sumler grew up on 114th Street and spent most of his life on stages. “There are different things you can be in a group,” said Elesia White, Sumler’s other daughter. “My dad was part of the Kool family, but if you asked what he was? He’d say ‘entertainer.’”

Edmund White, who died in June at 85, wrote about sex. Not exclusively; he wrote around 30 books, some fiction, some histories, some memoirs, many a blend. But sex was always prominent. It was his “great subject,” he liked to say. He first wrote about sex as a teenager, when he was growing up in Evanston and Rockford. Specifically, he wrote about gay sex, without apology, when the subject itself was culturally off the table. He wrote so early and so frankly about sex between gay men that two of his best-received books, “The Joy of Gay Sex” (1977) and “States of Desire” (1980), were made immediate antiques only a few years later, when AIDS started tearing through gay communities. White was present then, too: He cofounded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in 1982, and was its first president; a few years after, he was diagnosed HIV-positive.

He was so associated with writing about sex, it’s important to say he was never one thing. He was a bright intellectual child, but his own mother, an Illinois state psychiatrist, labeled him “borderline psychotic.” I interviewed him several times over the years and he was always generous, though very discerning; extremely accepting but a bit snobby. “A Boy’s Own Story” (1982), his breakthrough, was often categorized as fiction but was closer to semi-autobiographical, particularly in recounting the cruelties of being gay in Chicago in the 1950s. It led to a trilogy — “The Beautiful Room is Empty” (1988), “The Farewell Symphony” (1997) — collectively recounting gay life in the late 20th century.

Still, his writings on sex were so vivid — and cringy and explicit and elegiac, into his 80s — you had to remind yourself he could be hilarious and, as many critics noted, deeply Proustian, close to aristocratic, with a touch of Henry James. Every time I spoke with him, I could feel my cheeks reddening. The last time we talked, I asked, naively, when he was a kid growing in Evanston, did he linger over sex scenes in novels? He proceeded to tell me about the “several hundred” men he had sex with in Chicago before he was 16. As in his books, the details were extraordinary: “I would have sex with men in their station wagons, which would be full of their children’s toys.”

White broadened the cultural portrait of gay life, and remained ambitious into his final years. In one of his last books, set in 2050, an elderly couple remembers their sexual partners. In meta fashion, White himself is one of those affairs. He imagines himself almost completely forgotten by 2050. You could sense anxiety about his legacy, though at the same time, as White once told the Paris Review, he never regretted what he wrote: “Something that would please me alone — that became my sole criterion.”

José “Cha Cha” Jiménez, center, the leader of the Young Lords organization, gets an enthusiastic reception as he turns himself in to the Chicago police at the Town Hall district on Dec. 6, 1972. (Ovie Carter/Chicago Tribune)

When José Jiménez was a child, he moved around Chicago nine times and attended four different elementary schools. Jiménez, better known as “Cha Cha,” liked to repeat those numbers. He knew they told the story of gentrification in the city better than any neighborhood housing committee could. He understood it was not just his story but one shared by many low-income residents of Chicago who were displaced in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly around Lincoln Park. He died in January at 76.

Jiménez described himself as a “revolutionary,” not as the leader of a non-profit or a community organizer. Which was wise — there was nothing formal about his history: His family moved to the United States from Puerto Rico in the late 1940s when he was a baby, and, at only 11, he helped create the Young Lords street gang on the Near North Side. As he told interviewers later, Chicago gangs then were about territory, and Lincoln Park was ground zero for a huge urban redevelopment plan by Mayor Richard J. Daley.

Still, fighting was involved. Jiménez landed in jail often.

But during one stint in 1968, he read Malcolm X and American theologian Thomas Merton and Martin Luther King, Jr., and left prison with a renewed vision for the Young Lords. They would be an activist voice of affordable housing and healthcare for Puerto Ricans, modeled on the confrontational tactics of the Black Panthers. He was so taken with the Panthers he connected to chairman Fred Hampton and — together with the Young Patriots, a group of White Southerners in Uptown — launched the Rainbow Coalition to build a united multiracial front. (Jesse Jackson would later name his National Rainbow Coalition partly in honor of the group.)

The Young Lords petered out by the 1980s, but not before confronting landlords, occupying buildings and starting community centers. They inspired similar groups around the country to be aggressive about social services, helping raise the cause of human rights in Latino communities. But as Jiménez told an oral history project on the Young Lords, they were accidental activists: “We were just trying to defend our ‘hood.”

Michael Madsen attends the 2015 AMBI Gala benefiting The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation on Sept. 9, 2015, in Toronto. (Arthur Mola/Invision/AP)
Chicago actor Ron Dean had dozens of movie and TV credits, though rarely in a lead role. (Andrew Davis)

If you added up every line spoken by Michael Madsen and Ron Dean in every movie and TV show they appeared in — and between the two, they appeared in more than 400, mostly in the ‘80s and ‘90s — it’s unlikely you’d have enough dialogue for an entire movie. Both grew up in Chicago and neither said much on screen. They were character actors — they didn’t have to. Madsen, who died in June at 67, played criminals with a steady brooding menace. Dean, who died in October at 87, played police with a ruddy, brooding command. They were like the Crown Victoria of actors, projections of authority.

And yet here we are singling them out.

They were heavies, disposable but somehow weirdly timeless. Madsen was the one with a little marquee value: He was that guy who cut off the ear in “Reservoir Dogs,” and that guy in “Kill Bill” who buried Uma Thurman alive; he played Susan Sarandon’s restless beau in “Thelma & Louise,” and he was the guy who pulls the gun on the other guy who won’t fire the nuke in “WarGames.” He was a one-man film noir, like his hero, Robert Mitchum. Dean, meanwhile, was a great hard-ass. He played the hard-ass dad who drops off Emilio Estevez in “The Breakfast Club,” and a hard-ass coach in “Rudy”; he was a detective who sweats Harrison Ford in “The Fugitive,” and the cop who gets shot (in Twin Anchors restaurant) by Harvey Dent in “The Dark Knight.” He was that guy with the bullhorn in “Risky Business” who told Tom Cruise to “get off the babysitter.”

Strangely, Madsen and Dean were also aligned in life. As a teenager, Madsen did jail time for burglary and theft; in his last years, he was arrested for child endangerment and domestic violence. When Dean was 16, he escaped a jail lockup, found a gun in a desk and shot to death a Chicago police officer; he served 12 years in prison. After he got out, he found his way onto local theater stages, eventually appearing at Steppenwolf and Goodman. Madsen was a mechanic in Wilmette when he decided to audition for Steppenwolf; he soon landed a small role in “Of Mice and Men.” Both were also poets who would have appreciated how lyrically twinned they were, a pair of everyday schmoes from Chicago with meaty faces who became shorthand for blue-collar guys.

Without Burt Meyer and Mario Pasin tinkering around the North Side, building a trading route to the North Pole and Santa Claus that continues today, it would be hard to picture nearly any Christmas morning between 1960 and 1995. Boomers and Gen Xers were the primary constituents of Meyer and Pasin, though, you could argue, their influence never faded. You might even say work kept them young: Pasin, who was born in Oak Park, died in August at 95, and Meyer, who was born in Hinsdale, died in October at 99.

Pasin was the owner of Radio Flyer, the Belmont Cragin toy maker responsible for the classic red metal wagon. In the 1960s, he took over the business from Antonio Pasin, his father, who had founded the company in 1917. Meyer was a toy designer whose inventions also became childhood benchmarks. He created Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. And Lite Brite. And MouseTrap. He spent 25 years at Marvin Glass & Associations, as one of the stars of a legendary team at the former River North studio that dreamed up Operation, Ants in the Pants, Simon, Spirograph, Inchworm, Gnip Gnop, Mystery Date …

Meyer’s creations — which were designed for Marvin Glass and then licensed out to major toy manufacturers such as Hasbro, Mattel and Parker Brothers — took full advantage of the post-World War II plastics age. Mario Pasin, conversely, steered Radio Flyer into its wood-paneled wagon days, and NASA-inspired ‘60s designs, then wagons with a touch of ‘70s muscle car. The first plastic Radio Flyer wagon wasn’t introduced until 1994.

That you never heard of Meyer or Pasin speaks louder than a rusty wagon. After Pasin’s death, his son Robert, who became CEO in the ‘90s, recalled his father as a portrait of sturdy midcentury Americana, not unlike a RadioFlyer. “He just went peacefully about his business … puffing on his cigar while quietly sitting with my mom in the living room.”

From contributing critic Bob Gendron

Recent news of the Music Box adding a third screen to its revered Southport Avenue location next year would’ve doubtlessly thrilled Dennis Wołkowicz. A self-taught pipe organist and historical preservationist who performed as an accompanist to silent film around the Chicago area, he recognized the community connections between old theaters and their surrounding neighborhoods. He had a special passion for reinvigorating the Six Corners district on the Northwest Side — an area blocks away from the two-flat in which he lived his entire life.

Dennis Wolkowicz, aka Jay Warren, with his Wurlitzer organ at the historic Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge, Jan. 12, 2023. (Caroline Kubzansky/Pioneer Press)

Wołkowicz epitomized the get-it-done Chicago spirit. Against all odds, he signed on to manage the then-threadbare Gateway Theater — a gem inside the Copernicus Center in Jefferson Park — in the mid-’80s. He began the venue’s comeback by screening silent films and installing a vintage 1927 organ, a move that prompted him to sharpen his skills on an instrument he admired as an adolescent. In the next decade, Wołkowicz co-founded the Silent Film Society of Chicago. The nonprofit’s Silent Summer Film Festival drew 8,000 attendees in its heyday. One of Chicago’s last photoplay organists, Wołkowicz took on another challenge in the mid-2000s when he agreed to manage and renovate the neglected Portage Theater, which he helped win landmark status.

He will be missed for being seen and heard at the organ at film screenings around the city. Performing upwards of 60 dates per year, often under the easier-to-pronounce alias Jay Warren, he appeared at the Davis, Logan, Pickwick, Patio, Arcada and Music Box theaters, as well as City News Cafe and various churches. As time-old traditions of going to the movies give way to streaming, Wołkowicz’s legacy reminds us of the shared experiences and auditory delights lost by staying home.

Drummer Jack DeJohnette performs during the opening night of the 35th annual Chicago Jazz Festival at Millennium Park, Aug. 29, 2013. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

For Jack DeJohnette, timing was everything. Arguably the most accomplished and prolific drummer to hail from Chicago, he started playing clubs as a teenager. During that era in the early 1960s, he found himself in the crowd for a local John Coltrane residency. When the saxophonist’s percussionist, Elvin Jones, failed to materialize at the start of a set, DeJohnette stepped in. The moment crystallized a career marked by boundless adventure, unflagging virtuosity and rhythmic innovation.

Though DeJohnette departed for New York in the mid-’60s, he never forgot the sounds and lessons he absorbed in his hometown. A composer, improvisor, bandleader and sideman who possessed perfect pitch, DeJohnette left his mark on dozens of his own LPs as well as recordings by a who’s who of jazz giants — Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Freddie Hubbard, Dave Holland, John Abercrombie and Pat Metheny included. His extensive work for a pair of seminal labels (ECM and CTI) with divergent tastes spoke to his adaptability, diversity and thirst for discovery.

Hard bop, funk, swing, psychedelia, electric fusion, rock: DeJohnette navigated those styles and others with command and sensitivity. He considered himself a “colorist” and relished the opportunity to tackle pieces he’d played before as if they were brand-new. His curiosity and aptitude never ebbed. He came full circle in 2013 at Millennium Park by reuniting with several Chicago visionaries who formed the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and with whom he collaborated half a century earlier. DeJohnette followed that feat by returning to the piano — his first instrument —  for his first solo piano LP, “Return” (2016). In 2022, he won a Grammy four months before turning 80. Yes, we lost DeJohnette. But not the deep rabbit hole of records on which he’s credited and which beckon our attention.

Jerry “Iceman” Butler sings “Moon River” at the New Regal Theater in Chicago on May 14, 1999. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Chicagoans might know Jerry Butler from his decades-spanning role as Cook County Board Commissioner. Others may remember him for improving healthcare access while chairing the Health and Hospitals Committee. However admirable, his public service pales compared to the outsized impact he made on soul music.

Having cut his teeth singing gospel in churches and crooning on street corners near his family’s residence at the Cabrini-Green housing project, Butler became the first lead singer for the Impressions. His resonant baritone, creamy-smooth deliveries, suave control and formal presence were such that the group’s label — Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records — plotted to feature him as a solo artist from the time the Impressions recorded their haunting debut, “For Your Precious Love.” (Rolling Stone ranks the 1958 single one of the 500 greatest songs of all time.) In “Move on Up,” his definitive book on Chicago soul, Tribune contributor Aaron Cohen views its creation as the lynchpin to an independent- and community-minded social shift that swept the city.

Due to internal tensions, Butler separated from the Impressions in 1960. Over the next 15 years, he logged a string of solo hits, ranging from “Only the Strong Survive” and “Make It Easy on Yourself” to “Let It Be Me” (a duet with fellow Chicago transplant Betty Everett) and “He Will Break Your Heart.” The latter is one of his collaborations with childhood friend and former Impressions mate Curtis Mayfield.

In the process, Butler earned his “Iceman” nickname and induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Impressions. The biggest tribute of all? His music continues to transcend generations via cover versions by rock ‘n’ roll contemporaries like Bruce Springsteen, the Hives and the Black Keys.

From Tribune critic Chris Jones

The silver-haired publicist was at once a classic, old-school Chicagoan and a fish out of Midwestern water, a glamorous promoter with all of the dynamic pizzazz of Hollywood or midtown Manhattan. Margie Korshak ran the media show at most every Broadway musical to play Chicago for five decades, took care of much luxury retail (in more ways than one), and banged the drum for concert venues. Just as importantly, she served as the mentor of the famed “Margie’s Girls,” acolytes who often went on to found their own agencies and businesses after seeing firsthand what a woman could do in this profession. Cheerfully typified by the pink neon “Margie” sign in her John Hancock Center office, Korshak was known for grabbing hunter and quarry alike by the hand and pushing them together as if it were their destiny. At her memorial service, the famed British producer Cameron Mackintosh sent a Broadway singer from her favorite musical, “Les Misérables,” to sing “Bring Him Home,” or, in this case, “Bring Her Home.” A grand exit, fully deserved.

An excavator demolishes a building next door to the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted Street, in Chicago on Nov. 13, 2025. The theater will be razed and redeveloped for an apartment building. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

The prominent, four-theater building on Halsted Street in Lincoln Park, the Royal George Theatre, now meeting the wrecking ball after a long period of uncertainty, was the epicenter of Chicago’s now struggling commercial theater sector, the home of populist entertainment like “Love Letters,” “Art,” and “Forever Plaid” (a six year run!). It also hosted the world premiere of what became “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” and the iconic first national tour of “Angels in America.” Stars aplenty appeared there, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, and rarely were its theaters dark. Chicago loses a very viable mainstage theater with nearly 500 seats, attached parking and a Lincoln Park location. No small matter.

The low-slung West Lakeview Stage 773 building might be architecturally unimportant but, especially when it was known as the Theatre Building, it played a vital role in the history of the off-Loop theater movement after its founding by Byron Schaffer Jr. in 1977. With three sought-after rental venues of roughly equal size, it served as an early-career home for numerous Chicago theater artists, from Joan Allen and John Malkovich to Aidan Quinn, William Petersen and David Schwimmer. The Theatre Building was the first Chicago home of the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company and also hosted a long list of small companies, from Famous Door Theatre Company to New Tuners and Porchlight Music Theatre to the Bailiwick Repertory.  Sacred artistic ground, you’d think, but soon to be merely condominiums and retail.

Theater founder Fred Anzevino at Theo’s 25th anniversary gala in Sept. 2022. (Jay Towns)

The founder of Theo Ubique Theatre Company, a tiny operation that spent most of its existence in a Rogers Park coffeehouse, Fred Anzevino was (as much as any single person), the inventor of Chicago-style musicals. Whether the show was “Light in the Piazza” or “Cats,” he’d cram prodigious young musical-theater talent into a tiny space and then also ask them to serve drinks at intermission. Actors made bank on the tips and audiences would flock to one of the few available tables to catch a glimpse of the stars of the future. Anzevino was a rare judge of talent, especially when it came to vocal quality. After his death this year, his new Howard Street theater was filled with artists and audience members, coming together in gratitude.

English playwright Tom Stoppard outside Lincoln Center Theater in New York on Sept. 27, 2018. (Daniel Dorsa/The New York Times)

Tom Stoppard was simply far smarter than any other contemporary playwright and more able to make the connections that underpin our lives — he wrote of string theory and sex, God and risk management, rock music and physics. He was interested in how science meets art, love turns into betrayal, moral rectitude gets undermined by insecurity. He understood how the roll of the dice changes our fate, how life is mostly a game, how everything was just a whole lot more complicated than we realized when we sat down in a theater seat to unravel “Arcadia” or “The Real Thing” or “Rock ‘n’ Roll,” or “Travesties” or, especially, “Leopoldstadt,” his final opus where the theater’s greatest relative thinker homed in on what matters most to all of us: our identities.

From contributing critic Lauren Warnecke

Few made a bigger impact on Chicago dance than Shirley Mordine, who pioneered the city’s model for training and presenting modern dance at scale. Mordine, 89, founded the dance department at Columbia College Chicago, serving as its chair for three decades.

Shirley Mordine watches dancers of her Mordine & Company rehearse for a 50th season performance on April 24, 2019, at Indian Boundary Cultural Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

It was partially self-serving. In creating the Dance Center, as the department is now called, Mordine trained dancers in her idiosyncratic, theatrical style, bringing generations of students into her professional company, Mordine & Company Dance Theater. The company, which recently dissolved after more than 50 years, was a launch pad for myriad artists who trained, danced and performed with Mordine — giving them a reason to stay in Chicago.

Mordine was an uncompromising leader in the studio and the boardroom. When confronted with “Why?” she’d ask, “Why not?” Rigor and tenacity are how she got things done. In 1972, Mordine founded the Dance Presenting Series at Columbia College, convincing artists from across the country and globe to perform in Chicago for the first time or return after long absences. She launched a Chicago edition of DanceAfrica, which for years was a festival of traditional and contemporary African dance at the Medina Temple. Those kinds of partnerships laid the groundwork for many cross-cultural collaborations, which weren’t popular when Mordine arrived in Chicago in the late 1960s. Ever interested in the world, with dance as the vehicle to explore it, Mordine forged kinetic connections with breakdancers and Bharatanatyam artists — connections which today feel like second-nature among Chicago’s dance scene.

Death is delayed, but not denied, for the Fine Arts Building’s elevators. Construction has begun converting their system — believed to be the last manually operated elevators in the city and original to the 1898 building created for the Studebaker Carriage Company. Managing artistic director Jacob Harvey has said the building’s three Otis cabs, hailed by a single button ringing a bell on each floor, had become too cumbersome to keep; replacement parts were almost impossible to find. There’s also the matter of staffing them. Operator Waclaw Kalata, a fixture in the building for three decades, is both an artist and a scientist, performing a kind of precise choreography eight hours a day — a job younger generations have not found appealing, given the lack of remaining opportunities to do it. For hangers-on, the good news is, elevator construction is long and expensive. Already behind schedule, the Fine Arts Building expects at least one manual cab to run through 2026.

From contributing critic Hannah Edgar

It wasn’t an LGBTQ event without Lori Cannon. Cannon’s wit was as incandescent as her signature flaming red hair, but her generous heart was brightest of all. She first became a local fixture after becoming one of the earliest Chicagoans to volunteer on behalf of those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, at a time when the disease was still little understood. She earned the moniker “Chicago’s AIDS Angel” and a posthumous tribute from Gov. JB Pritzker, who praised her for “(leading) the way with chutzpah and humor.”

Lori Cannon, program director at GroceryLand. (Chicago Tribune/Bob Fila)

Caring for others was second nature for Cannon, 74, who died Aug. 3 from pancreatic cancer. A lifelong Chicagoan, she spent much of her adolescence taking care of her brothers, both of whom had complex medical needs. Together with other activists, she founded Open Hand Chicago, a meal service for those bedridden with AIDS, in 1988. Its successor, the Edgewater food pantry GroceryLand, followed in 1994. She was instrumental in the creation of both ACT UP’s Chicago chapter and the Legacy Project, the organization behind the Legacy Walk placards on Halsted Street.

“When my contemporaries were dying in my arms, literally dying in my arms, my life was changed. I knew I couldn’t count on the government,” Cannon told the Tribune in 2004. “That’s when I knew this was my mission. I knew I couldn’t save lives, but I knew I could serve.”

As medical advances allowed individuals to live with HIV, Cannon remained just as dedicated to awareness as she was four decades prior.

A sign hung in GroceryLand read, “LATEST AIDS STATISTICS: 0,000,000 CURED.”

“I can’t wait till we can shut down and hang up a shingle, ‘It’s been a pleasure to serve you, and now we’re going to do something else,’” she told the Tribune in 2004. “Studs Terkel asked me once, ‘What would your life have been like without AIDS?’

“And I said, ‘Studs, I’ll never know.’”

From contributing critic Britt Julious

Slo ‘Mo was revolutionary. As Chicago’s longest-running LGBTQ nightlife party, the event not only offered a safe space for the queer community in the city, it brought together generations of music fans. That was in large part due to the ethos and efforts of founder and co-host Kristen Kaza.

Kaza deeply understood the power that music can bring to those across the racial, gender and generational lines. Slo ‘Mo was a welcoming and affirming place for queer folks to be free and fulfilled, loved and loud, happy and whole. And as Kaza shared with me, “Slo ‘Mo has played a beautiful role, contributing to the quilt of queer cultural experiences that weave intergenerational joy with the healing and connecting of music so unique to Chicago.”

Its last monthly party took place in October, but organizers plan on celebrating the party’s impact with a proper farewell in 2026. And although Slo ‘Mo is sunsetting, its legacy will live on as a source of joy and resiliency, love and community.

They say all good things must come to an end, but that does not feel fair, especially for a place as beloved as The Promontory. The live music and event venue became a trusted source of music events and cultural programming for folks on the South Side of Chicago and beyond.

New venues pop up around the city overnight, it seems, and yet, most are concentrated in North and West Side communities, leaving the vast landscape on the South Side as something of a barren land. The Promontory fit in nicely, filling a large hole and offering Chicagoans, both from the South Side and beyond, a place to gather under the sights and sounds of Black music and culture.

I spent many years attending concerts, readings and dance parties that traversed genres as different as jazz and Afrobeats, hip-hop and R&B, house and soul. Through it all was a singular vision of community and culture. It will be sorely missed.

Born and raised in Chicago, Ronald Michael Carroll took to music from a young age. His roots began in the church choir, but he gained an interest in house music during his teen years. That’s why the charismatic and prolific DJ Ron Carroll became a staple on the Chicago and European house music scenes, as a DJ, singer and producer. An advocate for the LGBTQ and HIV-positive communities, Carroll was an outsize influence for many decades.

His first record, “My Prayer,” released in 1993, was a perfect introduction to who Carroll was as an artist: open and spiritual, motivating and true. Those words, too, are at the root of what makes Chicago house music — and house music as a whole — so enduring for audiences around the world.

Later, Carroll launched his own label, Body Music Records, and released a number of seminal records, singles and collaborations, including “Lucky Star” and “Back Together.” The latter, a gorgeous, sumptuous, soulful classic has been a dance floor standard for more than 20 years. Few things feel as profound and powerful as the moment a Ron Carroll track drops during a long, satisfying night out.

Carroll died from a heart attack in September at the age of 57.

Jeremy Piven (right) holds a microphone for his mother, Joyce Piven, founder of the Piven Theatre Workshop, as she addresses a crowd at the 45th anniversary of the school in Evanston on May 6, 2017. (Pioneer Press)

From A+E editor Doug George

Looking around Chicago theater, it’s worth remembering that a few companies and individuals were part of shaping what it is today, and that includes Joyce Piven, who died early in 2025.

Piven, along with her late husband Byrne Piven, founded the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston in the 1970s. The studio counts John and Joan Cusack, Aidan Quinn and Lili Taylor among its students, as well as Piven’s own children, the Hollywood figures Jeremy and Shira Piven. As Chris Jones recounts in his Tribune obituary, Piven was an early member of the Playwrights Theatre Club, which started in Chicago in 1953 and eventually became Second City. For years, Piven Theatre also put on professional productions in Evanston’s Noyes Cultural Arts Center and was an early supporter of the playwright Sarah Ruhl. The workshop continues to train new classes of students, supported in part by a memorial fund in Joyce’s name.

Lastly, satirist Tom Lehrer died in July, his life and work memorialized in the Tribune by Rick Kogan. Born in New York and Harvard-educated, Lehrer had no connection to Chicago, aside from performing here twice at Orchestra Hall, and he produced most of his work in the 1960s. And that work consisted of just two studio albums and a handful of compilations.

Musician Tom Lehrer sits beside the piano in his house in Santa Cruz, Calif., April 21, 2000. (Paul Sakuma/AP)

But his songs managed to reach a generation of nerdy Gen-X listeners that tuned into weekly broadcasts of “The Dr. Demento Show” on the radio — a generation that memorized the periodic table for chemistry class by listening to “The Elements,” a song that consisted of nothing more than a lightning-fast recitation of all known chemical elements to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan’s patter song “Major-General” from “The Pirates of Penzance.” A generation (or this member of it, anyway) much entertained by Lehrer’s layering of a jaunty piano melody with lyrics about murdering avian wildlife with cyanide in “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.”

That aforementioned radio program also deserves a mention. “The Dr. Demento Show,” hosted by Barry Hansen, was created in 1970, went into syndication in 1974 and broadcast until 2010 — its over-the-air run concluding following the loss of key station WLUP-FM in Chicago. Hansen shifted to online streaming until he retired this year, having helped launch “Weird Al” Yankovic’s career and bring new listeners to satirists like Lehrer, Stan Freberg and Bob Newhart. The final episode, released on Oct. 11, was a countdown of the show’s 40 most requested songs across its 55 years, culminating in “Fish Heads.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/23/who-we-lost-in-2025/ 

DHS Offering $3,000 To Illegal Aliens To Self-Deport As Part Of Holiday Deal

Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/23/2025 – 06:30

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dhs-offering-3000-illegal-aliens-self-deport-part-holiday-deal