Like Aurora Mayor John Laesch predicted during his inauguration speech, residents could see an increase to the city’s portion of the property tax they pay next year in part because of debt the city has taken out this year.

The proposed property tax levy of roughly $103.7 million, which is an increase of $11.1 million – or 12% – over the previous year’s, was unanimously recommended for approval by the Aurora City Council’s Finance Committee on Thursday.

If eventually approved by the full City Council, the levy would likely mean the first property tax rate increase since at least 2017, according to a presentation by Aurora Chief Financial Officer Stacey Peterson. She said the City Council is expected to vote on the levy on Dec. 16.

The tax levy is the total amount the city of Aurora would be looking to get in property tax revenue next year, but the rate is the percentage of a property’s assessed value that the owner has to actually pay in taxes. Property tax rates are set by county government, not the city itself, based on the city’s levy and the total assessed value of all property within city limits.

The owner of a house assessed at $300,000 in 2023 could see a $211 increase to the city’s portion of the property taxes they need to pay next year, Peterson’s presentation showed. That accounts for both the projected increase in tax rate and for an estimated increase in the house’s assessed value of around $27,000.

While property tax rates aren’t typically calculated by counties until around April or May, the estimated tax rate is $1.63 for every $100 of assessed value, Peterson said at the Finance Committee meeting.

The property tax levy collected by Aurora this year, which was approved by the Aurora City Council last December, also saw an increase over the previous year. But, because of an increase in the assessed value of property within city limits, the tax rate was expected to fall to its lowest since 2009, according to past reporting.

Assessed value is again going up this year, Peterson’s presentation on Thursday showed, but the tax rate is still seeing an increase.

That increase isn’t to pay for operational costs, according to Peterson. Instead, it is to meet required funding levels for police and firefighter pensions plus because of higher debt payments, she said.

The portion of the property tax levy set to go toward police pensions could increase by around $2.4 million, for a total amount of nearly $23 million. The portion going toward firefighter pensions is set to increase by $1.8 million, for a total of around $16.4 million.

The city doesn’t control these amounts, Peterson said.

Debt repayments, though, saw the biggest increase, Peterson’s presentation showed. At a total of nearly $12.7 million, the debt service levy is set to increase year-over-year by almost $6.9 million.

Laesch said during his inauguration speech in May that past mayors’ efforts to revitalize downtown have left the city in “serious debt,” and because of even more debt the city needed to take out in order to cover previously-approved projects, the city was probably going to see “yet another property tax increase.”

He then said at a town hall in July that the city was set to spend an extra $7 million next year in paying off its debt, which had reached $327 million. The total amount the city needed to pay each year going forward was $27 million, which included principal repayment and interest, he said at the time.

The Aurora City Council has approved over $100 million in additional debt this year and late last year through the sale of bonds to finance construction projects from new fire stations to renovations at RiverEdge Park. Though some of the debt was taken out under Laesch’s administration, all of the projects to be funded through the bonds were approved by the Aurora City Council under former Mayor Richard Irvin.

While Aurora is required to back its debt with the promise of property tax funds, the city regularly uses other funds to “abate” some of the debt service levy, which lowers residents’ property tax bills.

Peterson proposed on Thursday abating roughly $14.9 million in debt payments that otherwise would need to be paid by property owners next year. That money will come from the city’s gaming tax, real estate transfer tax, hotel tax, stormwater management funds and capital fund, among other places, she said.

The Finance Committee on Thursday also unanimously recommended the abatement for approval.

Even with the proposed abatement, that leaves nearly $12.7 million in debt repayments for property owners to pay, according to Peterson. She said that, in past years, Aurora abated all but around $4 million of its debt service levy.

Last year, that number went up to $5.8 million, her presentation showed.

As for the amount of property taxes going toward day-to-day city operations, that’s actually going down, according to Peterson’s presentation. She said the city won’t even be increasing it to account for new construction, which is keeping the property tax rate lower than it could have been.

The city of Aurora is proposing cutting millions of dollars and around 135 positions in next year’s general operating budget. A previous presentation by Peterson showed that property taxes make up around 37% of the revenue for that fund.

rsmith@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/23/aurora-residents-may-see-a-higher-city-property-tax-rate-next-year/ 

The 7-3 Chicago Bears will play the 6-4 Pittsburgh Steelers at Soldier Field in a Week 12 matchup. Here’s what you need to know before kickoff (noon, CBS-2).

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

5 things to watch — plus our predictions

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams points up filed after escaping being tackled by Vikings defensive tackle Jalen Redmond in the third quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium on Nov. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Caleb Williams has never been shy about whom he modeled his game after as a kid, particularly when it comes to making throws on the run.

“Watching Aaron Rodgers — I know he’s a Green Bay guy — watching Aaron Rodgers and all his times these past 19, 20 years, he can do unbelievable things,” the Bears quarterback said after his second NFL preseason game in August 2024. “Right. Left. Running straight. All these other things. Just practicing it over time. Perfecting it.”

Bears fans can forgive Williams, a rookie then, for not knowing that he’s not supposed to say nice things about the Packers. Read more here.

Bears Q&A: How is this season different from Matt Nagy’s ‘fluky’ NFC North title in 2018?
What we learned from the Bears, including why Ben Johnson isn’t talking about the playoffs
NFL flexes Bears’ Dec. 7 road game vs. Packers into late-afternoon window
Vikings need 3rd straight road win over the Packers to boost their fading playoff hopes 

Will this be the Bears’ last shot at Aaron Rodgers?

Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers throws during the first half against the Bengals on Nov. 16, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

With Aaron Rodgers, it’s a chess match. Now in his 21st NFL season, “he has seen it all. It’s hard to fool him,” Bears DC Dennis Allen said. “So you have to be able to affect him in the pocket.”

Easier said than done.

“I still think he moves around in the pocket well,” Allen said of Rodgers, who turns 42 on Dec. 2. “I don’t know that he’s creating plays down the field as much with his legs as he did when he was a little bit younger. … (But) It’s hard to get to him. He gets the ball out of his hands really quickly, throws the ball accurate. Good timing. …

“He plays a cerebral game at the quarterback position. That’s challenging for us.” Read more here.

How has Aaron Rodgers’ game changed since the Bears last saw him? Here’s what the numbers say.

LB Tremaine Edmunds on injured reserve amid a flurry of moves ahead of Sunday’s game

Bears linebacker Tremaine Edmunds celebrates after deflecting a fourth-down pass by Giants quarterback Russell Wilson late in the fourth quarter Nov. 9, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Tremaine Edmunds is indeed headed to injured reserve. The Bears media website temporarily listed the weak-side linebacker on the team’s IR list Saturday morning. By afternoon, the club made the transaction official, saying Edmunds and running back Roschon Johnson have been placed on IR.

They were two of a handful of transactions announced in advance of Sunday’s game. Linebacker Carl Jones Jr. and running back Brittain Brown were signed to the 53-man roster from the practice squad.
Offensive tackle Jordan McFadden and tight end Nikola Kalinic were elevated from the practice squad to the game-day roster. Read more here.

CB Kyler Gordon returns to practice, leaving the Bears with decisions to make with C.J. Gardner-Johnson
Jaylon Johnson a full participant in Chicago practice, plus 3 more things we learned Thursday

Mike Tomlin an exemplar for Ben Johnson, who’s working to build Bears into a long-term winner

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin looks on before a game against the Colts on Nov. 2, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (Joe Sargent/Getty Images)

The Steelers, in a lot of ways, have been the envy of the NFL for decades because of their success and unmatched stability. Since 1969, three men have held the role of head coach: Hall of Famers Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher and, since 2007, Mike Tomlin. Ben Johnson is the 13th full-time head coach of the Bears since Noll was hired.

The organization has been in pursuit of sustained success for two decades since last having consecutive winning seasons in 2005 and 2006. When done right, sustained success leads to much more than just two years, and in reality, it’s something the Bears haven’t enjoyed legitimately since Mike Ditka patrolled the sideline at Soldier Field. Read more here.

Chiefs assistant Dave Toub: Donald Trump ‘doesn’t even know what he’s looking at’ on NFL kickoffs

Bears stadium news

Fans cheer during the first half of the Bears season opener against the Atlanta Falcons at Soldier Field, Sept. 10, 2017, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Most Chicagoans want the Bears to stay in their city — but don’t want to spend public money to keep them, a new survey has found.

More than two-thirds of those surveyed, 68%, said it was important to keep the team in Chicago, but an almost equal number, 65%, said the local government should spend no money to keep the team in the city. Another 28% supported a moderate level of public funding. Only 7% said the city should spend significant amounts on the effort. Read more here.

What to know about the Bears’ possible move from Soldier Field to suburban Arlington Heights

About last week

Cairo Santos made a 48-yard field goal as time expired to give the Bears a 19-17 win over the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Santos’ field goal came moments after the Vikings took the lead on a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback J.J. McCarthy to wide receiver Jordan Addison. That score put the Vikings ahead 17-16 with 50 seconds remaining.

But Devin Duvernay’s 56-yard kickoff return put the Bears immediately into field-goal range, setting up the opportunity for Santos to win the game. Santos, who missed his previous try, made the 48-yard kick and finished his day 4-for-5 on field-goal attempts.

It wasn’t pretty by any means, but the Bears scratched and clawed their way to their seventh win in eight games. They improved to 7-3 on the season and avenged their Week 1 loss to the Vikings. Read more here.

Ben Johnson’s Bears keep flipping the script in crucial moments: Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on Week 11
‘He was with me today’: Bears’ Nahshon Wright makes emotional interception after his coach’s death
After Bears special teams had its miscues, returner Devin Duvernay found ‘a moment to make a play’

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/23/chicago-bears-pittsburgh-steelers-week-12/ 

LONDRES (AP) — La presión está aumentando para que el expríncipe Andrés testifique ante un comité del Congreso de Estados Unidos que investiga al delincuente sexual convicto Jeffrey Epstein, después de que el primer ministro británico sugiriera que debería declarar.

Keir Starmer se negó a comentar directamente sobre el deshonrado hermano menor del rey Carlos III, pero dijo a los periodistas que viajaban con él para la cumbre del Grupo de los 20 en Johannesburgo que, como “principio general”, las personas deberían proporcionar evidencia a los investigadores.

“No comento sobre su caso particular”, afirmó Starmer. “Pero como principio general que he sostenido durante mucho tiempo, cualquiera que tenga información relevante en relación con este tipo de casos debería dar esa evidencia a quienes la necesiten”.

El expríncipe, ahora conocido como Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, hasta ahora ha ignorado una solicitud de los miembros del Comité de Supervisión de la Cámara para una “entrevista transcrita” sobre su “amistad de larga data” con Epstein. A Andrés se le despojaron de sus títulos y honores reales el mes pasado mientras la familia real intentaba protegerse de las críticas sobre su relación con Epstein.

Los comentarios de Starmer se produjeron después de que el representante Robert Garcia de California, el demócrata de mayor rango del comité, y el representante Suhas Subramanyam, un demócrata de Virginia, dijeran que Andrés “sigue huyéndole” a las preguntas serias.

“Nuestro trabajo avanzará con o sin él, y haremos responsables a todos los involucrados en estos crímenes, sin importar su riqueza, estatus o partido político”, dijeron en un comunicado emitido el viernes. “Obtendremos justicia para los sobrevivientes”.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/23/starmer-sugiere-que-exprncipe-andrs-testifique-en-investigacin-de-eeuu-sobre-jeffrey-epstein/ 

LIUBLIANA, Eslovenia (AP) — Los eslovenos votaron el domingo en un referéndum sobre una ley que permite a los pacientes terminales poner fin a sus vidas.

El parlamento de la pequeña nación de la Unión Europea aprobó la ley en julio después de que los votantes la respaldaran en un referéndum no vinculante el año pasado. Sin embargo, los opositores han forzado otra votación sobre este tema divisivo tras reunir más de 40.000 firmas.

La ley prevé que las personas mentalmente competentes, que no tienen posibilidad de recuperación o enfrentan un dolor insoportable, tengan derecho a la muerte asistida. Esto significa que los pacientes administran el medicamento letal ellos mismos después de la aprobación de dos médicos y un período de consulta.

La ley no se aplica a personas con enfermedades mentales.

Entre los partidarios se encuentra el gobierno liberal del primer ministro Robert Golob. Han argumentado que la ley ofrece a las personas la oportunidad de morir con dignidad y decidir por sí mismas cómo y cuándo poner fin a su sufrimiento.

Los opositores incluyen grupos conservadores, algunas asociaciones de médicos y la Iglesia católica. Afirman que la ley va en contra de la constitución de Eslovenia y que el Estado debería trabajar para proporcionar mejores cuidados paliativos en su lugar.

La ley será rechazada si la mayoría de las personas que emiten su voto lo hacen en contra, y representan al menos el 20% de los 1,7 millones de votantes elegibles. Las encuestas de opinión recientes en Eslovenia han mostrado que más personas están a favor de la ley que en contra.

Si la ley se mantiene, Eslovenia se unirá a varios otros países de la UE que ya han aprobado leyes similares, incluidos los vecinos Austria y Holanda.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/23/referndum-en-eslovenia-sobre-muerte-asistida-para-pacientes-terminales/ 

Leyden senior Beesan Tawil has grown up around the kitchen, creating and sharing meals with her loved ones.

On Thanksgiving she’ll be at East Leyden High School in Franklin Park sharing a festive holiday meal with 200 Navy recruits from Great Lakes Naval Station. She also participated last year in this event, which has been an annual tradition for more than 10 years.

“I was very prideful and grateful for the opportunity (last year) and to see how the military got to spend time together like everyone else,” she said. “Leyden is known for bringing the community together and this really enhances really great times and you feel grateful doing it.”

She’s especially thankful for her family and teacher.

“I grew up with a family from the Middle Eastern part of Asia who love to cook and share meals,” Tawil said. “It’s the love language in our culture. To put that into the culinary pathway of our leader, (teacher) Nichole Stockard, she’s taught me and helped me improve what I enjoy doing, and this helps me give back to the community. I look forward to it and am excited for this upcoming event to experience that moment all over again.”

Tawil and many of her peers in Stockard’s culinary arts classes will be making this year’s dessert.

“We’re doing pumpkin pie bars, apple pie bars, a brownie sheet cake, pumpkin pie sheet cake and cherry bars,” Tawil said. “There’s so many people so it’s easier to make bars than pies and we can offer a variety.”

Leyden school buses will make their way on Thanksgiving to Waukegan to pick up the recruits and bring them to the school at around 9 a.m. for a day of food, fun and connecting with family and friends. The Leyden Chamber Choir will be on-hand to provide live entertainment, the Packers-Lions football game will be on TV and there will be games to play as well as cellphones and Chromebooks for the recruits to use to reach out and connect with their families.

“It gives us such joy to be able to treat those who serve our country a family-style experience at a time when we know they aren’t able to be with their own families,” said Nick Polyak, Leyden Community High School District No. 212 superintendent. “Our hope is that their time with us helps to show them the love and support of our Leyden communities.”

It also provides a valuable lesson about commitment.

Leyden High School District 212 officials said sharing a festive Thanksgiving meal with 200 Navy recruits from Great Lakes Naval Station is a way “to show them the love and support of our Leyden communities” at the school in Franklin Park. (Leyden High School District 212)

“To bring in the recruits just for a day, for the students, staff and community, it opens your eyes to the commitment these men and women make to start their careers,” said Greg Ignoffo, Leyden School Board president. “As a thank you to them it’s so cool to see them gravitate to the phones and computers to connect with family since they’ve been gone at boot camp. You sit back and watch and you’re giddy. They bring a lot to our community, and these are real people, not on TV or radio, but real people getting started and we’ve been fortunate to be able to interact with them.”

All are invited to welcome the recruits, who will receive a police escort, at 3400 Rose St.

“To come out and stand there and welcome them would be huge,” Ignoffo said. “We once had the number of recruits given to us reduced so we had to tell bus drivers we had enough buses and they were furious because they wanted to be involved. That’s the commitment of the community. When you see multiple police agencies and five, six, seven buses, it’s quite the spectacle.”

It’s about giving thanks just like in the holiday’s name.

“This is my third time doing it and honestly I think it kind of captures what the holiday is all about,” said Brad Sterk, Leyden food service director, whose team will be doing the cooking. “it’s about giving thanks and we’re very thankful for those recruits and what they do for us and our country. This is a great opportunity to give back and the way we do that is by sacrificing time from our events and family to give to them.”

Students and staff from East Leyden High School, including those in culinary arts classes, prepare a Thanksgiving meal to share with Navy recruits from Great Lakes Naval Station each November at the school in Franklin Park. (Leyden High School District 212)

Giving them a Thanksgiving dinner that’s nap-inducing, fantastic and filling is the goal.

“It’s an awesome opportunity for us to kind of use our skills and talents on the culinary side to make a very good Thanksgiving meal and give the recruits as close to an experience as being at home as possible,” Sterk said. “And to be able to spend some time and conversations has been very impactful and meaningful. Every time we wrap the event we get to bring up good stories and memories and share them and it’s definitely one of those feel-good events where you see everyone leaving with a smile on their face.”

Leyden senior Cassidy Chihoski is looking forward to making desserts for the recruits again.

“I enjoyed the opportunity to do it last year and to see how others are living their lives,” she said. “I liked seeing how excited they were to connect with their families on Thanksgiving.”

The kids are learning about empathy as well as eclairs thanks to this special event.

School buses will travel on Thanksgiving to Waukegan to pick up 200 Navy recruits from Great Lakes Naval Station as students and staff from East Leyden High School prepare a festive meal with at the school in Franklin Park. (Leyden High School District 212)

“As an educator, it brings me joy just because you hope in the field of education to give students different types of experiences like this,” Stockard said. “I’ve been here 20 years and have been doing it for three years now and we’ve served people, but this is on a different level. People generally are appreciative and just thankful, and they inhale the food.

“They are just so grateful they’ve been invited. Our kids see what giving back is, because not all kids get to experience this in high school, or any part of life. When I was in high school I didn’t have this kind of experience. I’m thankful to work for a district that gives these experiences to the students that are not typical ones you’d learn from a book, but these are irreplaceable experiences using so many skills.”

Experiences for the recruits, as well as the students, staff and community.

“It’s a big eye-opener and very impactful,” Sterk said. “I think it’s amazing how the Leyden community and the students and staff come out. The turnout is always amazing. Obviously, it’s a holiday and everyone has other plans, but you’d never know it. The turnout really shows that Leyden has built such a strong foundation in the belief in giving back.”

C.R. Walker is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/23/leyden-thanksgiving-navy-recruits/ 

The arrival of a property tax bill never makes for a fun trip to the mailbox, but we sense percolating discontent among Chicagoans and suburbanites when it comes to shelling out thousands of dollars on a semi-annual basis. Even radio hosts are talking about it on the air and we can’t recall when that was previously the case.

Analyses done in the office of Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas (who says she is running for mayor) revealed that typical bills rose the highest in Black neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West sides, often by eye-watering amounts (133% in West Garfield Park and 82% in Englewood). This was a not a surprise to us. But those were the headlines.

Property taxes and how they are determined are not well understood and, to our minds, the media has not been helping much, often amplifying the erroneous notion that those bills represent some new example of egregious racism or classism when it comes to how governmental expenses are apportioned.

Take, for example, the Chicago Sun-Times report, quoting Lance Williams, a professor of urban studies at Northeastern Illinois University, who told the newspaper that “shifting the tax burden to the city’s poorest residents is a result of bad public policy.”

“It’s unfortunate that this crisis Downtown now has to be felt by Black and Brown neighborhoods,” the paper quoted Williams as saying. “I look at this like robbing from the poor to give to the rich. The poor have to bail out the rich.”

Similar quotes popped up in stories all over town. Once again, “the rich” were taking it on the chin.

What was not in the headlines, though, was the more complicated truth that one big reason these less affluent neighborhoods have seen such massive increases is that the value of property in those neighborhoods has greatly risen. And, if you own property in those neighborhoods and hope to pass on that accumulated wealth to your children, that’s actually good news.

One of the longstanding issues that those in Black and brown neighborhoods in this city have faced, historically, is the difficulty of building equity, or generational wealth, through real estate. If you bought a condo in a more affluent neighborhood in the 1990s, say, you likely were able to sell it for a profit a few years later. But this didn’t apply to all neighborhoods; in several of them, values began to sink, especially during and immediately after the 2008 recession when foreclosure rates shot up. Only now have they recovered. But they’ve come roaring back from those depths.

So what happened? A couple of things. The crippling supply limitation in Chicago real estate (which we’ve written about many times) priced people out of some neighborhoods and they went looking elsewhere. The increase in value also bespeaks of those areas becoming more desirable places to live and even, we think, reflects the growing willingness of young Chicagoans of all races to reject the city’s previous racial demarcations. All of that actually is positive for the city. Rising property values suggests people are taking care of their homes and their blocks. And if they choose to move in the future, the increased equity in their homes gives them a broader set of choices as to where to go, perhaps in retirement.

There are caveats, of course. None of this applies if you do not own your home; higher property taxes means higher rent. The problem with having equity in your home, of course, is that you have to sell the house to capture it (although you can borrow against it) and many people do not want to do that for very good reasons. And the rise in property values since the last assessment started from a very low basis point in many areas.

Still, when Audrey Pierce told the Tribune that her $3,300 tax bill had turned into $7,000 and “I’m getting punished because I cleaned up the block,” the truth is that this is how the system is supposed to work. Pierce owns four buildings on the West Side, the Tribune reported; they now are assessed as being worth a lot more money. This actually isn’t punishment but an indicator of Pierce’s savvy investing skills.

Few see things this way, of course. And those eye-popping bills are not strictly the result of increased property values.

Firstly, they are a consequence of decreased commercial property tax values, especially in Chicago’s Loop. Since the system always gets its money, it’s just a matter of how the bills are apportioned between the two sectors, residential and commercial. Those “rich” commercial property owners are a lot less rich now. As to professor Williams’ comments about the rich bailing out the poor, or Mayor Brandon Johnson arguing that “we have a broken property tax system that essentially forces poor and working people to subsidize the wealthy,” you could also argue the opposite has been the case. If you wanted to be unpopular.

Most importantly, though, the bills for rich and poor are higher because the entities that levy property taxes keep demanding more and more money (as Pappas put it, “spending like drunken sailors”). Chicago Public Schools in particular spends money well beyond the rate of inflation. People right now are tending to focus on assessments and far less on the levy.

As a result, we think that the city is likely to see a lot of people simply not paying their property taxes this time around, a likelihood for which the taxing bodies need to plan. The city of Harvey, which earlier this month declared itself “financially distressed” under Illinois state law and asked the state to take control of its finances, is a cautionary tale there. People not paying property tax bills are a big part of Harvey’s problem.

We’re no fans of a system featuring complex, commercial assessments (which can easily be appealed and thus enrich attorneys) and corresponding residential spikes that make it difficult for people to stay in their own home. As we’ve noted many times, the recent administration of this payment system (including shifting due dates) has been less than desirable, thanks to computer and other snafus. An argument can be made that you should pay annual property taxes based on the value of the home when you buy it (as in California), not on what someone thinks it now is worth. That is, after all, an unrealized gain. And the situation this fall perhaps bespeaks of the need for a property tax cap, so that people can better plan. Although, if we had one, where would that money then come from?

But, to reemphasize our point, at least the value of property has increased in some neighborhoods, making it less attractive to out-of-town flippers hoping to swoop in and then sit on vacant lots, and also allowing families to contemplate a legacy for their kids.

There are two incontrovertible truths. One is that homeowners in this city have a vested interest in commercial property downtown doing well, no matter how much our mayor demonizes business. The other is that for property taxes to go down, the entities that get the money will need to trim their sails.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/23/editorial-property-taxes-maria-pappas-chicago-assessments/ 

Three years into the savagery of a cruel Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation for a national feast day, even giving it a firm date: “the last Thursday of November next.” When we despair over our own current virulent divisions, we should remember that Lincoln’s call for a day of thanksgiving at harvest time was offered as a common bond for all Americans. His appeal transcended national pain, separation and crisis.  

Right now, the streets of our city are seeing efforts to seize, detain and deport new and longtime residents in our neighborhoods. Neighbors are taking action to protest these threats, and there are passionate disagreements on our way forward in Chicago. Our current strife is part of a longer story.

Chicago’s own Gwendolyn Brooks, an educator, a lifelong poet of the South Side, and the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, keenly understood this. And she understood the strength that comes from our mutual concern and care. She wrote, after hearing the singer Paul Robeson perform:

We are each other’s harvest:

We are each other’s business:

We are each other’s magnitude and bond.

In our present passions, caught in circumstances testing our sense of what being neighbors in Chicago can look like, it is notable that Lincoln termed the pilgrims “Plymouth emigrants.”

Lincoln said, “The work of the Plymouth emigrants (sic) was the glory of their age. While we reverence their memory, let us not forget how vastly greater is our opportunity.” 

Few people today realize it was Lincoln, under the pressure of that savage division, who created the holiday we celebrate today as Thanksgiving. He took a regional tradition from the New England story of the pilgrim feast and binding it to earlier fast and prayer proclamations issued by George Washington, John Adams and James Madison, evoking ancient themes of Thanksgiving and repentance at the time of harvest. 

Lincoln was prodded to create this new national holiday by his secretary of state, William Henry Seward, as well as by a very persistent female magazine editor, Sarah Josepha Hale. Hale, mostly remembered today as the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” was a widow raising five children on her own. Her decadeslong determination for “a National and fixed Union Festival” was a driving force behind Lincoln’s instituting a truly national holiday, one directed to both North and South. In the midst of suffering almost beyond imagining, Lincoln strove to illumine the country’s travails with compassion.

Remembering Lincoln’s unique contribution to our modern Thanksgiving deepens our understanding of a celebration that is more than childhood images of pilgrims and Native Americans eating together. By recovering the Civil War origins of the holiday, we can gain an appreciation for the only holiday that Lincoln envisioned as a way for a divided people to offer thanks together. 

His 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation helped transform a New England harvest festival and feast into a holiday belonging to all Americans. While that fact is worth recovering, even more significant is Lincoln’s sense that those long-ago “emigrants” might instill a glory to a people so bitterly and bloodily divided.

Re-enactors pluck a bird in the English Village at the Plimoth Patuxet Museums on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25, 2021, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. (Bryan R. Smith/Getty-AFP)

In the last week of his life, with the war almost over, Lincoln began his last public address with these words: “We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be restrained. In the midst of this, however, He, from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated.”

That new proclamation of Thanksgiving was never written, with Lincoln’s assassination three nights later. Yet in its stunned grief, the nation remembered how, in the darkest and most discouraging days of the war, the president had spoken to them in language that fused an appeal of gratitude along with an anguished search for the nation’s highest purpose.

It is good to remember this opportunity, this potential gratefulness, in the streets and businesses and homes of our generation.

While those early immigrants may be evocations of a nation turning from separation to a common table, let us consider his admonition of how “vastly greater is our opportunity.”

If one can make such an appeal in the midst of Civil War, we can surely do so now amid our divisions. What Chicago has endured in recent weeks is not its alone — it is part of a national experience. By recovering Lincoln’s elevation of Thanksgiving in a time of pain, we can deepen our appreciation for a holiday that is open, nonsectarian and free-spirited. As the 1863 Proclamation of Thanksgiving declared, “It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.”

Our national feast day’s date is now firm and determined. It is for us to remember, as Brooks asserted, we are truly each other’s harvest, each other’s magnitude and bond.

Paul Kendrick, a Lincoln Park resident, is the co-author of three historical books, most recently “Nine Days, the Race to Save Martin Luther King’s Life” and “Win the 1960 Election.” He served in President Barack Obama’s White House and is currently a candidate for the Illinois House’s 12th District. 

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People who turned to the television listings in the Nov. 26, 1975, edition of the Tribune bore witness to history being made. Among the evening programs, competing with the second half-hour of “Tony Orlando and Dawn” and a repeat of “Ironside,” appeared a new show airing on WTTW, Chicago’s public television station.

Those who went a step further and turned the dial at 7:30 p.m. to Channel 11 caught the opening of this new show with a long title, “Opening Soon … At a Theater Near You.” Billy Joel’s “Root Beer Rag” played under a series of stills from Hollywood classics, including “The Jazz Singer” and “Ben-Hur.”

Over the next 28 minutes two men seated in director’s chairs, a fake theater proscenium behind them, read from pages on the clipboards in their laps. They were the film critics for two of the city’s three big newspapers, Gene Siskel from the Chicago Tribune and Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Yale-educated, 29-year-old Siskel had started on the neighborhoods beat at the Tribune before becoming the film critic in 1969. By the time “Opening Soon” premiered, he had begun reviewing movies regularly on Channel 2, the CBS affiliate. Of the two, Siskel appeared more at ease before the television cameras.

His counterpart on “Opening Soon,” 33-year-old Roger Ebert, had provided some on-air commentary for a series of Ingmar Bergman films shown on WTTW, but he was clearly more comfortable with the written word. Earlier that year, his work for the Sun-Times, where he’d been since 1967, had been acknowledged with nothing less than a Pulitzer Prize, the first awarded for film criticism.

During that first televised pairing, Siskel and Ebert discussed the recently concluded Chicago International Film Festival. Among the highlights from the festival was “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Between clips from the film, the two shared their admiration for the performances by Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher and lightly criticized the direction of Milos Forman. What followed was a long animated segment from another festival entry, “Self Service” by Bruno Bozzetto, and a conversation about festival award winners, which included Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Fist-Right of Freedom,” or “Fox and His Friends.”

Gene Siskel, left, and Roger Ebert, right, confer with “At the Movies” executive producer Joe Antelo at a taping of the show on July 11, 1985. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune)

“Opening Soon” then switched to films currently in Chicago theaters, only one of which, “Dog Day Afternoon” — loved by both critics — became a classic. The concluding segment, titled “Dog of the Month,” warned moviegoers about films deemed a waste of time and money. Siskel picked Ken Russell’s “Lisztomania,” and Ebert, noting that his choice might upset some, selected “Mahogany,” a film shot and partially set in Chicago.

In 1975, Nov. 26 was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. By premiering “Opening Soon … At a Theater Near You” on that evening, WTTW ensured the number of viewers would be limited. The episode unfolded at a leisurely pace. The conversation between the two critics came off as disengaged. Only Ebert’s checkered jacket and Siskel’s flared shirt collar popped.

Although the execution faltered, the concept remained strong. Two of the city’s finest critics watching clips and debating in real time the strengths and weaknesses of movies currently in theaters — who wouldn’t want to watch that? And few at WTTW doubted that Siskel and Ebert were the right men for the show despite their enervated performances. They simply needed an approach that allowed them to play to their strengths. After a few months’ hiatus, WTTW decided to try again, this time with a different producer, Thea Flaum.

As detailed in the oral history compiled by Josh Schollmeyer, which first appeared in The Chicagoan, and more recently in Matt Singer’s “Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever,” Flaum persuaded the two critics to meet her for lunch at the long-gone Oxford Pub on Lincoln Avenue. There she convinced them that she could improve their on-screen presence and, more importantly, that the two of them, despite their rivalry in print, had the ability to create a show that could become a hit on public television and, perhaps, cross over into commercial broadcasting.

An advertisement for the movie “Fargo” that ran in the Tribune on May 5, 1996, boasted that critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert had given the film “two thumbs up, way up!” (Chicago Tribune)

“These are two men who never would have chosen each other for friends,” Flaum told the Tribune in 1999. “They have no natural affinity for each other. But TV forced them to find a way to work together.”

When the show returned, gone were the director’s chairs and clipboards, replaced by theater seats and a teleprompter. The set, designed by the late Michael Loewenstein, used forced perspective to create the illusion that the two critics were watching the film clips from a theater’s balcony rather than a sound stage. The illusion proved so effective that many viewers became convinced the show was shot at their neighborhood theater.

That was the intended effect. Eventually retitled “Sneak Previews,” which fit better within the narrow columns of printed television listings, the show sought to capture the experience of seeing a movie with your friends and then debating its merits. That latter part marked the most meaningful change. Siskel and Ebert now engaged each other directly.

Though they often agreed on whether a movie was good or bad, they disagreed in ways that made the show memorable and a hit. “They offered opinions in sharp, concise, often funny and often argumentative fashion. In short, they were a television version of all moviegoers, just smarter and more knowledgeable,” the Tribune wrote in 1999.

Each critic brought passion and a distinct critical perspective to the show as well as a great deal of wit (today we might call it snark), revealing how talking about art, even mass-produced art like the movies, can be intellectually and emotionally enriching.

“There is little doubt that Siskel and Ebert spiced up their natural combativeness for public appearances and for print interviews, which are peppered with sniping: Ebert about Siskel’s baldness, Siskel about Ebert’s heft,” the Tribune wrote in 1999. This photo is from 1986 in Los Angeles. (Douglas C. Pizac/AP Photo)

Viewers responded to the changes. The show soon appeared on public television stations across the United States and went from one show a month to one a week.

The expanded number of episodes allowed for occasional explorations of certain topics and themes. Some of the best early episodes of “Sneak Previews” criticized depictions of violence against women, particularly in horror movies, and celebrated empathetic depictions of members of what are now referred to as LGBTQ+ communities. Siskel and Ebert called out bigotry and stereotypes in mass-market movies while championing films made by women and people of color. And they encouraged viewers to broaden their appreciation and understanding of the art form by seeking out foreign films, documentaries and independent productions.

The show became the most popular program on public television and in 1982, as Flaum had predicted, the pair made the leap to commercial television and syndication, first with Tribune Media Co. and later with Buena Vista Television.

“For more than a quarter of a century, their thumbs up/thumbs down TV mantra would make studio chiefs and big stars quake and could propel obscure films to box-office success,” the Tribune opined. “It was the most concise and powerful judgement in the history of movies. That the two of them did this from the Midwest — and not from, as before, the coasts — made their success that much more amazing.”

Roger Ebert, left, and Gene Siskel speak at an event where Erie Street at McClurg Court was renamed in their honor on Feb. 1, 1995. Siskel is holding a roll of quarters he used to feed the parking meters. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)

After Siskel’s death in 1999, Ebert continued the show with other partners, including fellow Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper. Illness forced Ebert to step away from the show in 2006, and he passed away in 2013.

Shortly before the move to syndication, the pair appeared on “Late Night With David Letterman.” Asked to explain their appeal, Ebert replied: “I think we’re film lovers. We’re fans. We like films. We like to see good films, we’re disappointed when we see bad ones, and we talk about them to each other I think the way a lot of people talk about movies to each other.”

Siskel added: “This is the thing I heard; I mean, I was in New York over the weekend, and people said, ‘You’re fans. That’s what we like. You sound the way we sound when we talk about films.’ That doesn’t mean we can’t talk about a serious concept or serious films. It’s just that we do it from a point of view of loving the work, appreciating it, and not taking cheap shots.”

By the time of that interview, it was clear that Siskel and Ebert, these two rival Chicago critics working together, had forever changed how people across the country experienced and understood the movies.

Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Marianne Mather at mmather@chicagotribune.com and Kori Rumore at krumore@chicagotribune.com.

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On July 2, 1776, a Finnish American man held the destiny of the United States in his hands. 

The scene was the hall in Philadelphia that hosted the Second Continental Congress of the 13 American Colonies of British America. The man of destiny was John Morton, speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and the swing vote in his state delegation that could create the United States of America. 

If Morton voted “no,” the influential Colony would be recorded as opposed to independence. This could deal a fatal blow to the infant nation by delaying or dashing hopes for a vote for independence from Great Britain that was unopposed by any of the Colonies. If he said “yes,” the Pennsylvania delegation would flip to a 3-to-2 pro-independence majority, creating unstoppable national momentum for a break with King George III’s government. 

But it would place Morton and his fellow delegates at risk of condemnation by many constituents who were pro-crown loyalists or independence skeptics, and in real danger of being executed if captured by British forces. The maximum penalty for treason against the king at that time was to be hung by the neck until the edge of death, then disemboweled and torn into four pieces — while still alive.

Morton made his decision. He voted for the independence resolution, and Pennsylvania’s “yea” vote in the roll call of states enabled its unopposed passage. This was the moment that the United States of America came into existence. With the help of spirits from Finland — Morton’s father, grandfather, mother and wife were all of of Finnish descent. 

The country that Morton and his colleagues created July 2, 1776, became the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth. And the society that Morton’s distant relatives built in Finland also became one of the world’s most successful democracies.

For a nation of only 5.6 million people, brutal winter weather and few natural resources other than trees, Finland’s achievements are striking. Finland ranks as the No. 1 world’s freest nation in Freedom House’s 2025 report, the happiest nation for eight years in a row, the developed country with the most skilled adult population and the nation that leads the world in progress toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including health and well-being, gender equality and ending poverty.

How has this happened? One reason is that Finland is, in the words of Helsinki-based journalists Anu Partanen and Trevor Corson in The New York Times, “a capitalist paradise,” a nation committed to free markets and capitalism. According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Index of Economic Freedom, Finland has the best property rights in the world and scores higher than the United States in economic and investment freedom, judicial effectiveness, fiscal health and government integrity. 

Taxes on personal income are significantly higher on average than in the United States, but they replace many large private expenses carried by U.S. households, and business and property taxes are lower. The national corporate tax rate in Finland will be lowered from the current 20% to 18% in 2027, which compares to about 25% in the United States when state taxes are included. 

While Finns complain about their taxes, in the end, many people here consider them worth it, in exchange for a very strong social safety net, excellent universal public health care and free high-quality education through university. Medical bankruptcy, the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S., is almost unheard of, as is the long-term stress associated with crushing student debt. Rates of violent crime, homelessness and hunger are extremely low. Finland is, as Partanen puts it, a “well-being state.” Finns don’t have much to say publicly about religious values such as compassion, charity and humility; they just act on them.

There is some political polarization in Finland, and in the parliament, debates over immigration and an economy stuck in a cycle of low growth and relatively high unemployment are increasingly intense. But personal animosity in government plays out at a far lower intensity than in the United States, for example, and this may be one of the most powerful lessons Americans can learn from Finland. 

Newly elected Finnish President Alexander Stubb, left, shakes hands with Green Party-backed candidate Pekka Haavisto at his election reception in Helsinki, Finland, on Feb. 11, 2024. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva)

When Finnish center-right politician Alexander Stubb won the presidential election last year, he headed for his Green Party opponent Pekka Haavisto’s election-night vigil for a surprise joint appearance. As the crowd cheered a standing ovation, the two men hugged, and Stubb told him, “You are one of the nicest people I have ever met.”

On the eve of America’s 250th anniversary, Morton and Finland can remind us that now is a good time for Americans to declare independence from the tyranny of hating each other. 

William Doyle is an American writer and TV producer based in Helsinki. In 2015, he was appointed as a Fulbright scholar to Finland.

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