Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot once told us that selling out Chicago’s future parking meter revenue to investors far from the city was perhaps the worst decision of municipal governance in the history of municipal governance.

She made a good case. Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 75-year deal, as we’ve said here many times, was an unmitigated disaster that sold out Chicagoans for too little in return and remains no small cause of Chicago’s current budget woes. Now we see the Big Ten schools potentially falling prey to the same kind of temptation to let in private investment so as to get, and spend, money from the future now.

As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti has been arguing that the league’s 18 schools should take an offer of $2.4 billion of privately sourced cash in return for handing over some of their future earnings from media rights.

Tempting for sure. It’s getting mighty expensive to run a football program that now likely involves paying student-athletes, if that’s even the term anymore, as much as $20.5 million each. And with the revenue challenges faced by some of the Big Ten’s schools (there are fewer international students and 18-year-olds out there), you can see why Petitti’s suggestion that each school receive at least $100 million right now got a sympathetic hearing. There are fancy new dorms to be built and flashy practice facilities to entice recruits, although the notion that these things are still what motivates potential running backs is becoming quaint.

If you’ve not been paying attention, college football now is all about the money. (The reason that the $2.4 billion would not be divided equally is that not all Big Ten schools have the same media drawing power).

The top of the pecking order includes Ohio State University, the number one team in the country and its archrival, the University of Michigan, which has an elected and thus politically savvy Board of Regents. Reportedly, those Michigan governors are questioning the rush to follow Petitti’s plan. The Buckeyes should suspend the traditional rivalry here and support the team “up north.”

In this instance, the Wolverines are the winners. Chicago’s parking meter debacle is a reminder that when private capital fronts future cash for those in need of it in the present (such as a city desperate to balance a budget), the proposed deal generally is good for private investment and less good for whomever is getting the money now.

And, frankly, the people offering those deals (in this case, UC Investments, which manages the retirement funds for University of California employees) generally are more sophisticated in their financial analytical skills than the recipients of said funds, such as university presidents. In this case, the plan would be to create a spinoff entity called Big Ten Enterprises, essentially a holding company for media payouts and sponsorship deals. UC would then get a 10% stake in those rights in return for the $2.4 billion in up-front money.

Granted, giving away 10% of the future is a lot better than what the city of Chicago chose, which was to give away 100% of the future. Still, we think there are are numerous downsides for the schools.

Number 1 is that they will be contractually bound together, unable to leave the Big Ten for years.

Number 2 is that more power will reside in the Big Ten athletics bureaucracy, making the schools less in charge of their own fiscal and thus educational destiny.

Number 3 is that we don’t know how much media rights will bring in to the schools years from now, given that we hardly know what the media landscape actually will look like in the future. That’s not to mention the college football landscape, which just went through an unanticipated revolution.

Number 4 is that the media-drawing power structure within the league might change as coaches shift and winners become losers, causing all kinds of intra-league strife.

Number 5 is letting private investment into a league made up entirely of mission-based public universities.

Number 6 is the likelihood that the fees for those who negotiated this deal are likely far higher than the salary of your average assistant professor.

Number 7 is the generalized danger of selling out any kind of future revenue; it can be akin to selling your house to a flipper. Or getting a payday loan.

Number 8? Is college football not corrupted enough by money already without this?

We could get up to 10 if we tried, but that poetry is long gone, too, given that the Big Ten is now 18 schools, with students in smaller sports making cross-country flights all for the benefit of the schools’ bottom lines.

We see them at airports all the time, studying on the floor and looking exhausted.

So good for the U. of M. regents in applying the brakes here and reminding their peers that these mostly land-grant schools have responsibilities to their students, alumni and the citizenry of their home states which should come before kowtowing to the money-making schemes of their athletic league.

“We believe that the Big Ten has failed to consider many alternatives to this plan that avoid selling our soul to private capital,” Michigan regent Chair Mark Bernstein told the Journal.

“Selling our soul” is just the right verbiage in our minds. And, if a school ever were indeed to make such a culture-changing deal, it should at least be doing it for its own reasons and on its own terms.

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/editorial-big-ten-football-private-equity-tony-petitti/ 

Chicago taxpayers should be alarmed by Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin’s decision to divest taxpayer dollars from U.S. Treasuries as a political protest. This isn’t responsible fiscal management. It’s dangerously unserious, and the city cannot afford it.

As a Cook County commissioner who has spent the last decade scrutinizing budgets, debt structures, liquidity needs and fiscal policy across multiple levels of government, I feel compelled to raise a serious concern regarding the city treasurer’s public announcement.

Treasuries are the safest, most liquid instruments available to any municipality. They protect payroll, stabilize cash flow and safeguard pension dollars. Walking away from them to make a partisan statement is a breathtaking violation of fiduciary duty, especially when Treasuries have delivered record investment earnings for Chicago — more than $370 million last year alone.

If the treasurer wants to gamble with public money, the City Council and the mayor must act immediately. Chicago taxpayers deserve the following, without delay:

A full, public financial impact analysis detailing how much yield Chicago is forfeiting and how much additional risk and liquidity strain this political move imposes.
A complete disclosure of the treasurer’s alternative investments: what they are, whether they meet standards of safety and liquidity, and how they will deliver comparable returns.
A clear reaffirmation that city investment policy is not a partisan tool. No mayor, treasurer or administration should be allowed to weaponize the city’s cash portfolio.
A return to a professional, fiduciary-first investment framework grounded in financial discipline, not political theater.

Chicago is already burdened with massive pension liabilities, high borrowing costs and fragile investor confidence. Politicizing the city’s most essential financial safeguards only puts taxpayers in greater jeopardy.

The mayor and the City Council must intervene before taxpayers pay the price.

— Commissioner Sean M. Morrison, Cook County Board of Commissioners

Downtown distinctive

Regarding the editorial “Chicago tourism fundamentally is about downtown, not all 77 neighborhoods” (Nov. 16): I completely agree that Choose Chicago must put 99% of its energies (if not 100%) into promoting downtown. No other city has a downtown area — the Loop and Near North — quite like Chicago, while every city has residential neighborhoods where the normies live.

Give me your singular cultural attractions that don’t exist anywhere else!

— Michele Steele, Chicago

Fixation on downtown

I must invite the Tribune Editorial Board to rejoin us here on planet Earth. In two editorials this week, the board tells us what’s worth focusing on in Chicago is the struggling downtown area. Real, honest concerns about taxes and affordability are boiled down to how this mean old progressive mayor is just not nice enough to rich people.

Let me reassure everyone: Businesses exist solely in relation to their bottom line. They come to Chicago because it’s a great place to live, with easy transit, and a very diverse economic base. And they come knowing full well the costs of locating in an urban core and leave because they think they can make more profit elsewhere. Best of luck to the Arlington Heights Bears, who were oh-so-committed to Chicago until we refused to pay for another stadium and sell out the lakefront to private development.

Is that supposed to scare us into thinking nobody’s going to want to come to the lakefront anymore? International tourism really depends on one extra cool museum from the guy who made Star Wars who could have put it literally anywhere else? It’s a song and dance as old as civilization, and it only ever leads to a race to the bottom.

The board is bewildered that Choose Chicago dares to mention anything but The Bean. Sorry to Pilsen, Jefferson Park and Edgewater, but your businesses couldn’t possibly handle more customers, so there’s no point even mentioning you exist! It doesn’t matter that roads, rail lines, river taxis and buses lead to downtown, so why bother advertising the amazing breadth of restaurants, museums, cultural centers and public spaces throughout the city that need the economic activity just as badly?

And let’s be real here. The values of commercial properties in the core of the city are not down because the mayor floated a head tax that didn’t pass (“Own a home in Chicago? You should be cheering for commercial property values in the Loop,” Nov. 17). Commercial property values are down for the exact same reason they’re down nationwide: COVID-19 demonstrated you don’t necessarily need a downtown office to profit. Cushman & Wakefield reports show essentially every major U.S. city is having some kind of unprecedented commercial vacancy hovering between 20% and 25%.

Chicago’s Central Area Plan proposes what the editorial board is demanding. C’mon now, editorial board.

— Phil Nicodemus, Chicago

Idea to help Chicago

I don’t think Andy Shaw’s idea (“The paradox of billionaire philanthropists,” Nov. 18) to help address the city’s budget conundrum is Pollyanna-ish at all.

Let’s go!

— Rick Gray, president, CA3 Homeowners Associatio, West Loop

Illinois insurance rates

Regarding the article “Pritzker renews push for oversight” (Nov. 14): I want to clear up a few misconceptions because the debate over insurance rates in Illinois is too important to be distorted. Before lawmakers consider upending a system that has protected consumers for decades, let’s start with the facts.

Illinois insurers are already required to submit detailed actuarial documentation to justify a proposed rate increase. These filings are not rubber-stamped. They undergo review by a state regulator to ensure rates reflect real risk — not arbitrary pricing — and every increase must be actuarially sound. Any claim that insurers can raise rates without limits simply isn’t true.

It’s also misleading for anyone to suggest the Illinois Department of Insurance lacks oversight authority. The current framework balances transparency, flexibility and competition. And it works. Illinois has one of the most competitive insurance markets in the nation, with more than 200 companies offering homeowners coverage. That competition keeps prices in check. Our average annual premium is $1,143, which is below the national average of $1,337.

HB3799 would replace this effective model with a rigid “prior approval” system and impose requirements and lengthy approval delays that could destabilize the market. Independent analysis shows that shifting to this model could increase premiums by 20%, which works out to be about $230 per household. That’s exactly what happens when regulators suppress actuarially sound rates: Insurers pull back, choices shrink and consumers pay more. California’s experience is a warning, not a road map.

We should also be clear about what’s driving costs. Construction and materials prices have surged nationwide. Lawsuits and legal system abuse add pressure. And Illinois led the country in tornadoes last year. These aren’t abstract factors; they directly affect claims and underwriting.

In 2023 alone, Illinois homeowners insurers posted a 30.3% underwriting loss. Over the past decade, the cumulative loss is 8.3%. Insurers aren’t raising rates for convenience; they do so to remain solvent and to keep promises to policyholders.

The Illinois Insurance Association and our member companies remain committed to working with lawmakers and regulators on thoughtful, balanced solutions that safeguard consumer choice, promote affordability and maintain Illinois’ robust, healthy, competitive insurance marketplace.

— Kevin Martin, executive director, Illinois Insurance Association, Springfield

Note to readers: As part of our annual Thanksgiving tradition, we’d like to hear from you about what is making you feel thankful this year. (Sincere thoughts only, please.) Email us a letter of no more than 400 words by Sunday, Nov. 23 to letters@chicagotribune.com. Be sure to include your full name and your city/town and use the subject line “Thankful.”

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/letters-111925-chicago-treasurer/ 

Excuse my paraphrasing of Public Enemy, but to answer a question recently posed by the media — “What’s the point of Illinois Republicans?” — the point is to fight the powers that be.

In one sense, that question posed by the Tribune Editorial Board is insulting. In another sense, it is fair.

It is fair insofar as the leadership of the party has for a long time provided little vision or fighting spirit for anything resembling conservative ideas. The expectation of waiting around for another couple of election cycles and hoping we get a better legislative map before we kick up any dust is the kind of lead-with-surrender approach that has made the Illinois GOP a superminority party.

The question is insulting because rank-and-file conservatives around Illinois already know what the point of the opposition party is supposed to be. They also know that the Chicago political press corps has for years generally operated like the communications shop for Democrats.

Let me fill in the blanks for the media and GOP leaders alike. Illinois Republicans want their party to make arguments, not excuses.

Former Tribune columnist John Kass is correct when he argues that a bipartisan combine has decimated Illinois economically, driving a historic number of productive people and thriving businesses away.

And after more than five years of Gov. JB Pritzker, where do we stand?

Since the governor took office, Illinois has suffered the nation’s fourth-worst job growth, the sixth-worst gross domestic product growth and the seventh-worst wage growth. 

But Pritzker is more concerned with currying favor with the extreme part of his base in pursuit of his presidential ambitions. Like making Illinois the abortion capital of the Midwest. Or forcing girls to compete with boys in sports. Or jamming diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives into classrooms. Or allowing for Illinoisans’ electricity bills to spike in pursuit of quixotic green energy goals. Or turning the suburbs into repositories of video poker halls and weed dispensaries. It is progressives such as Pritzker, not conservatives, who are obsessed with so-called social issues that cater to their fringe at the expense of sound economic policies.

I love Illinois just as all conservatives do, but I am dismayed by what it has become under the tenure of Pritzker and his supermajority.

The point of the Republican Party is to conserve the amazing assets Illinois has developed — e.g., its infrastructure, industry, universities, arts, et al. — while developing new ones. Both require systemic change in Illinois.

When Jimmy John’s founder Jimmy John Liautaud announced that he was moving his company’s headquarters out of Illinois in 2012, he said the thing that really galled him was not the state’s taxes so much as its policies. “What I mind is how they spend the tax. I would stay, but the way they spend the tax is what’s really driving me away,” he said. 

Andy Shaw: The paradox of billionaire philanthropists

Since then, the bait-and-switches with taxpayer money that drove Liautaud away have exploded.

The point of the Illinois Republican Party is to run a state government that asks and answers the tough questions: What should state government do? What should it not do? And how should it be financed? Answer those questions, apply the money accordingly, measure the results and report back to the people.

It is not complicated if you run a state government with the modesty, frugality and integrity with which most Illinoisans live their lives and run their businesses.

The integrity part is particularly important. The point of the Republican Party is to stick to our governing principles, propose reform policies grounded in those principles and pursue those policies when we are finally entrusted with political power.

Now is not the time to be coy. We must draw the contrast between an Illinois political ruling class that divvies up the spoils of state government among cronies, versus an Illinois Republican Party that seeks to govern by earning the trust of families who simply desire personal safety and affordability in the state they chose to call home.

As the Roman philosopher Seneca observed, “To live is to fight.” That is the point of my gubernatorial candidacy. To put in the fight to bring the Illinois Republican Party back to life — and the state with it.

Ted Dabrowski is president of the conservative advocacy group Wirepoints and is running for governor of Illinois. 

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/opinion-illinois-republicans-power/ 

The British have, at long last, cast away Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — and rightly so. His shockingly parasitic existence, alleged sexual and financial misconduct, association with Jeffrey Epstein, evasions and astonishing lack of remorse have rendered him an embarrassment even by the indulgent standards of hereditary privilege.

But now, having decided that the former Duke of York is too toxic for domestic consumption, some British journalists seem to believe their country can simply export him, as though other nations exist to absorb the United Kingdom’s unwanted scandals.

Reports suggest that Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as prince, is being not-so-quietly encouraged to live abroad — possibly in the United Arab Emirates or another country with a no-extradition treaty. But who, exactly, has been asked? Since when does Britain presume to decide which sovereign nations will host its disgraced aristocrats?

The arrogance is breathtaking. Britain — a nation with some of the world’s strictest immigration controls — made immigration a cornerstone of the Brexit campaign that led to the regrettable vote. Imagine the outrage if another country, say, France or Saudi Arabia, announced it was dispatching one of its disgraced elites to settle in Surrey or the Cotswolds. The British press would erupt in indignation over sovereignty, security and moral standards. Yet somehow, the same logic evaporates when the traffic flows outward. After all, how many ordinary people can simply decide to move to another country without navigating a maze of eligibility rules, visas and restrictions?

This is more than hypocrisy; it is the lingering reflex of imperial entitlement. “We” decide what happens to “our” people — and to everyone else. The rest of the world is expected to nod politely while Britain tidies up its royal embarrassments by relocating them.

But there’s also a practical dimension few seem to have considered: Would it even be safe to let loose abroad? His record suggests otherwise. A man who has so gravely misjudged, who used his privilege to consort with money launderers and predators to enrich himself, and who has shown no credible sign of rehabilitation, is not suddenly rendered harmless by geography. Abroad, he could all too easily engage in further questionable behavior — financial, sexual or both. It is naive to imagine that a change of scenery could transform a lifetime of entitlement into prudence — or that both his family and his country will be safe from further embarrassment, or worse.

And then there’s the unspoken question few seem interested in posing. What exactly has he done to deserve a gifted palace in Abu Dhabi — or anywhere else? The notion that a man stripped of public duties for disgrace should be rewarded with luxury accommodation abroad is grotesque. Accountability should mean facing consequences, not evading them behind the walls of another nation’s hospitality.

Britain’s instinct to send him away reveals something deeper in its political DNA — a habit of displacement rather than reckoning. The same country that lectures others on governance and human rights still treats its own scandals as exportable inconveniences. The monarchy may no longer command an empire, but its moral geography remains imperial.

If Britain truly wants to demonstrate that privilege no longer shields the powerful, it should stop pretending that accountability ends at London Heathrow Airport. The answer is not to exile scandalous public figures in another country; it is responsibility at home. This means launching a real criminal investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor’s dealings as a trade envoy and as Epstein’s close companion — and examining, too, the unexplained millions received by his ex-wife and daughters. Only then will Britain show that even its most protected are not above the law.

Let Mountbatten-Windsor face the consequences where he made them — within the society that enabled him. And let us stop assuming the rest of the world is waiting, hat in hand, to host the United Kingdom’s fallen royals.

Character, like justice, cannot be outsourced.

Elizabeth Kosmetatou is a professor of history at the University of Illinois Springfield.

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/opinion-prince-andrew-jeffrey-epstein-british-royals/ 

Witkoff, Zelensky, Erdogan To Meet In Turkey In Effort To Revive Peace Talks

Tyler Durden
Wed, 11/19/2025 – 05:45

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/witkoff-zelensky-erdogan-meet-turkey-effort-jump-start-peace-talks-again 

Por ILLIA NOVIKOV

KIEV, Ucrania (AP) — Un gran ataque con drones y misiles rusos golpeó una ciudad en el oeste de Ucrania y mató a 16 personas, dijo la policía el miércoles, mientras el presidente del país, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, se dirigía a Turquía para mantener conversaciones de alto nivel en busca de más apoyo diplomático contra la invasión rusa de su país.

El operativo nocturno alcanzó dos bloques de apartamentos de nueve pisos en Ternopil, a unos 200 kilómetros (120 millas) de la frontera con Polonia, explicó el ministro del Interior, Ihor Klymenko. Los equipos de emergencias revisaban los escombros a la luz del día para dar con posibles sobrevivientes, agregó. Al menos 64 personas resultaron heridas, incluyendo 14 niños, dijo la policía.

Rusia disparó 476 drones de ataque y señuelo, así como 48 misiles de varios tipos, contra objetivos ucranianos durante la noche, de acuerdo con la Fuerza Aérea de Ucrania. El bombardeo incluyó 47 misiles de crucero, de los cuales todos menos seis fueron interceptados por las defensas antiaéreas, apuntó.

“Cada ataque descarado contra la vida cotidiana indica que la presión sobre Rusia (para detener la guerra) es insuficiente”, escribió Zelenskyy en la aplicación de mensajería Telegram.

El líder ucraniano indicó que se reuniría con su homólogo turco, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, más tarde el miércoles como parte de sus esfuerzos para aislar diplomáticamente al presidente de Rusia, Vladímir Putin, y aumentar la presión internacional en su contra. Por el momento, el mandatario ruso se ha resistido a alcanzar compromisos, Putin hasta ahora ha resistido hacer compromisos, a pesar de la presión de Estados Unidos.

“En primer lugar, discutiremos las máximas capacidades para garantizar que Ucrania logre una paz justa”, dijo Zelenskyy acerca de sus conversaciones con Erdogan, agregando mantienen una “buena relación”.

“Vemos algunas posiciones y señales de Estados Unidos, bueno, veremos mañana”, añadió Zelenskky.

Aunque no ofreció más detalles, se espera que el viernes entren en vigor nuevas y duras sanciones estadounidenses a la industria petrolera rusa, diseñadas para llevar a Putin a la mesa de negociaciones.

Un alto funcionario turco dijo en un primer momento que el enviado especial de Estados Unidos, Steve Witkoff, se uniría a Zelenskyy en Turquía, pero más tarde en el día se retractó y señaló que Witkoff no viajaría. El funcionario habló el martes bajo condición de anonimato porque no estaba autorizado a discutir el asunto públicamente.

La ciudad ucraniana de Ternopil está en una zona del relativamente tranquilo oeste de Ucrania a donde se mudaron muchos residentes en el sur y el este que huían de los peligros del frente.

Casi 50 personas resultaron heridas en ataques rusos en otras tres regiones ucranianas.

El Ministerio de Defensa de Rusia explicó que atacó instalaciones energéticas ucranianas y objetivos de la industria militar, incluyendo depósitos de drones de largo alcance, en represalia por los operativos del Kiev en territorio ruso.

Rumanía movilizó dos aviones Eurofighter Typhoon y dos F-16 fueron luego de la entrada de un dron en su espacio aéreo durante los ataques rusos, explicó el Ministerio de Defensa Nacional del país, que forma parte de la OTAN.

Por su parte, el ejército de Polonia señaló que desplegó aviones polacos y aliados durante la noche como medida preventiva. Los aeropuertos de Rzeszów y Lublin, en territorio polaco, cerraron temporalmente para dar prioridad a la aviación militar, reportó la Agencia de Servicios de Navegación Aérea de Polonia.

En el noreste de Járkiv, la segunda ciudad más grande de Ucrania, drones rusos hirieron a 46 personas, entre las que había dos niñas , escribió el jefe de la administración militar regional, Oleh Syniehubov, en Telegram. Los aviones no tripulados impactaron en varios distritos de la ciudad, en al menos 16 edificios residenciales, una central de ambulancias, una escuela y otra infraestructura civil, añadió.

Mientras, el Ministerio de Defensa ruso dijo el miércoles que Ucrania disparó cuatro misiles ATACMS suministrados por Estados Unidos contra la ciudad de Voronezh el martes. Los cuatro proyectiles fueron interceptados, agregó el ministerio, pero los escombros dañaron una vivienda, un orfanato y un centro de mayores, aunque no se registraron víctimas.

El Estado Mayor Conjunto de Ucrania había reportado el martes el lanzamiento de misiles ATACMS contra Rusia sin ofrecer detalles.

____

El periodista de The Associated Press Stephen McGrath en Leamington Spa, Inglaterra, contribuyó a este despacho.

___

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/bombardeo-ruso-mata-a-16-en-ciudad-de-ucrania-mientras-zelenskyy-viaja-a-turqua/ 

Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Nov. 19, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

High temperature: 75 degrees (1930)
Low temperature: 10 degrees (1894)
Precipitation: 0.96 inches (1985)
Snowfall: 2.2 inches (1955)

Andy Frain usher Olaf Logan, left, stops William Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern at 1855 W. Madison St., from entering Wrigley Field in a re-enactment on Oct. 12, 1945. Chicago Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley said Sianis could come in but the goat stays out because he smells. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

1934: William “Billy Goat” Sianis bought the Lincoln Tavern, 1855 W. Madison St., across from the old Chicago Stadium (which was replaced in 1995 by the United Center).

According to a Tribune story from 1938, Sianis renamed the bar the Billy Goat Tavern within a year of opening after a goat fell off a truck and wandered into the bar. When Sianis and his goat, Murphy, tried to enter a World Series game at Wrigley Field on Oct. 6, 1945, they were turned away. Thus began the curse of the billy goat.

That ‘marvelous burger place’: 84 years of Tribune coverage of the Billy Goat Tavern

“Billy — that’s the goat — brought good luck to Mr. Sianis because business improved at his restaurant when the goat was put on the floor show,” the Tribune reported. “Mr. Sianis grew a set of whiskers just like Billy’s so Billy would feel at home.”

One thing was missing — cheeseburgers (or cheezborgers, according to a John Belushi “Saturday Night Live” skit from 1978). The location didn’t have a grill. It was only after moving to the Apollo Savings and Loan building on Lower Michigan Avenue in 1964 that the Billy Goat started serving food.

Lincoln Park Zoo Director Dr. Lester Fisher introduces Baldy the Clydesdale, left, to new arrivals Little Spider, center, and Blue Girl at the Farm-in-the-Zoo on Dec. 9, 1975. The two horses are miniature or toy horses while Baldy is nearly 6 feet tall. (William Yates/Chicago Tribune)

1964: Farm-in-the-Zoo opened at Lincoln Park Zoo. It was designed to show “city folks where most of their food comes from,” as suggested three years prior by the Lincoln Park Zoological Society.

“We had in mind that segment of the population which in its visits to the zoo becomes acquainted with animals from Africa and other faraway places, but has little knowledge of the animals in rural areas,” said Frederick M. Gillies, society president.

It was the first major zoo project made possible by the society, featuring two red barns on Chicago Park District land just south of the zoo entrance.

A dead body at the barn, ghost sisters and a sweet skunk: Uncovering the haunted history of the Lincoln Park Zoo

While digging the foundation for a barn, workers found a fully intact coffin. The site was formerly part of Chicago City Cemetery. Many of the 35,000 bodies buried there were relocated to other cemeteries by the 1880s.

The main barn featured an Angus steer, a ewe and her lamb, a sow with 12 piglets, and an incubator. The dairy barn included a herd of six Holstein cows, a heifer, a bull and two newborn calves. The attraction became so popular that horse and beef cattle barns were added in 1965.

Vintage Chicago Tribune: As McDonald’s turns 70, a look back at its suburban origins

1968: A new $500,000 McDonald’s Hamburger University opened at 2010 E. Higgins Road in Elk Grove Village and included closed-circuit television to demonstrate techniques used in the company’s restaurants. Cutaway models of kitchen equipment and even classes on how to serve dine-in guests — which McDonald’s didn’t accommodate until 1969 — gave students hands-on experience.

Willie “Flukey” Stokes and his driver Ronald Johnson were shot to death outside the home of Stokes’ girlfriend, Diane Miller, shortly after midnight on Nov. 19, 1986. (Chicago Tribune)

1986: Gambler, pool hall owner and rumored drug dealer Willie “Flukey” Stokes and his chauffeur were shot to death inside a limousine outside his girlfriend’s apartment on South Ellis Avenue.

Stokes’ former bodyguard Earl Wilson was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1988 after a prosecutor argued that he ”directed the hands of the gunmen” who shot down Stokes and his driver.

1996: Fourteen people were killed when United Express Flight 5925 from Chicago collided on the runway with a private plane at Baldwin Municipal Airport outside Quincy, Illinois.

Juan Rivera, center left, is released from Stateville Correctional Center and hugs his brother Miguel Diaz on Jan. 6, 2012, as he is greeted by family members and a crush of media. After nearly 20 years in prison, the Lake County state’s attorney announced it would not challenge an appellate court’s ruling that reversed Rivera’s conviction for the murder of 11-year-old babysitter Holly Staker in 1992. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Also in 1996: An Illinois appellate court reversed the conviction of Juan Rivera, who was found guilty in 1993 for the Aug. 17, 1992, rape and murder of 11-year-old Holly Staker of Waukegan.

Juan Rivera attends documentary screening about his wrongful convictions in killing of Waukegan girl

Rivera was convicted in three separate trials, despite evidence that continually unraveled over the years, including a false confession extracted from a then 19-year-old Rivera that came at the end of a grueling three-day police interrogation.

No physical evidence linked Rivera to the crime, and DNA evidence later excluded Rivera as Staker’s killer. An appeals court vacated his conviction in early 2012, and Lake County later paid Rivera a $20 million lawsuit settlement.

New Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, receives the red three-cornered biretta hat during a consistory inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Nov. 19, 2016. (Gregorio Borgia/AP)

2016: Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich was elevated to cardinal by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

A man in scrubs looks upward outside of Mercy Hospital during an active shooter attack on Nov. 19, 2018, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

2018: Three people — Chicago police Officer Samuel Jimenez, emergency room doctor Tamara O’Neal and first-year pharmacy resident Dayna Less — were shot and killed during an attack at Mercy Hospital.

The sun sets during the fourth inning of an exhibition game between the Cubs and White Sox at Wrigley Field on July 19, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

2020: Wrigley Field was designated a National Historic Landmark in the National Register of Historic Places — seven years after ownership applied for the federal status.

A first printing of the United States Constitution is displayed at Sotheby’s auction house during a press preview on Nov. 5, 2021, in New York. (Mary Altaffer/AP)

2021: Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin bought a rare first printing of the U.S. Constitution sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $43.2 million, then a record price for a document or book sold at auction.

A man celebrates the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse outside the Kenosha County Courthouse on Nov. 19, 2021, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Also in 2021: A Kenosha County jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse of all charges against him, finding the Antioch teenage gunman acted in self-defense when he fatally shot two men and wounded a third.

A sobbing Rittenhouse, 18, collapsed after the five acquittals were read as the families of the men he killed wept just a few feet away.

Want more vintage Chicago?

Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/chicago-history-november-19/ 

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 19, the 323rd day of 2025. There are 42 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Nov. 19, 1959, Ford Motor Co. announced it was halting production of the unpopular Edsel.

Also on this date:

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.

In 1969, Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean made the second crewed landing on the moon.

In 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel.

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met for the first time as they began their summit in Geneva.

In 1998, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr testified before the House Judiciary Committee during impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton.(The full House approved two articles of impeachment against Clinton that December; Clinton was later acquitted in a Senate trial).

In 2017, Charles Manson, the cult leader behind the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles in 1969, died in a California hospital at the age of 83 after nearly a half-century in prison.

Related Articles

In 2022, five people were killed and 25 injured when a shooter opened fire at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Today’s Birthdays: Talk show host Dick Cavett is 89. Media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner is 87. Fashion designer Calvin Klein is 83. Poet Sharon Olds is 83. Sportscaster and former NFL wide receiver Ahmad Rashad is 76. Broadcast journalist Ann Curry is 69. Former NASA astronaut Eileen Collins is 69. Writer-filmmaker Charlie Kaufman is 67. Actor Allison Janney is 66. Actor Meg Ryan is 64. Actor-filmmaker Jodie Foster is 63. Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Gail Devers is 59. Entrepreneur Jack Dorsey is 49. Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Kerri Strug is 48. Actor Reid Scott is 48. Film director Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) is 46. Actor Adam Driver is 42. NHL forward Patrick Kane is 37.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/today-in-history-ford-halts-production-of-edsel/ 

Like “Helping An Alcoholic By Sending Another Crate Of Vodka”: Orbán Blasts Brussels Over EU Funding Ukraine

Tyler Durden
Wed, 11/19/2025 – 05:00

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/its-astonishing-viktor-orban-reacts-europe-attempting-fill-ukraines-157bn-budget-gap