Daywatch: Donald Trump and the Illinois ballot – Chicago Tribune
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A state elections hearing officer agreed with objectors that former President Donald Trump “engaged in insurrection” at the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, but said he believed it is up to the courts and not the State Board of Elections to decide whether to remove him from the March 19 Illinois primary ballot.
The nonbinding recommendation from Clark Erickson, a retired Republican judge from Kankakee County, comes ahead of the state election board’s meeting today to certify the names that will appear on the primary ballot.
The objection to having Trump on the ballot was filed by five Illinois voters and backed by Free Speech for People, a group which has been behind efforts to have Trump removed from ballots across the nation under provisions of what is known as the “insurrection act” of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Rick Pearson and Olivia Stevens.
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A SIM card for a cellphone. (Ulrich Baumgarten/via Getty Images)
According to the 18-page indictment, which was made public in Chicago as part of the removal proceedings, Robert Powell, who used the online moniker “ElSwapo1,” teamed up with others to fraudulently obtain victims’ personal information.
In some instances, the schemers created phony identification cards and traveled to wireless service provider retail outlets in states across the country, where the fake documents were used to convince the stores to “port” data over from the victims’ phones, according to the charges.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson gives an update on migrant issues at City Hall on Jan. 29, 2024. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Johnson preempted an outcry from migrants and their supporters Monday, announcing he would not enforce a looming Thursday deadline to start kicking recent arrivals out of city-run shelters.
On the eve of a Chicago City Council hearing called to probe conditions at the city’s migrant landing zone and shelters and days before thousands were scheduled to be evicted from the shelters, Johnson said that move would be put off again.
(Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
A large majority of residents and fellows at Northwestern Medicine hospitals and clinics voted in favor of unionizing, making them the biggest union of medical house staff in the Midwest with nearly 1,300 doctors.
The logo is displayed while the Democratic National Convention holds a media walkthrough on Jan. 18, 2024, at the United Center. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s host committee for this summer’s Democratic National Convention is seeking representatives from each of city’s 77 community areas to spearhead recruiting and volunteering efforts for the convention.
These 77 neighborhood ambassadors will each be responsible for recruiting at least 50 volunteers from their neighborhoods to help with a variety of tasks before and during the Aug. 19-22 convention, as well as hosting neighborhood events and serving as liaisons between convention organizers and community groups.
Janelle Chaix works as a paraprofessional with high-needs students at Crystal Lake’s South Elementary School. “We do it because we have a passion for these kids,” she said. “We love these kids. We want to see them succeed.” (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Sunbelt Staffing, the agency tapped by District 47, will earn up to $65 for every hour a temporary employee works, according to a contract obtained by the Tribune. The union said the rate is more than four times as much as newly hired, permanent paraprofessionals make.
Bulls guard Zach LaVine stretches to grab a rebound as Warriors guard Stephen Curry watches in the second quarter at the United Center on Jan. 12, 2024, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Zach LaVine has missed 22 games this season, including 17 straight in December and early January with inflammation in his right foot. He returned for seven games before spraining his ankle against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 18. The Bulls are 12-10 without LaVine and 10-15 with him.
Kamila Valieva, of the Russian Olympic Committee, reacts after the women’s free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 17, 2022, in Beijing. (Bernat Armangue/AP)
The case rocked the Olympics when, about 24 hours after figure skater Kamila Valieva led Russia to the victory in the team event, details about a sample taken six weeks earlier at Russia’s national championships revealed there was a banned heart medication in her system.
More than a half-dozen proceedings and appeals took place over the ensuing 23 months, culminating in Monday’s decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sports, which is essentially the supreme court for international sports events.
Michael Osacky pages through a binder of football cards at his Chicago home. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Michael Osacky has spent and continues to spend most of his life tied to the past and he seems remarkably happy. He is in his early 40s and occupies an important niche in the surprisingly vast, sometimes wicked and increasingly competitive and lucrative world of sports memorabilia. He has dozens of items stuffed into his Near North Side apartment and in storage nearby.
Music director emeritus Riccardo Muti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the second of two concerts at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria, on Jan. 23, 2024. (Todd Rosenberg)
The CSO hasn’t been to Europe since January 2020; in the uncertain seasons after the pandemic shutdown, the orchestra focused on touring North America.
On the CSO’s current European tour, the powers that be seem eager to make up for lost time. Between Jan. 11 and 29, the orchestra is scheduled to play 14 concerts across 11 cities and seven countries — easily its busiest tour in recent history. Its 1998 European tour with former music director Daniel Barenboim is a close second, with 13 concerts in eight cities over 17 days.
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