Good morning, Chicago.
Pass by a 7-Eleven in the city, and you might hear classical music pouring from the speakers outside — a tactic deployed by some store franchisees to shoo away loiterers.
A former 7-Eleven at Southport Avenue and Clark Street flips that script. Here, classical music invites you inside — and to come as you are, whether in business casual or your midnight-Slurpee-run clothes.
Welcome to The CheckOut, Chicago’s newest music venue. The enterprise is a project of Access Contemporary Music, a nonprofit founded by composer Seth Boustead. ACM is already behind the street fair Thirsty Ears, the Sound of Silent Film Festival, and a music school with three outposts in Ravenswood, Avondale and Rogers Park, along with a host of more sporadic projects. Owning a proper venue is a logical next step, however daunting that prospect may be in 2025.
And here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including why a suburban church leader was arrested during his morning sermon, Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson indicates a season-ending surgery is possible and remembering the architect who built Steppenwolf and many of Chicago’s theaters.
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Trump deploys National Guard to Memphis, calling it a ‘replica’ of his crackdown on Washington
President Donald Trump signed an order yesterday sending the National Guard into Memphis to combat crime, offering another major test of the limits of presidential power by using military force in American cities.
Federal immigration agents sweep across Chicago area as advocates try to make sense of ‘patchwork’ enforcement
Federal immigration enforcement agents fanned out across the Chicago region yesterday, arresting at least 17 people in the city and suburbs and being spotted by immigrant advocates and others at a Chicago courthouse and in cities from Elgin to Aurora.
The scope of the raids remained difficult to assess as information on apprehensions and sightings from various sources has created a “patchwork” understanding for advocates and the public, with federal authorities largely staying silent about their activities. Still, officials and advocates were clear that the increased federal activity is upending daily life, including children’s education and business operations.
Suburban La Luz Del Mundo church leader ordered held in child sex trafficking case
A federal judge in Chicago ordered the pastor of a local chapter of the La Luz del Mundo megachurch held in custody to face federal charges alleging he helped cover up a widespread child sex trafficking operation that authorities say victimized young members of the church for decades.
Joram Núñez Joaquín led a congregation of the church headquartered in west suburban Cicero. The charges do not allege Joaquin sexually abused anyone, but say he posed as a lawyer and coerced young victims to sign declarations that the abuse allegations were bogus. He also allegedly collected and destroyed evidence of the abuse, including sex toys and lingerie the victims were forced to wear, according to federal prosecutors.
Narcan vending machines added to five CTA stations
Chicago transit riders can now access the overdose-reversing medication naloxone at six CTA stations.
The expansion comes about two years after the nasal spray, often known by the brand name Narcan, first became available to riders at the 95th Street Red Line station.
Congress asks whether Boar’s Head deli meat plant tied to deadly listeria outbreak will be fit to reopen
Boar’s Head officials have said they planned to reopen their plant in Jarratt, Virginia, in the coming months. The plant was shuttered after listeria-tainted liverwurst killed 10 people, sickened dozens and forced a recall of more than 7 million pounds of deli products. Federal officials said systemic problems at the plant caused the outbreak.
Documents obtained by the AP showed problems at plants in Arkansas, Indiana and a different site in Virginia.
Jaylon Johnson indicates season-ending surgery is possible after Chicago Bears CB suffers a new groin injury
Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson has a new groin injury, and the team hasn’t determined how much time the two-time Pro Bowl selection might miss. Johnson exited Sunday’s 52-21 loss to the Detroit Lions in the second quarter.
3 things we learned from Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, who might spend more time with the defense
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman met with reporters in South Bend, Ind., less than 48 hours after the Irish fell to 0-2 following a 41-40 loss to Texas A&M.
Here are three things we learned from Freeman as the No. 24 Irish turn their focus to Saturday’s game against Purdue.
John Morris, architect who built Steppenwolf and many of Chicago’s theaters, dies at 77
John Morris brought an extensive understanding of stagecraft and a keen eye for audiences to his long career as a Chicago-based theater architect who designed performance spaces like the Steppenwolf Theatre’s mainstage, the Lookingglass Theatre, the Athenaeum Center, the Black Ensemble Theater and the Old Town School of Folk Music, among others.
“John could just walk into a space and know exactly whether it worked or not — where the stage would be and where the dressing room block would be, and how you wanted to get into the space,” said Patrick Danaher, a longtime managing architect at Morris’ firm, Morris Architects Planners.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America are still benefiting from Nate Bargatze’s controversial Emmys bit
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America may end up being the biggest winner of Sunday night’s Emmy Awards. The afterschool youth programming nonprofit is now seeing a donation surge after a controversial fundraising bit at the center of television’s biggest night.
Jane Goodall returns to Chicago, where she pivoted from studying chimpanzees to conservation efforts 40 years ago
Jane Goodall’s lifelong studies into chimpanzees began six decades ago, when as a 26-year-old she set foot on the shores of Gombe Stream National Park along Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, equipped with nothing but a notebook, a pencil and a pair of secondhand binoculars. But it was later, at a 1986 conference on chimpanzees in Chicago, that she would experience a pivotal moment in her work.
“I just knew I had to try to do something,” she recalled at a luncheon Thursday, during a three-day return visit to Chicago. “That conference changed my whole life.”