Good morning, Chicago.
Preservationists are seeking an eleventh-hour reprieve for a historic 152-year-old River North building facing imminent demolition.
The three-and-a-half story brick and cast-iron building at 720 N. Wells St., which rose from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire with the seventh permit issued during the city’s rebuilding, is set to fall to the wrecking ball within days for redevelopment.
“This is one of the first buildings in the River North community built after the Chicago Fire, sort of representing the city that burned,” said Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago. “It’s just tragic to see this come down. There’s so few of these buildings dating back to this period remaining.”
The building at the southwest corner of Wells and Superior streets, along with an adjacent but smaller Italianate building of similar vintage, are not designated Chicago landmarks. They are slated for demolition to make way for a four-story club designed by New York-based Robert A.M. Stern Architects that is planned for the site, according to the Chicago Planning Department.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Robert Channick.
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A still image of a video released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability shows a group of Chicago police officers surrounding a vehicle driven by Dexter Reed, 26, moments before an “exchange of gunfire” in which Reed was fatally shot on March 21, 2024 in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. (Chicago Police Department)
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A day after the release of body-worn camera footage that showed Chicago police officers firing 96 times at Dexter Reed last month after he apparently shot and wounded a tactical cop during a traffic stop, questions remained over the circumstances of Reed’s killing and what effect it could have on policing here.
How many of the officers’ bullets struck Reed? How many times did Reed shoot at police? And why did an officer appear to fire three final shots at Reed as he was lying motionless in the street?
Mayor Brandon Johnson during a recent news conference at City Hall on April 9, 2024. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
After balking earlier, Johnson to ask City Council to spend $70M on migrant services
In an about-face, Mayor Brandon Johnson is now asking aldermen to approve using another $70 million in city funds to maintain this year’s migrant response.
This week, the mayor’s office began briefing City Council members on plans to push through the item as a means to keep afloat the city’s costly response to the 38,000-plus asylum-seekers who have made their way to Chicago since 2022.
The 3300 block of West North Avenue in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood where a 4 year-old boy was shot and critically wounded Tuesday while riding in a car, April 10, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
4-year-old boy recovering from surgery after shooting in Humboldt Park, alderman says
The boy was riding in a car when he was struck in the back about 3:50 p.m. Tuesday in the 3300 block of West North Avenue, Chicago police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, police said.
Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, April 8, 2024. Israel says it has withdrawn its last ground troops from the city, ending a four-month operation. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Israeli airstrike in Gaza kills 3 sons and 4 grandchildren of Hamas’ top leader
Israeli aircraft killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate cease-fire negotiations with the group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed.
FILE – Supporters of Florida Voice For The Unborn demonstrate outside the fourth floor as legislators work on property insurance bills, May 24, 2022, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. The Florida Supreme Court ruled Monday, April 1, 2024, that a ballot measure to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution can go before voters in November. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, File)
Which states could have abortion on the ballot in 2024?
Across the country, there have been increased efforts to put abortion rights questions to voters since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and removed the nationwide right to abortion.
Northwestern forward Nick Martinelli, 2, applies pressure as Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr., 0, passes to a teammate in the second half of a game at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston on Jan. 24, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
University of Illinois, citing insufficient evidence, closes internal probe of basketball player Terrence Shannon Jr.
The University of Illinois has closed a student misconduct investigation of men’s basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr., saying it did not have sufficient evidence to determine whether the Chicago native violated the school’s student code after he was accused of rape in Kansas.
LSU forward Angel Reese reacts during the first quarter of an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight game against Iowa on April 1, 2024, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Is Angel Reese a good fit for the Chicago Sky? 4 potential options for the No. 8 pick in the WNBA draft.
The 2024 WNBA draft is stacked with one of the deepest classes in recent history — and for the first time in years, the Chicago Sky are in the center of the action.
Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks delivers during the third inning of the team’s baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Kyle Hendricks searching for answers after another shaky start in Chicago Cubs’ 10-2 loss to the San Diego Padres
Kyle Hendricks’ simmering frustration three starts into his season goes beyond one moment.
The San Diego Padres were the latest lineup to take advantage of Hendricks’ miscues, scoring seven runs in five-plus innings Wednesday at Petco Park in the Chicago Cubs’ 10-2 loss.
An image from the documentary “Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion,” which looks at toxic workplace allegations at the clothing retailer Brandy Melville, as well as the realities of fast fashion. (HBO)
Column: Fast fashion and retailers like Brandy Melville get documentary scrutiny
Fifteen years ago, the clothing retailer Brandy Melville opened in Los Angeles, and in the years since it has become the brand for preteen and teenage fashion for girls — specifically thin, white girls. When some customers complained about the tiny one-size-fits-all approach, the company didn’t expand its range of offerings but chose to modify its labels to “one size fits most.”
But according to the documentary “Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion” which premiered on HBO this week (and can be streamed on Max), that was the least of it.
An image from a 2019 UCLA presentation of “The Art of the Benshi,” with orators on the left, musicians on the right and a silent film presentation center stage. (UCLA)
‘The Art of the Benshi’ is coming to Chicago: A lost page in movie history, rediscovered
Some of us — in Chicago, happily, it’s pretty common — have heard a keyboard accompanist or a small-group ensemble, or even an entire orchestra, performing with a silent short or feature.
Then there is the benshi experience, which new to Tribune critic Michael Phillips. And now he has located the shadowy intersection of cinema and theater where a kind of delicate magic happens. He traveled to the Brooklyn Academy of Music last weekend for the first of four U.S. tour stops of “The Art of the Benshi.”
The playwright and author Adam Rapp, a Joliet native, whose new book, “Wolf at the Table,” tells a multi-generational tale of a single family negotiating serial killers and histories of mental illness. (Sham Hinchey/Little/Brown)
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