Latest news with #RobertChannick
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Daywatch: Gaming Board stops construction at Bally's Chicago casino site
Good morning, Chicago. The Illinois Gaming Board issued a stop work order yesterday at the planned Bally's Chicago casino site in River West after it was discovered that the construction project was using an unauthorized subcontracted waste hauler previously alleged to have had ties to organized crime. D&P Construction, a Melrose Park company which provided dumpsters used at the 30-acre site, was hired by the Chicago Community Builders Collective, a minority-led general contracting partnership constructing Bally's Chicago $1.7 billion permanent casino complex. 'Today we were informed by IGB that the contractors working on the Bally's Chicago site were utilizing an unapproved vendor and were issued a stop work notice,' a Bally's spokesperson said in a statement yesterday evening. 'We appreciate the diligence and action of IGB. This is the process at work. We look forward to working with the IGB to eliminate the possibility of it happening again.' Read the full story from the Tribune's Robert Channick. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including a look yesterday's May Day rally, a deal over Chicago's Columbus statues and a homecoming for Chicago Sky players. Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History It's the latest move by Trump and his administration to utilize federal powers to control or hamstring institutions whose actions or viewpoints he disagrees with. Thousands gathered for a rally on May Day, a celebration with Chicago ties that commemorates the labor movement. The group marched to Grant Park in the afternoon, as hundreds of thousands turned out for rallies around the world, many united in anger over Trump's agenda, including aggressive tariffs and immigration crackdowns. This year's rally and march comes nearly 140 years after the Haymarket Affair and just over 100 days into Trump's second term. Related: Photos: Thousands march through downtown Chicago for May Day The Chicago Park District announced yesterday they reached a deal to end a lawsuit brought over the removal of Christopher Columbus statues from city parks during 2020 protests. A pair of Cook County Jail detainees are alleging sheriff's deputies encouraged a third inmate to tie them up and sexually assault them at knifepoint after one of them complained about forced sexual encounters with a guard in the jail complex. The alleged misconduct is outlined in a lawsuit filed yesterday, which contends the attack came after one of the inmates had made a prior complaint about a nonconsensual sex with a female correctional officer. A federal judge yesterday postponed the retrial of of ex-AT&T Illinois boss Paul La Schiazza on bribery counts related to former House Speaker Michael Madigan, allowing the new U.S. attorney in Chicago to consider next steps in the case and avoiding the possibility that Madigan would be sentenced in the same courthouse while La Schiazza's jury was deliberating. A Harvey alderwoman has been charged with misdemeanor offenses after being forcibly removed by police during Monday's City Council meeting, according to the city. The driver of a car that barreled through a building used for a popular after-school camp in central Illinois, killing three children and a teenager, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and may have had a medical emergency, police said yesterday. The biggest day of the Chicago White Sox season finally is at hand. After an 8-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday, the Sox will debut their new Chicago Bulls-themed alternate uniforms, celebrating what the team's website described as two 'iconic' franchises. Like the vintage Reese's commercial in which someone accidentally gets peanut butter in his chocolate while another person gets chocolate in his peanut butter, this is a melding of two franchises that was bound to happen. The Chicago Cubs have touted a diverse offense that isn't reliant on home runs to win games. But long balls certainly help and were pivotal in the Cubs' 8-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday at PNC Park. The Chicago Sky's preseason opener in Baton Rouge, La., will offer a rare return to the past for three of their youngest stars. The game is part of a new WNBA series to bring preseason games to college markets of its top stars. This year's slate will include games hosted at Iowa, Oregon and Notre Dame to feature top alums such as Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Loyd, Arike Ogunbowale and Jackie Young. After Blue Island officials temporarily shut down Harry's Long Bar following a fight involving patrons outside the establishment, the owners are stepping up evening security measures. Also around the area this weekend, comedian Laura Peek is at Zanies and the farmers markets open for summer.
Chicago Tribune
06-02-2025
- Automotive
- Chicago Tribune
Vintage Chicago Tribune: From horseless carriages to cougars, revisiting the Chicago Auto Show
For the 117th time, The Chicago Auto Show will park a variety of concept, crossover and customary vehicles at McCormick Place. We took a look through the Tribune archives for highlights from several editions but need only look across the newsroom for someone who considers the annual event a must-see — Tribune business reporter Robert Channick. We are grateful to him for sharing one of his favorite memories: Launched in 1901, the Chicago Auto Show is one of the largest in the U.S., with a history that dates back to the beginning of the automobile industry. With the 117th edition ready to open Saturday, my own experience with the show spans almost half that history. While I have been covering the annual show for the Tribune for the past 15 years, I attended my first Chicago Auto Show nearly 60 years ago, tagging along on an outing with a friend's family. Growing up during the '60s, my friends and I were fascinated with cars — especially the souped-up muscle cars coming out of Detroit. Even the now-defunct AMC managed to jam a massive 390 V8 inside a Rambler — the boxiest, most sedate-looking sedan ever built — creating a red-white-and-blue beast, a photo of which ended up plastered on my bedroom wall. Piling in a station wagon, we headed to the auto show, which had been temporarily moved back to the since-demolished International Amphitheatre after a 1967 fire destroyed McCormick Place, the city's relatively new convention center. A rebuilt McCormick Place would welcome back the auto show in 1971. My memories of that weekend afternoon from the late 1960s are a bit fuzzy. There were new cars and mini-skirted models spinning on carousels, large crowds migrating from display-to-display to kick the whitewall tires and air that was probably thick with cigarette smoke. It was wonderful. But the enduring memory was a bit of good fortune at the culmination of our visit. I had entered a drawing, perhaps hoping to win a new car, which I planned to store in my garage for the five years or so until I could drive. Then someone pulled a slip out of the box and announced my name over the PA system. The prize was a small brown radio, a sort of pre-boom box with a handle that only had AM and a tinny speaker. It wasn't a car, but I was thrilled. On the drive home, clutching the radio, my head filled with the sights, sounds and smells of an auditorium of new cars, I felt like the luckiest kid in Chicago. — Robert Channick March 23-31, 1901 The exhibition of automobiles — commonly called 'horseless carriages' at the time — was the first indoor exhibition of its kind held in Chicago. The Coliseum hosted the event, which was sanctioned by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers and included vehicles displayed by 65 firms from around the United States. According to the Tribune, it was the ' first show of this character held in the West.' One of the most popular features was the track, shown in the photo above, which hosted an obstacle race and a flower parade. And only one person reported being run over at the show. 'Every visitor who wished to do so could ride on one of the numerous automobiles exhibited,' the Tribune reported. 'The autoomnibuses carried large crowds of people, and all day until the closing hour there was a continuous string of automobiles of every description racing around the drive.' An 'A Line O' Type or Two' column from 1961 said there were calls of 'Get a horse' each time one of the autos made an unscheduled stop during that first exhibition. The nine-day show hosted almost 30,000 visitors, and one company reported sales of $50,000 (or more than $1 million in today's dollars) worth of vehicles. 'The result of the exhibition has been to place the affair on a solid foundation and assure to the people of Chicago the annual recurrence of the show,' Samuel A. Miles, show manager, told the Tribune. Jan. 27-Feb. 3, 1917 About 40,000 people attended the first day of the 17th annual car show and 280,000 people visited the Coliseum during the weeklong event. High-end vehicles were displayed in a ballroom at the Congress Plaza Hotel, but one vehicle stood out from the rest — Studebaker's 24-carat gold-plated New Series 18. Valued at $30,000 (or $800,000 in today's dollars), the auto with white enamel interior was placed atop a mirror plate so its chassis construction could be displayed. Nov. 16-23, 1935 The 36th annual auto show had a new location inside the International Amphitheatre and a new sponsor — the Chicago Automobile Trade Association. The recently completed facility provided four times the floor space of the Coliseum, making Chicago the largest automobile show in the world at the time. The event continued to be held at the venue until 1960, then returned there in the late 1960s. The show was held in the late fall — nearly 10 weeks earlier than usual — to 'stimulate early winter buying so as to stabilize employment in motor car production,' the Tribune reported. Just one year later, a pageantry of 'pretty girls' entitled 'Brides of the Nations' featured 21 women from a variety of the city's ethnic groups posing as mannequins alongside the new vehicles. A pageant continued yearly in coordination with the auto show into the 1950s. Feb. 18-26, 1950 After 1940, the Chicago Auto Show broke for World War II. It returned in 1950, becoming the first post-war auto show in the U.S. Nearly 300 passenger cars and trucks were displayed. The highlight included a Cadillac trimmed in leopard skin and with gold-plated fittings, valued at more than $35,000 (or $470,000 in today's dollars). A stage spectacle, 'Wheels of Freedom,' highlighted 'patriotic pageantry, music, and pretty girls,' the Tribune reported. Twenty-four-feet-tall painted portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln — said to be the largest ever of the two presidents — served as a backdrop. The approximately 365,000 visitors also were welcomed by models of cloverleaf interchanges designed for the new Congress Parkway (later renamed the Eisenhower Expressway). March 13-31, 1954 Illinois-born television actor and future U.S. president Ronald Reagan was the show's grand marshal. He also appeared on the WMAQ-FM radio broadcast of 'The Northerners' live from The Palmer House to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association. Feb. 18-26, 1961 The event moved to the new McCormick Place with 300,000 square feet of exhibit space and more than 400 cars on display. Almost 80,000 people showed up the first day and almost 790,000 during the nine-day run — both new records for the show. For the first time, all cars, trucks and exhibits could be displayed on the same floor in 'one vast, colorful arena,' the Tribune reported. New that year was an import car salon in the lower-level lobby of McCormick Place, with 30 vehicles by 18 exhibitors. The first event staged in McCormick Place's 5,086-seat theater was 'Motorevue of 1961.' Miss Chicago 1961 Margaret McDowell and Kathy Lewis lived inside a Dodge motor home throughout the show to demonstrate its efficiency and usefulness as a roving home. The auto show would remain at McCormick Place until the facility was destroyed by a fire on Jan. 16, 1967. It returned to the International Amphitheatre until 1971. Feb. 26-March 5, 1972 Among the Continentals, Pintos, Suburbans and Galaxies seen by almost 1 million visitors was a vehicle from another planet — a moon buggy. A full-scale mock-up of the first lunar rover from the Apollo 15 mission, constructed by NASA, was displayed in a setting that simulated the moon. The 10-foot-long car included two mannequin-version of astronauts David Scott and James Irwin. The original lunar rover cost $12.7 million to build (or about $20 million in today's dollars), had a top speed of 8 mph and was powered by two batteries and an electric motor for each of its four wheels. But it wouldn't make it to any auto shows on Earth — the vehicle was left on the moon after it was driven 22 miles to take geological samples. Feb. 8-16, 1986 'Fiero, Ferrari and even the Fridge,' the Tribune wrote in 1986. The names of the celebrities who appeared at the 78th edition were just as vibrant as the vehicles. Chicago Bears player William 'Refrigerator' Perry was at the Pontiac display; Walter Payton was by the Buicks; and members of the Bears' offensive line stopped at Chevrolet, where Chicago Bulls Hall-of-Famer Michael Jordan and Chicago Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg also appeared. Dodge highlighted talk show host and 'The Color Purple' actress Oprah Winfrey. Newly shown autos included Chevrolet's Corvette convertible, Toyota's redesigned Supra, the $3,990 Yugo mini car from Yugoslavia and a mini Excel from Hyundai of South Korea, that nation's first entry into the U.S. market. Want more vintage Chicago? Thanks for reading! Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
Chicago Tribune
28-01-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Hurrah for a cold Yuengling in Illinois
Just off the interstate in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sits the Mars Cheese Castle. But if you spend quality time in the store's huge parking lot, you discover that the big seller is not the Dairy State's questionable curds but a fine Wisconsin beer called Spotted Cow. It's the product of the New Glarus Brewing Co. and it's not distributed in Illinois. That's why a huge mound of 12-packs sits in the front of the store, most of which is destined for cars with plates issued by the Land of Lincoln. Yet, as the Tribune's Robert Channick recently reported, crossing the Illinois state line with more than a gallon of beer is, alas, illegal. And, yes, a 12-pack of 12-ounce beers exceeds that threshold. Luckily for many beer lovers, that rule typically is not enforced on the casual drinker. We can't do much about the difficulty of drinking a Spotted Cow in Illinois, at least without breaking the law, but we can cheer the long-awaited Illinois arrival of Yuengling, an amber lager that is a good match for Chicago, given its superior taste to most mass-market beers, its 195-year history and its blue-collar bonafides as an historic beer brewed in Pennsylvania. Its taste lingers pleasantly in the mouth like a microbrew or an import, but its fans don't (usually) have to pay the typical premium for a more pretentious Euro choice like Stella Artois. Finally, Yuengling (and some brand extensions thereof) is now available in your better class of local Chicago tavern in draft form. Please drink only in moderation and leave your car at home. But enjoy. Occasionally. The beer distribution situation in Illinois is byzantine and seems to us better designed to protect entrenched players than those who might enjoy a quality beer on occasion. Illinois hardly is the only state with these issues, but we don't see the sense in people having to cart their favorite malt beverages across state lines and break the law while doing so. At least free the 12-pack. So, for supporters of freedom of consumer choice in interstate beer commerce, the legal Illinois arrival of the splendid Yuengling is a small but tasty victory. Originally Published: January 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM CST
