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Chicago Tribune
6 minutes ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorses Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss in crowded 9th Congressional District primary
Evanston Mayor and former state legislator Daniel Biss' progressive credentials got a boost Wednesday with an endorsement from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Illinois' increasingly crowded 9th Congressional District Democratic primary race. Warren, a three-term senator from Massachusetts and briefly a front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, announced she was backing Biss in a statement shared with the Tribune in which she praised the two-term mayor as 'a relentless fighter for working people who can help deliver the structural change our country needs right now.' 'As Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans continue to shred public services and rig the economy for the wealthy, we need progressive champions like Daniel in Congress to take on billionaires and powerful corporations, lower costs on essentials like health care and housing, and root out the corruption that keeps government working for the few instead of the many,' Warren said, referencing the president's 'Make America Great Again' slogan. While the value of candidate endorsements is debatable, the nod from Warren could carry some extra weight as more than a dozen candidates vie for the chance to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Evanston Democrat who announced in May that she would not seek a 15th term representing a district covering parts of the North Side, North Shore and northwest suburbs. Schakowsky, like Biss, was among numerous Illinois Democrats who backed Warren for the party's presidential nomination in 2020. The senator dropped out less than two weeks before the Illinois' primary after finishing poorly in earlier state contests. Biss, who campaigned for Warren in Iowa ahead of the 2020 caucuses alongside Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs and then-Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, in a statement called her 'an inspiration to me and so many others as one of the most effective, boldest progressive leaders in our nation.' He said he was 'honored to have her backing in this race.' 'Senator Warren is a leader in this fight to take power from the billionaires and big corporations and put it back in the hands of the people, and I would be honored to work alongside her in Congress,' Biss said. Biss, who just won a second term as mayor in Evanston in April, also has been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove and several current and former state lawmakers, including Rep. Kelly Cassidy of Chicago and Rep. Marty Beth Canty and Sen. Mark Walker, both of Arlington Heights, all of whom represent portions of the 9th District. After eight years in the Illinois House and Senate, Biss ran unsuccessfully in the 2018 primary for governor, angling for the progressive lane in a race against now-Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire Hyatt Hotels heir, and Chris Kennedy, a wealthy scion of the Democratic Party's de facto royal family. Coincidentally, Pritzker's first campaign for public office was an unsuccessful Democratic primary bid in the 9th District in 1998, when he finished third in a race won by Schakowsky, who's held the seat since winning the general election that fall. A former assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, Biss was first elected Evanston mayor in 2021 and has supported the city's first-in-the-nation housing reparations program, while rankling some residents with his tie-breaking vote in 2023 to approve an agreement with Northwestern University for its new football stadium. Among those also seeking the nomination in the heavily Democratic district are Biss' replacement in the state legislature, state Sen. Laura Fine of Glenview; state Rep. Hoan Huynh and state Sen. Mike Simmons of Chicago's North Side; progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh, a newcomer to Illinois; and Bushra Amiwala, a board member in Skokie School District 73.5 who was one of the first Gen Z elected officials in the U.S.
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: ‘Chance the Snapper' caught in the Humboldt Park lagoon
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on July 16, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) Here are Chicago's hottest days — with temperatures of 100 degrees or higher — on record1887: Chicago recorded its first 100-degree day. When the Tribune reported on 'how fashionable people solve the hot weather problem,' suggestions included reading a book indoors, going on a canoe excursion or leaving town for a cooler locale. 1947: In one of the most furious slugfests in ring history, champion Tony Zale — 'Man of Steel' from Gary — lost the only one of his three middleweight title fights against Rocky Graziano. Zale lost the title he had held since 1940 on a sixth-round TKO in 100-plus-degree heat in Chicago Stadium. Zale later avenged the loss and regained the title. 1971: Princess Grace of Monaco spoke on 'Why Mothers Should Breastfeed Their Babies' during a conference in Chicago for the La Leche League International at the La Salle Hotel. The former Hollywood star joined the league in 1965, and said she breastfed all three of her children. 2004: Millennium Park officially opened. Former Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin called the project 'the best thing former Mayor Richard M. Daley ever did.' With its glistening Cloud Gate sculpture nicknamed The Bean (by the Indian-born, London-based artist Anish Kapoor) and raucous Crown Fountain (by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa), the oasislike Lurie Garden and festive Pritzker Pavilion (by Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry), the $490 million, 24.5-acre post-industrial playground, 'is the face Chicago wants to show the world, a dazzling antidote to the gun violence wracking city neighborhoods,' Kamin wrote in 2014. The Millennium Park that opened in 2004, four years behind schedule, was a supercharged version of the bland, Beaux-Arts proposal from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill that Daley initially unveiled. 2005: Real Madrid and David Beckham made their Soldier Field debut against Mexico's Chivas Guadalajara. The game was scoreless until the 73rd minute when Francisco Palencia banged one in for 10-time Mexican division champion Chivas. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pelé, Hamm, Beckham, Rapinoe, Messi and more. When soccer's big names came to playThen in the 77th minute Beckham bent the ball on a free kick to Álvaro Mejía, who headed it into the Chivas goal to tie the score. Two more late goals got Real Madrid the win. Beckham gave one lucky local family the jersey off his back. 2019: After eluding capture for a week in the Humboldt Park lagoon, a 5-foot alligator nicknamed 'Chance the Snapper' appeared for a news conference with its trapper Frank Robb. The gator was relocated to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida. 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.
Miami Herald
16 hours ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
State Farm defends hefty 27.2% hike in Illinois homeowners insurance rates
Challenged by everyone from consumer groups to Gov. JB Pritzker over its imminent 27.2% homeowners insurance rate increase in Illinois, State Farm faces the question: Will it seek to defend its widely criticized decision? The answer: hail yes. Citing more frequent extreme weather events such as wind, hail and tornados, insufficient premiums to cover claims and the rising cost of repairs due to inflation, State Farm said its Illinois homeowners business has seen "unsustainable" losses in 13 of the last 15 years. It needs to raise rates to remain "financially strong," the company said in a statement. "These losses are driven in part by severe weather damaging communities across the state," State Farm said. "No company can absorb such losses forever and still be there for customers when disaster strikes." In 2024, for example, State Farm paid out $1.26 in claims for every $1 premium collected from Illinois homeowners, the insurance giant said. That included $638 million in hail damage claims, second only to Texas. The rate increase, first reported by the Tribune last week, has created a political firestorm for Bloomington-based State Farm, the largest home insurer in Illinois. State Farm is raising homeowners insurance rates in Illinois by a whopping 27.2% beginning Aug. 15, according to a filing with the state last month. The rate hike, one of the largest in the state's history, will affect nearly 1.5 million policyholders. New policyholders will pay the higher rates as of Tuesday. In addition, State Farm is implementing a minimum 1% deductible on all wind and hail losses, raising the out-of-pocket costs for homeowners filing a related damage claim. On Thursday, Pritzker issued a statement expressing concern over State Farm's "unfair and arbitrary insurance rate hike," challenging the methodology used to calculate the increased premiums to be paid by Illinois homeowners. Pritzker said the increases are based on catastrophe loss numbers that are inconsistent with the Illinois Department of Insurance's analysis, concluding that State Farm was shifting out-of-state costs onto Illinois homeowners. In its statement, State Farm said it does not shift costs between states and dismissed Pritzker's claims as "political rhetoric." The insurance company said it has provided information to the state to support its position. "Illinois rates are based on Illinois risk - it's as simple as that - not for losses in other states," State Farm spokesperson Gina Morss-Fischer told the Tribune on Monday. State Farm has been hit hard by recent weather-related losses in other states. For example, the insurance company has received nearly 13,000 claims and paid out more than $4.2 billion to California homeowners who suffered losses during the devastating wildfires that raged across the Los Angeles area in January, according to an update posted last week on its website. While State Farm contends that out-of-state losses do not directly affect Illinois premiums, at least one industry analyst said there is a potential connection. If losses are big enough in one state, insurance companies may have to pay more for reinsurance - the insurance company for the insurance companies - resulting in increased rates for policyholders across the country, according to Shannon Martin, an industry analyst for Bankrate. In addition, as people rebuild from wildfires in California to floods in Florida, the increased costs of everything from labor to materials can deplete resources and make it more expensive to do repairs in other parts of the country, including Illinois, Martin said. "You don't operate in a vacuum, and you can't, because we're all part of a risk pool," Martin said. "When there's loss in one area, everyone's going to feel it in some way, shape or form." The increased frequency of extreme weather events has pushed up homeowners insurance rates across the country by 40.4% over the past six years, according to LendingTree's "State of Home Insurance" report for 2025. Illinois had the seventh highest increase, rising 59.5% between 2019 and 2024, the report found. In February, Northbrook-based Allstate raised homeowners insurance rates by 14.3% for nearly 248,000 Illinois customers. Last year, Allstate raised homeowners insurance rates in Illinois by 12.7%, while State Farm implemented a 12.3% increase. State Farm's latest and likely largest-ever Illinois increase has renewed calls for broader legislation to regulate the rates insurers can charge homeowners. Unlike most states, in Illinois, which is home to both State Farm and Allstate, insurers do not need regulatory approval to raise premiums. Legislation is pending in Springfield that would require regulatory approval of larger rate hikes. "It's time for the General Assembly to act," Abe Scarr, director of Illinois PIRG, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, said in a statement. "At a minimum, Illinois should empower the state Department of Insurance to reject or modify excessive rate hikes, a basic consumer protection that residents in almost every other state enjoy." At the same time, increased regulation can precipitate companies to abandon markets where it is no longer profitable to insure homes exposed to more frequent weather events. A December report by the Senate Budget Committee said insurance markets have been destabilized from New England to Hawaii as providers decline to renew homeowners policies. "Having more oversight, on one hand, could really help homeowners, but on the other hand, if carriers don't want to be there, that puts homeowners in a pickle," Martin said. "So it's about finding that balance where people can find affordable and available insurance at a rate that insurance companies are satisfied that they're profitable." Illinois ranked 22nd in average annual home insurance costs at $2,743 per year, according to the LendingTree report. For State Farm, the average annual premium for its 1.1 million non-tenant homeowners policies in Illinois is $1,700, which would project an increase of about $475 per year after the 27.2% rate hike goes into effect, the company said Monday. With renters and condo coverage included, State Farm has about 1.5 million total homeowners policies in Illinois. While homeowners rates are going up, State Farm is offering a bit of good news for Illinois customers this week. On Friday, State Farm's auto insurance rates in Illinois will decrease an average of 5.7%, with some customers seeing reductions in premiums of up to 15%, based on lower projected claims costs, the company said. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Did you read your horoscope today?
Good Monday morning, Georgia Nicols, what have you got to say about me? 'Because the moon is sitting in the sign opposite yours, you'll have to go more than halfway when dealing with others. This is no big deal. It simply means you have to make an effort to be accommodating and cooperative. Smile.' Well, seems OK, but Magi Helena, what about you? 'Morning doubts should fade, replaced by a surge of optimism and confidence. Use this momentum for presentations to decision-makers.' These two women are astrologers who write daily columns for, respectively, the Sun-Times and Tribune. Helena comes to you via the Tribune Content Agency, which syndicates her columns to many papers and touts her as 'An astrology pioneer (and) author of two books: 'Build Your Dream Life,' and 'How To Sing the Uni-Verse,' and is currently at work on her third book, 'Astro-Goddesses.'' Newspaper horoscopes are read by more people than you might imagine, millions of you. Even as the number of newspapers has diminished, horoscopes remain a popular offering, much like such non-news items as games, crosswords and comics. There are also, it should come as no surprise, dozens of magazines and websites in the horoscope and astrology business. Horoscopes are based on the ancient practice of astrology, positing that information about human affairs and Earthly events may be discerned by studying the positions of celestial objects. This study of celestial bodies and their alignment with human behavior has intrigued civilizations for centuries. Based on that, horoscopes outline opportunities and challenges one may face based on one's zodiac sign, which is determined by one's date of birth. I'm a Virgo, and one website tells me that means, among many things, I am loyal, analytical, kind, hardworking, practical, shy and overly critical of myself and others, and that I like animals and books. I can live with that. Though astrology has ancient roots, horoscopes did not enter wide public consciousness until about 100 years ago. Some experts point to a 1916 horoscope of then-President Woodrow Wilson that appeared in the Boston Sunday Post for sparking the popularity. Soon, daily horoscopes began to appear in papers across the country, offering information to people born on a specific day, often with additional reading directed toward the general public. Many other experts credit the widespread popularity to a man named R.H. Naylor, a London astrologer who wrote a 1930 column headlined 'What the Stars Foretell for the New Princess' in London's Sunday Express for the newborn Princess Margaret's birth horoscope. He soon began writing a recurring feature called 'What the Stars Foretell.' In the United States, a daily horoscope began running in the Washington Post in the 1920s and into the 1940s. During those decades of deprivation and war, newspaper horoscopes offered for many some words of hope. Hundreds of newspapers ran daily columns and so did many women's magazines. As the newspaper industry has been battered over the last decades, still horoscopes remain popular, and polls consistently show that. A 2024 report by the Pew Research Center showed that younger adults, in particular younger women, are more likely to consult astrology or horoscopes. Some 43% of women and 20% of men ages 18 to 49 say they believe in astrology, compared with 27% of women and 16% of men ages 50 and older. It's possible that has got something to do with the proliferation of social media platforms, some of which have created communities of individuals interested in discussing astrological topics. No question, horoscopes are here to stay. As to why, theories abound. Here are some: that reading horoscopes are useful for meditating on your day; that they appear to be so personal that it is as if someone is talking directly to a reader about their life; they allow people a moment of self-reflection; act as a kind of mirror, reflecting back to readers their hopes, wishes and fears; engaging with daily horoscopes can become a source of inspiration, fostering greater awareness and proactive strategies for navigating the complexities of daily life. I have a friend who tells me he started consulting horoscopes — he's a Cancer — when sports gambling was legalized in Illinois. My attitude? It's his money. To me, horoscopes seem pretty harmless. Still, there have always been skeptics. When it was learned that then first lady Nancy Reagan and her astrologer helped shape her husband's schedule based on the location of various planets and constellations, a Tribune editorial at the time described her reliance on astrology as an 'ignorant superstition.' Still, each day in the paper, there was a syndicated horoscope column. And it remains to this day. So, yesterday I read what Georgia Nicols and Magi Helena had to say. I may do that again this morning, but after that I'll stick with another person. He wasn't an astrologer, and I'm sure he had no idea what a horoscope was. But he had this to say, 'The fault … is not in our stars, but in ourselves.' William Shakespeare was his name. He was born in April 1564, precise date uncertain, which means he could have been an Aries or a Taurus, for what that's worth.
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
HUD Chicago office taking on more public housing authority oversight as staff dwindles regionally, nationally
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Chicago office will now oversee 65 public housing authorities in Wisconsin because of staffing shortages in the agency's Milwaukee office. This represents a roughly 62% increase in the number of public housing authorities the Chicago office is responsible for holding accountable to their missions, potentially stretching staff thin amid national cuts. The office had previously been limited to the oversight of Illinois' 105 housing authorities. Those public housing authorities' budgets combined, according to HUD, are more than $1.9 billion in federal dollars. The increase comes as the Chicago office's public housing division is now the largest in the country after massive downsizing at other agency offices, including New York and Puerto Rico, Chicago's division director said at a recent public meeting. "As we move forward, unless we are able to hire, there are offices that will pick up more (of our) mission as we start to move on and continue to become more regionally focused," said William Dawson III, HUD's Chicago public housing office director, at a recent Housing Authority of Cook County board meeting. President Donald Trump's administration has upended federal agencies such as HUD since his return to the Oval Office in January, slashing funding and staff. As Trump, Department of Government Efficiency workers and HUD Secretary Scott Turner tout the importance of cracking down on "fraud, waste and abuse," public agency employees are having to do more work with fewer staff members. Former HUD staffers told the Tribune that agency workers were already overburdened prior to Trump's cuts. Housing advocates and local and state officials fear the reduction in force at HUD will do the opposite of what Trump and DOGE set out to do. HUD did not respond to a list of questions by the Tribune's deadline. Locally and nationally, HUD has seen numerous employees retire early, with others being laid off or taking the federal government's deferred resignation program. As of May, HUD had about 6,000 workers after a reduction of approximately 2,300 employees, said Antonio Gaines, president of AFGE's National Council 222, the group that represents 40 local HUD unions nationwide, at a spring meeting with local union leaders. Turner announced in a video on social media in February that a DOGE task force had launched at HUD. That same week, a document circulated among HUD workers that was reported on by national news outlets and obtained by the Tribune showing HUD's workforce could be halved. It indicated that the total agency head count as of Jan. 21 was about 8,300, with some departments slated for more drastic staff reductions than others. "People aren't going to be able to get their questions answered," said U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, a Chicago Democrat, in a recent interview with the Tribune. "Programs aren't going to be publicized, and people won't know they exist." Chicago's public housing division shrunk from 24 employees to 17, mainly stemming from the resignation programs, Dawson said at the board meeting. New York's public housing division, previously the country's largest, Dawson said, now employs 14 staffers from a peak of 40. Milwaukee's public housing division stands at four employees. HUD did not respond when asked how many Milwaukee workers have left since the inauguration. Kristin Faust, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority - the state agency in charge of financing affordable housing, including by administering the federal tax credit program that is the primary mechanism for developing affordable housing in the U.S. - told the Tribune that the authority is expecting response rates from HUD to slow. "Thus far, we haven't seen that a lot, but I have had individual conversations with HUD staff and my sense is that a lot of them feel like they are doing two to three people's jobs," Faust said. "They are very motivated and that is not sustainable." Trump has proposed a roughly 43% budget slash to HUD programs, as well as a shake-up in the funding structures of the programs. In his first term, Trump also proposed sweeping cuts to HUD, but did not achieve them. The House appropriations subcommittee on HUD will meet Monday to hash out specific agency appropriations packages after the passage of Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." The Illinois Housing Development Authority's board, which is bipartisan, approved a resolution at the end of last month objecting to the proposed HUD cuts. Quigley, a member of the House appropriations subcommittee that manages HUD funding, pressed Secretary Turner in a June meeting to provide details on how cutting HUD's budget so drastically will lead to more efficiency. In an exchange between Quigley and Turner, Turner brought up his Christian faith, did not provide the requested details and said, "We look forward to working with you. It is not just words." "There is a thoughtful middle ground to being frugal and efficient in government," and it's not this proposal, Quigley told the Tribune. Housing authorities across the country are facing serious budget shortfalls. The Housing Authority of Cook County is facing a potential multimillion-dollar funding shortfall that could have repercussions throughout the real estate market as the struggling agency looks to cut costs, possibly leading to greater expenses for its housing voucher holders and a decline in the number of the people it serves. The agency attributes the shortfall to an increase in its voucher usage rate and rising rents, which eat into its limited dollars allocated by HUD. Chicago-area housing organizations are also facing funding cuts from HUD, with some receiving termination notices for grants in March, while others are in limbo as they wait for overdue contracts or to see what happens with expected awards. Some renovation projects aimed at preserving and greening existing affordable housing properties are on hold in Chicago as well, as the Trump administration takes aim at the program. At a recent Housing Authority of Cook County board meeting, Dawson told the board he was heartened to be with them to lead a refresher training on their responsibilities as commissioners. But he wasn't physically there. His face showed up in a small box in the corner of a screen in a housing authority conference room while he sat in his office, four blocks away. The Trump administration enforces new procedures that limit federal government employees' travel. HUD had not approved Dawson's in-person attendance, which required a roughly eight-minute walk. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
