Daywatch: Freezing temperatures, uncertainty and concern among migrants
Good morning, Chicago.
Thousands of migrants sleeping at police stations woke up to freezing cold conditions on Halloween morning as city officials, volunteers and faith-based organizations scrambled to find warmth Tuesday for a population, mostly from Venezuela, that has never experienced cold.
Migrants across the city huddled under thin blankets as they sat on cardboard boxes or in tents, lined up for the chance to shower and warm up inside churches and rushed to claim warm jackets and clothes brought by volunteers.
At least one mother decided she’d had enough and decided to go back to Texas.
“I thought we would find help here, but there’s nothing here for us,” said Andrelys Leon, 28, who had been living at the 12th District station with her 7-year-old son. She came to Chicago two weeks ago, and said life has been difficult. She realized that even if she got transferred to a shelter, it would be difficult to find a job or a permanent place to live.
On Tuesday, she gathered her belongings, grabbed her son’s hand and walked the 1.3 miles to a Greyhound station to catch a bus back to Texas.
Read more on many migrants’ first experience with snow from the Tribune’s Laura Rodríguez Presa and Nell Salzman.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
Subscribe to more newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Today’s eNewspaper edition
Evanston teen held hostage by Hamas comes home
More than three weeks after she was taken hostage by Hamas operatives, 18-year-old Natalie Raanan is finally sleeping in her own bed.
The Evanston teen was taken hostage from the Nahal Oz kibbutz in southern Israel Oct. 7 along with her mother Judith Raanan, 59. The mother and daughter were released into Red Cross custody, then into Israel, on Oct. 20.
After retired Chicago-area priest loses life savings in scam common among seniors, friends and parishioners step up
The Rev. Robert Banzin had saved up about $61,000, which he planned to use to replace his 20-year-old car and pay for medication and other expenses. But these plans are now on hold.
The 85-year-old retired Catholic priest was robbed of his life savings in a financial scam, which friends and colleagues, who say he’s a “wonderful” and “positive” influence, are helping replenish through fundraising.
Chicago police officer under investigation for striking 8th grader while off duty
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office began looking into Officer Craig Lancaster’s off-duty conduct after a surveillance recording emerged showing him hitting a 14-year-old student near his throat as the boy walked into school. The video does not show the teen interacting with Lancaster before the physical contact or doing anything obvious to provoke it.
The Tribune obtained a copy of the video, which does not have sound, as captured on a school security camera. The footage serves as the cornerstone of the criminal investigation and a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by the student’s family against the officer and the city of Chicago.
Shedd Aquarium researchers report mass bleaching of coral reefs in warming Florida oceans
An unprecedented rise in ocean temperatures off the coast of Florida early in the summer made headlines as it caused countless dead fish to wash ashore. But the impact had an even wider reach than was initially evident, according to the Shedd’s research in partnership with the University of Miami, Palm Beach Zoo and the University of Southern California.
Column: Rangers-Diamondbacks World Series continues a disturbing trend of diminishing audiences
Seven years ago Thursday the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians staged an epic Game 7 of the World Series that averaged 40 million TV viewers.
It was the most-watched World Series game in 25 years, since the Minnesota Twins beat the Atlanta Braves before 50 million viewers in another Game 7 in 1991.
Big Ten’s billion-dollar-a-year television package will make night football games in November a regular thing
Night football historically has been a rarity in the Big Ten after the first Saturday in November.
The conference’s billion-dollar-a-year television package will make it a regular thing beginning next week when Michigan State visits Ohio State for a 7:30 p.m. EST game.
‘Nyad’ review: Swimming 110 miles in open water, never mind the sharks
Long-distance swimming in open water presents challenges beyond the physical grind, writes critic Nina Metz. Think sharks. And venomous jellyfish. Those are just two of the potentially fatal problems Diana Nyad must contend with swimming from Cuba to Florida — nonstop and unaided — with only a support boat by her side to monitor her progress and squirt water and other nourishment down her throat every so often. Adapted from her memoir, the Netflix movie “Nyad,” starring Annette Bening, charts her arduous journey.
Review: ‘Household Spirits’ at Theater Wit is a very real ghost story about grief
Playwright Mia McCullough’s dark, witty new play, “Household Spirits,” is a ghost story through and through, but the mental health struggles, addiction and grief that haunt its characters are every bit as scary as the mysterious noises and doors that refuse to stay shut. In its world premiere at Theater Wit, Eileen Tull directs a fantastic cast that pulls off humor, pain, familial dysfunction and bizarre plot twists equally well, writes critic Emily McClanathan.
We looked up 100 Chicago burritos to find the most popular fillings. This contentious green vegetable showed up the most.
Any time food critic Nick Kindelsperger post a photo of a burrito containing lettuce on social media, he receives messages from concerned commenters across this fair country. Didn’t he realize that lettuce wilts into mush inside a hot burrito? What kind of criminal would do such a thing?