Daywatch: Survivor of pickup truck crash released from hospital after three-week stay
Good morning, Chicago.
In the hours before he was rescued by two fishermen who found his crushed pickup truck underneath Interstate 94 in Portage last month, Matthew Reum penned his obituary and a suicide note to his best friend in a notebook he passed on to first responders.
“I was not planning on getting through that day,” he said.
The six days he was trapped in his truck “were the longest, scariest, most terrifying days” of his life, Reum said. He survived by drinking rainwater after the crash and was transported by helicopter to Memorial Hospital in South Bend after his rescue.
Since then, doctors partially amputated his left leg, the most serious of the many injuries he received in the crash. He started the next step in his recovery this week as he was released from the hospital.
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Chicago to consider an ordinance that would effectively ban natural gas in new buildings
The ordinance sets an emissions standard that natural gas can’t meet and opens the way for the electric heat and appliances that play a key role in most plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions and avert the worst effects of climate change.
Congress votes to avert a shutdown and keep the government funded through early March
Congress sent President Joe Biden a short-term spending bill on Thursday that would avert a looming partial government shutdown and fund federal agencies into March.
Illinois Supreme Court to decide if police may search vehicles based on smell of marijuana or if it’s an ‘aroma of legality’
Before legalization, courts had long held that the smell of marijuana was grounds for a search, defense attorney James Mertes conceded during arguments before the Supreme Court earlier this month. But Mertes argued that once possession of small amounts of recreational pot became legal under state law in 2020, smell no longer is per se evidence of a crime.
“The odor of cannabis is now an aroma of legality,” Mertes told the high court.
Two suburban Catholic schools to close months after scholarship tax credit program expires, Archdiocese says
St. Frances of Rome School in Cicero and St. Odilo School in Berwyn will close their doors in June after the conclusion of the academic year.
School and church leaders said the expiration of the Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program in the fall left the schools facing a financial cliff with more than half of students at the schools relying on the program to attend.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls on feds to accelerate migrant work authorization, launches effort to support local nonprofits
Echoing a call made by her successor and other mayors of cities affected by the growing migrant crisis, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the federal government needs to make it easier for asylum-seekers to legally work.
With expectations for snowy owl visits and breeding season for native birds ramping up, drone chase highlights dangers to owls
Every winter, Chicagoans cross their fingers in hopes of spotting snowy owls in and around the city. Matt Igleski, executive director of the Chicago Bird Alliance, said he has experienced plenty of impromptu sightings along the lakefront.
“When you do find one, all of a sudden it turns and it has eyes and you’re like, ‘Oh!’” he said. “It’s just a big, chunky owl. And it’s almost all white. And in the wintertime, it’s just a scene that sort of feels very ‘winter,’ you know? It’s hard to describe it, but it just puts you in that moment of: This is so cool, that we’re sharing this cold day together.”
Their visits are rare, which only heightens excitement around sightings — and leads to more encounters with humans.
Column: New Chicago White Sox ballpark in the South Loop would be no panacea for the team’s problems
A new Chicago White Sox ballpark in the South Loop is only a figment of someone’s imagination right now.
But at least the news Wednesday that the Sox are in “serious talks” to build a downtown stadium in the area known as “the 78″ near Clark Street and Roosevelt Road gave us something to talk about besides the Justin Fields-versus-Caleb Williams debate during a down time for our local sports teams, writes Paul Sullivan.
New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman apologizes to Marcus Stroman about critical remarks in 2019: ‘We moved on’
Brian Cashman apologized to Marcus Stroman over 2019 remarks by the New York Yankees general manager before the team negotiated a two-year, $37 million contract with the 32-year-old right-hander.
Cashman discussed trading for Stroman before the Toronto Blue Jays dealt the pitcher to the New York Mets in July 2019.
To make science more approachable, ‘Curiosity’ series takes viewers behind the scenes of scientists’ lives
Erin Adams’ lab at the University of Chicago was featured in the 47-minute film “Serendipity,” produced and directed by a team of scientists and artists under the umbrella of The STAGE Lab, short for Scientists, Technologists and Artists Generating Exploration, at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. “Serendipity” was shown on the U. of C.’s campus earlier this month.
It’s the second film in the “Curiosity: The Making of a Scientist” documentary series, an ongoing project that hopes to educate the public on what a career in science looks like, said Sunanda Prabhu-Gaunkar, STAGE Lab’s director of science and the docuseries director.
‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ review: Nerve-wracking school drama is a cinch for next week’s Oscar nominations
You can read it online, or — better — you can sweat it out in its completed form when it opens in wide release this week. Either way, the screenplay for the German thriller “The Teachers’ Lounge” is so tight it squeaks, each new development in a series of unfortunate events clicking into place like a turn of a Rubik’s Cube — which provides the film with a visual leitmotif, writes film critic Michael Phillips.
Things to do around Chicago: Mick Jenkins, the Puppet Theater Festival and some very good dogs
This weekend boasts some notable concerts as part of Tomorrow Never Knows, the big puppet gathering and the opening of Chicago Restaurant Week.
