Chicago baseball looking pretty good White Sox 9, Cubs 8 (10 innings) 📷 from 🎥

Wow: Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, one of the biggest children's hospitals in the nation, will be forced to create the nation's first ever "detransition clinic" as part of a $10 million settlement with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

PHOTOS: Veteran Chicago firefighter killed during training exercise in West Ridge

new: without any debate, the cook county board of commissioners votes to approve a $1 million expansion of sheriff tom dart's flock license plate reader network. this comes even after revelations dart ran the program for years without a contract. voting no: commissioners anaya, vásquez, stamps

gwen does fantastic work as usual on some of the 401,000 trans people who’ve had to flee hostile territory in their own country in the past 18 months.

NEW: Seattle might declare a civil emergency to help LGBTQ (mostly trans) people fleeing red states, so I looked for a Texas angle. An organizer told me that Texas is #1 among trans people looking to relocate: "The baseline hostility to their existence is unbearable." www.chron.com/culture/arti...

Babies surrendered legally now have a much better chance of survival. Dawn Geras, chair of the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation, remembered that being a driving force when the bill was drafted around her kitchen table. “It makes me want to cry... We’ve been able to watch these babies grow up."

"Of the 24 schools that provided their procedures, only the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Chicago, ISU and Elgin Community College followed all four requirements for how to handle immigration agents on campus." From @lkpwrites.bsky.social and Mary Norkol

this story is about more than just sheriff tom dart trying to grow his surveillance network. this is a story about how the sheriff’s office, and police departments all over the country, regularly acquire and use invasive technology without oversight or accountability. let’s take a closer look ⬇️

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

Huh, so The Times falsely quoted the Canadian leader of the opposition as saying: "If these turncoats have any shred of integrity left, they should resign their seats tonight and run in a by-election tomorrow.” Wild. archive.is/Fu3md

Multiple women serving sentences for nonviolent crimes at the minimum security prison where Ghislaine Maxwell is now serving time were punished for speaking to reporters about the special treatment Maxwell receives. At least two women were transferred to higher security facilities as punishment.

As of 11:30 a.m. today, rapid responders are reporting federal immigration agents present in multiple Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs, including outside the domestic violence court in downtown Chicago. RR groups report 1 detention in Belmont Cragin.

Happening now: Cook County officials, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights and other immigrant advocacy groups are holding a presser outside the county's Domestic Violence Court in Chicago, re: federal immigration agents being spotted at 4 separate Cook County courthouses today.

As extreme politics have normalized, young people have grown up not knowing any other way. For months, I've spent time getting to know 10 college students who literally do not recall a time in America without Trump. My latest for @thewesternedge.bsky.social www.thewesternedge.media/p/the-age-of...

Two had charges dropped, two were never charged. Still, they’re among 92 DNA samples taken from arrested protesters at the ICE facility, the suit says. "[They] collected his DNA without his consent, without any charge and without any legal basis. The government intends to retain it indefinitely."

The Illinois Attorney General’s office suggested a $4.1M decrease to PG’s proposed $202M hike — pointing to $97.2M in “unsupported and unexplained” costs for its pipe retirement program. "[The rate hike request] appears to contain data that is contradictory, incomplete, and otherwise unreliable.”

My latest for @truthout.org examines the impact of free prison calls on families: truthout.org/articles/fre...

Bergquam “is part of this slippery slope that ties together the far right with more legitimate powerful political people,” @splcenter.org analyst @jtischauser.bsky.social told me last fall when the streamer embedded with feds.

NEW: Illinois State Police launches investigation into deadly ICE shooting of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez. Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke's office says her prosecutors will play a "supportive role." @sophiesherry.bsky.social reports: chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/0...

SEGM has shared members with the Institute for Comprehensive Gender Dysphoria Research, including ICGDR treasurer J Michael Bailey and president Lisa Littman. Now known as the Gender Dysphoria Institute, it’s one of the funders of this study I covered last month, and Bailey/Littman are leading it.

This story was broken by The Cornell Sun, which @nytimes.com nowhere cites. As a former editor-in-chief of The Sun — and in the name of brave, amazing college newspapers everywhere — do not treat student journalists as truffle pigs, taking what they've sniffed out without credit or compensation.

Happy international worker’s day! Working hard at her desk here is @kwashburn.bsky.social, who captured the heartbreaking stories at the core of Illinois’ failure to treat its inmates — even as they went (and continue) to go blind, and despite a consent decree aimed at fixing the medical neglect.

Happy International Worker's Day! Chicago is a union town and we are proud to be a part of the long history of solidarity that won us our rights. For May Day, we keep up the tradition of many before us as we continue to fight for a fair contract and stand in solidarity with others doing the same.

#SNAP food assistance cutoffs begin Friday in Illinois — @elviamalagon.bsky.social tells you what you need to know chicago.suntimes.com/health/2026/...

Patty Gamboa was shocked to see immigrants running for their lives during Operation Midway Blitz. She started delivering groceries to people who were to afraid to leave their homes. She went on to help a little over 800 families. She's still at it, too. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Tonight!

As a member of @cstguild.bsky.social and an ardent supporter of my colleagues in WBEZ’s SAG-AFTRA unit, I’m constantly amazed by the amazing things **union** journalists are doing day in and day out. So here’s a quick thread to highlight some of the incredible work these five union folks do:

¡Padres de @chipubschools.bsky.social y votantes de Chicago: cuéntanos qué preguntas tienes para los candidatos a la Junta Escolar de Chicago! airtable.com/appu9nu8BNBr...

Oh hay! The @chicago.suntimes.com and @wbez.org want to know what YOU WANT TO KNOW about upcoming @chipubschools.bsky.social school board elections. Take this quick survey and weigh in: airtable.com/appu9nu8BNBr...

The Sun-Times Guild and WBEZ’s SAG-AFTRA are UNION STRONG in our fights for a fair contract. We stand together in our respective fights for the pay, protections and assurances the union workers who bring you Chicago’s headlines — online, on the radio and in print — deserve.

Munetaka Murakami…you have brought joy to so many

When DOGE arrived at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the operatives had no real background in nuclear issues. They boxed out experienced hands, forcing resignations and massive exodus of talent. Over 400 people have since left or been forced out. Our full story: https://propub.li/3OBQMwk

An attorney argued Fuentes “failed to complete the community service in time” but was partying in other states earlier this year. In January, videos circulated of him partying with far-right figures Andrew and Tristan Tate, Clavicular and Sneako soundtracked by Kanye West's “Heil Hitler.”

Normally, when a pitcher throws a no-hitter, his team wins the game. But only one time in a 9-inning game has anyone lost one, and that was Houston Astros (then Colt .45s) pitcher Ken Johnson on this day in 1964. I went turbo freak and wrote about it here: www.chron.com/sports/astro...

The FBI began investigating a New York Times reporter last month after she wrote about the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, using bureau personnel to provide his girlfriend with government security and transportation, according to a person briefed on the matter. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/u...

ICE in Chicago this morning at Elston and Kennicott—a masked agent tells a witness (on the sidewalk) not to get in front of his car. Feds are continuing kidnappings across the city & burbs after increased activity this month. No flashy CBP caravans, just a steady stream of covert ICE arrests.

Two copy editors high-fiving so hard right now

🚨 Come work with me at @19thnews.org — we're hiring a contract LGBTQ+ reporter! Duration: 6 months, early June through late November Location: Remote Rate: $50 per hour

At the North Lake ICE Processing Center in Baldwin, the biggest in the Midwest with 1,800 beds, several hundred detained immigrants started a hunger strike on Monday, refusing to eat or work, according to immigrant rights advocates and relatives of the detainees in Michigan. From Erick Diaz Veliz

an important dispatch from wrigley (courtesy of my dad)

Cook County's top prosecutor wouldn't denounce Trump because she wanted to 'maintain' her relationship with the feds, emails show. The latest on a bid for a special prosecutor to take on Operation Midway Blitz agents, w/ @sophiesherry.bsky.social: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

NEW: A Chicago police officer who used his department-issued radio to strike a man in the head three times in July 2024 should be suspended for 89 days, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling and the agency tasked with investigating police misconduct agreed, records show. @wttw.bsky.social

All Philz locations, including the six shops across the Chicago area, were told to take down their Pride flags in an announcement earlier this month. The company reversed course after the move sparked outrage, prompting the CEO to apologize.

Ricardo Navarrete and his mother were detained last month at a routine appointment related to their asylum case. The high school senior’s detention has been a painful reminder for classmates and friends that President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign is not over.

“I’m sure he knew of the dangers involved. But no one expected this.” My latest on journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin’s detention in Kuwait. chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2...

This story is crazy! The Jim Dolan had a Knicks fan obsessively monitored at games just because she was trans.

the $20 Nokia 30 Can Collapsible Stereo MusiCooler >>> $1,000,000/month Marquee/MLB tv subscription

When I was a kid, "Possum Kingdom" was always on bc it was one of my mom's favorite songs. For @chron.com's series on media that gets the Texas Experience(TM), I wrote about urban legends and having a Young Mom. Ft. interviews with the Toadies drummer and my Mom! www.chron.com/culture/musi...