New poll forecasts trouble for Lightfoot’s reelection bid, how to help Turkey and Syria and more in your Chicago news roundup

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a five-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

— Matt Moore (@MattKenMoore)

This afternoon will be partly sunny with a high near 46 degrees. Tonight will see a chance of rain and a low near 35. Tomorrow will be rainy with a high near 41.

Top story

Bleak numbers in new poll spell trouble for Lightfoot’s reelection bid

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reelection battle is clouded in uncertainty, her chances of beating either U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia or former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in a run-off appearing slim — and her prospects for even making it to the April election up in the air.

With the election less than three weeks away, three out of five voters disapprove of the job the mayor has done in her first term, more than half hold an unfavorable opinion of her and 71% think the city is on the wrong track.

Those are among the key findings of a Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ/Telemundo Chicago/NBC5 Poll conducted last week.

All falling within the poll’s margin of error, Lightfoot, Garcia and Vallas were essentially locked in a statistical dead heat when respondents were asked whom they would vote for if the Feb. 28 election were held today. Garcia led with 20%, followed by Vallas with 18% and Lightfoot with 17%. Businessman Willie Wilson trailed closely with 12% and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson with 11%. Just 2% said they’d vote for activist Ja’Mal Green, and 1% chose either Ald. Sophia King (4th) or state Rep. Kam Buckner. Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) drew no support. Another 18% said they were still undecided.

But with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points — and a large number of voters still making up their minds — there is no clear leader in the waning days of the February election.

The poll was conducted Jan. 31 through Feb. 3 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. A total of 625 registered voters were interviewed by telephone, all stating they were likely to vote in the Feb. 28 election.

Asked their opinions of some of the leading candidates, voters gave the highest marks to Garcia and Vallas — and dismal ones to Lightfoot.

The mayor was viewed favorably by 22% of likely Chicago voters — and unfavorably by a whopping 54%.

Our Tina Sfondeles and WBEZ’s Tessa Weinberg have more on the poll here.

More news you need

• A person was shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire with Chicago police early this morning near an Irving Park bar after officers responded to a call that someone had aimed a gun at people, authorities said. Our Sophie Sherry and Tom Schuba have the latest on this developing story here.
• As the death toll from devastating earthquakes nears 12,000 in Syria and Turkey, Chicago-area cultural and medical organizations are collecting funds and supplies for earthquake victims. Our Ilana Arougheti has more on where you can help here.
• Charges have been filed against two Corvette drivers who were drag racing in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood when one of them lost control and struck a woman out for a late dinner with her boyfriend, killing her. Shawman Meireis was visiting from Florida and died a day before her 41st birthday.
• Prosecutors declined to charge a man identified as the gunman who burst into a South Shore apartment last month and opened fire during an apparent robbery attempt, killing a mother and her transgender daughter and wounding three others, including two other trans women. A police spokesperson would only say the investigation remains “open and active.”
• The family of a bicyclist who was struck and killed by a vehicle in Irving Park last May alleges in a lawsuit that construction near the roadway where he was hit created dangerous conditions for cyclists. Several defendants are named in the suit, including the city of Chicago, Metra and a motorist who was charged with failing to report an accident and death after fleeing the crash scene.
• A year after it was shut down as a public safety threat, a Wicker Park bar is suing the city, saying it was used as a scapegoat for violent crime and part of a “concerted effort” to eliminate bars with late-hour licenses. The shutdown order was issued after someone standing across from The Point fired shots into the bar, striking a man in the face — the second shooting outside the bar in four months.
• Evidence of a potential large-scale mail fraud operation was recovered at a downtown hotel yesterday, sparking a joint investigation by Chicago police and federal authorities. Stolen ID cards, computer equipment, “multiple piles of mail” and “mailbox key-cutting material” were among the evidence believed to have been found in a room, according to police radio traffic.
• As the pot industry in Illinois continues to struggle to meet diversity goals, a state oversight office is launching a study into whether discrimination exists in the growing business. The $2.5 million study, required by state law, will analyze applications for cannabis licenses and look closely at the much-criticized social equity program.
• Illinois lawmakers have shown fiscal discipline lately, but politically toxic tax increases must be considered to fully fund pensions and improve the state’s credit rating, senior business leaders in Chicago said in a report today. The report by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago is a new message from a group that opposed Gov. J.B. Pritzker on the graduated income tax in 2020.
• President Joe Biden offered olive branches to Republicans in his State of the Union address last night and tried to turn down the partisan heat, as he wielded, at times, humor and ad-libs in his speech. Our Lynn Sweet has the key takeaways from the SOTU address here.

Elections 2023

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

This week, the Sun-Times is teaming up with WBEZ and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics to bring the city’s mayoral candidates together for two forums to answer your questions.

Watch today’s forum, featuring incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot and mayoral candidates Chuy Garcia, Paul Vallas, Kam Buckner and Sophia King, here.

Head to our site or tune into WBEZ 11 a.m. tomorrow for the second forum, featuring candidates Brandon Johnson, Willie Wilson, Roderick Sawyer and Ja’Mal Green.

A bright one

With West Side mural, Barrett Keithley aims to reflect positive vibe from Black barber shops

Barrett Keithley sees barber shops in the Black community as places to “get your news and meet your mentors,” places that “were and continue to be a real-life form of social media.”

Also, they’re “where you can be yourself,” says Keithley, 35, an artist who grew up in Morgan Park and remembers going to different barber shops as a kid.

“Whenever I walked in to a barber shop,” he says, “there was an immediate sense of respect and positivity.”

Keithley says that feeling is what he tried to convey with a mural he painted in November in the 5100 block of West Madison Street at Head Quarters Barber Academy and also near Adams Barber Shop.

It features a young person’s face and fists protruding from a tilted crown.

“Hopefully, the message being received is that, no matter what color, no matter what person you are, if you have a dream, put your crown on, and go get it,” Keithley says. “It ties into the barber shops because, when you go to a barber shop, the barber is there to make you look good and feel good.”

The artist says he hopes to inspire the “same confidence.”

For Kevin McIntyre, Sr., chief executive officer of the barber academy, the person “in the mural is looking up to the sky and, as we all know, the sky is the limit. I think that everyone who looks at it will be able to take something from it.”

Vanessa Lopez has the full story behind the mural here.

Want more public art stories? Check out our other newsletters and sign up for Murals & Mosaics — sent every Friday to your inbox.

From the press box

• The art of goaltending has changed significantly since Robb Stauber’s aggressive career in the 1990s. But the mindset of goaltending hasn’t, and his son, Blackhawks goalie Jaxson Stauber, has followed the same approach, Ben Pope writes.
• Former Bears tight end Greg Olsen will be calling the Super Bowl this weekend for FOX. He spoke to our Patrick Finley about his path from his playing days in Chicago to the TV broadcast booth.
• The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes II are in the Super Bowl again. The Bears are not again. It’s a nightmare that won’t go away for the Bears, Rick Morrissey writes.

Your daily question☕

New Mexico is considering roasted chile as its official state aroma. What should Illinois’ official state aroma be?

Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday we asked you: What’s one way you comfort friends who are in a time of need?

Here’s what some of you said...

“When a friend needs help in time of need, I try to infuse some humor into the situation, sometimes self-effacing humor. There’s been much written about the value of humor in healing and I have found it to work more often than not, to cheer up a friend in need. Failing that, a good kick in the pants helps.” — Jeff Kwit

“Cook for them.” — Laurel Scott

“Sometimes all a friend needs is someone to listen and a big hug.” — Barb Frenzel

“Listen to them. With empathy.” — Debra R. Roberts

“Go the extra mile to comfort your friend by phoning him/her instead of texting. Body language of love helps in so many ways, too. If need be, take the friend out to get their mind off of the problem. A nice meal is a good gesture.” — Claudia Moon Zikuda

“Give them a neat pour of bourbon.” — Jason Jasz Huerta

“Give them space. Get them coffee in the a.m. Drop them a post or an email just to say hi. Plant some spring flowers when they don’t know — and then let them know they have a surprise in their flowerbed they should be looking for.” — Shelley Hamelen Wichert

“Bring them a casserole.” — Wesley Jacob Astor Paul

Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.