Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
This afternoon will be partly sunny with a high near 67 degrees. Tonight’s low will be around 50 degrees. Tomorrow will be rainy and windy with a high near 55 degrees.
Top story
CPS’ Agassiz Elementary — named after a racist biologist — to be renamed for Harriet Tubman
A Lake View elementary school long named after a Swiss American biologist who promoted racist ideologies will be renamed for abolitionist and civil rights activist Harriet Tubman after years of protest from families at the school.
The soon-to-be-former Agassiz Elementary School — to be called Harriet Tubman IB World School — will be the first Chicago Public Schools building to receive a new name through a review process officials are undertaking, but likely not the last. The nation’s third-largest district is planning to consider changes at dozens of schools after a Chicago Sun-Times review last year found 30 schools are named after slaveholders and more after other racists.
The namesake of the school has been Louis Agassiz, a believer in eugenics, the idea that some characteristics and races are inferior to others and should be bred out of humanity.
A group of parents pushed for a change three years ago but failed when others worried about the cost of new signage and merchandise, plus the loss in name recognition in social circles.
The efforts were revived last year after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis spurred the nation’s strongest racial justice protests in five decades and prompted institutions across the country to revisit the impact of their racist histories.
Parents of color spoke of the impact on their elementary-aged children going to a school honoring a racist and how they had to explain his history to them. In the end, the Local School Council voted unanimously to change the name.
Read Nader Issa’s full story here.
More news you need
- The head of the Cook County Land Bank Authority, whose questionable dealings have been the subject of a series of reports by the Chicago Sun-Times, has resigned. Robert Rose Jr. plans to leave his $225,000-a-year job as executive director of the county agency in June.
- Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other state and Cook County officials announced the opening of a mass vaccination site in Forest Park today, as the state begins expanding vaccine eligibility. The Forest Park site will begin taking appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine Friday.
- Chicago restaurant and bar owners forced to shell out $4,400 for a two-year liquor license they couldn’t fully use during the pandemic would get a refund under a $40 million relief program proposed today. “Those are fees that should be [given] back to those small businesses that were not using the licenses,“ Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez said.
- Jury trials resumed in Cook County this week more than a year after the courts shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. With thoughts of COVID-19 still at the forefront of many people’s minds, potential jurors trickled into the Leighton Criminal Courthouse this morning with a mix of anxiousness and dread.
- Tyler Nevius, a developer whose plans to restore Bridgeport’s Ramova Theatre were paused during the pandemic, says his backers remain in place and he hopes to reopen the 1929 movie house as a performing arts venue by late 2022. The project includes a brewpub and a reimagining of the old Ramova Grill.
A bright one
Chicago quiz shows pick up slack for your favorite bar’s Trivia Night
While some Chicagoans aren’t quite ready to head to their favorite watering hole’s trivia night, a couple of new shows aim to pick up where the bars left off by finding inventive ways to quiz locals on Chicago history.
“The Great Chicago Quiz Show,” scheduled to debut at 8 p.m. Friday on WTTW-Channel 11, is hosted by Geoffrey Baer, well-known to WTTW viewers for leading video tours of city neighborhoods and getting to the bottom of Chicago’s historical mysteries.
“I do a lot of public speaking; I get asked to do a lot of talks. Randomly, years ago, at the end of one of my talks, I just started throwing out quiz questions to the audience,” said Baer, who also has writer and executive producer credits on the show. “It killed; people loved it.”
Questions will cover topics in history, politics, architecture, geography, arts, culture, business and sports. Folks watching from home are invited to participate interactively via the show’s companion website.
Quiz show contestants appear remotely and include Chicagoans from all walks of life including 670 The Score host Laurence Holmes, hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco, “Cheers” actor George Wendt, sociologist and poet Eve Ewing, White Sox play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti, and Sun-Times editorial board member Lee Bey.
From the press box
Forget the 2018 Final Four run, this year’s Loyola basketball team is better than that squad and is ready to make an even stronger statement, Steve Greenberg writes. The Ramblers’ next opponent will be fellow underdog Oregon State.
The Ramblers’ success has caught the attention of retired Miami Heat star and Chicago-area native Dwyane Wade, who might be looking to meet up with Sister Jean.
And down in Arizona, White Sox infielder Yoan Moncado says he is completely recovered from COVID-19 and is ready to start the season.
Your daily question ☕
What’s one thing that’s really gotten you through the pandemic year?
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Friday, we asked you: Who do you have winning March Madness? Here’s what some of you said…
“Confession: I haven’t watched any basketball this year. But I’ll go with the Ramblers. Will they win? Idk. Would it be absolutely the best if they did, with Sister Jean sitting on the sidelines? No question!” — Sam Brunson
“Illinois has everything necessary to win the tournament. The big dominant center, great quick guards, excellent defense, three point shooters, and stars up and down the lineup. Most importantly they are one with each other, have great chemistry, and have fun. The only team that can beat them is themselves.” — Robin Ellefsen
“Michigan, and they will be seeking out revenge on The Fighting Illini.” — Ron Penna
“Gonzaga because they have tournament experience and a good coach who has stuck with the team for a long time.” — Jim Rafferty
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