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.
This afternoon will be cloudy with a chance of snow showers, potentially mixed with rain, and a high near 40 degrees. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low near 32. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a high near 44.
Top story
Buses, trains still ghosting commuters
It’s been two months since CTA President Dorval Carter Jr., speaking to the City Club of Chicago, vowed to fix the reliability issues plaguing one of the nation’s largest transit systems.
But the problem continues to fester, forcing commuters to miss appointments, arrive late to work or get stuck in the rain, as they wait for a bus or train that appears to be arriving soon — but then vanishes from the CTA’s online tracker. And while the agency said it would correct that snafu, which commuters have dubbed “ghost” buses or trains, some say it isn’t resolving it quickly enough.
“We commend the CTA for trying to fix the problem, but they have not come remotely close to actually fixing the issue,” said Micah Fiedler, of the group Commuters Take Action.
“The fact is, the amount of ghost trains and complaints of ghost buses have remained the same since that plan was announced.”
Fiedler is an organizer with the commuters group, a coalition of riders fed up with inaccuracies and inconsistencies in CTA bus and train schedules. Launched nearly five months ago, the group has fielded thousands of complaints from bus riders and has tracked how many trains run — or don’t — on the Blue Line.
The plan Carter announced, called “Meeting the Moment,” aims to highlight CTA efforts to fix reliability issues. But Fiedler said crowdsourced rider complaints have remained steady since that announcement; about 2,500 complaints about buses have been reported to the group since CTA’s plan was released.
“Our goal is to hold CTA responsible” and force the agency to update its transit tracker app so that it will accurately show where buses and trains are on their route, Fiedler said. “People rely on public transit to get them to work, to doctor’s appointments and other important things. It is upsetting to be waiting for a bus and to be ghosted twice.”
CTA spokesman Brian Steele said service has been improved with temporary changes to some rail schedules, which should mean more reliable tracker information. But those changes won’t be permanent.
Our Manny Ramos has more on the state of the CTA here.
More news you need
- A 13-year-old boy fatally shot Friday night in a West Ridge park was “at the wrong place at the wrong time,” according to his family. Lavell Winslow was hanging out at Lerner Park with friends when a gunshot rang out, police and his family told the Sun-Times.
- Prosecutors have dismissed a domestic violence case against a Cook County judge after the woman who filed the complaint decided not to proceed with the charges, officials said. Our Sophie Sherry has more on the dropped charges here.
- A new Sun-Times/WBEZ poll asked Illinoisans if Gov. J.B. Pritzker should consider running in the upcoming presidential election — and many said he should not. Our Tina Sfondeles and WBEZ’s Dave McKinney have more on what voters think of Pritzker, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump here.
- Embattled Northwest Side Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th) today gave up a sure-thing promotion to CFD lieutenant — and a once-a-decade chance to take the captain’s exam. Instead, Gardiner will run for a second term on the Chicago City Council, our Fran Spielman reports.
- Grammy-winning superstar Lizzo came to Chicago last night to bring her “Special” tour to a sold-out United Center. It was an electric, bedazzled performance and landmark moment for the artist, writes Selena Fragassi in her review of the concert.
A bright one
A Chicago love story interrupted ends in a wedding 43 years later
On the morning of his wedding day, a half century after he first met the love of his life, Stephen Watts lay in bed feeling anxious.
His were not the typical pre-wedding jitters. Watts has had two strokes, and he’s an amputee who had once been homeless. Because of his frailty, he had barely left his room the last year. He’d been outside only once. But elsewhere in the house, amid the whirl of activity, the love of his life, Jeanne Gustavson, was putting on a pale blue dress, checking her makeup and getting ready for a day she’d wanted for 43 years.
Watts, 72, and Gustavson, 69, got married Saturday, 43 years after she broke off a relationship that began when they were both students at Loyola University Chicago — a decision she’s regretted all of her life. It took six people to lift Watts into a wheelchair and roll him down a ramp into the couple’s sun-dappled backyard in a suburb of Portland, Oregon, where the couple now live. Gustavson came next. After all this time, Gustavson wanted it done the right way — so the groom hadn’t seen her in the blue dress. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She squeezed his hand. He leaned into her side. The guests’ eyes misted over.
“You’re my soul mate, my best friend, and I want to spend forever with you,” said Gustavson, reciting her vows.
“The first time I saw you, my heart whispered, ‘She’s the one.’ My heart was so right,” Watts said.
Gustavson first met Watts back in 1971, when they were both students at Loyola. She fell madly in love with the tall “hunk” who was president of the college German Club. But there was a problem: He is African American, and she is white. She lived in Mundelein with her mother and grandmother, who didn’t allow Black people in the house unless they were there for work. So the romance had to be kept a secret. Gustavson couldn’t keep the secret and eventually told her mother, who went “ballistic,” Gustavson said.
The mother’s racism and Gustavson’s hectic life of being a nursing student doomed a relationship that had lasted seven years. So Gustavson broke it off. Watts was devastated. They married other people, both got divorced, neither had any children.
Gustavson moved to Oregon in 1987, caring for her mother, who died in 2012. But Gustavson never forgot her first love. After some considerable sleuthing, she found him 42 years later in a south suburban nursing home. He was a shadow of the man she’d known in college: he’d had two strokes, one leg amputated just above the knee. And he was all alone, having lost his mother and sister. But the love had not dimmed. And so Gustavson, now a retired nurse, brought Watts back to live with her in Beaverton, a hilly suburb of Portland.
“Miracle is a word that people throw around, but this was a miracle,” said a good friend and neighbor.
Stefano Esposito has more on Watts, Gustavson and their incredible story here.
From the press box
- With just a couple days until the Bulls’ season opener in Miami, we’ll soon know how star guard Zach LaVine looks at full speed following knee surgery in the spring, Joe Cowley writes.
- In his latest 1st-and-10 column, Mark Potash digs into Bears rookie left tackle Braxton Jones’ trial by fire and how he’s looking six games into his career.
- New Blackhawks forward Jason Dickinson needed to get out of his head. In his team debut over the weekend, he did just that, Ben Pope writes.
- Michael O’Brien serves up his latest Super 25 high school football rankings for the Chicago area.
Your daily question☕
What is Chicago’s greatest gift to the world?
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 your spiciest Chicago food hot take?
Here’s what some of you said ...
“Chicago deep dish is less pizza than it is casserole” — Susan Clark
“Hot dog condiments! Can’t everyone just put whatever ya want on those things and enjoy it without the drama?” — Pat Dicke
“You can love both deep dish and pub-style pizza.” — Steve Sprengel
“A good Italian sausage is better than a good Italian beef.” — Stone Watters
“Deep dish ain’t all that.” — Rahmaan Adedoyin
“Ketchup belongs on hot dogs. Ridiculous that some places don’t even serve ketchup. Lunacy!” — Tom Nicholopoulos
“Deep dish is for tourists, and no real Chicagoan eats that willingly.” — Anthony Arce
“A good beef doesn’t need giardiniera.” — Max Power
“As much as I like deep dish pizza, thin crust is better.” — Mike Walsh
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