Migrants shelter at police stations, Lightfoot ‘done with electoral politics’ and more in your Chicago news roundup

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

— Matt Moore (@MattKenMoore)

Weather ☁️

This afternoon will be mostly cloudy with a chance of rain and a high near 53 degrees. Tonight — cloudy with a low near 35. Expect mostly sunny weather tomorrow with a high near 58.

Top story

Expired food, infections, infestations reported at Chicago police stations serving as makeshift shelters for immigrants

Chicago’s response to a growing immigrant crisis has turned police stations into makeshift shelters where asylum seekers have been provided with expired meal rations and where infections and infestations are a common problem.

Outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot has taken aim at Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas who has been sending immigrants to Chicago and other sanctuary cities as a response to President Joe Biden’s border policies. In an open letter Sunday, Lightfoot told Abbott that her administration was aware he planned to resume busing immigrants to Chicago and other cities yesterday, noting that 8,000 have already been sent here since August.

“Nearly all the migrants have been in dire need of food, water and clothing, and many needed extensive medical care,” she wrote. “Some of the individuals you placed on buses were women in active labor, and some were victims of sexual assault. None of these urgent needs were addressed in Texas.”

Abbott responded yesterday in an open letter of his own, saying if Chicago can’t handle the surge of migrants from the Mexico border, then Lightfoot should take the issue up with President Joe Biden.

With resources exhausted and limited shelter beds available in Chicago, immigrants who have been sent here have been sleeping and eating meals on the floors of police stations in recent weeks.

Boxes of meal rations that were sent to the Gresham District last week had expired in September 2020, and a notice was sent out urging police officials to return any expired meals they’d received, according to sources with knowledge of the situation and photos shared with the Sun-Times.

A City Hall source said hospitals, hotels and short-term rentals have all declined to take in the asylum seekers because they view the crisis as a public health matter, leaving city officials in a tough spot.

Three weeks ago, volunteers who work with immigrants and refugees started to notice that more arrivals were ending up at police stations, said Mary Schaaf, a volunteer with the online community Refugee Community Connection.

“We need a coordinated effort from the city and the federal government,” Schaaf said. “And that’s what’s been lacking since back in August.”

More on this crisis from our Tom Schuba and Elvia Malagón.

More news you need

• Seventeen people were hospitalized today after a bus carrying a group of children with special needs collided head-on with an SUV in Little Village. More on this developing story from our Mohammad Samra and Michael Loria.
• A windstorm in central Illinois kicked up dangerous clouds of blinding dust off farm fields yesterday, causing multiple crashes that killed at least six people on Interstate 55, the Associated Press reports. State police said the late-morning crashes involved 40 to 60 cars and multiple tractor-trailers, two of which caught fire. Authorities today are asking for help in identifying two of the six people who died.
• A year-long investigation from The Marshall Project recently found that arrests for gun possession in Chicago — the vast majority involving young Black men — have grown to their highest level in decades. But violent crimes involving guns continued to jump, with few arrests in those cases, the nonprofit news org found.
• Fred Waller, who rose through the ranks of CPD to chief of patrol, chief of operations and then third in command, emerged yesterday as the front-runner to serve as interim superintendent and, perhaps, audition for the permanent job. Waller spent 34 years at the department before joining a parade of top brass to leave during the turbulent tenure of Supt. David Brown.
• Tributes are pouring out for journalist Linda Lenz, who died at age 77. Ms. Lenz, a former Sun-Times reporter, went on to keep generations of Chicago Public Schools parents informed through her nonprofit publication Catalyst. More on Ms. Lenz’s life and legacy from our Mitch Dudek.
• In a recent interview with ABC-7, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she’s “done with electoral politics for myself.” Lightfoot said she lost, in part, because it was “hard to break through the anger bubble” caused by the pandemic and civil unrest triggered by the murder of George Floyd. Angered by what she apparently views as unfair coverage, the outgoing mayor refused to talk with the Sun-Times for an exit interview.
• A venture to train people in solar panel installation has begun operating on the West Side. The Sustainability Hub is training a class of 20 and hopes to have 10,000 graduates over the next decade to serve a field that promises steady work, decent wages and the satisfaction of helping the planet. More on the venture from our David Roeder.

A bright one ✨

Latino-owned brewery coming to Back of the Yards

The goal of the Invest South/West program is to spur more development in neglected parts of Chicago, and since launching in 2019, it has helped launch a variety of projects, from housing next to transit to food business incubators.

But until now, none of them has come with lagers made on-site.

Somos Monos Cervecería, a longtime Back of the Yards home-brewing operation, is joining a Southwest Side project at 47th Street and Ashland Avenue known as United Yards that’s getting Invest South/West money. It will be one of the first Latino-owned breweries in the city and one of the few on the South Side.

Construction is set to begin soon on the two-story taproom and brewery at 1641 W. 47th St. It’s expected to be complete in a year.

Kevin Tanaka/For Sun-Times

The owner-brewers — and husband and wife — Victor and Rocio Santoyo hope to create a neighborhood hangout that showcases local music and art.

Victor Santoyo, 38, a Back of the Yards native, began brewing at home about 10 years ago, after stumbling across a YouTube tutorial and wondering: “I like beer — why can’t I try and do my own?”

In 2019, he showcased the brew at a festival in Pilsen alongside established local breweries. It went well, so they began tying to find a location.

They looked in Berwyn and Cicero, but jumped at the chance to join United Yards, a multimillion-dollar development with a special emphasis on small businesses.

More on Somos Monos Cervecería from our Michael Loria.

From the press box ⚾🏀

• Maddie Lee explains how the Cubs are balancing hot bats in Triple-A and limited starting options on the mound for Thursday.
• The struggling White Sox have made 11 roster moves.
• When it comes to being a sports fan, “buyer beware” is the motto, Rick Telander argues in his latest.
• St. Rita basketball coach Roshawn Russell has resigned. He’ll take an assistant position at St. Laurence, Michael O’Brien reports.

Your daily question☕

What’s the most serendipitous thing that’s ever happened to you in Chicago?

Email us (please include your first and last name) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: What would you say is a Chicago rite of passage?

Here’s some of what you said...

“Eating food is a Chicago rite of passage, whether it’s a hot dog sans ketchup, deep dish pizza, doughnut holes at Lou Mitchell’s, cheeseburgers at the Billy Goat Tavern or White Castle sliders really late.” — Bill F.

“Hurling a streak of curse words as you walk into the wind on a cold February — then getting where you have to go anyway.” — Scott S.

“Driving on Lower Wacker and riding butts-to-guts on the L during rush hour.” — Julie Rush

Your first Vienna Beef hot dog, with all the trimmings.” — Carol Bryant

“Going to The Weiner’s Circle in Lincoln Park. Even this jaded NYer wasn’t prepared for that!” — Susan Danzig

“Learning Lower Wacker Drive. It’s a time saver.” — Marcia L.

“A shot of Malort in a bar.” — Roger D.

“Seeing the Christmas lights on Michigan Ave and the Marshall Field’s/Macy’s windows.” — Walter Colby

“Attending the Crosstown Classic.” — Mary Rook-Nykrin

“The neighborhood 16-inch softball game.” — Michael Marsh

“Definitely singing at the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley.” — Kathleen Kessell Werning

“Stand outside and wait for a bus or train in a subzero wind chill.” — Matt Michel

“Getting a red light camera and/or speed camera ticket.” — Guy Matheson

“Dodging a pothole and watching everyone in the rearview do the same.” — Roberto Rosas

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