Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶
As a kid, you always figure that the telltale signs of aging will be a little gray hair, a wrinkle or two and some soreness.
But now that I’m in the tail end of my twenties, I’ve realized that there are a few other ways I can already tell I’m getting older.
Like the way I get excited about a good parking spot. Or how I’ll look out the window when a storm’s coming and say: “Storm’s comin’!” Or my sudden interest in talking about directions. And, of course, the thrill I get from scrolling through real estate listings on Zillow.
Just the other day, I couldn’t get over this house near Logan Square — its inside is nothing like what you’d expect seeing it from the outside.
And we gotta talk about this legendary house in Rogers Park — now being renovated by its new owners. Its listing showcased a bright paint job, a slightly creepy doll on a piano and an open-air toilet on the top floor.
I could definitely go on, but before we get too carried away, we’ve got a list of the stories you need to know this afternoon.
⏱️: A 7-minute read
— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)
TODAY’S TOP STORY
More evidence that car insurance pricing in Illinois is biased against poor credit scores
Reporting by Stephanie Zimmermann
Illinois insurance companies’ biases: If your credit score is less than excellent, expect to pay more for car insurance — an average of $491 more a year in Illinois, a new study shows. The findings by nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Federation of America offer more evidence that auto insurance pricing is biased against folks with lower incomes.
Report supports Sun-Times findings: The group’s report echoes a Sun-Times Watchdogs investigation that tested insurance companies’ online price-quote tools and found price disparities that hurt women, renters, people working jobs that don’t require college and people living on the “wrong” side of a ZIP code dividing line.
Credit matters: The nonprofit group found that credit history has such an outsized impact on rates that an Illinois driver with a conviction for driving under the influence but with an excellent credit history paid $862 less a year, on average, for car insurance than a person with a good driving record but a poor credit history.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
Tamara Jones (from left), Jeanie Mui, Doug Nebel and Becca Allistar tap their paddles after a game Tuesday at Roosevelt Park. Medical costs for pickleball-related injuries are expected to reach $250 million to $500 million this year.
Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times
- Pickleball’s popularity sees rise in related injuries: A growing number of players who have taken a newfound liking to pickleball have suffered a sport-related injury. In the U.S., the medical costs from those injuries are expected to reach $250 million to $500 million this year, according to investment banking company UBS.
- Former Bear Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael in ICU: McMichael was hospitalized Thursday night and admitted unconscious to the intensive care unit, but is now awake, and his vital signs have improved, his publicist said Friday morning.
- Simone Biles to compete at U.S. Classic in Hoffman Estates: Biles will compete for the first time in the U.S. since an appearance in Tokyo, where a sudden onset of a mental block known as “the twisties” forced her to pull out of several competitions — including the team and all-around finals — to protect herself.
- 4 stars for ‘Next to Normal’: The electrifying musical touches on the torment of mental illness and the often cruelly fickle nature of recovery, writes Catey Sullivan in her review for the Sun-Times.
- ICYMI — Lollapalooza day 1: We’ve got recaps of sets from Billie Eilish, Karol G and more. Plus, photo highlights from the festival grounds and a rundown of the best food you’ll find at the fest.
WEEKEND PLANS 🎉
Julia Huff performs during last year’s Bronzeville Neighborhood Jazz Festival. The fest returns Saturday.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Today, 5-10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, noon-10 p.m.
📍 Hubbard from Paulina to Wood
Celebrate the West Town neighborhood and the aesthetic of peace and love championed by the Grateful Dead. Bands include Terrapin Flyer, Rock & Rye, Old Shoe and more. Plus, find children’s activities, food, vendors and craft beer from the Chicago Brewing District.
Admission: $10 suggested donation
Today, 5-10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2-10 p.m.
📍 Jefferson Memorial Park, 4822 N. Long
Stop by for music from the Buckinghams, the Four C Notes, Rosie and the Rivets, School of Rock, the Prime, Surgery Cult. Plus: Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty and Pink Floyd tribute bands. Also local food, dance and theater performances.
Admission: $7
🎷 Bronzeville Neighborhood Jazz Fest
Saturday, noon-8:30 p.m.
📍 Martin Luther King Drive from 37th to 39th
This festival features musicians Buddy Fambro, Marqueal Jordan, Joan Collaso, Willie Fultz Band with Skinny Williams — plus vendors, children’s activities, food and more.
Admission: Free
Saturday, 2-10 p.m.; Sunday, 1-9 p.m.
📍Wilson street between Hermitage and Ravenswood
Chicago’s only classical music festival features ensembles and soloists performing music from “Beethoven to Shostakovich to Reich and everything in between,” according to organizers. Additionally, beer and wine, vendor booths, kid-friendly activities and food trucks
BRIGHT ONE ✨
Children’s folk singer Ella Jenkins in 2014 at the park that was dedicated to her on the North Side. Loved ones are throwing her a birthday there on Sunday.
Sun-Times file
Beloved children’s singer Ella Jenkins turning 99 Sunday with a party at a North Side park that bears her name
Reporting by Mitch Dudek
Legendary children’s musician Ella Jenkins turns 99 Sunday. She’s still rhyming, singing and playing with words. And she’s having a little party to celebrate.
“I was feeling great until they told me I was 98,” Jenkins said in an interview via a video call from her apartment at an assisted-living facility on the North Side, where she has lived for about a decade.
“I take one day at a time. I used to plan every day. Now, I just say one day at a time — and maybe have some peppermint ice cream.”
She still plays her harmonica and her kazoo. But she has retired her ukulele because her hands don’t work the way they used to.
Friends from her old neighborhood in Lincoln Park are throwing her a birthday party from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Ella Jenkins Park, 333 W. Wisconsin St. It’s open to all, with cake, music, face-painting, balloons and maybe Jenkins, too, if she’s up for it.
For decades, a townhouse down the street from the park named in her honor was Jenkins’ home base as she traveled the world, singing to children, recording albums — more than 40 — and teaching her call-and-response style music to teachers at child development conferences.
She has been called the first lady of children’s music, bestowed a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and seen her work immortalized in the Library of Congress.
Asked about her many accomplishments, Jenkins instead leaned into lyrics from one of her classics and offered a little advice.
“We’re all in this world together in warm or wintry weather,” she said. “Just be yourself.”
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
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Editor: Ellery Jones
Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore
Copy editor: Angie Myers
