Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶
And happy tax day.
Today is the last day to file taxes, unless you’ve filed for an extension, and as a result, we’ve got money on the brain.
This annual bureaucratic ritual holds a mirror up to our financial situations and causes us to reckon with myriad expenses, an experience familiar to the many Americans chipping away at student loans.
In today’s newsletter, we’ve got a story from my colleague Lisa Philip at WBEZ, who breaks down a new student debt relief proposal from the administration of President Joe Biden — and how Chicagoans are feeling about it.
Plus, we have reporting on a borrowing plan from Mayor Brandon Johnson hitting a roadblock, a protest near O’Hare this morning and more community news you need to know below. 👇
⏱️: A 7-minute read
— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)
TODAY’S TOP STORY
Chicagoans have hopes, doubts about new student debt relief proposed by Biden
Reporting by Lisa Philip | WBEZ
What a relief?President Joe Biden announced plans this month to provide debt relief to nearly 25 million more students — elating some borrowers. But some Chicagoans are skeptical they will get the assistance they need.
The proposal: Biden’s newest proposal aims to reduce or cancel student debt for those with financial hardship, those who have been repaying their loans for 20 years or more and those with runaway interest rates. Borrowers eligible for relief through an existing program for which they haven’t applied could get automatic cancellation under the proposal as well, White House officials said.
Radically life-changing: Angela Davis Fegan, a visual artist based in Pilsen, has more than $100,000 in federal student debt she borrowed to complete an MFA at Columbia College Chicago. She said she thinks she may be able to get her balance reduced under the financial hardship category. “If that pans out, then that could eliminate half my debt,” said Davis Fegan, who also owes $60,000 in private loans she took out for an undergraduate degree she completed in 2007. “It would radically change my life.”
Key context: Illinois residents have more than $60 billion in student debt, according to the Education Data Initiative. People of color are disproportionately affected. The Pew Research Center found Black and Latino households, on average, hold a fraction of the wealth of white households and need to borrow more to pay for college. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, more than 90% of Black students and 72% of Latino students take out loans to attend college, compared to 66% of white students.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
- WNBA Draft 2024: Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and other women’s basketball stars will find out Monday where they will begin their professional careers. Sun-Times reporter Annie Costabile is in New York covering the action. Follow along with the live developments here.
- Memorial held for Karen Yarbrough: When Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough earned her seat at the table, she pulled up more chairs so others could join her. That’s the legacy friends and family remembered during a memorial service for Yarbrough attended by hundreds Sunday.
- Cops at center of complaints: The five Chicago police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Dexter Reed after his SUV was pulled over have been investigated a combined 41 times since 2019, with many of those complaints stemming from traffic stops.
- Victim’s family seeks answers: Torian Pryor, 19, was shot April 1 in the 6700 block of South Cornell Avenue. His brother says the grieving family hasn’t received any information from University of Chicago hospital or police about how he died.
- Mayor’s borrowing plan hits roadblock: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s revised plan to borrow $1.25 billion to bankroll economic development and affordable housing projects — and wean the city from its long-standing addiction to tax increment financing — hit an unexpected roadblock on Monday amid continued demands for more City Council oversight.
- Protest blocks O’Hare traffic: A group of demonstrators protesting the American response to the carnage in Gaza Monday morning blocked traffic on westbound Interstate 90, cutting off traffic to O’Hare Airport.
- Remembering Faith Ringgold: Ms. Ringgold, an award-winning author and artist who broke down barriers for Black female artists and became famous for her richly colored and detailed quilts combining painting, textiles and storytelling, died Saturday at age 93, The Associated Press reports.
- Bye-bye bargains: For 20 years, Bargains in a Box has been a discount shoppers paradise, selling everything from toothpaste and electronics to bug spray and area rugs — often out of large cardboard bins. But shoppers will have to find somewhere else to dig for treasures, as the retailer plans to close its last store Sunday.
OUR CITY IN COLOR 🎨
Croatian landscape murals on North Side honor Chicago-based diaspora
Reporting by Genevieve Bookwalter
As the Croatian Cultural Center turns 50 this year, a set of new murals, finished in spring 2023, will remind celebrants of their homeland as they celebrate in West Ridge.
“I put my heart and soul into it,” says artist Ivan (John) Mikan. “We’re a big part of the community.”
Mikan says he’s been painting his entire life and is known for his talent in the Croatian community. When he was asked to paint the four 12-foot tall panels, Mikan says he chose images of Croatia that he hopes resonate with the Croatian diaspora on Chicago’s North Side and in the near north suburbs.
“It’s impossible to get everyone’s hometown” in the murals, he chuckled, although many hoped he would somehow capture theirs. “I purposely didn’t choose where my parents are from.”
Instead, he chose scenes he hopes will resonate with those whose families emigrated from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Mikan, an arborist, took about five weeks off work last year to paint the panels on the cultural center’s north outside wall, he says.
BRIGHT ONE ✨
Chance the Rapper, Thelonious Stokes unveil new art from ‘Star Line Gallery’ at Expo Chicago
Reporting by Erica Thompson
Chance the Rapper says he is not surprised by his friend Thelonious Stokes’ success in the art world, but he didn’t see it coming.
Years before Stokes was a notable oil painter in Italy, he was like a kid brother to the Chicago emcee, going over to his house after school to slap-box, eat cheese sticks and learn how to do the “jerk” dance.
Today, Stokes, 28, is not only a Florence Academy of Art graduate and teacher. He has been a key figure in Chance’s forthcoming album and visual arts project, “Star Line Gallery.” The longtime friends presented a new painting, “The Last Stair,” from the venture and participated in a panel Thursday at Expo Chicago at Navy Pier.
“I’m hyped up because [Stokes] has really taken off in this space,” Chance told a packed room from the stage. “All of the things that I’ve done in the art world and all of the pieces that I’ve worked on for ‘Star Line Gallery’ have been either advised by Thelonious or, at the very least, influenced by what he does.”
An album release date has not been determined for “Star Line Gallery” — named after a shipping line by Marcus Garvey — but Chance has spent the last two years sharing some of the songs and works by the artists, which include Mia Lee and Nikko Washington, of Chicago, and Naïla Opiangah, of Gabon.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What’s a Chicago business that, for as long as you’ve been going there, has never changed? Explain.
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Editor: Satchel Price
Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore
Copy editor: Angie Myers
