Here are recaps of the week’s stories (Sunday, Feb. 19 through Friday, Feb. 24) to catch you up on what’s been happening.
Couple expecting child among 7 slain in Chicago’s deadliest day of year
Wilteeah Jones and Malik Bingham, who were expecting their first child next month, were gunned down in the Chatham neighborhood Wednesday.
They were among seven people killed that day, which was the deadliest of the year in the city so far.
The city is ahead of last year’s grim pace, when Chicago recorded its most killings in two decades.
Police said Jones and Bingham were targeted, possibly because of a gang conflict involving Bingham.
Also among Wednesday’s victims was Jose Correa, 60, who was fatally shot in his garage in the Little Village neighborhood.
Transgender bathroom Elaine Thompson / AP
A new sticker is placed on the door at the ceremonial opening of a gender neutral bathroom at Hale High School in Seattle on May 17, 2016.
A new sticker is placed on the door at the ceremonial opening of a gender neutral bathroom at Hale High School in Seattle on May 17, 2016.
(Elaine Thompson / AP) Trump reverses transgender rules, but change likely won’t have much effect in Chicago area
The Trump administration reversed Obama-era guidelines granting federal protections in public schools to transgender students, but the change likely won’t have as big an impact here as it will in other states, local educators said Wednesday.
The Obama policy allowed students to use locker rooms and bathrooms that matched their gender identities, but Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said it is an issue "best solved at the state and local level."
Chicago Public Schools and Elgin-based School District U-46 said they plan to keep in place guidelines they created before the Obama directive.
On Saturday, transgender rights advocates will hold a rally in the Boystown neighborhood.
Halsted and 63rd Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune
A sign alerts motorists to an upcoming red light camera at Halsted and 63rd streets in Chicago.
A sign alerts motorists to an upcoming red light camera at Halsted and 63rd streets in Chicago.
(Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) Red light camera vendor that bribed City Hall is eligible to bid for work again
RedFlex, the red light camera vendor fired by the city over a bribery scheme, was declared eligible to bid for contracts again after a four-year hiatus.
The move comes about two weeks after the firm paid the city $20 million to settle a lawsuit over the bribery scheme.
Redflex’s bribery scheme was exposed by the Tribune in 2012. The firm was paying John Bills, a city transportation manager, cash and gifts for the hundreds of cameras installed in the city.
In other Chicago and suburban news:
Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who left office in disgrace and served time in prison, is collecting $138,400 a year in workers’ compensation from taxpayers.
Barack Obama deemed the architects’ initial design for his presidential library "too unflashy," Blair Kamin writes.
Convicted killer Drew Peterson was moved from the Illinois Department of Corrections to a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind.
Pharmacy lobbyists argued against proposals backed by Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislators to reduce the workload and hours of pharmacists to help prevent dangerous drug interactions.
Donald Trump Evan Vucci / Associated Press
President Trump speaks during a meeting with manufacturing executives in the White House Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017.
President Trump speaks during a meeting with manufacturing executives in the White House Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press) White House seeks to avoid ‘panic’ over immigration policies
The Trump administration insisted on Tuesday that new enforcement directives are not intended to bring about "mass deportations" of those in the country illegally.
The rollout of the directives, which called for hiring thousands of enforcement agents and expanding the number of immigrants who should be prioritized for deportation, sparked outrage from immigrant rights advocates.
Despite administration officials’ efforts to downplay the immigration raids, Trump on Thursday bragged about the efforts, calling them "a military operation" to deport people living here illegally who have committed crimes or caused violence.
"We’re getting gang members out, we’re getting drug lords out, we’re getting really bad dudes out of this country — and at a rate that nobody’s ever seen before," he said.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly insisted on Thursday that America will not use its military to enforce immigration laws.
Here’s an explainer about the new rules and who is affected.
Chicago Public Schools told its principals not to allow immigration agents in school buildings without an arrest warrant, and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said his office has "no interest" in joining federal deportation efforts.
In other nation and world news:
Scientists found a new solar system that contains seven Earth-like planets and researchers say it’s an ideal place to search for life beyond Earth.
Many Republican in Congress who benefited from tea party activists venting at Democrats in town halls in 2010 are getting a taste of it this month as protesters angry about Donald Trump and his planned Obamacare repeal are voicing their disdain during a congressional recess.
Conservative writer Milo Yiannopoulos resigned from right-wing website Breitbart News on Tuesday after a video of him speaking about the benefits of pedophilia resurfaced over the weekend. Earlier, he lost a speaking gig at the Conservative Political Action Conference and a book deal with Simon & Schuster.
Most Dakota Access pipeline protesters peacefully left their camp Wednesday before a government deadline to leave the federal land. Police on Thursday began arresting those remaining.
Photos of Taj Gibson.
Bulls trade Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott to Thunder
Despite all the speculation, the Chicago Bulls have kept Jimmy Butler, for now. The team on Thursday sent veteran forward Taj Gibson, disappointing shooter Doug McDermott and a 2018 second-round draft pick to Oklahoma City for veteran swingman Anthony Morrow, third-year big man Joffrey Lauvergne and second-year point guard Cameron Payne.
The Bulls cleared the way for Bobby Portis to start at power forward, Denzel Valentine to enter the rotation and Paul Zipser to remain there with Thursday’s five-player trade with the Thunder.
Columnist David Haugh says Bulls fans should realize the team not trading Butler now to start a necessary rebuild hardly means it won’t trade him later.
In other sports news:
The White Sox will retire Mark Buehrle’s jersey No. 56 on June 24 to honor the left-hander who celebrated a no-hitter, a perfect game and a World Series title with the team.
Former Cubs star Sammy Sosa spoke out about his exile from the team, comparing his plight to that of Jesus Christ. The comments apparently didn’t go over well with Cubs management, writes Paul Sullivan.
Major League Baseball, in a bid to speed up games, did away with four-pitch intentional walks. A team can now just use a hand signal from the dugout to give a batter a free pass to first base. Want to really speed up games? It’s as simple as calling more strikes, writes Joe Knowles.
Kraft Heinz Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune
Boxes of Kraft macaroni & cheese with Heinz ketchup — iconic products of Kraft Heinz, which was recently spurned by Unilever but likely is still looking for an aquisition.
Boxes of Kraft macaroni & cheese with Heinz ketchup — iconic products of Kraft Heinz, which was recently spurned by Unilever but likely is still looking for an aquisition.
(Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) Giant food merger between Kraft Heinz, Unilever fizzles
Ketchup-maker and packaged-food giant Kraft Heinz withdrew a $143 billion offer to buy Unilever, backing away after the bid was rejected as too low. The companies announced the decision Sunday in a joint news release, saying that Kraft Heinz has "amicably" abandoned the offer.
The deal would have combined Kraft Heinz brands such as Oscar Mayer, Jell-O and Velveeta with Unilever’s Hellman’s, Lipton and Knorr.
Columnist Robert Reed still expects crafty Kraft Heinz to buy something big because it intends to be a survivor in a global consumer packaged-food business that lives by this credo: Eat or be eaten.
In other business news:
On Tuesday, the Chicago Housing Authority’s board of commissioners approved Texas-based Hunt Development Group to develop more than 480 units of mixed-income housing at the site of the former Cabrini-Green public housing complex. The project will include a mix of one- to four-bedroom apartments and condominiums.
Sears on Thursday cut 130 corporate jobs, mostly at its Hoffman Estates headquarters.
Aiming to help entrepreneurs, the Chicago City Council approved a dramatic cut in license fees for food carts, reducing the cost of a two-year business license to $100 from $350.
Chicago home sales jumped 9.3 percent and prices shot up 12.4 percent in January after an early winter freeze. "It was better than any January I’ve seen in the last eight to nine years," said Matt Silver, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors.
‘Hamilton’ hosts CPS students
The cast of "Hamilton" hosts Chicago Public Schools students. Feb. 22, 2017. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)
The cast of “Hamilton” hosts Chicago Public Schools students. Feb. 22, 2017. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)
See more videos CPS students pack audience for ‘Hamilton’ performance
About 1,900 Chicago Public Schools students and their teachers got a memorable history lesson Wednesday, writes the Tribune’s Morgan Greene.
They took part in a daylong program that included a chance for some of them to perform onstage, a Q-and-A session with cast members and a matinee performance of "Hamilton" just for them.
The "Hamilton" Educational Program, which began in New York, will be repeated nine more times in Chicago this year and will include about 20,000 students.
In other entertainment and lifestyles news:
Greg Kot takes a look back at the Beatles’ "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" and the Velvet Underground’s "Andy Warhol," albums released in 1967, to see which groundbreaking record holds up 50 years later.
Rick Kogan introduces us to a Chicago poet who inspired Chance the Rapper, among many other young Chicagoans.
Heidi Stevens writes that it’s no surprise that straight women trail every other group when it comes to having orgasms but says the subject is ripe for exploration.
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