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Good morning, Chicago. ✶ 🔎 Below: How the Trump administration’s media blitz tries to influence public support for the president’s aggressive campaign against immigration. 🗞️ Plus: Judges in three courtrooms address the feds’ tactics, what the state’s new transit spending bill means for you and more news you need to know. 📝 Keeping score: Tyler Bertuzzi’s hat trick helped the Blackhawks snap a long losing streak, winning 5-2 against the Canucks. ⏱️: A 9-minute read TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️ Partly cloudy with a high near 58. TODAY’S TOP STORIES 🔍 Government ‘propaganda’ techniques portray Chicago as a city at war with the feds By Nader Issa The narrative: Nearly two months into President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, social media feeds from his administration and its right-wing allies paint a grim picture of Chicago: A city plagued by violent criminals that is at war with the federal government. The techniques: Made-for-Hollywood videos depict heroic military-style raids. “Criminal illegal aliens” are chased down and handcuffed. An immigration facility is shown bracing for attacks by “agitators” and “terrorists.” End goal: The media blitz aims to build public support for these enforcement efforts and make the case that enforcement is needed, experts say. See the techniques and read our full report via the button below. READ MORE ✶✶✶✶ Trump’s campaign against immigration is addressed in three Chicago federal courtrooms By Jon Seidel and Kade Heather Broadview conditions: U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman issued a 15-point temporary restraining order that calls for the federal government to improve conditions for detainees at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview. The order addresses bedding, cleanliness, food, access to medications, access to lawyers and more. Use of force: A high-stakes hearing played out in U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis’ courtroom over the treatment of protesters and journalists. Ellis heard testimony about whether the feds violated her temporary restraining order banning the use of “riot control” weapons without warning. Lawyers also played portions of sworn testimony from Border Patrol boss Gregory Bovino, in which he instructed officers to “go hard” against protesters. Ellis plans to issue a ruling on extending the order Thursday. Brighton Park shooting: In a case before U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis, a Border Patrol supervisory agent who shot a woman five times Oct. 4 in Brighton Park was asked about text messages he sent afterward. Those texts appeared to show agent Charles Exum boasting how the shots he fired left seven holes in Marimar Martinez, who federal authorities say was chasing agents. Asked by a lawyer why he highlighted that detail, Exum answered he is a firearms instructor and takes pride in his shooting skills. READ MORE ✶✶✶✶ Teacher is detained by immigration agents in North Center day care By Cindy Hernandez and Violet Miller Video shows arrest: Federal immigration agents entered a Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center and arrested a teacher Wednesday morning before searching each room inside the North Center day care without a warrant, Ald. Matt Martin (47th) said. ‘Yo tengo papeles’: The woman, known as “Ms. Diana” to parents and children, is heard in a recording telling an agent she has documentation, but she was still detained. Ms. Diana had stepped out of a car when she was approached by agents and ran inside the day care center. The agents followed, forcing her outside and putting her into another vehicle, according to Martin, who said children were inside the building. More headlines: Sen. Duckworth demands end to ‘secret detentions’ of citizen protesters by FBI, calls for DOJ investigation Pope Leo calls for ‘deep reflection’ about treatment of detained migrants in U.S. READ MORE MORE NEWS YOU NEED ✶ Rekia Boyd monument: Finalists on Wednesday unveiled their designs for a new Douglass Park monument honoring Rekia Boyd on what would have been her 36th birthday. An off-duty police officer fatally shot Boyd in 2012, and his acquittal sparked the #SayHerName movement. Man pleads guilty to murder: Demitri Jackson, 25, was sentenced to 29 years in prison as part of his guilty plea to murder charges in the 2020 shooting death of rapper Kentray Young, who performed under the moniker Tray Savage. Police’s budget decisions: Chicago will slow police hiring to roughly 50 recruits per month and pause academy training academy next summer, to generate the $91 million in “turnover” savings needed to help erase the city’s $1.2 billion budget shortfall, police officials said. O’Hare official indicted: Eric Sanders, a high-ranking Chicago Department of Aviation official, has been indicted in an alleged fraud contracting scheme involving snow removal services at O’Hare Airport. CPS CEO search: The Chicago Board of Education has narrowed its choice for the next leader down to two candidates — and current interim CEO/Superintendent Macquline King did not make the cut. Race for Garcia’s seat: Vowing to fight “machine tactics,” Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez is exploring an independent bid for the 4th Congressional District after U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia left in place a controversial succession plan for his chief of staff. Eyes on SCOTUS: Several U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical Wednesday about the legality of President Trump’s ability to impose sweeping tariffs, in a case partly brought by Vernon Hills-based companies Learning Resources and Hand2Mind. TRANSPORTATION 🚆 What Illinois’ new transit spending bill means for riders, drivers By Amy Yee and David Struett Transit reform: State lawmakers passed a major transit reform bill last week to prop up the CTA, Metra and Pace with $1.5 billion in additional tax revenue — helping to stave off cuts that would have affected millions of transit users. Money matters: The bill — now awaiting Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature — affects more than just users of public transit. The legislation raises the Chicago region’s sales tax and shifts the state’s gas tax revenue to transit. It also increases tollway fees, raising up to $1 billion annually. Fees rise: Illinois Tollway fees will increase 45 cents for passenger cars and 30% for commercial vehicles. No fare hike: Various transit agencies are restricted from raising fares within the first year of the bill after it goes into effect June 1, 2026 — including the Regional Transportation Authority, which approves budgets for the CTA, Metra and Pace. Sales tax bump: The legislation authorizes the RTA to increase sales tax by 0.25% in the Chicago area and collar counties, which would take effect June 1, 2026. In Chicago, the combined sales tax rate is 10.25%. Speaking of trains: Starting Dec. 6, riders can catch Metra’s beloved holiday trains on five lines this year, the transit agency announced.🎅 READ MORE ON YOUR RADIO 📻 WBEZ’s “Prisoncast!” is a statewide radio show and journalism project made with and for people incarcerated in Illinois and their loved ones. The next show is a radio play, co-produced with the Mud Theatre Project and a group of actors at Dixon Correctional Center, based on a script written inside Dixon. It will air statewide on most Illinois public radio stations Thursday at 7 p.m., and on WBEZ’s live stream here. 🎧 FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏒🏀⚾ Beginning of the end?: Connor Murphy’s playing time has fallen off a cliff in likely his last season with the Blackhawks. Secret sauce for success: This season, the Bulls are an elite defensive team in the fourth quarter, writes Joe Cowley. Spring training schedule: The Cubs’ schedule includes rare games against the Yankees and Team Italy, and the White Sox’ begins with a crosstown matchup against the Cubs. Boys basketball: These are the six area high school boys basketball teams most likely to take big steps forward. GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩 This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: Famous Chicagoans 🌟 Here’s your clue: 1A: “The Fugitive” star and Chicagoan-by-birth, Harrison ___ PLAY NOW BRIGHT ONE 🔆 Sanders BBQ in Beverly becomes national stunner in 17 months, with next stop in Hyde Park By Maggie Hennessy Lines snaking down 99th Street have been a fixture for months outside counter-service barbecue joint Sanders BBQ Supply Co., where unctuous oxtails exhale aromas of hardwood smoke and peppered, toothsome brisket gives at the sight of a fork. The wait times are thanks in part to The New York Times naming Sanders BBQ one of the 50 best restaurants in the country, alongside Mexican fine-dining restaurant Cariño. There hasn’t been much time to process their whirlwind success in 17 short months since opening, Sanders’ staff says. Besides running a relentlessly popular barbecue joint five days a week, chef and owner James Sanders, pitmaster Nick Kleutsch and their tight-knit crew are planning a second — as yet nameless — elevated barbecue restaurant and bar, which will debut in Hyde Park early next year. They’re also growing the Beverly location via an adjacent retail store. “It’s like this restaurant is my 10-year-old child and the other place is my newborn,” Sanders said. “Right now I gotta put more emphasis on the newborn, but every day I’m honing this, making it stronger with the team, making it better.” READ MORE YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️ When the days get shorter and the temperatures drop, how do you kick the Chicago winter blues? Email us (please include your first and last name). We may include your answer in Friday’s Morning Edition newsletter. Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Morning Edition! Got a story you think we missed? Email us here. Written and curated by: Matt Moore Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
