How logging is fast-tracked in Illinois
Good morning, Chicago. ✶
???? Below: Facing pressure to increase timber harvests, the U.S. Forest Service is sidestepping rigorous environmental reviews and limiting public participation. It's all playing out in Illinois' only national forest.
????️ Plus: Gov. JB Pritzker condemned President Donald Trump's dismissive response to director Rob Reiner's violent death, budget talks stall at City Hall and more news you need to know.
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⏱️: A 7-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER ⛅
Partly sunny with a high near 35.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES ????
How the Trump administration is fast-tracking logging in Illinois’ only national forest
By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco
Forest sale: When the U.S. Forest Service approved the sale of nearly 70 acres for commercial logging in southern Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest in late 2024, environmentalists were furious. Shawnee is the only national forest in the state, and one of the smallest in the nation. By August, a Kentucky logging crew harvested about half of the sale before temporarily halting in early September due to a lawsuit. The loggers have yet to finish the job.
What happened: The Forest Service billed the timber sale as a "thinning" operation to remove older trees and make room for younger saplings. But the agency advertised the project under a different name. When advocates realized this, the project's required comment period was underway. A Kentucky buyer was awarded the contract in June.
Clearing halted: Environmentalists sued the Forest Service to block the plan, citing the presence of endangered bats and potential impacts to a nearby national natural landmark, and alleged the service had violated the National Environmental Policy Act.
Key context: The legal battle is part of a broader clash between fast-tracking projects and ensuring environmental reviews as required by federal law.
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Gov. Pritzker, who saw Rob Reiner days before fatal stabbing, slams Trump response to deaths
By Mitchell Armentrout and Dorothy Hernandez
Pritzker blasts Trump: Gov. JB Pritzker headlined a political fundraiser co-hosted by Rob Reiner just a few days before the acclaimed filmmaker and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead with stab wounds at their Los Angeles home. Pritzker joined numerous politicians Monday in condemning President Donald Trump’s dismissive response to the violent attack.
Trump's remarks: In a social media post, ignoring the facts of the homicide investigation, Trump suggested Rob Reiner’s death was "reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME." Los Angeles police said the Reiners’ son, Nick Reiner, was in custody for their deaths.
Reiner in Chicago: In September, Reiner spoke at the Music Box Theatre at an event hosted by WBEZ. The acclaimed director reflected on his career and spoke about a book he’d written covering the making of the film “This Is Spinal Tap.”
READ MORE
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Budget talks stall after offer to drop plan to raise garbage collection fees fails to sway Johnson
By Fran Spielman
Budget battle continues: A City Council majority determined to block a corporate head tax, fully fund a pension advance and avoid borrowing for operating expenses vowed Monday to forge ahead with approval of its alternative spending plan, after an offer to freeze garbage collection fees failed to satisfy Mayor Brandon Johnson.
'Not productive': Eleven opposition alderpersons emerged from a 35-minute meeting with Johnson claiming their first negotiating session aimed at averting an unprecedented shutdown of city government was "not productive." Johnson pretty much agreed.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ????️
- Beat Kitchen sues city: Robert Gomez, owner of Beat Kitchen, alleged in a federal lawsuit that the city forced him to lose his restaurant's Chicago Riverwalk space because of race-based discrimination during a lease renewal process.
- ‘Danger to the community’: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Luis Uribe, accused of using his gun and badge to rape multiple women, will be held in federal custody while awaiting trial, a judge ruled Monday.
- Suspects charged in teen’s murder: Charges were filed against two men and a teen boy who allegedly shot and killed 16-year-old honor student and basketball player Davell Holden after mistaking him for someone else in South Holland over the summer.
- Ex-gang chief convicted: Labar "Bro Man" Spann, the onetime head of Chicago’s Four Corner Hustlers street gang, again faces a mandatory life sentence after a federal jury Monday convicted him of racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
- Vet gets $13M settlement: Nearly three decades after being found guilty of killing his ex-wife, Navy veteran Herman Williams was exonerated and released from prison. On Monday, Williams was awarded a $13 million settlement through a civil federal lawsuit.
- ‘Right-to-die’ decision: Testimony from terminally ill residents persuaded an undecided Gov. Pritzker to sign legislation that will give people with six months or less to live the option to end their lives with a doctor’s prescription in Illinois.
- DePaul layoffs: DePaul University announced it has laid off 114 staff members, citing a budget shortfall caused by rising costs and a significant drop in enrollment among international graduate students.
POLITICS ✶
Hundreds of Chicagoans contributed campaign money to New York’s mayoral election
By Robert Herguth
Illinois investments: A Sun-Times examination found more than 800 people from Chicago, the suburbs and downstate Illinois collectively contributed more than $70,000 in campaign money to New York mayoral candidates over the last year.
Who benefited: Nearly 700 of those donors were responsible for giving roughly $36,000 to mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist. Nearly 50 Illinois donors altogether gave about $24,000 to Cuomo, a more traditional Democrat who previously served as New York’s governor and ran as an independent. About 100 Illinoisans donated $7,700 to Curtis Sliwa, the GOP candidate.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ????????????
- Bears analysis: Chicago's in a prime position for a playoff berth, but it's delicate heading into the final three games, writes Jason Lieser.
- Bedard out: Hawks star Connor Bedard will miss several more weeks with an upper-body injury, but it might not be season-threatening.
- Bulls check-in: The Bulls are 5-15 in their last 20 games, so Joe Cowley asks, when does the demolition start?
- Reese will return: From USA Basketball camp, Sky star Angel Reese quieted fears about a departure from Chicago.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD ????
Today's clue: "Frida ___'s Month in Paris" (2025 Art Institute exhibition)
BRIGHT ONE ????
Chance the Rapper gets into holiday spirit with a bike giveaway
By Nudia Hernandez
One hundred children rode away from a Chicago Ridge Raising Cane's on a chilly Monday with new bicycles and helmets, courtesy of the fast food chain and Chicago’s Chance the Rapper.
Chance the Rapper, born Chancelor Bennett in Chatham, appeared Monday at the 95th Street location of Raising Cane’s to celebrate its donation of the branded children’s bikes to SocialWorks, Chance's nonprofit.
Chance founded SocialWorks in 2016 with his friends to empower local youth through arts, education and civic engagement.
"It’s a quintessential childhood gift ... everybody remembers their first bike," Chance told WBEZ and the Sun-Times after the giveaway. "My dad taught me how to ride a bike and it was a big deal. It was like going through driving school, he was very intent on getting me to understand it and not giving up."
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
At what local business have you shopped for holiday presents this year? Tell us why? ????
Email us with your answers (please include your first and last name). We may run your answers in Wednesday's Morning Edition newsletter.
Yesterday, we asked you to finish this sentence for us: “It’s so cold in Chicago that ____.”
Here’s some of what you said…
"I sneezed and suddenly had an icicle hanging from my nose!" — Paul Lockwood
"I could use an ice sculpture for dibs." — Barbara Hart
"I will pay to Uber one block." — Terrence Camodeca
"Only a few people wore shorts today." — Manuel Sanchez
PICTURE CHICAGOLAND ????
A church gymnasium in Glen Ellyn hosted a Regency-era ball Saturday, with live music, period snacks, and dancers of all ages in gowns and ribbons for Jane Austen’s 250th birthday.
Mark Black for the Sun-Times
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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