545 students displaced mid-year, illinois is still the only state that ignored a supreme court ruling, and chicago is already angling to host another dnc

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chicago is already raising its hand to host another democratic national convention. the dnc announced today that chicago is one of five front-runner cities for the 2028 and 2032 conventions. chicago's bid committee says they are "best positioned" and ready to do it again. no word on whether the city has fully recovered from the last one.

illinois is still the only state that hasn't fixed its property tax seizure law after a unanimous 2023 supreme court ruling. lawmakers just punted cook county's tax debt sale to december and called it a plan. in the meantime, people can still lose their equity over a tax bill.

cps is closing two charter schools mid-year and 545 students are getting relocated like a rounding error. aspira says it cannot make it to june, and cps says the network is still short millions and owes an audit. students are left to figure out credits, graduation, and what happens when your school closes in march.

hawthorne race course filed for bankruptcy after 117 years. they are trying to restructure debt and find an investor before it becomes something with loading docks. illinois horse racing is now in its "please clap" era.

naperville district 203's budget crisis is now generating its own rumors. naperville's district 203 is facing a $12.4 million deficit and discussing staff cuts. the board president emailed the community to deny rumors about layoffs already happening and admins being protected. when the panic needs its own fact check, you are already in the spiral.

two suburban men staged their own armed robbery and told police someone stole up to $2 million in jewelry. investigators say the whole thing was fabricated. now they are facing charges.

early voting just expanded across the city and suburbs. the march 17 primary is two weeks away. this primary has a senate race, the governor's race, and multiple congressional fights with real money already flying around. find your nearest early voting site and mail your ballot back early if you enjoy certainty.

eat: north side restaurant week runs through march 8 across albany park, edgewater, irving park, lincoln square, northcenter, ravenswood, and rogers park. participating restaurants are offering deals, and it is the one week where trying somewhere new does not feel like a financial commitment. find the full list here and pick a neighborhood you have been meaning to actually eat in.

do: go maple tree tapping in the chicago area before the season closes out. a handful of forest preserves and nature centers around chicagoland run maple syrup programs in march, and they let you tap the tree yourself. it takes about 20 minutes, costs almost nothing, and you will absolutely bring it up for the rest of the year.

avoid: getting emotionally extorted by political texts and emails that all want "just $5" and also your entire nervous system. chicago reporters say the spam ramps up as election season ramps up, and it is already a lot. unsubscribe, filter, block, and remember none of these people will come help you shovel.

and hey — if you’d like to put your business in front of the readers of this very email, reply with a little about what you do. small, weird, or local: we like all three.

"splish splash: a day on the lake" opens at goodman theatre and it's built for the under-6 crowd. goodman has a new kids show with songs and puppets about putting the moon back together. it runs through march 22, and tickets start at $13, with babies under 12 months free. if your child has cabin fever, this is the least chaotic way to outsource it.

block club listed 10 iconic foods invented in chicago and it comes with assignments. it goes beyond deep-dish and italian beef into things like the jibarito, the jim shoe, and the mother-in-law. they also tell you where to get each one, which means you now have a food scavenger hunt. chicago will never run out of ways to make you argue about lunch.

chicago magazine ran a 5,000-word profile of pete crow-armstrong and it will make you feel things. it is part baseball, part chicago love letter, and part "this guy is 23 and already stressed in a professional way." it covers the stats, the swings, the mental spirals, and a west side clinic where hundreds of kids chanted his name. read it if you want to be irrationally hopeful before april takes that away.

the state cannot fix a three-year-old supreme court ruling. the schools are getting closed. the horse track is getting bankrupted.

tips, sightings, your suburb spiraling?

reply with your neighborhood and one thing that made you pause, squint, or text someone “???”

talk thursday.

-sam