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anjanette young wrote a book about the night 12 officers broke into her near west side apartment and handcuffed her while she was undressed. “past the pain: how to emerge from trauma with purpose” came out last month from chicago review press. in february 2019, officers entered young’s hermitage avenue apartment with a battering ram on a warrant based on bad information from an informant. the group of all-male officers left her standing naked and handcuffed until a female officer arrived — ella french, who was later killed in the line of duty. the raid led to a $2.9 million settlement, the firing of the sergeant in charge, and young becoming the public face of no-knock warrant reform in chicago. the door to her old apartment still has dents from the battering ram. the reform legislation still hasn’t passed. each chapter ends with a letter from her therapist offering self-care tools for people dealing with trauma. young told block club she was “baptized by fire” that night and that fighting back became part of her healing. “we still have a broken system that believes that police don’t have to be held accountable for their bad actions.”

happy april. the city of chicago would like its money now. street sweeping started yesterday, which means $60 parking tickets are back in effect wherever the bright orange signs appear. signs go up 48 hours in advance, unless your block is on a permanent weekly or bi-monthly schedule, in which case you should already know. also due yesterday: first-installment 2025 cook county property tax bills, which were mailed a month late this year. the city’s sweeper tracker is live if you want to find out whether your car is about to become a revenue source. april in chicago is when everything thaws and everything costs money.

the lone CPS board member who voted against making macquline king the permanent CEO explained her decision. the board voted 18-1 monday to approve king’s three-year contract at $380,000 per year. the dissenting member said she wanted a more thorough national search. king has been interim CEO since june after pedro martinez was pushed out. she’ll officially start july 1 and will immediately face a massive budget deficit and the district’s first fully elected school board. the search lasted months and ended with the person who was already sitting in the chair. 17 of her 18 colleagues were fine with that.

a buffalo grove woman was indicted for allegedly scamming people out of $3.5 million and then impersonating FBI agents when she got caught. tatiana bazer, 40, told victims their money would support immigration services, projects in ukraine, or short-term personal loans. federal prosecutors say she spent it on herself, including luxury items. she sent fake bank statements, fraudulent checks, and wire transfer confirmations to keep people quiet. when she found out about the investigation, she allegedly posed as FBI agents, a prosecutor, and a defense attorney — convincing victims their money was being returned and, in some cases, getting even more from them. some people gave her hundreds of thousands of dollars. she was arrested march 19 and released on $100,000 bond. she’s pleaded not guilty and is back in court april 21.

cook county property taxes have increased from $6.8 billion to $19.2 billion since 1995, and treasurer maria pappas would like you to know why. a new study from her office shows property tax levies across the county — city and suburbs — have outpaced both inflation and wages for three decades. TIF districts and school funding formulas are the main drivers. according to the study, the oakland neighborhood on the south side saw a 636% increase over that period. pappas is raising the issue in the context of her ongoing fight with tyler technologies, the texas firm whose botched computer system upgrade has left 80,000 people owed $181 million in refunds. first-installment bills were due yesterday. they were mailed a month late.

check your street sweeping schedule right now. the city’s sweeper tracker shows exactly when your block is being cleaned. the orange no-parking signs are supposed to go up 48 hours in advance, but they don’t always. a ticket is $60. you can also sign up for email or text alerts by address. takes about two minutes and saves you one extremely annoying afternoon.

eat: hooligan at time out market in fulton market. 50-seat seafood and wine bar from chef christian hunter, a Michelin Young Chef Award recipient and James Beard finalist. dressed oysters, smoked whitefish gumbo, peel-and-eat shrimp with mild sauce mayo. go before it gets a reservation waitlist. 916 W. Fulton Market.

do: white sox opening day is today. they play Toronto at Guaranteed Rate Field and it is, technically, a new season full of possibility. the post-game fireworks are the best part regardless of the score. dress warm for tonight because that 68 degrees is going to feel like a memory by first pitch.

avoid: being outdoors this evening. today’s thunderstorms have the potential to be severe, with winds gusting to 30 mph across the metro area.

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.

the spring flower show at garfield conservatory is free and open now through may 10. it's called "showers of flowers" and the palm house is full of daffodils, tulips, orchids, snapdragons, and ranunculus cascading from above. free admission. no tickets needed. your kid will either love it or destroy it.

serious eats published their editors’ 10 favorite comfort food recipes this month and the list is built for this week’s weather. lemony lentil soup, lasagna beans, sauerkraut goulash, and a quick ramen that takes less time than delivery. five days of rain and low 40s ahead. this is the move.

chicago magazine’s “found in translation” is about the newberry library asking volunteers to help read old handwriting, and it’s the best thing you’ll read this week. the newberry has over 15,000 linear feet of manuscripts, and a volunteer army is transcribing them into searchable text. the piece goes from civil war diaries written in pitman shorthand to sherwood anderson’s nearly illegible letters to a firsthand account of the great chicago fire by julia newberry, whose cursive is impeccable. there’s a 17th-century book of magical spells mostly about toothaches. there’s nelson algren writing profane poetry from guatemala. there’s a retired librarian in upstate new york and a 17-year-old in new jersey, both decoding history one page at a time. “if you run out of wordles,” the project lead says, “we have an endless supply of word puzzles for you.”

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street sweeping is back.
property taxes are due.
and today is going to hit 68 before everything falls apart again.

tips, corrections, your best april fools’ prank?

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

talk next tuesday.

-sam