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cesar chavez's name is coming off buildings across chicago — and nobody is fighting it. after a new york times investigation reported decades of sexual abuse allegations, CPS began gathering community feedback on whether to rename the cesar e. chavez school and rep. jesús “chuy” garcía began moving to rename the pilsen post office. parents said they don’t want their daughters in a building named for an alleged abuser. community groups floated replacements like rudy lozano, francisco “pancho” mendoza, and magda ramirez-castañeda. so far, no one has publicly argued to keep the name.

20,000 people ran the shamrock shuffle sunday and the streets are still closed. the bank of america shamrock shuffle went off in grant park with more than 20,000 participants running an 8K shaped roughly like a shamrock through downtown. canadian olympic silver medalist mohammed ahmed won the men's race in 22:59. emma grace hurley took the women's title in 24:28. the wheelchair races went to ethan burkhart and hannah babalola. the race itself lasted a few hours. the street closures will last through wednesday. balbo drive from columbus to lake shore drive stays closed until march 25. if you drive through the loop this week, check the route first or just don't.

brookfield zoo just opened its first-ever lantern festival and it involves 70 glowing animals and a ferris wheel. glow wild launched last thursday and runs through may 10, thursdays through sundays, 6 to 10 p.m. more than 70 oversized handcrafted lanterns — tigers, sea turtles, butterflies, bison — line the zoo's paths in what they're calling "a lantern festival of hope." all the actual animals are asleep because it's nighttime and they don't care about your lantern experience. tickets range from $14.95 to $24.95 for general admission (or from $9.95 for zoo members) and include the carousel and ferris wheel. sensory-friendly nights are march 26, april 16, and may 7. this is the first time brookfield has done anything like this and initial reports suggest it's genuinely good.

the I-80 construction in joliet is entering the phase IDOT called "the most complicated part." the long-term interstate 80 project in will county is starting its next stage at the chicago street interchange. IDOT warned drivers to "prepare for major impact," which is the kind of language a government agency uses when it already knows the next six months will be bad and wants the sentence on record. if you commute through joliet this is going to be your personality for a while.

the chicago botanic garden in glencoe is running spring break camps all week if you have a child and a plan. the garden's daily programs run march 23 through 27 and guide students K through 4 through hands-on explorations of early spring. tickets start at $105 for nonmembers. griffin museum of science and industry is also running STE(A)M camps for K through 12. if you didn't register your kid for anything and are reading this at 9 a.m. on a tuesday wondering what to do with the next four days, these may still have openings.

CPS spring break started yesterday. the chicago park district is running camps at parks across the city, ages 6 to 12, all week. hours vary but most run at least six hours. some run the full day. they include recreation, arts and crafts, and sports. registration is still open at some locations. check the park district site now. five days is a long time to improvise.

eat: andersonville restaurant week runs through march 29. sixteen restaurants are offering prix fixe menus at $30, $45, and $60. participating spots include big jones, minyoli, tanoshii, uvae, and anteprima. go on a tuesday or wednesday when you can actually get a table without planning your week around it.

do: glow wild at brookfield zoo. seventy-plus handcrafted illuminated animal lanterns on nighttime zoo paths. runs thursday through sunday evenings, 6 to 10 p.m., through may 10. tickets start at $14.95 for kids (or $9.95 for zoo members) and include the carousel and ferris wheel. go thursday for the smallest crowds.

avoid: downtown through wednesday. the shamrock shuffle street closures are still in effect. balbo drive from columbus to lake shore drive is closed until march 25. grant park vehicle access is limited. combine that with the ongoing kennedy expressway rehab — outbound lane closures and ramp closures between ohio and the edens junction — and downtown is functionally a series of detours right now.

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.

navy pier spring break is free. march 23 to 27. all week. no catch. interactive workshops, hands-on activities, arts and crafts, STEM programs, music, sports, and movement. all free, all ages. the pier runs this every year and it's actually good. you still have four days left.

the pizza puff is chicago's most underrated invention and food republic just wrote the definitive explainer. the pizza puff — a deep-fried flour tortilla stuffed with mozzarella, tomato sauce, and beef sausage — was created in 1976 by the grandson of an assyrian immigrant who founded the illinois tamale company in 1927. nearly every pizza puff in chicago comes from iltaco foods. you basically can't get them outside the city. the article traces the dish from its phyllo-meets-panzerotti roots through its current status as the thing you order at 1 a.m. from a hot dog stand after making several other choices that evening. the fold. the crunch. the grease. it's all here.

the new york times investigated cesar chavez and found that the farmworkers rights icon groomed and sexually assaulted young girls for decades. the investigation, published march 18, includes interviews with multiple women who say chavez sexually abused them when they were minors working in the united farm workers movement in the 1960s and 70s. one of the accusers is dolores huerta, chavez's longtime organizing partner and a civil rights icon in her own right. the piece traces how the allegations were known in some circles for years but never publicly reported at scale. within days of publication, schools, parks, and post offices across the country began removing chavez's name. the story is long and careful and difficult. it is the kind of reporting that reorganizes what you thought you understood about someone, and it doesn't offer you a clean way to feel about it afterward.

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tchavez's name is coming off the buildings.

20,000 people ran through grant park.

and spring break just started with no plan.

tips, corrections, your best pizza puff spot?

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

talk thursday.

-sam