indiana is serious about the bears... and other public displays of affection

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this was a week of very public plays.

not quiet maneuvering. not backroom whispers. full-page ads. stadium renderings. budget cuts you can literally see on the floor.

everyone is negotiating in daylight.

portage, indiana formally pitched the bears a stadium. the city of 38,000 proposed building a new stadium for the bears on 300 acres of city-owned land near I-94. they’re calling it “halas harbor.” this comes after gary made a similar pitch last month, with hammond also circling. arlington heights remains the frontrunner in illinois, but property tax certainty is still the holdup. five municipalities are now publicly lining up to land one football team. leverage has entered the chat. enjoy the leverage.

city hall laid off its janitors while the mayor’s office got raises. a $12 million cut to chicago’s facilities budget is eliminating cleaning contracts at police stations, fire stations, and city hall itself. nine of 21 custodians are already gone. the mayor says it’s the aldermen’s fault for demanding deeper cuts. the aldermen say the mayor recommended the cut. the city’s official position is that contractors made their own staffing decisions, which is technically true in the same way gravity made the vase fall. SEIU local 1 says members were already working with bare-bones staffing. the building where laws get made can’t keep its own floors clean. symbolism level: loud. classic civic dysfunction.

the tribune ran a full-page ad trying to buy the daily herald. alden global capital, the hedge fund that owns the tribune and has a well-documented history of gutting newsrooms, published a full-page ad in sunday’s paper offering a 30% premium to buy paddock publications, the employee-owned parent of the daily herald. the ad is addressed directly to the herald’s ESOP shareholders. shaw media is also reportedly interested. paddock filed a notice with the state in january that it’s considering a sale, triggering a 120-day review window through may 6. it’s a hostile-ish newspaper acquisition playing out in the pages of a newspaper. if subtlety were a business model, this wouldn’t be it. the media equivalent of a breakup text on a fax machine.

a freight train derailed in chicago ridge. metra chaos followed. a freight train went off the tracks near 104th and ridgeland on wednesday. no injuries, no hazmat, just the kind of disruption where your commute doubles and your patience evaporates. roads shut down, metra’s southwest service took the hit, and rock island riders felt the ripple effect. normal wednesday.

oakbrook center now charges for parking. the crown jewel of open-air suburban malls has introduced paid “preferred” parking near main entrances. free parking still exists farther out. but the mere concept of paying to park at a suburban mall is generating the exact level of outrage you’d expect from people who consider a long walk from the lot a constitutional violation. suburbia will survive. barely.

arlington heights wants to fine its own surveillance cameras. village trustees are pushing for penalty clauses in their flock safety license plate reader contracts to ensure data security and compliance. they want financial consequences if the surveillance tech doesn’t deliver — which means the village is now watching the cameras that are supposed to be watching everyone else. accountability goes full circle. accountability goes both ways, apparently.

district 15 in palatine picked a new superintendent. community consolidated school district 15, one of the largest elementary districts in the state, selected a longtime suburban educator as its next superintendent. the pick comes after a search process that drew community attention in the palatine and south barrington area. this is one of those stories that sounds routine until your kid’s school is in it. here’s the details.

check if your illinois vehicle registration is expiring this month. you can renew online at the secretary of state’s website. while you’re at it, confirm your chicago city vehicle sticker is current. the late penalty is $60 on top of the sticker cost. takes five minutes now, saves you a ticket later. the city clerk FAQ has the details.

eat: crepe o’clock (evanston). a greek immigrant family recently opened this crepe spot on dempster street serving savory and sweet crepes with greek-inspired fillings. it’s genuinely personal, family-run, and getting neighborhood buzz — which in evanston means three nextdoor posts and a line by saturday. worth the drive.

do: chicago theatre week (through feb 15). tickets to dozens of shows across the city start at $8. storefront to major stages. if you want a specific pick, “holiday” at goodman is getting strong reviews. it’s the cheapest way to see live theater in chicago all year and it ends friday. go clap at something.

avoid: the chicago auto show crowds at mccormick place. it runs through feb 17 and the area south of the loop is a traffic situation. if you’re going, go weekday mornings. if you’re not, avoid lake shore drive.

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.

dinosaur adventure at the donald e. stephens convention center in rosemont this valentine’s/presidents’ day weekend (feb 14–16). life-size animatronic dinosaurs, fossil digs, and interactive exhibits. it’s ticketed but solid if you need to burn three hours with kids who are obsessed with things that went extinct 66 million years ago. go pretend this is educational.

chicago magazine asked several of the city’s top chefs what they actually cook for their own kids at home. the answers range from “surprisingly simple” to “of course a chef’s kid eats that.” it’s a low-stakes food read with recipes worth stealing.

a 7,600-word atlantic piece on what happens when AI doesn’t just nibble at the job market but triggers a rapid reorganization of work, compressing years of change into months. the IMF estimates 40% of jobs worldwide could be affected. it’s not a doom piece or a tech-bro puff piece. it’s a careful look at what happens when political institutions too brittle to handle a pandemic have to absorb something bigger. read it and stare at your ceiling.

after a week of full-page ads, public blame games, and budget cuts you can track with a mop, this fits right in.

everyone is being serious now.

tips, sightings, sticky floors?

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

talk tuesday.

-sam