The Bears are one step closer to leaving historic Soldier Field for Arlington Heights. But, is it a done deal after years of flirting with moving to the burbs?

Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed Wednesday to try to reach an agreement to keep the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field but acknowledged there might not be much she can do to keep the team from leaving their leased lakefront home of 50 years — or from keeping the city’s name.

The Board of Directors of Chicago Public Media, the parent of WBEZ, unanimously approved a non-binding letter of intent for the group and the Sun-Times to explore joining together as a local nonprofit news organization. 

“By combining the two organizations we double the size of our newsroom, we create the largest newsroom in the city of Chicago, and what we think might be the largest nonprofit local newsroom in the country,” said Matt Moog, the new CEO of Chicago Public Media.

Former President Obama finally broke ground on his Presidential Center to minimal “crowd” as legal battles continue. 

President Biden canceled his trip to Chicago to tout vaccine requirements for businesses in order to continue negotiations for his signature priorities which may implode.

Chicago city workers need to be vaccinated by Oct. 15 per a new mandate. Six Chicago aldermen penned a letter to Mayor Lightfoot to drop that mandate.  Meanwhile, aldermen are not subject to the citywide mandate. 

“We firmly believe that your executive order to mandate the vaccination of ‘ALL’ City of Chicago employees is an infringement on their personal freedoms,” wrote Ald. Derrick Curtis (18th Ward); Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward); Ald. Felix Cardona (31st Ward); Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward); Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st Ward) and Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward). “We are strongly opposed to this mandate and are urging you to reconsider your executive order.”

In a statement, Lightfoot declined to reverse course, but acknowledged that she cannot force alderpeople to get vaccinated since they are independently elected and do not report to the mayor.

In the courts, the one-time superstar Chicago-born Grammy winner R. Kelly guilty on nine counts including sex trafficking for holding Black teens as young as 14 captive and sexually abusing them. Kelly still faces more charges in Chicago’s federal court, Cook County and in Minnesota for child pornography and obstruction of justice. 

Guests

Dionne Miller, ABC 7 News | @DMillerABC7, @ABC7Chicago

Craig Dellimore, WBBM Newsradio | @CraigDellimore, @WBBMNewsradio

Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times | @LynnSweet, @SunTimes

Greg Hinz, Crain's Chicago Business | @GregHinz, @CrainsChicago

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