Good morning, Chicago.
A close ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson suddenly resigned her position yesterday as the leader of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
Commissioner Clinée Hedspeth’s resignation was announced during a Cultural Advisory Council meeting, members of the council said.
Hedspeth, a longtime Johnson friend who previously worked as an art appraiser and museum curator, sought to increase grants to artists, spread public art to more communities and ramp up the city’s film office.
But in the almost 20 months she led the department, she also faced sharp criticism from some in the arts community who alleged she mistreated staff and failed to communicate with the city’s cultural leaders.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Jake Sheridan.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: what to know about the Texas National Guard in the Chicago area, what caused a ground delay at O’Hare yesterday and what happened in the Blackhawks’ season opener in Florida.
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Members of the Texas National Guard arrive Oct. 7, 2025, at the Army Reserve Training Center in Elwood. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Texas National Guard arrives in the Chicago area
Texas National Guard members are staying in Elwood because Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is not allowing them to use state armories. Pritzker told the Tribune that the federal government has not given him any information about the soldiers’ arrival in the Chicago area to assist with “Operation Midway Blitz,” the immigration enforcement mission spearheaded by the Department of Homeland Security.
Gov. JB Pritzker says President Trump deploying troops to Chicago due to ‘dementia’ and obsessive fixations
Mayor Brandon Johnson says federal agents who break city law should be charged with crime
Standing in the rain near a reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement staging area, dozens of activists, elected officials and supporters hold, protest the ICE presence on the Southwest Side, at a news conference, in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago, Oct. 7, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Back of the Yards activists call on shopping plaza to block ICE operations on their property
People from the community lined up yesterday in the drizzling rain outside a quiet strip mall in Back of the Yards. They weren’t there to shop at the Dollar Tree or work out at the Planet Fitness.
Instead, the activists came with a demand that the management company of the 260,481 square foot plaza at 46th Street and Damen Avenue stop allowing immigration agents to stage their operations on the property.
Oak Park elected officials stand against ICE after township trustee Juan Munoz detained in Broadview
Will County Board will consider resolution to prohibit immigration enforcement
Attorney General Pam Bondi appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
US Sen. Dick Durbin and AG Pam Bondi clash over Guard in Illinois and Justice Department politicization
Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to provide details to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday of the legal rationale for the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois, as Democrats led by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin chastised her for politicizing the Justice Department.
Durbin, Illinois’ senior senator and the top Democrat on the panel, said the administration’s rationale for mobilizing hundreds of troops was “dubious” and accused Bondi of helping President Donald Trump “play a strongman on television.
People arrive in the morning to check in for flights at O’Hare International Airport on the first day of the government shutdown in Chicago, Oct. 1, 2025. (Jamie Kelter Davis/The New York Times)
Staffing issues cause ground delay at O’Hare amid government shutdown
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground delay at O’Hare International Airport yesterday due to staffing issues as a federal government shutdown nears the end of its first week.
Staffing shortages cause more US flight delays as government shutdown reaches 7th day
Francisco Benitez, right, hugs family members after walking out of Cook County Jail on Aug. 29, 2023, after a judge vacated his conviction after 34 years in prison. (Talia Sprague/Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Brandon Johnson recommends another $26.5 million in Chicago police settlements
The mayor’s Law Department is proposing the City Council settle two wrongful conviction lawsuits for a total of $26.5 million. Aldermen have already approved this year over $300 million to settle police-related lawsuits, a historic amount that smashes past records.
Edith Anaya, left, and her daughter, Ariana, both of Oak Forest, receive free snacks and beverages from Metra employee Greg Godfrey, right, after filling out a survey on the Metra’s prototype Café Car as it debut on the Rock Island Line on Oct. 1, 2025, at the LaSalle Street Station in Chicago’s Loop. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)
Metra debuts Café Car, surveys riders on prototype
Metra recently unveiled a prototype Café Car, which offers snacks and drinks, rotating it across rush-hour trains on its busiest lines. The agency is asking riders to weigh in on whether they’d like to see the concept become a permanent part of their commute.
Chicago Blackhawks center Frank Nazar (91) scores on Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Oct. 7, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Chicago Blackhawks again on the wrong side of a celebration, fall 3-2 to the Florida Panthers on opening night
It felt like déja vu in South Florida. There wasn’t any question about it, though; this has happened before.
The sold-out crowd of 19,665 in Amerant Bank Arena roared like their team’s namesake as the Florida Panthers’ second consecutive championship banner rose next to its lookalike earned in 2023-24. It’s one of the loudest venues in the NHL, so surely the road team overheard the ceremony in the locker rooms.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell comes onto the field for a workout at Wrigley Field on Oct. 7, 2025, ahead of Game 3 of the NL Division Series against the Brewers. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Column: Can the Chicago Cubs bounce back and win the NLDS? Here are 7 things they need to happen.
The last time the Cubs won three straight elimination games in the postseason was in the 2016 World Series. You might remember it, Paul Sullivan writes.
They head into Game 3 of the National League Division Series today with the same objective, but they won’t have a naked Anthony Rizzo dancing to the theme from “Rocky” in the pregame clubhouse or Jason Heyward delivering an inspirational speech during a rain delay or Jon Lester being Jon Lester.
The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S. exhibit is on display inside of the Wrightwood 659 Gallery in Chicago, Oct. 4, 2025. (Troy Stolt/for the Chicago Tribune)
First-ever Joffrey Ballet retrospective, compiled in New York, leaves the Chicago chapter up to us
A new exhibition brings dance to Wrightwood 659. The Lincoln Park art gallery is hosting “The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S.”
Chicago is the second and final stop for a first-ever retrospective on the Joffrey Ballet, which premiered at the New York Public Library last fall.
The Tribune’s annual Cookie Contest is celebrating its 39th year. (Brian Cassella and Peter Tsai/Chicago Tribune. Food styling by Shannon Kinsella)
There’s still time to enter the Tribune’s Holiday Cookie Contest
The clock is ticking, but there’s still time to enter your signature cookie recipe into the Tribune’s 39th annual Holiday Cookie Contest. But don’t wait too long: Oct. 14 is the last day to enter.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/08/daywatch-mayors-cultural-commissioner-resigns/