Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, December 13, 2016.
- Weather: The dangerous cold front begins
A bitter cold front expected to last through Thursday begins Tuesday with a high of 19 and a low of nine degrees. It’s supposed to feel as cold as -8 Fahrenheit during the evening, so be careful if you’re outside. [AccuWeather]
- Quigley: State budget impasse could result in Illinois losing federal infrastructure money
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure nationwide, but Fifth District congressional rep Mike Quigley is worried that Illinois will lose out on money if the state doesn’t solve its ongoing budget impasse. “One of the things we have to understand is that federal transportation dollars require a local match,” he told reporters last week. “If that money isn’t there, that money goes to another state.” [Tribune]
- Report: Police sergeant involved in two fatal shootings in three years could have been fired years earlier
Chicago Police Department sergeant John Poulos shot an unarmed man in November—his second fatal shooting in just three years. But Poulos was investigated by the department in 2004 for owning a business that sold alcohol, which is against police rules, and could have gotten him fired. CPD superintendent Eddie Johnson has ordered that “an audit be done to try to figure out why the internal investigation of Sgt. John Poulos was never completed,” according to the Tribune. [Tribune]
- State senator Kwame Raoul wants to increase sentences for repeat gun-crime offenders
Democratic state senator Kwame Raoul wants to solve the city’s gun violence issues by imposing longer sentences for “defendants who previously committed a gun-related crime,” according to the Associated Press. Raoul plans to propose the legislation at the state capitol in January. Â Judges would still be able to issue sentences based on their discretion, but they might have to explain their rationale when not using the higher-end of the sentencing scale for repeated gun-crime offenders. “The question is . . . whether [repeat offenders] are incapacitated long enough to create a breather for some neighborhoods that are just ravaged by gun violence, and long enough to create a deterrence,” he said. [Associated Press via Sun-Times]
- Catholic pilgrims gather by the thousands at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Thousands of Catholics gathered at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines for a yearly pilgrimage that started late Sunday and ended Monday evening. Cardinal Blase Cupich gave an early morning Spanish-language mass Monday, one of 11 held at the shrine during the pilgrimage. Many pilgrims were worried about immigration issues as the country prepares for president-elect Donald Trump. “The bishops of the United States are also calling on public officials to make sure that we fix a broken immigration system,” Cardinal Cupich told reporters at the shrine. “There are people who today are living in the shadows. We have time and again called for action, and now is the time to do so.” [WBBM Radio]
- Woodlawn’s population is increasing as more young black families move in
Young black families are moving into Woodlawn, which has the south-side neighborhood’s population growing for the first time in 15 years, according to DNAinfo Chicago. Between 2010 and 2015, Woodlawn has grown three times as much as has neighboring Hyde Park. “Part of the allure is the location,” South East Chicago Commission executive director Wendy Walker Williams told DNAinfo Chicago. “It is easily accessible by the lakefront and transit oriented and has a strong anchor institution, the University of Chicago.” [DNAinfo Chicago]