President Donald Trump delivers remarks alongside First Lady Melania Trump and their son Barron during the White House Easter egg roll Monday. Credit: Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, April 18, 2017.



  • Trump is scheduled to visit tool manufacturer in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday

President Donald Trump will make his closest visit to Chicago and his first visit to Wisconsin since his inauguration when he visits Kenosha Tuesday. Trump is scheduled to visit tool manufacturer Snap-on during his time there. [Tribune]

  • Shootings were scattered around the city during a violent Easter weekend

Gun violence was scattered across the city from Lakeview to the south and west sides over Easter weekend. Only two of the 45 shootings were fatal, but it was the most violent weekend in 2017 since New Year’s, according to the Tribune. A 14-year-old boy shot in the arm in Pilsen was the youngest victim. Shootings and homicides are down from this time last year: at least 915 people have been shot so far in 2017, compared to 955 at this time in 2016, and at least 166 people have been murdered in 2017, as compared to 171 in 2016. [Tribune]

  • Report: Environmental Protection Agency’s Chicago regional office might close

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Chicago regional branch office is in danger of closing as President Donald Trump’s administration considers budget cuts, according to a report from the Sun-Times. The Chicago office might be consolidated with the Kansas office. “The report that the federal government is planning to close the Region 5 office of the EPA should be concerning to us all,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statment. “At a time when U.S. Steel is carelessly spilling dangerous chemicals into Lake Michigan, we cannot turn our back on the Great Lakes and allow the Trump administration to muffle the EPA.”  [Sun-Times]

  • Republican congressman targets Jesse Jackson Jr.’s workers’ compensation payments

Republican U.S. representative Rodney Davis doesn’t think that former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. should be collecting $100,000 a year in workers’ compensation from the federal government, and wants to change the laws that make it possible. “I believe if you’re a member of Congress and you are convicted of stealing campaign funds, you should not be eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits. Members of Congress need to be good stewards of taxpayer money,” Davis said. “We’re reviewing the process and possible legislative options to prevent the abuse of this program that is meant for honest-working taxpayers.” Congressman are eligible for workers’ compensation “from injuries sustained in performance of duty while in service to the United States,” but the public is not allowed to know what injury Jackson Jr. sustained. [Sun-Times]

  • Chance the Rapper’s brother drops a rap song in honor of Chance’s birthday

Chance the Rapper’s younger brother, Taylor Bennett, has released a song called “Only Brother” in honor of Chance’s birthday. The younger Bennett recently released an album, Restoration of an American Idol, his follow-up to 2015’s Broad Shoulders. [Pitchfork]

  • The Blues Brothers, La La Land, Hidden Figures, and more will be screened in Millennium Park this summer

A wide variety of popular movies, from classics like Caddyshack and The Blues Brothers to recent hits La La Land and Hidden Figures, will be shown for free at Millennium Park this summer. Most of the movies will be screened on Tuesday nights at 6:30 PM from June 13 to September 5. [DNAinfo Chicago]