Good morning, Chicago.
Illinois had a record year for solar growth in 2024 and can now draw enough energy from the sun to power 930,000 homes, according to a new report.
Illinois added 2.5 gigawatts of solar capacity last year — nearly doubling the total amount in the state.
Only the sun-kissed states of Texas, California and Florida did better.
“Illinois is rocking and a lot of the credit for that can really go to the Illinois legislature,” said Solar Energy Industries Association Senior Vice President of Policy Sean Gallagher, referring to the state’s ambitious climate laws of 2016 and 2021.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Nara Schoenberg.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
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President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports go into effect
The president promised that the taxes would help create U.S. factory jobs at a time when his seesawing tariff threats are jolting the stock market and raising fears of an economic slowdown.
The U.S. president has separate tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to also tax imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting on April 2.
Education Department plans to lay off 1,300 employees as Trump vows to wind the agency down
The layoffs are part of a dramatic downsizing directed by President Donald Trump as he moves to reduce the footprint of the federal government. Thousands of jobs are expected to be cut across the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and other agencies.
Construction on Kennedy Expressway project to resume March 18
The third and final phase of the Kennedy Expressway Rehabilitation Project will begin next week and continue through the end of 2025, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced yesterday.
‘An incredibly brazen attack’: More than 12 years after the slaying of Hadiya Pendleton, prosecutors are retrying alleged shooter
After a failed bid to salvage the conviction, Cook County prosecutors are retrying Micheail Ward with all the challenges that come with revisiting a high-profile case that is more than a decade old. But they won their first battle Tuesday in keeping Ward incarcerated while the case is pending, even as Ward’s attorneys argued that an appeals court decision that suppressed his confession significantly weakened their case.
Army Corps drops plan for expansion of Lake Michigan dump after opposition from Illinois EPA and community advocates
After yearslong litigation from residents and activists, and following recent opposition from the state of Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced yesterday it was dropping a plan to expand a toxic waste dump on the Southeast Side of Chicago.
Illinois farmers, saying they face ‘so many challenges as it is,’ criticize USDA funding freezes
Funding freezes by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under President Donald Trump could have a “generational” impact on vulnerable Illinois communities and are already causing financial hardships for farmers, a state House legislative committee was told in testimony.
Chicago Cubs in Tokyo: What to know about the series vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, including who — and how — to watch
The anticipated matchup between the Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers will feature plenty of fanfare in Japan, where baseball is a lifeblood. The Cubs’ focused effort in Japan has paid off on multiple levels with the additions of Imanaga and outfielder Seiya Suzuki in the last four years, a reflection of the increased resources invested in the baseball operations, business operations and ownership levels.
Here’s what else to know about the series.
Starbucks workers, supporters arrested in protest for union contract
Nearly three years after the first Starbucks baristas in Chicago unionized, 11 workers and supporters were arrested by Chicago police after staging a sit-in inside one of the first union Starbucks cafes in the city yesterday.
Starbucks workers said they wanted to put pressure on the Seattle-based coffee giant to finalize a contract with the union on the eve of the company’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled for today.
Explorers discover wreckage of cargo ship that sank in Lake Superior storm more than 130 years ago
Twenty years before the Titanic changed maritime history, another ship touted as the next great technological feat set sail on the Great Lakes.
The Western Reserve was one of the first all-steel cargo ships to traverse the lakes. Built to break speed records, the 300-foot freighter dubbed “the inland greyhound” by newspapers was supposed to be one of the safest ships afloat.
Review: ‘Dummy in Diaspora’ is an immigrant story told with a young and authentic voice
Chicago has seen of late an intriguing clutch of works looking at themes of family, culture and diaspora, writes Tribune theater critic Chris Jones.
Now comes Esho Rasho, a striking figure with a new solo show by Jackalope Theatre called “Dummy in Diaspora,” a piece about searching for a home in Chicago within the context of an Assyrian immigrant family, filled with stories of the mountains of Iraq and the pleasures of better days spent in the city of Beirut.