Welcome back to tl;dr. Instead of our normal weekly wrap-up and look to the weekend, we’re rolling up the year with our favorite stories of 2019. These aren’t necessarily the most important stories in our city or country (if you want more on impeachment or the CTU strike, try Google), just the ones that stuck with the writers here.
The Jussie Smollett saga, a very 2019 scandal
O, what a tangled web we weave when first we (allegedly) practice to deceive. The Smollett saga was almost stunningly tailor-made for 2019: a celebrity scandal, racial animus, social media sleuthing, an eventual heel turn, opaque political connections, special prosecutors, and, of course, Donald Trump.
To recap: “Empire” actor and singer Jussie Smollett, a gay black man, was attacked by two white men shouting racial invective and pro-Trump slogans on a frigid January night in River North. Investigated aggressively as a hate crime, police eventually announced and charged Smollet had fabricated the attack with the help of two African American brothers for some combination of attention and money. The charges were not-so quietly dropped by the Cook County state’s attorney, who bizarrely continued to allege they believed Smollett was guilty. The office is now being investigated by a special prosecutor. Smollett has continually alleged his innocence, however unlikely that seems to the public.
One of the two yoked-out brothers Smollett alleges he fought off is now a Chicago Golden Gloves boxing champ. Can’t make that up. — Charles J. Johnson
Ceres Cafe reaches broader infamy
After speaking at a laudatory news conference announcing his retirement, Mayor Lori Lightfoot fired Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson for, she said, intentionally misleading her and the public about his conduct when he was found sleeping in his running car in October.
The story was a big one, and made national news, but what launched it into the viral stratosphere was reporting by the Tribune that Johnson had been drinking with a woman who was not his wife at Ceres Cafe — a bar in the Chicago Board of Trade Building notorious for strong drinks. Strong drinks is underselling it: They fill up a rocks glass with liquor and put a can of mixer on the side.
Ceres has long been a decently well-kept secret among three-martini lunchers, traders at CBOT and journalists, but the bar’s role in unraveling the career of they city’s top cop hit the no-frills watering hole with a media spotlight and the term “Eddie Johnson drunk.” That woman, who was on Johnson’s security detail, is now accused by a fellow cop, according to documents the Trib obtained, with manipulating evidence sought by the city inspector general. — Charles J. Johnson
Abraham Lincoln called us fake news
We think of Honest Abe as cool, intellectual, above it all and with the foresight to look beyond the petty political squabbles of his day to the greater and enduring good of the nation. Not so much, at least according to letters he sent the Tribune.
He slammed our editorials, insisted we maintain the party line in support of his young Republican Party and questioned the manhood of a dissenting fellow Republican (remind you of anyone?). One Lincoln scholar called his letters to us “the angriest, nastiest written statement Lincoln ever produced (at least as far as we know).”
Lincoln loved the Tribune, he was a lifetime subscriber, but viewed it as a political tool and not an objective source of news and information in the modern sense of newspapers. In fact, the editor of the paper wrote a letter to Lincoln imploring him to hang Confederate leaders on the day he was shot at Ford’s Theatre. — Charles J. Johnson (Full disclosure, I wrote this story)
A trip down memory lane brought to you by the Tribune visuals department
Every year the photo department rounds up the best photos of the year into one stellar place, and this year is no different. Maybe it’s just me, but 2019 felt like a thousand years long. I love looking through our POY gallery because not only are all the images beautiful, but it’s a reminder of the great happy, sad, meaningful and historic moments our visuals team was there to document.
As an added bonus, the end of 2019 also marks the end of a pretty eventful decade, especially in Chicago and in the state of Illinois. From former President Barack Obama’s election to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich heading to federal prison on corruption charges to the Cubs finally winning the World Series and a wild blizzard that completely covered all of Lake Shore Drive, our visual journalists were there, camera in hand in the middle of the action. Lucky for us, the Tribune visuals team rounded up the best photos of the decade all in one place. — Raquel Zaldivar
Chance the Snapper gobbles up our hearts
My favorite story of the summer arrived in the form of an alligator named Chance who made his home — albeit briefly — in Humboldt Park. Being from Florida originally, I felt like I was a little bit closer to home when officials confirmed there was indeed a gator in the Humboldt Park Lagoon last July. After evading capture and multiple local fans who went to the lagoon to try to get a glimpse, Chance the Snapper was finally captured by now local celebrity Frank Robb, aka Alligator Robb, but not after putting up ‘a little fight.’
We caught up with Chance a month later as he was basking in his status as celebrity alligator in his new home at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida. Thanks for the memories, Chance! — Raquel Zaldivar
A plan for New Illinois — the nation’s 51st state
A group of downstate residents believes Chicago is walking all over them, and they’ve had enough. Their solution: split Illinois into two states. Chicago and Cook County in one, the other 101 counties in the other. Or, to put it another way, they want to see how Brexit works on the state level.
The movement to secede has picked up some steam over the past couple of years, fueled by a growing urban-rural divide, a number of grassroots groups, and support from opportunistic lawmakers. Most of its supporters come from struggling towns where industry has moved away, jobs are scarce and taxes feel inexplicably high. Their gripes include a feeling of underrepresentation, corruption in state government, fear of financial apocalypse and a cultural clash.
But would cutting out the state’s biggest economic engine really help New Illinois thrive? Probably not. Conventional wisdom holds that, without Chicago, the remainder of the state would be poverty stricken.
The numbers back that up, showing that “wealthier counties pay more in taxes than they get in revenue,” according to David Merriman, director of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Fiscal Futures Project. “Two-thirds of the economic activity in the state is in Cook and the collar counties.” — Joe Ruppel
Todd Ricketts accidentally gets a huge property tax discount
You know how it goes. You buy a primo lot on the North Shore with an old house and then tear it down to make way for a much nicer one. But you don’t notify the county so it can adjust your property taxes. Oops! Now you’re stuck paying taxes on the smaller house instead of the new, massive one. That could, unfortunately, result in tens of thousands of dollars in savings.
That’s just the situation that Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts found himself in — for nearly 10 years. The assessor’s office said there were no records that Ricketts ever sent notice that he built a new house in 2010. Ricketts’ attorney also didn’t mention the new house during a 2013 tax appeal when he sought a reduction based on the old house — which had already been torn down.
Ricketts could be looking at an expensive year in 2020. After the Tribune investigated, the assessor’s office determined Ricketts’ house is worth more than twice as much as previously thought. That could more than double his property tax bill and also leave him with a $60,000 tab in back taxes and interest. Meanwhile, the state’s attorney is reviewing the property tax appeal to determine next steps. — Joe Ruppel
A new victim comes forward in the great Dave Matthews Band bridge dumping
After 15 years, the Dave Matthews Band still can’t scrub off the stench from their infamous bus dump over the Chicago River. You know the story: As the group’s tour bus crossed the Kinzie Street Bridge it unleashed the human waste of a rock ‘n’ roll tour. Beneath the bridge, tourists riding on an open-top boat took a direct hit.
But there was another casualty, one whose story hadn’t been widely shared. Lynn LaPlante Allaway, a violinist, was on her way to perform at a wedding as she drove across the Kinzie bridge behind a big bus with a 100-gallon tank of stank. To make matters worse, she was also pregnant and perpetually nauseous, which meant she kept the car windows open.
“There was no mistaking what we rolled through, and it was all over our car,” Allaway said. “So I’m trying to lean my head out the window so I’m not throwing up all over the car while I’m driving. It was the most absurd thing. And of course the wind just blew it all right back into me. And my husband is yelling, ‘Pull over! Exit! Exit!’ ” — Joe Ruppel
Here are some other 2019 wrap-ups from around our newsroom:
The 24 best things we ate and drank in Chicago restaurants in 2019.
Chicago’s decade of beer: The breweries that shaped the city’s craft scene
Timeline of our cultural decade: What were the 2010s, besides overwhelming?
Ranking the top 20 stories in Chicago sports in 2019.
Who was Chicago’s best — or worst — manager or coach of the decade?
The 2010s were the best of times for the Cubs — and the worst of times for the White Sox.
Critic Michael Phillips picks the best (and worst) movies of 2019, from “Parasite” and “Little Women” to “Cats” and “Joker.”
Critic Greg Kog picks the top Chicago indie albums of the year and the best rock-pop-rap albums of 2019.
Meet our Chicagoans of the Year, recognized by the Tribune for their contributions to the arts.
Columnist Heidi Stevens shares her list of people who inspired her in 2019.
Columnist Christopher Borrelli picks the 10 best books of 2019. Also check out these 11 notable Chicago reads and a round-up of the best books of the decade.
The decade in fashion: Chicago’s Virgil Abloh heads to Louis Vuitton, Gaga wears a meat dress and Instagram influencers change the face of fashion.
tl;dr is published every Thursday and is produced by Charlie Johnson, Joe Ruppel and Raquel Zaldivar.
![The Arlington Heights Village Board granted developers of the planned Arlington 425 project in downtown Arlington Heights another construction-related extension – making this at least the second one – even as financing for the work has still not been secured. The mixed-use development, planned for 225 W. Campbell St., has been in the works for five years. “We’re looking to get it going,” Stephen Messutta, general counsel for Norwood Builders of Park Ridge, told the board at the April 15 meeting. The developer requested a zoning extension for the proposed redevelopment on the longtime empty land parcel located just steps […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2023/05/09/E6SSECNLL5F4JLRU4GG4CNMQ2A.jpg?w=535 "The Arlington Heights Village Board granted developers of the planned Arlington 425 project in downtown Arlington Heights another construction-related extension – making this at least the second one – even as financing for the work has still not been secured. The mixed-use development, planned for 225 W. Campbell St., has been in the works for five years. “We’re looking to get it going,” Stephen Messutta, general counsel for Norwood Builders of Park Ridge, told the board at the April 15 meeting. The developer requested a zoning extension for the proposed redevelopment on the longtime empty land parcel located just steps […]")
