Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶
In today’s newsletter, we’re sharing the story of Chicagoan Luisette Kraal.
Kraal has devoted herself to providing migrants with basic necessities, but due to challenges with her immigration status, she may have to leave the States soon.
Plus, we’ve got reporting on police removing a DePaul University protest encampment, a Cubs fan who broke up with the team, and more community news you need to know below. 👇
⏱️: A 7-minute read
— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)
TODAY’S TOP STORY
Chicago woman who helps migrants fights for a chance to stay in the United States
Reporting by Adriana Cardona-Maguigad | WBEZ
Providing for others: For nearly two years, Luisette Kraal and her husband, Ed, have built a support network on the North Side for migrants, providing basic necessities, education and housing. Through these service programs, the Kraals have become a lifeline for hundreds who have been bused or flown to Chicago, mostly from Venezuela via Texas since the start of the humanitarian crisis.
Uncertain future: Like many migrants, the Kraals’ immigration status is fragile and uncertain. They’ve lived here for 12 years, having emigrated from Curaçao, a Dutch Caribbean island. For several years, they have remained in the U.S. on a religious visa, but it has expired and can’t be extended. Because of backlogs in the federal office that oversees immigration, there may not be other paths for them to remain here legally.
Community outreach: Luisette and Ed’s involvement with migrants began with passing out Coca-Cola and Bibles in a Rogers Park supermarket parking lot in the fall of 2022. She was one of the first advocates to help migrants who were sent to Chicago police stations a year ago. As the city struggled with shelter space, Luisette connected migrants to permanent housing. She also launched a free clothing store. Ed is the pastor of LaVid, one of several Park Community churches in the city.
Change in policy: The Kraals have maxed out extending their religious visas and are caught up in a bureaucratic quagmire because of a change in policy. They must leave the country and wait abroad unless they can find a different way to stay lawfully.
READ MORE
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
- DePaul encampment removed: Chicago police cleared out a pro-Palestinian encampment at DePaul University’s Lincoln Park campus early Thursday morning.
- Chico blasted for mining operation support: Dozens of opponents of a proposed mining operation on the Southeast Side demanded that 10th Ward Ald. Peter Chico withdraw his support for the project, loudly interrupting a tightly scripted town hall meeting he hosted Wednesday evening.
- CTA touts ridership stats: The Chicago Transit Authority is boasting that riders are returning in droves to trains and buses, setting post-pandemic records. But the rosy news of rebounding ridership comes amid calls for CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. to step down.
- Clark Street closure clash?: A closure of the three-block stretch on North Clark Street between Grand Avenue and Kinzie Street will return for outdoor dining, but with a compromise that allows both dining and vehicle traffic on the street. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said he was “not remotely happy with the Administration’s decision” to allow vehicles to use the street.
- 2.5 stars for ‘IF’: This well-intentioned and intermittently clever blend of live action and animation is so murky and slow-paced that grown-ups will get restless, while it falls short when it comes to creating truly memorable CGI characters, writes Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper.
INKING WELL 🖋️
He followed the Cubs as a kid battling cancer, but now he’s covered up his tattoo
Reporting by Mary Norkol
At 13 years old, Russell Elleven was out of school for months, recovering from the amputation of his arm and facing chemotherapy. Bored, frustrated and bordering on hopeless, one thing was sure to bring him comfort: the Chicago Cubs.
It was the 1970s and he lived 993 miles from Wrigley Field. But the WGN superstation brought the Cubs to his home in Joshua, Texas, just outside Fort Worth.
“When you’re 13 and you’re losing your hair, and things aren’t going so good, you look for and reach out to things that will help you feel better,” Elleven said. “And the Cubs was one of those things.”
The team was a perpetual underdog in the 1970s, more than 60 years into its 108-year drought without a World Series title. Elleven, now 59, felt like something of an underdog himself.
So as he grew up and recovered from cancer treatments, he felt a personal connection to the Cubs. When the opportunity came to visit the city with his wife in the 1990s, he jumped at the chance. The two moved to Highland Park in 2013 — and Elleven bought a condo in Lake View to attend as many games as possible.
In 2015, the Cubs were starting to heat up, and Elleven’s love for them surged. The die-hard fan got a tattoo of the Cubs logo on his back just before the team, in 2016, won its first World Series in more than a century.
But changes started coming to the Cubs and Wrigley Field in the years following the triumphant season, and Elleven felt the experience of following the team shift. Wrigley Field became more exclusive and more expensive, and going to a game became a rare experience for Elleven.
Frustrated, Elleven covered up the Cubs tattoo last fall, replacing it with an owl design, a nod to his hometown’s high school mascot and the interest in birds that he shares with his wife. While he doesn’t regret the Cubs tattoo, it didn’t represent the same things it used to, he said.
Elleven sold his Lake View condo and hasn’t watched a game in years. After religiously “Flying the W” outside his home, the flag is stowed away. He won’t buy another jersey or ball cap, he said.
“It all seems so greedy now. ... I didn’t see any of that as a kid, and I don’t know if I’d want to warn him or not.. because it’s a beautiful game,” he said.
READ MORE
BRIGHT ONE ✨
Sure sign of Chicago spring: Buckingham Fountain turns on for the season
Reporting by Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Eight-year-old Tiago Uribe left his baseball game early for a much bigger task last Saturday morning — turning a giant switch on the beloved Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park, marking the beginning of Chicago’s summery season and the Chicago Park District’s “Night Out in the Parks” series.
Tiago won an online drawing to flip the switch with the help of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Park District General Supt. Rosa Escareño, as hundreds of people and performers encircled the 97-year-old fountain.
The water is pumped by three 2,300-volt original motors from 1926, park district engineer Eric Kelmar said. Chicagoans and tourists can see the fountain flowing until mid-October, depending on the weather, officials said.
Silueta Azul, who only wanted to be identified by his wrestling moniker, wore a sparkling, electric blue “lucha libre” mask, which he said he wears when he performs at “Night Out in the Parks” programs.
Accompanied by his wife, Silueta Pink, they have been coming to see Buckingham Fountain for the last six years. Much like “lucha libre,” seeing the fountain has become a family tradition, she said.
“For me, I love to see the water fountain lit up. It’s part of Chicago,” Silueta Pink said. “It’s like something beautiful you don’t see everywhere.”
READ MORE
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Are the Cubs pricing out longtime fans? What can you do about it?
Email us (please include your first and last name). To see the answers to this question, check our Morning Edition newsletter. Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won’t miss a thing!
ONE MORE THING 🤔
CPS parents, tell us your questions for Chicago’s school board candidates!
For the first time, Chicago voters this fall will elect members to the city’s Board of Education.
Chicago Public Media’s education reporters want to know what issues matter most to CPS parents & community stakeholders, and what questions you have for the candidates.
We’ll use your input to inform our reporting, and we’ll ask some of those questions to the candidates ahead of November’s elections.
Please take our survey here.
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Afternoon Edition.
Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Editor: Satchel Price
Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore
Copy editor: Angie Myers
