The weapons ICE uses in Chicago
Good morning, Chicago. ✶
???? Below: Tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper balls have played a key role in federal immigration agents' attempts to quell protests. What are they, and what can they do?
????️ Plus: Confessions of a former "subway surfer," SNAP recipients face uncertainty and more news you need to know.
???? Keeping score: The Bears beat the Bengals, 47-42; the Bulls fell to the Knicks, 128-116.
???? After you're caught up: We've got a brand new Chicago-Style Crossword for you to try here. This week's theme is "Famous Chicagoans."
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⏱️: A 9-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER ????️
Mostly sunny with a chance of morning rain and a high near 58.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES
A look at weapons ICE uses in Broadview, Chicago
By Bob Chiarito
Feds' weapons: Since the start of President Donald Trump's escalated campaign against immigration in September, federal agents have fired pepper balls, tear gas and other "less lethal" munitions on protesters and journalists, while chemical irritants have blown into residential neighborhoods. Federal immigration agents have used these methods on civilians outside the facility that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates in Broadview and in Chicago neighborhoods.
Pepper balls: Unlike typical self-defense pepper sprays, pepper balls are meant to be used at long range. Agents fire these from guns similar to paintball guns, and the balls themselves can cause the same kinds of welts and other injuries that paintballs do. The balls burst open on impact and release a fine powder. The powder’s key ingredient is derived from capsaicin, the active component that gives chili peppers their heat.
Tear gas: The terms "tear gas" and "Mace" describe several types of chemicals that temporarily make people unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs and skin. Despite the name, tear gas generally is an aerosol of a solid or a liquid. It causes crying, coughing, difficulty breathing, pain in the eyes and temporary blindness. Symptoms usually start within 30 seconds of exposure.
Rubber bullets: Several types of munition are referred to as "rubber bullets." Those called "stinger" rounds are rubber balls the size of blueberries. These are encased in a shell and released when fired, much like buckshot when fired from a shotgun. Another type is the 40 mm baton round, which an agent fires from a grenade launcher. These larger projectiles resemble stubby darts with plastic bodies and round foam noses.
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CTA hopes subway surfing doesn’t take root in Chicago like in New York
By Robert Herguth and David Struett
Rush hour?: A Chicago man who says he has "subway surfed" numerous times since he was a teenager — surreptitiously climbing atop moving L trains and becoming an open-air commuter, which he's often chronicled on video and posted on social media — says there’s nothing else like it.
Key quote: "The feeling that you get is one of the most insane feelings on earth because you’re putting yourself in a spot that’s not really natural ... It's the most freeing thing ever," the man told the Sun-Times, comparing it to an addiction.
CTA fears: The CTA is hoping the trend doesn’t spread like on the New York City transit system, where subway surfing has reached epidemic — and deadly — proportions. But Chicago has seen 24 subway surfing incidents logged since 2023.
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Evanston food drive overwhelms ‘in the best possible way’ as SNAP recipients face uncertainty
By Violet Miller, Erica Thompson and Anna Savchenko
Volunteer POV: Valerie Kahan stood in the Evanston Township High School parking lot Sunday trying to figure out more places to send food and toiletries she and other volunteers had taken in from hundreds of donors. She picked two dozen locations across Niles, Skokie, Evanston and Rogers Park, but those were starting to fill, so other organizations were contacted. On Saturday, pantries and pop-ups on the South and West sides had been hit with long lines.
Key context: Nearly 2 million Illinois residents — and 42 million Americans nationwide — have been without Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits while the government shutdown continues. Two federal judges separately ruled Friday that the Trump administration must pay for November’s SNAP benefits using contingency funding.
The deadline: The Trump administration has until Monday to decide if it will fully or partially fund the food assistance program. President Donald Trump said he wanted more legal direction from the court, so it wasn’t immediately clear how quickly the debit cards that SNAP recipients use to buy groceries could be reloaded — which can take as long as 14 days.
IMMIGRATION ✶
- No daily check-ins: U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino no longer has to worry about a daily check-in with a federal judge, after an appeals court ruled Friday that the meetings would infringe on the separation of powers.
- Evanston vigil: After a Halloween disrupted by federal immigration agents making arrests, several hundred people packed a community center parking lot for a vigil Saturday. Agents had swept through the Albany Park and Edison Park neighborhoods as well as suburban Evanston Skokie and Niles.
- Homeowner wants investigation: Leo Feler, of Lake View, called on Chicago police to investigate the federal agents who entered his property during a raid last month, which resulted in the arrest of a construction worker.
- Home Depot demands: Protesters and elected officials gathered outside a Home Depot store in Belmont Cragin on Saturday to demand that the company refuse entry to federal agents and to revamp its policies to protect customers, staff and day laborers from being detained on company property.
- Communion request denied: A group of religious leaders tried once again Saturday to provide Holy Communion to detainees in the ICE facility in Broadview and were turned away a second time, three weeks after a similar request was denied.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ????️
- Burr Oak Cemetery recognition: The Black-owned cemetery that’s the final resting place of Mamie and Emmett Till, Dinah Washington, and generations of other prominent figures appears headed for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Pritzker goes viral: Gov. JB Pritzker told President Trump and his GOP allies to "f--- all the way off" during a speech last month before Illinois’ largest teachers union. Video of Pritzker’s f-bomb started gaining traction Sunday on social media.
- Remembering Ken Towers: Mr. Towers started with the Sun-Times when he was 17 and 35 years later rose to the paper’s top spot as executive editor. He died Oct. 22 at age 90.
- South Loop Aldi: Aldi is setting up shop in the South Loop retail complex Roosevelt Collection, according to a permit filed by the grocery chain.
- White Castle redesign: The original 1921 White Castle restaurant design — and variations that have followed — was inspired by the old Chicago Water Tower. Now the company wants to adopt a more modern look called the Castle of Tomorrow.
FOOD SCENE ????️
Immigrants power kitchens, chefs say, so Chicago group is raising money for their protection
By Ambar Colón
Food fight: Dozens of concerned Asian American restaurant owners are hosting a fundraiser Monday night in response to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids throughout the city, with proceeds going toward immigrant rights groups.
Key context: The Trump administration's ongoing deportation campaign has disrupted the city’s restaurant industry, organizers said. According to a new report from One Fair Wage, an organization that fights for wage equality for restaurant workers and minimum wage laborers, such campaigns have shrunk the labor force in the U.S.
'No brainer': Many of the people who work in the restaurant industry are immigrants, making this event “a no-brainer,” said Ed Marszewski, the Tiger Moon Market’s organizer and founder of Marz Community Brewing Company.
Sold out: The sold-out market will take place at Bridgeport's Ramova Theatre, where guests can find tastes from more than 40 different chefs and mixologists, including those from Phodega, Kasama, Bayan Ko and Vietfive.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ????????⚾⚽
- Rookies’ rolls: Colston Loveland and Kyle Monangai cleaned up the Bears' massive mess in two breakout performances Sunday.
- Hawks’ progress: Blackhawks' Ryan Greene and Colton Dach are working on growing offensively.
- Golden Cubs: Pete Crow-Armstrong won his first Gold Glove Award, joining Nico Hoerner and left fielder Ian Happ, who also secured hardware Sunday.
- Fire season ends: Philadelphia swept the best-of-three first-round series in the MLS Cup playoffs on Saturday.
- High school football: Jonas Williams returns, sending Lincoln-Way East up to No. 3, and Lincoln-Way West rejoins Michael O'Brien's Super 25 high school football rankings for Week 11.
GAMES AND CROSSWORDS ????
This week's Chicago-style crossword theme is: Famous Chicagoans ????
Here's your clue:
1A: "The Fugitive" star and Chicagoan-by-birth, Harrison ___
BRIGHT ONE ????
This year’s Millennium Park Christmas tree is a 67-foot-tall Norway spruce from Glenview
By Stefano Esposito
Right now, the tree that will soon rise from Millennium Park, smothered in thousands of lights, looks like a giant version of something you might use to scrub the gunk from a shower drain.
But behold that 67-foot-tall Norway spruce in winter, its broad branches unbound and dusted in snow — and you can see why the city picked it for this year’s official Christmas tree.
The towering spruce belongs to Ryan and Jody Mason and sits in front of the Glenview home they’ve owned for 10 years. Its branches are all tied in place in preparation for the big move Monday.
The folks at the city who are responsible for picking the tree said they were impressed, among other things, by the tree’s size.
The Masons say the home’s former owner planted the tree, then a one-foot-tall sapling that came from Ohio, in the early 1980s.
In a sense, the Norway spruce will survive even after it is chopped down and hauled to Millennium Park for the Nov. 21 lighting ceremony. Jody Mason’s father lives in Indiana and has his own tree farm, where the family plans to replant seeds from their Norway spruce "so that it will live on," she said.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Who's a history-making Chicagoan more people should know about? Tell us why.
Email us here (please include your first and last name). We may run your answers in Tuesday's Morning Edition newsletter.
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