Good afternoon! It’s Tuesday, and this is how my cats would react to visiting the moon. Here’s what you need to know today.
Gov. JB Pritzker joined a growing chorus of lawmakers and conservative pundits calling for President Donald Trump’s removal from office for doubling down on graphic threats to bomb Iran.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought again,” Trump wrote on social media. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” That message came after an Easter Sunday post that threatened to bomb Iran’s electric grid and bridges as he demanded the government in Tehran reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Pritzker, widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, responded to Trump’s latest threat by calling him “a deranged man threatening to wipe out an entire country.”
“It’s past time,” Pritzker wrote on social media. “The 25th Amendment must be invoked.”
As my colleague Tina Sfondeles writes, Pritzker joined an unlikely alliance of conservatives calling for the president’s removal, including former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, former MAGA ally and conservative radio host Alex Jones and conservative commentator Candace Owens. Podcaster Tucker Carlson is also calling on Trump’s Cabinet to reject any plan that would lead to the deaths of Iranian citizens.
Section 4 of the Constitution’s 25th Amendment has never been invoked, but it would allow Vice President JD Vance and a majority of the Cabinet to transfer “an incapacitated President’s powers and duties” to the vice president, according to the Library of Congress. It can be invoked “when the President is unable or unwilling to declare that he is incapacitated.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
John Gleeson said he prosecuted criminals similar to Hoover — people like John Gotti, the notorious “Teflon Don” and boss of New York’s Gambino crime family.
But Hoover is different, Gleeson said. He’s “grown up” and is remorseful, Gleeson told the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, which is considering the 75-year-old former gang leader’s request for clemency from Gov. JB Pritzker.
As Frank Main reports for the Chicago Sun-Times, dozens of people attended a prisoner review board hearing Downtown today, where a three-member panel heard testimony from Hoover’s supporters and from prosecutors who oppose letting him go free.
One of them, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Enrique Abraham, said a grant of clemency for Hoover would ignore the seriousness of the killing he’s locked up for, minimize the crimes he later committed in prison and put the public in danger.
Despite that opposition, Hoover and his supporters have increasing hope for his release despite decades of rejections in the state’s separate parole process. That’s because Hoover won a separate grant of clemency last year from President Donald Trump for a federal drug conspiracy sentence. [Chicago Sun-Times]
3. Chicago’s cherry blossoms are blooming — but for a limited time
Some bright springtime news for your Tuesday: Cherry blossoms have started blooming a little early at the Columbia Basin south of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.
As my colleague Michael Puente reports, the robust bloom is because of fluctuations in weather and temperature, combined with ample rainfall, and is expected to unfold over the next five to 10 days.
But the trees may not stay like that for long.
“Nature’s ephemeral, and everything is contingent on how the winter went,” said Michael Dimitroff, director of public art for the Chicago Park District. “Nature is the dictator. We, as practitioners, try to read what’s happening. If we have a super hard winter and a mild rollout of warm weather, then it’s a little easier to read that they’re going to come out when weather starts to break and stays constant.”
Overnight temperatures below 30 degrees were not expected to affect blooming, Dimitroff said, since it is expected to warm up this week. [WBEZ]
4. Sound & Gravity will return to the Avondale area over Labor Day weekend
The locally run event’s second edition will bring together more than 50 artists across seven venues around Chicago’s Avondale and Roscoe Village neighborhoods. It will feature several genres, including jazz, experimental, contemporary classical and indie, my colleague Morgan Ciocca reports for Vocalo.
The venues — Constellation, Hungry Brain, Beat Kitchen, Athenaeum Center, Judson & Moore Distillery, Rockwell on the River and Guild Row — are all located within a couple miles.
Sound & Gravity’s top billing includes psychedelic solo project Grouper, Contre Jour — a performance piece from former Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo and experimental artist Leah Singer — post-rock band Son Lux, guitarist Marc Ribot and Ethiopian musician and composer Hailu Mergia. Colombian experimental artist Lucrecia Dalt, multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-winning producer Josh Johnson and Grammy-nominated drummer Kassa Overall are also slated to perform. [Vocalo]
5. A mystery-romance bookstore has opened in North Center amid a rise in specialty shops
During COVID, Jeff Morse realized reading could be an excellent way to cope with the doom and gloom of the pandemic shutdown. He dove deep into the world of mystery, horror and thriller novels with the encouragement of his wife, Amanda Morse, an avid romance reader.
The couple’s combined book tastes culminated in the opening of a new bookstore, Partners in Crime. Fittingly, it opened to the public on Valentine’s Day, with a line out the door throughout the day. The two are the only employees, and Jeff still works full-time as a copywriter.
“We are the partners in crime,” Jeff laughed.
The niche business theme mirrors growing trends in bookstores; specialty shops were projected to lead the global book distribution market, according to a report by Fortune Business Insights. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Here’s what else is happening
- With gas prices up sharply, experts offer these tips for cutting costs. [NPR]
- NASA released new photos of the moon taken by Artemis II astronauts. [AP]
- Here’s how accurate experts say Google’s artificial intelligence overviews are. [New York Times]
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Illinois’ concealed carry ban on public transit. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Oh, and one more thing …
The daughter of Korean immigrants who owned a shoe repair and alterations shop in the suburbs, Helena “Yoonie” Kim spent long hours there helping behind the counter. She now has more than 1.2 million followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, where she shows viewers how to rescue and rehab thrifted finds.
As Esther Bergdahl and Minju Park report for WBEZ, Yoonie’s soothing short videos explain how to hunt for and rehabilitate the saddest of bargain bin finds. They feel like tagging along with your coolest friend or kind big sister. She prefers distressed and abandoned small leather goods, which she revives with saddle soap, conditioners and a jaw-dropping arsenal of trade skills.
Rehabilitating these goods, working with her hands and with something beautiful, is part of a long healing process for Kim, now in her early 30s. What once felt complicated has evolved into a deep appreciation of her parents’ skills and determination. The items she grew up around weren’t things people threw away but possessions they loved enough to repair. [WBEZ]
Tell me something good …
My colleague just finished moving. What’s an essential item or area you need in your home?
Regina writes:
“As an environmentalist and anti-plastic person, I recommend an under the sink water filter for tap water to skip the Brita or bottled water. We installed a separate spout (YouTube videos for the DIY win). Most filters have a 1 year life. We were surprised to actually taste the difference.”
Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.