Good morning, Chicago.
With bated breath and a sense of cautious optimism, Bears fans braved the biting cold to descend on Chicago sports bars yesterday and see their team take on the Green Bay Packers — a game that would end in a loss of the NFC North division lead for the Bears but still leave them in a strong playoff position during a surprising first winning season since 2018.
Even after the Packers scored their second touchdown of the afternoon in the second quarter, Bears fan Rachelle Catayong wasn’t too worried. She sat at the bar at Murphy’s Bleachers in Wrigleyville, its walls covered in baseball memorabilia, ornaments and Christmas lights.
“The fourth quarter is the only quarter that matters,” she said.
Catayong’s cousin, Chicago native Mario Catayong, remembers watching the ’85 Bears win Super Bowl XX. He’s unsure whether he’ll see it happen again this season — but there is reason for hope.
“I feel more optimistic than most years,” he laughed.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Adriana Pérez and sign up for our Bears Insider newsletter.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: why Chicago is having the “quickest start to winter” since 1978, what a Tribune review of immigration agents’ policing tactics showed and 10 thoughts on the Bears’ Week 14 loss to the Packers.
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Grant Inglis, 12, gets covered in snow while shaking off Christmas trees, Dec. 7, 2025, at Centennial Park in Park Ridge. The Wilderness Scouts and Princesses run the lot annually to sell trees for charity. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Five inches of snow blankets Chicago area with quickest start to winter since 1978, weather officials say
Chicago picked up its snow shovels again yesterday morning after the city was blanketed with up to 5 inches of snow in what a meteorologist at the National Weather Service called the “quickest start to winter” since 1978.
A federal agent points his gun sideways during an immigration enforcement action in the Little Village neighborhood on Nov. 8, 2025. Longtime urban police leaders questioned that tactic and many others used by immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz. The policing leaders said the agents routinely behaved in ways that — beyond potentially being unconstitutional — unnecessarily endangered suspects, protesters, innocent bystanders and the agents themselves. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
From shooting to Slim Jims, immigration agents’ poor tactics made for needless safety risks, experts say
Operation Midway Blitz flooded Chicago with federal immigration agents, fueled frequent protests and — to policing experts — offered something else. The operation showed how not to police.
A Tribune review of the feds’ policing tactics follows a scathing, 233-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis that called out many of the federal agents’ tactics from a constitutional perspective. And the subsequent release of footage from agents’ body cameras late last month not only contradicted claims they made in use-of-force reports but chronicled some of the chaos on the streets.
Cook County Board of Review Commissioner George Cardenas talks with media following a news conference in Chicago on Dec. 4, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Political veteran George Cardenas fighting to stay on March primary ballot
George Cardenas has been a fixture in Southwest Side politics for decades, a consummate insider who followed five Chicago City Council election wins with another victory that took him to the obscure but powerful Cook County Board of Review.
But now he finds himself in a fight befitting a novice.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg, left, speaks with Jackson County State’s Attorney Marsha Cascio-Hale during a July 29, 2025, event for Krishnamoorthi’s Democratic primary campaign for U.S. Senate at the Carbondale home of former Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, center. (Brian Sapp/WSIU)
Illinois’ US Senate primary race shows candidates still must court shrinking downstate Democratic base
An endorsement by a former one-term lieutenant governor who has been out of office for a decade ordinarily wouldn’t hold much significance in a primary campaign for U.S. Senate.
But an endorsement from Sheila Simon might be a slight exception. Not because of the ex-lieutenant governor‘s individual political influence, but because, even as the Democratic voter base in downstate Illinois is ever-shrinking, her support highlights that statewide candidates must still spend considerable time and energy wooing party members far from deep-blue Cook County.
A “lost” sign for cat Mozzes sits among other documents at Portage resident Samantha Radakovich’s home on April 30, 2025. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
‘Have you seen me?’: Chesterton’s Humane Society of the Dunes’ methods bring questions, few answers
The meeting video, like most from municipal meetings, is not of the highest quality – a fact that is compounded by the setting.
The speakers addressing the advisory board for Indianapolis Animal Care Services are wearing masks in the waning days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting room appears to be cinderblock and the sound of dogs barking in nearby kennels reverberates, sometimes drowning out the speakers.
About 35 minutes into the advisory board’s meeting on Dec. 21, 2023, Ren Hall steps up to the microphone. In the video, she provides her statement to the board. When she’s done, she gives them each a 45-page packet of information she says she has collected on Humane Society of the Dunes, a Chesterton-based rescue that has come under fire in recent years.
The White Eagle banquet hall in Niles is permanently closed. Gabi Vargas, a sales representative who started working there as a teen, reminisces there on Nov. 24, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
White Eagle in Niles closes after decades as a hub for Polish community and political powerhouses
The phone at the White Eagle in Niles keeps ringing, with longtime customers asking for one last pierogi or a final bowl of its famed mushroom barley soup.
An older woman cried when she learned it wouldn’t be possible, recalled office manager Diane Palazzo of Victoria Venues, the current owner. The banquet hall had quietly closed its doors several weeks ago.
Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon (25) intercepts a pass intended for Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet (85) in the fourth quarter on the Bears’ 4th-and-one at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Dec. 7, 2025, before the Chicago Bears play the Green Bay Packers. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Bears drop from No. 1 seed to No. 7 after loss to Green Bay Packers: Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on Week 14
As many creative ways as the Bears have used to pull out games in the final minute this season, parity that defines the NFL was bound to catch up to them sooner or later.
That moment happened to be with 22 seconds remaining at Lambeau Field when Keisean Nixon, who wasn’t even supposed to be covering tight end Cole Kmet, recognized a bust in the Green Bay Packers defense and made a play to secure a 28-21 victory, ending a five-game winning streak for the Bears (9-4).
Hazel McNally smiles while on trial in October 1922, accused of murdering her twin babies, according to her husband, Frank McNally. Hazel McNally insisted there were no real children, only dolls she pretended were her newborns. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
Twins or dolls? The ‘Sawdust Babies’ murder trial of 1922 spread confusion in Hammond.
For three days in 1922, Hammond hosted a murder trial that captivated and confused the nation. Autoworker Frank McNally had accused his wife of killing their children — Laurene Hazel McNally and her twin brother, Lauren Frank McNally — and disposing of their bodies.
Sweet potato latkes from Ema. (Jeff Marini)
Hanukkah 2025: 21 Chicago-area restaurants offering holiday specials, including latkes and sufganiyot
Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, runs Dec. 14-22 this year, chasing away the winter chill with nightly candle lighting and hearty meals with an emphasis on fried food. Restaurants and bakeries throughout the Chicago area are making celebrating easier by serving up traditional holiday fare such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (fried jelly doughnuts) for dine-in or as part of to-go packages for gatherings at home.
Aba’s holiday meal kit includes short rib. (Samantha Brauer)
Christmas 2025: 34 Chicago-area restaurants offering holiday specials
Restaurants throughout Chicago make it easy to celebrate Christmas, whether you’re looking for a traditional dinner with prime rib and buche de noel or decadent brunches where you can pile your plate with king crab legs and sweets. There are takeout options if you prefer to gather everyone at home, but don’t want to do the cooking and Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes for some Italian flavor.