Illinois’ population loss was actually a modest gain, new census figures show – Chicago Tribune

Good morning, Chicago.

As the sun set on Millennium Park a day after the extraordinary move by the mayor to limit teens’ access to the city’s premier outdoor space, a janitor quietly swept away the simple, stark memorial of tea lights that were arranged in the number “16.”

The small white candles to commemorate a Chicago teenager who was shot and killed at The Bean were there for less than an hour as tourists walked by. After sweeping the lights that represented the teen’s age into his dustpan, the janitor said he didn’t know what they were even there for.

Gun-violence memorials, while common in city neighborhoods, have normally been unusual things in downtown Chicago.

“Downtown is supposed to be the place that everybody’s supposed, go, chill, relax, get to see the view, all the nice buildings, and just go shopping and have fun,” Daqwon Hargrove, 18, said when asked of the recent violence.

The shooting came after a growing sense of unease among city officials who have watched downtown gatherings grow from routine to dangerous.

Police have been left with the challenge of keeping everyone safe in an open park and other areas meant to be attractions in a glittering global city. And city leaders including Mayor Lori Lightfoot have found themselves trying to limit such impromptu gatherings without denying the young people’s rights to hang out where they want and their need, some say, to find fun outside of troubled neighborhoods.

The Tribune’s Annie Sweeney, Paige Fry and Stephanie Casanova report on these challenges and reimagined spaces.

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In contrast to the oft-expressed belief that Illinois is hemorrhaging people comes updated Census figures.

The U.S. Census Bureau originally found that the state lost about 18,000 people over the prior decade, which was the first time numbers showed Illinois’ overall population had declined since it joined the union in 1818. But after a follow-up survey — something that happens after each once-a-decade head count of the U.S. population — it discovered the state’s population figures had likely been undercounted.

The census findings last year showing the population decline underscored a major contention, made mostly by Republicans looking to criticize Illinois’ Democratic government leaders, that people are fleeing the state due in part to high taxes and crime. News that there was actually an uptick in population had Democrats running for their keyboards to trumpet the gain.

Republican candidate for governor Richard Irvin has shifted $800,000 from his Ken Griffin-funded campaign to two members of his slate of GOP candidates a little more than one month before the June 28 primary.

Secretary of state candidate John Milhiser received $500,000 from the Irvin for Illinois Fund, while Steve Kim, a candidate for attorney general, got $300,000 from the Irvin fund, state campaign records show. Both men are part of a slate of Republicans seeking statewide offices put together by Irvin’s campaign and backed by Griffin, Illinois’ wealthiest individual and the billionaire founder and CEO of the Citadel hedge fund.

When medical marijuana sales began in Illinois in 2014, cannabis firms typically chose unobtrusive buildings, sometimes hidden away in industrial parks, to sell the controversial product.

Almost 10 years later and with recreation weed now legal in the state, cannabis has become big business. Dispensaries are moving from the out-of-the-way buildings where they started into some of the hottest retail corners in both city and suburbs. National companies have swept in to buy local dispensaries, fueling further expansion and helping create multistate operators worth billions.

But, the Tribune’s Brian J. Rogal reports, one group is being shut out.

Jackie Robinson was in headlines this weekend when New York Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson referred to Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson as “Jackie” during Saturday’s game, igniting a brouhaha between the teams.

If cooler heads prevail, the Tribune’s Paul Sullivan writes, this could be a teachable moment for Donaldson and anyone else trying to understand why using Robinson’s name was considered “disrespectful” by Anderson and “racist” by La Russa.

Three Floyds in Munster, Indiana, has quietly transformed from scrappy underdog to joining Goose Island and Lagunitas as the largest breweries in the Chicago area.

But 10 years later, after all that growth, the question is this: How’s the beer? The Tribune’s Josh Noel tasted everything he could find on shelves for an answer.