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  "path": "/wbez-newsletter/2026/02/10/the-rundown-the-art-institutes-first-norman-rockwell-painting",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-10T21:45:00.000Z",
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  "textContent": "<p><i>Good afternoon! It’s Tuesday, and WBEZ listeners will get another chance to ask Mayor Brandon Johnson their questions. Call 866-915-WBEZ (866-915-9239) at 9 a.m. tomorrow, and tune in at 91.5 or </i><a class=\"Link\" href=\"http://wbez.org\" target=\"_blank\" ><i><u>WBEZ.org</u></i></a><i>. Here’s what else you need to know today.</i></p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts/2026/02/10/art-institute-chicago-norman-rockwell-cubs-painting\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>1. The Art Institute of Chicago just hung its first Norman Rockwell, and it depicts the Cubs</u></b></a></p><p>“The Dugout,” Rockwell’s 1948 artwork, ran as a cover of the “Saturday Evening Post.” The work shows dejected Chicago Cubs players’ faces hanging long after losing a doubleheader against the Boston Braves. Behind them, Braves fans appear to howl with delight, reveling in their team’s victory.</p><p>As my colleague Courtney Kueppers reports, the historic piece is a gift to the Downtown museum from former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and his wife, Diana. According to an online listing from the auction house Christie’s, “The Dugout” last sold in 2009 for $662,500. The company estimates its present-day value between $700,000 and $1 million. Other Rockwell works have fetched as much as $46 million.</p><p>The former governor said the work is his favorite painting, but as Rauner approaches his 70th birthday, he said it felt like the right time to make the gift. This is the Rauners’ first donation to the museum, other than being members for a “gazillion years,” Diana Rauner joked.</p><p>Rockwell was born in 1894 in New York and became one of the most famous artists working in the 20th century. His detailed depictions of everyday life mostly entered Americans’ homes through his famous magazine covers.</p><p>“The Dugout” now resides directly across from another legendary work, Grant Wood’s “American Gothic,” an Art Institute highlight. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts/2026/02/10/art-institute-chicago-norman-rockwell-cubs-painting\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/springfield/2026/02/10/trump-administration-denial-illinois-appeal-summer-storms-disaster-relief\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>2. The Trump administration denied Illinois’ appeal for summer storm disaster relief</u></b></a></p><p>Gov. JB Pritzker requested authorization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s individual assistance for affected counties, as well as disaster loan programs to help Illinoisans after a multiday storm Aug. 16-19 that passed through Boone, Cook, Kane, McHenry and Will counties.</p><p>President Donald Trump in October approved major disaster declarations for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota. But he also denied requests from Illinois, Maryland and Vermont, my colleague Tina Sfondeles reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.</p><p>In announcing assistance for Alaska and North Dakota, Trump posted on social media that he won Alaska “BIG” in 2016, 2020 and 2024. He touted the same for North Dakota.</p><p>That led Pritzker to call the denial politically motivated and to try to appeal the decision. In two letters sent to Trump last year, Pritzker said the intense rainfall overwhelmed Chicago’s sewer system on the Southwest Side, as well as in Cicero and other suburbs, hurting many “economically vulnerable” residents. Flood survivors cope with health hazards such as mold and contamination from sewage backup, conditions that can lead to respiratory problems for children and older adults, the letters said. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/springfield/2026/02/10/trump-administration-denial-illinois-appeal-summer-storms-disaster-relief\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p>The Trump administration also plans to rescind $600 million in public health funds from four states led by Democrats, including Illinois. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/health/trump-public-health-cuts-california.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LFA.p-d1.PsRG2EfG4DZF&smid=url-share\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>New York Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/transportation/2026/02/10/parking-scofflaws-ordinance-daniel-laspata-council-traffic-safety-committee-approval\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>3. Despite concerns from the business community, a City Council committee backed parking enforcement by citizens</u></b></a></p><p>To snitch or not to snitch. That could soon be the question Chicagoans will have to answer when it comes to policing parking violations by commercial vehicles, Fran Spielman reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.</p><p>The City Council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety yesterday approved a newly revised ordinance that would allow Chicagoans to use their cellphones to provide recorded evidence of bus, bike lane and crosswalk parking violations.</p><p>The dispatch system should be available by the end of the year.</p><p>Business groups argued the city’s streets are already a maze of protected bike lanes, bump-outs and “changes in parking and turning patterns” that have severely limited curb access for commercial deliveries and repair vehicles. They also claimed even well-intentioned drivers can struggle to locate legitimate legal loading zones when curb space is tight. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/transportation/2026/02/10/parking-scofflaws-ordinance-daniel-laspata-council-traffic-safety-committee-approval\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/02/09/cook-county-prosecutors-drop-charges-against-19-arrested-during-clergy-led-protest-broadview-ice-facility\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>4. Cook County prosecutors dropped charges against 19 people arrested during a clergy-led protest at the Broadview ICE facility</u></b></a></p><p>Demonstrators were hoping those inside would hear their prayers, but a scuffle broke out with local law enforcement and dozens were arrested, Sophie Sherry reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.</p><p>The Rev. Michael Woolf, one of the arrestees, said the charges were “always egregious.”</p><p>“The fact was that the people who were gathered there, myself included, were acting from a real standpoint, that what was going on in Broadview was a moral emergency and spiritual emergency, and we saw that play out, and we were met with pretty intense violence, and then we were prosecuted for that,” Woolf said. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2026/02/09/cook-county-prosecutors-drop-charges-against-19-arrested-during-clergy-led-protest-broadview-ice-facility\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts-culture/2026/02/10/fuerza-regida-j-balvin-kali-uchis-suenos-lineup-2026\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>5. Fuerza Regida, J Balvin and Kali Uchis will headline Sueños Music Festival 2026</u></b></a></p><p>Announced today, the lineup will also include Danny Ocean, Tokischa, Manuel Turizo and Yandel, who will perform a special “Sinfonico” presentation. Festival DJs Fredy Fresco, Dynamiqo and Chicago’s Miriam Paz will also return.</p><p>Sueños has become a fixture during Memorial Day weekend since its launch in 2022, kicking off the city’s music festival season. This year, it’s one of three festivals announced for the holiday weekend.</p><p>Two-day festival passes starting at $329 will go on sale at noon Thursday. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts-culture/2026/02/10/fuerza-regida-j-balvin-kali-uchis-suenos-lineup-2026\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Vocalo</u></a>]</p><p><b>Here’s what else is happening</b></p><ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\" id=\"rte-15ebb995-06c5-11f1-bf82-e33b090e32ba\"><li>The FBI released a photo of a potential suspect in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/02/10/nx-s1-5708920/fbi-release-photo-of-potential-suspect-in-guthrie-disappearance\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li><li>As U.S. Olympians call for tolerance and LGBTQ+ rights, some are facing attacks online and from Trump. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/02/09/nx-s1-5706017/as-us-olympians-call-for-tolerance-and-lgbtq-rights-some-face-trump-attacks-and-online-hate\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li><li>Trump’s immigration chiefs defended their mass deportation operations before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/immigration-customs-enforcement-border-patrol-trump-congress-1fa0cc0c9297479fcc02b1dc5a706d37\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>AP</u></a>]</li><li>A new book, “Sirens in the Loop,” chronicles the history of the City News Bureau, a Chicago-area wire service that operated from 1890 to 2005. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/in-the-loop-with-sasha-ann-simons/2026/02/10/remembering-chicagos-city-news-bureau\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</li></ul><p><b>Oh, and one more thing …</b></p><p>A vacant building on Clark and Ohio streets in River North may induce eye rolls, thanks to its doorway flanked by giant, colorful mushrooms and blocky shape draped with ersatz jungle vines, trees and animals.</p><p>The cartoonish look made more sense before the signage for the old Rainforest Café was removed after the restaurant closed in the summer of 2020.</p><p>But as WBEZ contributor Dennis Rodkin reports, that attitude goes back to the site’s previous attraction. The now-shuttered restaurant used to be Capone’s Chicago, an establishment featuring animatronic figures of Al Capone and other mobsters.</p><p>Capone’s Chicago was like the Hall of Presidents at a Disney theme park, only it told a story some Chicagoans would rather not showcase; some people of Italian descent were offended by the enshrinement of mobsters. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/architecture/2026/02/10/whats-that-building-former-rainforest-cafe-and-capones-chicago\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><b>Tell me something good …</b></p><p>With Valentine’s Day coming up, I’m wondering, what is your favorite first-date spot in the Chicago area?</p><p>Kelly writes:</p><p>“I really like Spinning J pie cafe (California and Augusta) as a first date spot — it’s offbeat from the traditional first date of cocktails (they even make an egg cream!), it isn't extraordinarily expensive, and can be accomplished in a short time for a mid-day date during daylight hours in these winter doldrum months. It also couldn’t be more delicious — they have an ever-changing daily pie menu, and also have a few heartier food options too. Highly recommended as a departure from the normal first date places. I also happen to have gone on my first date there 10 years ago with my partner, Eric!”</p><p>Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.</p>",
  "title": "The Art Institute’s first Norman Rockwell painting: The Rundown",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-10T21:45:01.326Z"
}