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  "path": "/wbez-newsletter/2026/02/12/the-rundown-the-debate-over-chicagos-delivery-robots",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-12T21:45:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.wbez.org",
  "textContent": "<p><i>Good afternoon! It’s Thursday, and I can’t stop listening to Chicago-area native John Summit’s </i><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s92VeOdm5Ec\" target=\"_blank\" ><i><u>new song</u></i></a><i> from his upcoming album. Here’s what you need to know today.</i></p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/technology/2026/02/12/what-to-know-robot-delivery-in-chicago\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>1. Here’s what to know about Chicago’s delivery robots and the debate over them</u></b></a></p><p>The boxy, colorful couriers may seem playful and “even kind of cute,” but some Chicagoans are fighting back against the technology’s deployment, my colleague Elleiana Green reports.</p><p>A mother of two, Lincoln Park resident Ainsley Harris is responsible for a stroller, a labradoodle and a young kid on a bike when she goes out for walks. More robots on her neighborhood’s narrow sidewalks means she has to be even more aware to ensure their safety.</p><p>Harris isn’t alone in her sentiment. Josh Robertson, one of Harris’ neighbors, started a petition last summer to call on the city to pause the sidewalk robot program until they release safety findings on the devices and set rules for how they’re deployed. The petition has received more than 3,400 signatures from more than 50 ZIP codes across the city.</p><p>Tech companies Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics have rolled out about 100 delivery robots across Chicago over the last two years and have partnerships with Uber Eats.</p><p>Customers in the neighborhoods where robot delivery is available are able to choose their preferred delivery method when placing an order in their app of choice. Users can also opt out of robot delivery entirely. Tips are not accepted. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/technology/2026/02/12/what-to-know-robot-delivery-in-chicago\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/02/12/no-recess-lockdowns-less-learning-how-immigration-agents-disrupted-cps-schools-this-fall\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>2. No recess, lockdowns, less learning: How immigration agents disrupted CPS schools this fall</u></b></a></p><p>When President Donald Trump’s Chicago-area deportation campaign was at its peak last fall, schools reported federal immigration agents staging in school parking lots, showing up at elementary school soccer games, and detaining people on school grounds or where students could see them. On Oct. 3, students had to stay inside when federal agents threw tear gas on the street near Funston Elementary in Logan Square.</p><p>Chicago Public Schools fielded nearly 200 calls for assistance this fall when immigration agents came near schools, my colleagues Emmanuel Camarillo and Sarah Karp report.</p><p>Students, both from immigrant families and their peers, say the heightened environment left them looking over their shoulders and unable to concentrate on schoolwork, frequently glancing at classroom doors or worrying about family members.</p><p>The federal activity also placed an unprecedented burden on school principals and district officials, who had to ensure timely communication with families without sowing fear or spreading rumors. Community members say coordination with CPS was difficult at first and eventually improved, but the district still faces a big challenge if widespread enforcement returns. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/02/12/no-recess-lockdowns-less-learning-how-immigration-agents-disrupted-cps-schools-this-fall\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2026/02/11/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-latin-america-mexico-puerto-rico-ecuador-guatemala-venezuela\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>3. How many Chicagoans are from the countries Bad Bunny named in his Super Bowl halftime show?</u></b></a></p><p>Toward the end of his 13-minute set, Bad Bunny proclaimed “God bless América,” in English, before listing off dozens of countries and territories in the Western Hemisphere, starting from Chile in South America all the way up to Canada in North America and ending with Puerto Rico. He then spiked a football painted with the English words, “Together, we are America.”</p><p>Local academics told WBEZ that Bad Bunny’s message was clear: The Puerto Rican musician was reframing what it means to be an “American” beyond just the 50 states of the United States.</p><p>A WBEZ analysis of census data from the most recent American Community Survey found roughly 1 in every 8 Chicagoans was born outside of the 50 U.S. states but in one of the countries or territories that make up the Western Hemisphere spanning South to Central to North America.</p><p>Mexico is by far the most common place of origin for Chicagoans born outside of the 50 U.S. states, followed by Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Guatemala and Venezuela, in that order. And the number of Chicagoans who identify as the children or grandchildren of people born in those places is likely much larger. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2026/02/11/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-latin-america-mexico-puerto-rico-ecuador-guatemala-venezuela\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/movies-tv/2026/02/11/the-bear-hulu-chicago-restaurants-filming-locations-ebon-moss-bachrach-matty-mattheson-ukrainian-village\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>4. ‘The Bear’ has begun filming again in Chicago</u></b></a></p><p>This week, cast and crew are filming Season 5 in Ukrainian Village, according to bright pink filming notices posted around the neighborhood. As my colleague Ambar Colón reports, dozens of production vehicles displaying series code name “The Fugitive” lined both sides of Cortez Street on Tuesday.</p><p>For several seasons now, an apartment building situated on the northwest corner of Cortez Street and Hoyne Avenue has been used as Richie’s apartment. Richie, also known to fans as “Cousin,” is the character portrayed by actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach.</p><p>Members of the crew told the Chicago Sun-Times and the Illinois Film Office confirmed that filming will wrap next month. Season 5 is expected to land on Hulu later this year. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/movies-tv/2026/02/11/the-bear-hulu-chicago-restaurants-filming-locations-ebon-moss-bachrach-matty-mattheson-ukrainian-village\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts/2026/02/12/intuit-driehaus-art-chicago-acquisition-bellows-outsider-hawkins\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>5. Chicago will get nearly 100 prestigious artworks, courtesy of new additions at the Intuit and Driehaus museums</u></b></a></p><p>In an unusual coincidence, two Chicago art museums announced substantial acquisitions on the same day this week, arts and culture contributor Kyle MacMillan reports. The institutions acquired 98 total works, dating from 1880 to 2020, by such creators as famed outsider artist William Hawkins and early 20th-century realist George Bellows.</p><p>The Intuit Art Museum, one of the most respected institutions devoted to self-taught or outsider art in the United States, added 61 works from two noted collectors in the field: Jan Petry, a longtime Intuit supporter who died in 2024, and Gordon W. Bailey of Los Angeles.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Driehaus Museum, whose galleries occupy an opulent 1883 Gilded Age residence at 50 E. Erie St., received 37 paintings and works on paper from the Chicago collections of M. Christine Schwartz and noted philanthropists Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols plus six long-term loans.</p><p>The acquisition news comes the same week as the Art Institute of Chicago’s announcement that it acquired “The Dugout,” Norman Rockwell’s 1948 artwork depicting dejected Chicago Cubs. The museum’s first-ever Rockwell went on display to visitors yesterday. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts/2026/02/12/intuit-driehaus-art-chicago-acquisition-bellows-outsider-hawkins\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times</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-93198c83-085a-11f1-b37b-29954795620e\"><li>The immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota is coming to an end, federal officials said. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/02/12/tom-homan-federal-immigration-operation-minnesota-news-conference?utm_source=npr.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=national_highlight&utm_content=homepage\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Minnesota Public Radio</u></a>]</li><li>Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is set to repeal the scientific finding that serves as a basis for U.S. climate change policy. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/environment/2026/02/12/trump-epa-finding-greenhouse-gas-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>AP</u></a>]</li><li>A Ukrainian Olympian was disqualified over images of war dead on his helmet. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/02/12/nx-s1-5712159/ukrainian-olympian-disqualified-over-images-of-war-dead-on-his-helmet\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li><li>Plans are underway to get rid of Cook County’s property tax sales in the coming years. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/race-class-communities/2026/02/12/plans-are-underway-to-get-rid-of-cook-countys-property-tax-sales-in-the-coming-years\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</li></ul><p><b>Oh, and one more thing …</b></p><p>Chicago artist Nick Cave will open “Mammoth” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., tomorrow, including a film installation of large-scale woolly mammoths lumbering across Chicago. The work’s eerie sense of resurrection is intentional, Cave told WBEZ.</p><p>“I was reflecting on what’s going on at the Smithsonian in terms of erasing history and shifting the narrative,” he said. “This whole notion of disappearing, dissolving.” And yet, he adds, history has a way of resurfacing: “That’s our mammoth. We’re still digging up bones.”</p><p>The exhibit remains on view through January 2027 and is the Smithsonian’s largest ever single-artist commission. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts/2026/02/12/nick-cave-artist-mammoths-soundsuits-sculpture-smithsonian\" 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>Katherine writes:</p><p>“Favorite First Date Spot: Chicago Botanic Garden! Probably not a common one, but my husband and I went there on our first date. It continues to be one of my all-time favorite places!”</p><p>Bruce writes:</p><p>“My now wife, Wendy, and I went to brunch on our first date on Memorial Day back in 2017. I suggested we meet up at Tweet. I never went there for a first date, but had been there many times for post-run brunch with my running group (I volunteer as a group leader for CARA). It’s not a particularly romantic place, but it’s such a warm, friendly, neighborhood place with great food (I've never had anything there I didn't like!), and it's always lively. It was somewhat between where we lived at the time and I figured it would make our first date less awkward if there were a lot of people around. We met up there at 11:30am and our date went so well we ended up staying until they were closing up for the day! I think our waitress probably could tell we were on a date and didn’t kick us out. But I knew we overstayed our welcome when I realized other diners were already gone and they started flipping chairs up to the tables.</p><p>Wendy and I have been married since 2020, and we still go back to Tweet every Memorial Day for brunch!”</p><p>Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.</p>",
  "title": "The debate over Chicago’s delivery robots: The Rundown",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-12T21:45:01.425Z"
}