A veteran’s fight for GI Bill benefits, how Chicago’s green river tradition began and more in your Chicago news roundup

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about an eight-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

— Matt Moore (@MattKenMoore)

This afternoon will see some scattered snow showers with a high near 36 degrees. Expect similar weather tonight with a low near 31. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a high near 37. A chance of snow showers is forecast Sunday with a high near 39.

Top story

Decorated vet’s last stand: FBI agent wants Supreme Court to make VA stop shortchanging veterans on GI Bill benefits

James Rudisill, a longtime FBI agent who was honored for his bravery and saving lives in Afghanistan, hasn’t been in the Army for years, but now he is waging one last battle for himself and other vets.

Arguing that he was wrongly denied GI Bill educational benefits, Rudisill is taking his fight to the Supreme Court in a legal quest that his Chicago attorney hopes will open up additional college benefits for himself and others and recognize “what veterans have given to this nation.”

If the high court agrees to hear his appeal, its decision in the much-watched case could affect 2 million U.S. military veterans who served at least six years and earned educational benefits under more than one version of the GI Bill, a series of federal laws that entitle vets to benefits for their service.

Rudisill says the federal Department of Veterans Affairs used what a lower-court ruling in his favor agreed were “absurd” calculations that shortchanged him on financial support for post-graduate schooling that he had hoped to use to change careers and help other vets.

He’s right, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says.

“I’ve always been of the mind that, when in doubt, always defer to the veteran,” says Hagel, a Vietnam war combat veteran who, as a Republican U.S. senator representing Nebraska, helped marshal bipartisan support for the passage in 2008 of the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Hagel says in an interview that the aim of the law was to aid veterans. Asked about Rudisill’s case, he says, “It’s the veteran who deserves the break here.”

Stephanie Zimmermann has more on Rudisill’s case here.

More news you need

• The wife of a Chicago firefighter has died days after a fire broke out in the family’s Montclare home, killing their 7-year-old son and seriously injuring their two other children. Summer Day-Stewart, 36, died last night, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Read the full story.
• Family, friends and former colleagues are mourning the loss of Sun-Times photographer Jim Frost. Of the many well-known images he captured, some of his most famous work featured photos he captured of bribe-taking city inspectors at the Mirage tavern in 1977. Mitch Dudek has more on Frost’s life and legacy here.
• Former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson didn’t testify when he was convicted of cheating on his income taxes and lying about how much money he got from a crooked Bridgeport bank. Yet now, in an attempt to get back his law license, he’s making his case to a panel of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission — and he’s denying any wrongdoing. Robert Herguth and Tim Novak have more on Thompson’s hearing here.
• More than two years after a scathing report criticizing the city’s lack of enforcement of recycling laws, a watchdog says Chicago still hasn’t beefed up its oversight. In a follow-up report, Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said last week the city still has four areas that are inadequate, including creating a “proactive enforcement strategy.” Our Brett Chase has more on the report’s findings here.
• The indictment of Michael McClain, Anne Pramaggiore, John Hooker and Jay Doherty — for allegedly trying to bribe then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan — was the result of an aggressive, years long federal investigation into Madigan and others. Federal prosecutors allege the conspiracy continued even after the public learned of the feds’ efforts in late 2018 and early 2019. Here is a look at some of the key players involved in the case and the trial, and a timeline of key events leading up to it, as outlined in court records.
• Illinois Commerce Commission Chairman Carrie Zalewski plans to step down just shy of the end of her five-year appointed term, a decision she announced just days before the ComEd federal bribery trial begins. Zalewski — whose father-in-law, former Ald. Mike Zalewski (23rd), plays a role in the trial but has not been charged — said the federal case had nothing to do with her decision to leave her leadership post at the agency that oversees the state’s utility rates, including those of ComEd. Tina Sfondeles has more with Carrie Zalewski here.
• President Joe Biden’s proposed 2024 fiscal year budget, sent to Congress yesterday, contains $350 million for the CTA’s extension of the Red Line on the South Side, which, if built, would serve many low-income neighborhoods in areas lacking access to the city’s L system. The Biden $6.8 trillion budget framework, as written, likely has no chance of surviving in the Republican-controlled House, our Lynn Sweet explains.
• A Facebook marketplace seller in Charleston, West Virginia, has listed two 1970s CTA rail cars for sale. Asking price: $35,000 each. But you have to go get them — and they weigh 54,000 pounds apiece.

A bright one

A 61-year-old tradition: How and why Chicago dyes the Chicago River emerald green

In February 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. 

Just over a month later, Chicago noted another impressive accomplishment — dyeing the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day. In the last 61 years, dyeing the river has become a world-renowned tradition, despite some pushback from environmental groups.

And it’s happening again this weekend, a few hours before the start of the downtown Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade tomorrow, sponsored by Chicago Plumbers Local 130. 

Plumbers will dye the Chicago River green at 10 a.m. The best places to watch are near Upper Wacker Drive and North Columbus Drive, according to the union.

The dye comes, interestingly, in the form of an orange vegetable-based powder that’s mixed by boats into the river.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times file

Two families who’ve volunteered to dye the river for decades — the Butlers and the Rowans — have kept the exact recipe a closely guarded secret. Butler family patriarch Mike Butler would hide the canisters in the garage after picking them up every year, his daughter told a Sun-Times reporter writing about Butler. He promised before he died in 2016 that he’d “take it to my grave.” However, the Rowans also knew the source.

“We always refer to it as ‘leprechaun dust,’” said Tom Rowan. “We have never told anybody what it is.”

The Rowans and Butlers figured out the best way to distribute the dyeing powder was by shaking it through old-fashioned flour sifters. Then came the next step, a second boat — “the ‘Mixmaster,’” Marlene Butler, Mike Butler’s wife, told the Sun-Times in 2016. As soon as it mixes with water, the orange dye turns a phosphorescent green.

“If you blow your nose, it’s green, and if you cry, it’s green,” one volunteer told the Sun-Times in 2012.

Ellery Jones has more on the history behind this storied Chicago tradition here.

From the press box

Your daily question☕

It’s no secret that you’ll find a wide variety of amazing food here. But what type of food or dish do you think Chicago just can’t get right?

Send us an email at [email protected] and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: Citywide, what do you think is Chicago’s biggest holiday?

Here’s what some of you said…

“Christmas. I enjoy the Christkindlmarket, Macy’s, seeing the trees around the world at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, eating at the Walnut Room.” — Marty Longo

“St. Patrick’s Day. Green River, Green Beer, and eventually, green people!” — Marc Nash

“Christmas, because everyone is out shopping and you can tell it’s the holiday season. And people seem to be a little friendlier around Christmas.” — Sheshe Woosa

“St. Patty’s day, Chicago goes big. I loved it as a kid, and I’m Mexican. The river getting dyed green, the parades — everyone felt welcomed. Wear green or get pinched! Great time.” — Lucy Marquez

“The Fourth of July. Beaches are alive as people have off, grills and cookouts are thriving, and then there is typically the Taste of Chicago happening around the same time.” — Cory Sechrest

“Construction season. It’s the one time when the entire city feels the exact same way. Angry lol.” — Ken Smith

“When one of our teams gets to the playoffs. That is a holiday, and if that team wins, the city explodes in parties and probably half the city takes the following day off.” — Dan LaBuda

Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.