Latest news with #ColumbianExposition
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Editorial: A sale of Northern Trust would be a major blow to Chicago
Founded in 1889, Northern Trust is one of Chicago's most storied companies. Its colorful back story includes building a makeshift branch that handled the banking needs of vendors and attendees at the Columbian Exposition after the bank hired to do the job failed a week after the 1893 World's Fair opened. How many ordinary Chicagoans know that? Precious few, surely. Northern Trust is low profile by design. Chicago's largest locally headquartered bank, Northern Trust caters to wealthy households and families across the country, and thus is discrete about its business and clients as one might expect. Northern Trust also is one of Chicago's relatively few truly global companies, positioned as one of the world's handful of financial institutions that hold trillions of dollars in assets on behalf of large institutional investors and process their transactions. This quiet giant employs thousands in Chicago and has been a dedicated civic donor for generations. We provide this thumbnail description because a company that likes to be under the radar suddenly is in an unwelcome spotlight. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Northern Trust CEO Michael O'Grady met last week with his counterpart at Bank of New York Mellon about a potential combination of the two entities. The news comes less than four months after the Deerfield-based parent of Walgreens agreed to be purchased by New York private-equity firm Sycamore Partners. Like Northern Trust, Walgreens has a Chicago history that goes back well over 100 years. The notion that Walgreens, a Chicago mainstay, could be swallowed by a New York investment firm with a name few in these parts recognized, would have seemed ludicrous even a few short years ago. But in these times of economic volatility — first, a pandemic, then rampant inflation and now the uncertainty tied to trade policy in Washington, D.C. — there are few certainties in the business world. Even so, Northern Trust's status as a pillar of Chicago's business community seemed a pretty safe bet until the weekend bombshell. How safe is that bet now? There's reason to worry. BNY Mellon's market value is more than two times Northern Trust's, making it possible for the larger New York-based firm to offer a premium for the Chicago bank's shares. According to the report, the discussions are so early that there's been no talk of how much BNY Mellon might bid. Northern Trust was quick to dampen speculation, with a spokesman asserting the bank 'is fully committed to remaining independent and continuing to deliver long-term value to our stakeholders, as we have for 135 years.' The statement didn't stop investors from doing just that — speculating. They bid Northern Trust shares up by 8% Monday to their highest level in more than three years. For Chicago's sake, let's hope Northern Trust's statement truly reflects the sentiments of O'Grady and the board. A relentless series of sales of locally based banks to out-of-town buyers over the past two decades has dramatically weakened the city's once-powerful banking sector. New York's JPMorgan Chase in 2004 acquired Bank One, the city's largest bank at the time. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America followed suit in 2007, swallowing LaSalle Bank, the city's second largest lender. Several smaller local banks bulked up in the wake of those splashy deals, snatching commercial clients who wanted more personalized service than the giants could or would provide. Most of them subsequently sold to out-of-town buyers such as Cincinnati-based Fifth Third, Canadian lender CIBC and even a bank based in Evansville, Indiana, called Old National. The most recent hit came just last month: Virginia-based Capital One completed its long-planned buyout of credit card lender Discover Financial Services, based in north suburban Riverwoods. We'll see what the future local job losses are from that deal, but surely they will be significant. Discover employs thousands in the Chicago area. Even without the negative effect of mergers, Chicago is losing well-paying, white-collar jobs provided by the likes of Discover and Northern Trust. Illinois has seen a steady decline in financial services employment since 2019, and most of those jobs are in the Chicago area. That trend means fewer residents making upper-middle-class salaries (or higher), which reduce overall consumer purchasing power and hold back the local economy. In short, our economy (and tax base) badly needs those sorts of workers. A buyout of Northern Trust also would damage Chicago's already tarnished image as a place to do business. We've seen powerhouse hedge fund and financial services company Citadel decamp for Florida. Manufacturing giant Caterpillar, with long ties to Illinois, hightailed it to Texas. Only a few decades after moving its base to Chicago, Boeing relocated its headquarters to the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Still, don't lose hope just yet. In addition to Northern Trust's stated desire to keep its independence, the good news for Chicago is that a tie-up with BNY Mellon would create substantial anti-trust concerns, even for an administration likely to be friendlier to such deal-making than the Biden administration. Northern Trust also has a particularly strong culture — Midwestern in sensibility, shunning the ostentation often associated with East Coast banking and investment firms — that would be difficult to absorb without risking the loss of key people in a high-touch business where relationships are critical. The axiom in the banking industry long has been that banks are sold, not bought. The sector is highly resistant to hostile takeovers, or even 'bear hugs,' where word of an acquirer's interest is leaked in hopes of stoking pressure from a target's shareholders to sell. Indeed, this leak features all the hallmarks of that latter approach. Still, any time Wall Street perceives a company such as Northern Trust as being 'in play,' all bets are off. A publicly traded company answers ultimately to its shareholders. Even if BNY Mellon's overture doesn't bear fruit in the short run, Northern Trust will have to perform well to remain a stand-alone for the long haul. Avoidable stumbles at Discover — running afoul of regulators in 2023 by failing to invest enough in compliance-related technology and personnel — opened the door for Capital One to make an offer Discover's board decided it couldn't refuse. Northern Trust can afford no such errors now that BNY Mellon's interest is publicly known. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@ Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Chicago Tribune
23-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: A sale of Northern Trust would be a major blow to Chicago
Founded in 1889, Northern Trust is one of Chicago's most storied companies. Its colorful back story includes building a makeshift branch that handled the banking needs of vendors and attendees at the Columbian Exposition after the bank hired to do the job failed a week after the 1893 World's Fair opened. How many ordinary Chicagoans know that? Precious few, surely. Northern Trust is low profile by design. Chicago's largest locally headquartered bank, Northern Trust caters to wealthy households and families across the country, and thus is discrete about its business and clients as one might expect. Northern Trust also is one of Chicago's relatively few truly global companies, positioned as one of the world's handful of financial institutions that hold trillions of dollars in assets on behalf of large institutional investors and process their transactions. This quiet giant employs thousands in Chicago and has been a dedicated civic donor for generations. We provide this thumbnail description because a company that likes to be under the radar suddenly is in an unwelcome spotlight. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Northern Trust CEO Michael O'Grady met last week with his counterpart at Bank of New York Mellon about a potential combination of the two entities. The news comes less than four months after the Deerfield-based parent of Walgreens agreed to be purchased by a New York private-equity firm Sycamore Partners. Like Northern Trust, Walgreens has a Chicago history that goes back well over 100 years. The notion that Walgreens, a Chicago mainstay, could be swallowed by a New York investment firm with a name few in these parts recognized, would have seemed ludicrous even a few short years ago. But in these times of economic volatility — first, a pandemic, then rampant inflation and now the uncertainty tied to trade policy in Washington, D.C. — there are few certainties in the business world. Even so, Northern Trust's status as a pillar of Chicago's business community seemed a pretty safe bet until the weekend bombshell. How safe is that bet now? There's reason to worry. BNY Mellon's market value is more than two times Northern Trust's, making it possible for the larger New York-based firm to offer a premium for the Chicago bank's shares. According to the report, the discussions are so early that there's been no talk of how much BNY Mellon might bid. Northern Trust was quick to dampen speculation, with a spokesman asserting the bank 'is fully committed to remaining independent and continuing to deliver long-term value to our stakeholders, as we have for 135 years.' The statement didn't stop investors from doing just that — speculating. They bid Northern Trust shares up by 8% Monday to their highest level in more than three years. For Chicago's sake, let's hope Northern Trust's statement truly reflects the sentiments of O'Grady and the board. A relentless series of sales of locally-based banks to out-of-town buyers over the past two decades has dramatically weakened the city's once-powerful banking sector. New York's JPMorgan Chase in 2004 acquired Bank One, the city's largest bank at the time. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America followed suit in 2007, swallowing LaSalle Bank, the city's second largest lender. Several smaller local banks bulked up in the wake of those splashy deals, snatching commercial clients who wanted more personalized service than the giants could or would provide. Most of them subsequently sold to out-of-town buyers such as Cincinnati-based Fifth Third, Canadian lender CIBC and even a bank based in Evansville, Indiana, called Old National. The most recent hit came just last month: Virginia-based Capital One completed its long-planned buyout of credit card lender Discover Financial Services, based in north suburban Riverwoods. We'll see what the future local job losses are from that deal, but surely they will be significant. Discover employs thousands in the Chicago area. Even without the negative effect of mergers, Chicago is losing good-paying, white-collar jobs provided by the likes of Discover and Northern Trust. Illinois has seen a steady decline in financial services employment since 2019, and most of those jobs are in the Chicago area. That trend means fewer residents making upper-middle-class salaries (or higher), which reduce overall consumer purchasing power and hold back the local economy. In short, our economy (and tax base) badly needs those sorts of workers. A buyout of Northern Trust also would damage Chicago's already tarnished image as a place to do business. We've seen powerhouse hedge fund and financial services company Citadel decamp for Florida. Manufacturing giant Caterpillar, with long ties to Illinois, hightailed it to Texas. Only a few decades after moving its base to Chicago, Boeing relocated its headquarters to the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Still, don't lose hope just yet. In addition to Northern Trust's stated desire to keep its independence, the good news for Chicago is that a tie-up with BNY Mellon would create substantial anti-trust concerns, even for an administration likely to be friendlier to such deal-making than the Biden administration. Northern Trust also has a particularly strong culture — Midwestern in sensibility, shunning the ostentation often associated with East Coast banking and investment firms — that would be difficult to absorb without risking the loss of key people in a high-touch business where relationships are critical. The axiom in the banking industry long has been that banks are sold, not bought. The sector is highly resistant to hostile takeovers, or even 'bear hugs,' where word of an acquirer's interest is leaked in hopes of stoking pressure from a target's shareholders to sell. Indeed, this leak features all the hallmarks of that latter approach. Still, any time Wall Street perceives a company such as Northern Trust as being 'in play,' all bets are off. A publicly traded company answers ultimately to its shareholders. Even if BNY Mellon's overture doesn't bear fruit in the short run, Northern Trust will have to perform well to remain a stand-alone for the long haul. Avoidable stumbles at Discover — running afoul of regulators in 2023 by failing to invest enough in compliance-related technology and personnel — opened the door for Capital One to make an offer Discover's board decided it couldn't refuse. Northern Trust can afford no such errors now that BNY Mellon's interest is publicly known.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Today in Chicago History: ‘May Day' born after workers take to the streets to demand an eight-hour workday
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on May 1, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) High temperature: 90 degrees (1951) Low temperature: 30 degrees (1943) Precipitation: 2.35 inches (1873) Snowfall: 1.6 inches (1940) Why May Day is an international workers' holiday — and how it began in Chicago 1867: Illinois quickly passed an eight-hour workday law, which went into effect on this date. Workers thought the vague language of the law could be enforced, and employers thought otherwise. Thousands of workers marched through Chicago to support the eight-hour workday, but a failed general strike proved the employers right. Flashback: Chicago's place at the forefront of labor history 1886: Three days before the Haymarket Affair — in which a bomb was thrown during a Chicago labor rally that resulted in the death of eight police officers and at least four civilians — tens of thousands marched on Michigan Avenue in a campaign to reduce the customary 10- to 12-hour workday to eight hours. Though the U.S. honors workers in September — with Labor Day, which also has Chicago roots — the May 1886 events are commemorated in Chicago by a memorial on Desplaines Street, north of Randolph Street: A bronze statue of a wagon that served as a speakers' platform during the labor meeting. 1893: The World's Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago. Beating out New York to host the spectacular world's fair was a miracle considering just 22 years earlier the city was in shambles following the Great Chicago Fire. The Ferris wheel, Cracker Jack and zippers were new-fangled things introduced to the more than 20 million attendees before the fair closed five months later. 1897: Louisa Luetgert, wife of Adolf Luetgert, owner of the A.L. Luetgert Sausage & Packing Co., disappeared. Luetgert was convicted of her slaying on Feb. 9, 1898, and dissolving her body in a vat of lye and sentenced to life in prison. Poet Gwendolyn Brooks, center, walks unrecognized by people in Chicago in 1961. Brooks lived on the South Side for most of her life. (Chicago Tribune archive) Gwendolyn Brooks writes at a table next to her books, circa 1961. (Robert MacKay/Chicago Tribune) Poet Gwendolyn Brooks at event at Columbia College on June 17, 1963. (Arthur Walker/Chicago Tribune) Poet Gwendolyn Brooks walks out of her home at 7428 S. Evans Ave. in the Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago in 1961. Brooks lived in the same house on the South Side from 1953 to 1994. (Robert Mackay/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks, center, and Ald. Leon Despres, are congratulated by Columbia College President Mirron Alexandroff, right, at the commencement exercise where Brooks and Despres were given honorary degrees on June 16, 1964, at the Prudential Building. (John Vogele/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks, of Chicago, was named by Gov. Otto Kerner, right, the new poet laureate of Illinois on Jan. 8, 1968. Brooks, a Pulitzer-Prize winning author and poet succeeds the late Carl Sandburg. (UPI Telephoto) Poet Gwendolyn Brooks, shown here on Aug. 5 1966, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950 and gave voice to the experience of African- Americans with her first poetry anthology, "A Street in Bronzeville," in 1954. (Arnold Tolchin/Chicago Tribune) Illinois' poet laureate Gwendolyn Brooks, center, shares her thoughts on verse with poetry award winners at the University of Chicago on June 11, 1981. (Walter Kale/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks reviews papers in a sun-lit area of the Library of Congress on Dec. 13, 1985, in Washington D.C. Brooks is the consultant in poetry to the library. (Paul F. Gero/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks on Dec. 13, 1985, at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. (Paul F. Gero/Chicago Tribune) Poet Gwendolyn Brooks talks with student writers after a poetry reading at Ancona School in Chicago on Feb. 10, 1992. (Ovie Carter/Chicago Tribune) Gwendolyn Brooks, Illinois poet laureate, celebrates her 70th birthday by blowing out the candles on a huge cake surrounded by young aspiring poets at Ida Noyes Hall at the University of Chicago on June 7, 1987. (Walter Kale/Chicago Tribune) The home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks from 1953 to 1994 in the Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago, April 29, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune) Nora Brooks Blakely, daughter of poet Gwendolyn Brooks, left, and sculptor Margot McMahon speak to a group of children about poetry and the new statue of Brooks at Gwendolyn Brooks Park on June 6, 2018, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) A mural on the wall of 316 E. 75th St. celebrates Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who lived in Grand Crossing from 1953 to 1994, April 29, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune) A new statue of poet Gwendolyn Brooks, sculpted by Margot McMahon, stands at Gwendolyn Brooks Park on June 6, 2018, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) Show Caption1 of 17Gwendolyn Brooks, a 32-year-old housewife and part-time secretary, has won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for 'Annie Allen,' a ballad of Black Chicago life on May 1, 1950. Brooks is the first Black woman to capture one of the famed awards. (ACME photo)Expand 1950: Poet Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950, for 'Annie Allen,' a collection of works about a Black girl growing into womanhood while wrestling with racism, sexism, poverty and loss. A review in the Tribune praised its 'quick sense of the life of many people, the small intensities and the big disasters.' 1951: Minnie Minoso became the first Black player to play for the Chicago White Sox, homering in his first at-bat against Vic Raschi of the New York Yankees. 1960: Comiskey Park's exploding scoreboard debuted. Al Smith stepped up in the home half of the first inning of a doubleheader on May 1, 1960, and put the defending American League champs ahead with a two-run homer off Jim Bunning. Then the fun began. Smith triggered the public debut of owner Bill Veeck's biggest, baddest pinball machine — his $300,000 exploding scoreboard. The tradition of saluting White Sox home runs continues to this day. 1974: The Tribune became the first news organization to publish the entire 246,000-word transcript of the Watergate tapes, scooping even the government printing office by several hours. Vintage Chicago Tribune: The paper's role in the demise of Richard Nixon's presidency after Watergate President Richard Nixon resigned Aug. 9, 1974. 1997: WMAQ-Ch. 5 evening news anchor Carol Marin quit after management hired talk show host Jerry Springer to deliver news commentaries. She had been at WMAQ for 19 years. Co-anchor Ron Magers quit two weeks later. 2004: Farnsworth House, a steel-and-glass masterwork by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rhode, opened for tours after preservationists spent $7.5 million to buy and keep the icon of 20th century modernism in Illinois. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@ and mmather@
Washington Post
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Reader critiques: The Post is doing Trump's work for him
Every week, The Post runs a collection of letters of readers' grievances — pointing out grammatical mistakes, missing coverage and inconsistencies. These letters tell us what we did wrong and, occasionally, offer praise. Here, we present this week's Free for All letters. On March 26, Robin Givhan's writing shone brighter than President Donald Trump's tacky ormolu in her The Critique column, 'The swift and petulant gilding of Trump's Oval Office.' From the overly shiny coffee table (in which Trump can see his 'beautiful' image) to the atrociously vulgar ormolu smacked onto the marble fireplace, to the gilded side tables and stacked, gilt-framed portraits (hung in a way reminiscent of the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, as was de rigueur in the fin-de-siècle era, when robber barons ruled), to his mug shot hung with pride in the hall adjoining the Oval Office, and the glitzy trophies and memorabilia strewn about, it is as if some cheap, gilt-spewing ogre vomited all over the Oval Office. Givhan has given us a keen analysis of this cultural upchuck, which reflects not just poor taste but the wholesale destruction of honored American traditions. One look at how the would-be king has marked his territory in his throne room/man cave tells us we are in deep trouble. Claire Tieder, Charlottesville I am disappointed that The Post and Robin Givhan (whose writing I admire even when I do not agree with her positions) dedicated so much ink and space to matters as trivial as the ornaments on the mantel of the Oval Office and the president's preferred font. When I look at the photos accompanying Givhan's column, my eyes are drawn to the paintings of former presidents, not the knickknacks that nobody visiting the Oval Office is liable to notice, much less linger over. Declaring war on knickknacks will not be a winning strategy for those who would like to see a different occupant of the White House. Malcolm O'Hagan, Chevy Chase The Oval Office now looks like a madam's waiting room. President Donald Trump obviously agrees with Oscar Wilde: 'Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.' Lesley Donovan, Long Beach, California A common error people make when writing or speaking about Muppet performers is saying they are 'the voice' of a puppet. The March 27 Metro article 'Terrapins secure amphibian for speech' said Kermit the Frog has been 'voiced' by Jim Henson and Matt Vogel. But puppeteers do much more than just the voice. They move the arms, legs and head of the puppet to emote all kinds of expressions. Puppeteers make foam and fabric come alive. The Muppets aren't cartoon characters that require just a voice. Please give Muppet performers the respect they're due in future articles. Katy McCracken, Herndon Sally Jenkins's great March 21 Sports column, 'For a young Navratilova, Voice of America a beacon,' about Martina Navratilova and her family stealthily listening to Voice of America when she was very young, took me back to my first year working for VOA. As a new member of the sports department, I was assigned to interview and write about a Czech defector trying out for the 1984 U.S. Olympic rowing and canoeing team. The trials for the Los Angeles Games were held on the Potomac River. I can't recall his name, but I'll never forget when he told me how he, his family and other families huddled around a shortwave radio in a secure basement to listen illegally to VOA broadcasts to get the truth of what was going on in and outside their country. He called VOA their 'lifeline' — the same word Jenkins said Navratilova used. It deeply saddens me to think how, because of the recent shuttering of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, people around the world who relied on VOA are now confronted with dead air. Parke Brewer, Silver Spring The writer is a former sports editor for Voice of America. There is an incredible amount of fear in the nation and around the world as a result of the Trump administration's unprecedented attempts to subvert the Constitution and many of our democratic norms. The Post should not be feeding this fear unnecessarily by running such uncritical headlines as 'Trump signs executive order requiring proof of citizenship in federal elections,' from March 25. This executive order mandating that people provide documents proving they are citizens when they register to vote is illegal, as the article acknowledged. So why wasn't that caveat in the headline? Please use your platform responsibly by raising alarm where it's warranted, and keep fear to a minimum by calling this administration's countless bluffs. Charles Lusher, Los Angeles The Post should stop using the term 'mass deportation' to describe the Trump administration's actions regarding immigrants being removed from our country, as it did in the March 23 front-page article 'IRS on verge of migrant data deal.' The term is a political talking point used to falsely suggest that the administration's actions are effective, aggressive and novel. However, credible independent sources have reported that deportations have actually decreased since President Donald Trump took office. By repeatedly using 'mass deportation,' The Post is falsely suggesting that Trump is fulfilling one of his most well-known campaign promises, when his actions, which demonstrate incompetence and legal heedlessness, do not match the description. Trump would like people to think mass deportations are happening. The Post should not do his bidding. Peter Dorfman, Belmont, Massachusetts Regarding the March 23 obituary 'Reagan speechwriter coined notable lines like 'evil empire'' and the news article 'Putin commissioned a 'beautiful portrait' of Trump, U.S. envoy says': By a happy coincidence, the obituary for Reagan speechwriter Anthony R. Dolan appeared on the same day as an article about a portrait Vladimir Putin commissioned for Donald Trump. Dolan crafted some of Ronald Reagan's most famous words, including 'evil empire' to describe the Soviet Union. Those words spoke truth to power, made Reagan a hero to people in the captive Soviet republics and became an enduring part of the president's legacy. With his forthright truth-telling, Dolan etched his own name in the history books. By contrast, consider the words of Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has engaged Putin about his war against Ukraine. Witkoff recently lauded Putin for gifting Trump a 'beautiful portrait' of the American president and praying for 'his friend' when Trump was shot. Witkoff stated, 'I don't regard Putin as a bad guy.' Apparently, Putin is unaware of Russian troops' rape and murder of Ukrainian civilians, bombing of hospitals and executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war. If only the pious autocrat weren't in the dark, he surely would put an immediate halt to these atrocities. The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against the 'not a bad guy' for kidnapping Ukrainian children is all a big misunderstanding. Diplomats, as the saying goes, are paid to lie for their country. But fibbing is not the same as uttering an odious lie. In practicing the latter, Witkoff debases himself and precludes any positive mention of his own name in the history books. Meanwhile, Putin and his associates must be snickering about Witkoff's praise and congratulating themselves for how easy it has been to manipulate the Trump administration with nonsense about prayers and friendship. We can only hope that Trump recognizes sooner than later that he is being played, and thereby humiliated. Victor Nakas, Towson On March 22, for the first time since I started reading Marc A. Thiessen's commentaries in The Post, my reaction was 'What a great column!' 'My half-million miles as a hockey dad' was warm, loving and full of human interest, proving that Thiessen is a mensch after all. His previous contributions to The Post demonstrated that he was a MAGA man, which meant that nothing he said resonated with me and I wondered why The Post continued subjecting me to him. This column almost made up for all of that. Bravo (for once), Mr. Thiessen! Harris Factor, Columbia The March 22 front-page article 'Brazil's nationalist flight of fancy?' reported that American schoolchildren are taught that the Wright brothers invented the airplane in 1903 but 'Brazilians hear a different story: that the true inventor of the airplane was Alberto Santos Dumont.' Is 'true inventor' an accurate or important way to identify either the Wright brothers or Santos Dumont? I had never heard of Santos Dumont, but I now see that he was an outstanding aviation engineer and he certainly got his machine to fly. Also, I don't see any evidence that his success was related to or dependent upon the Wright brothers' feat. So, I am reminded of a question a high school student once asked me: 'Who invented shoes?' We had been discussing 19th-century American inventions, and that question made us all, teacher and students, realize that many 'inventions' have many inventors. What's the point of worrying about 'first' or 'true' inventors? What's all the fuss concerning aviation? It appears the airplane was independently invented at least twice. Lynn Kearney, Arlington The question should not be who invented the airplane. That was clearly the Wright brothers. The question should be who was first to achieve sustained, powered, navigable flight. That, just as clearly, was Alberto Santos Dumont in his No. 6 dirigible. As mentioned, the Wright brothers' first successful flights took place in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903. However, their best flight that day lasted less than a minute, reached a meager altitude of 10 feet, could fly only in a straight line while covering just 852 feet, and ended in a crash. This is not a good example of sustained, powered, navigable flight. On the other hand, Brazil's 'le petit Santos,' as the French called him, flew a seven-mile round trip from the Parc de Saint-Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and back at an altitude of roughly 1,300 feet in his No. 6 dirigible in slightly under 30 minutes. Now that is an excellent example of sustained, powered, navigable flight, which Santos Dumont achieved on Oct. 19, 1901. His flight was also witnessed by accredited aviation officials. The same cannot be said for the famously secretive Wright brothers. Brazilians still have every reason to be proud of their native son. John J. Geoghegan, Novato, California In Lewis Carroll's poem 'The Hunting of the Snark,' what the Bellman says three times must be true. Journalism should aspire to a higher standard. Articles in The Post repeatedly assert that Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty requires the United States to defend any NATO member from attack. The March 23 front-page article 'As tensions rise on a melting map, Greenland's world stature grows' was illustrative: 'Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty ... which holds that an attack on one is an attack on all, the U.S. is bound to protect Greenland.' Don't overlook that Article 11 declares that signatory nations shall respond according to their constitutional processes. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, relying on the testimony of Secretary of State Dean Acheson, made clear in a report before the Senate ratified the treaty that it left to Congress the decision of whether the United States should resort to war to defend a NATO member: The 'question was repeatedly asked' whether the United States was 'obligated to react to an attack on Paris or Copenhagen in the same way it would react to an attack on New York City? In such an event does the treaty give the President the power to take any action, without specific congressional authorization, which he could not take in the absence of the treaty? The answer to both these questions is 'No.'' War is too important for journalistic oversimplification. Bruce Fein, Washington The writer was associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan. I have abandoned my shortsighted liberal-lefty knee-jerk mindset and am now wholeheartedly in favor of President Donald Trump's plan to acquire a lot of territory. This would include Canada, Greenland and Panama. But we should not stop there. We also must have Iceland, Bermuda and Cuba to protect our national security. Haiti we can skip for now. So, with Canada's 10 provinces, plus Panama, Greenland, Cuba, Iceland and Bermuda, we'll have 15 new states and 16 if Canada's three territories become one state. But like the other territories the United States has acquired (Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, New Mexico, etc.), these new ones must have full representation in Congress. That will mean 32 new senators and I can't count how many new members of the House of Representatives — but a lot. A final point: To be scrupulously fair, we should buy these territories (like we did Alaska) at fair market value. This would add to the national debt. But the new products we could export (such as Cuban cigars) would be well worth it. Christopher Harris, Gallatin Gateway, Montana I wish Drew Goins's March 26 op-ed, 'Team Trump's Greenland invasion group chat,' had come with a trigger warning. A part of me registered that it was intended to be humorous, yet the adolescent and careless dialogue could have been taken from actual events. For satire to work, you have to know which world you're in because the contrast is what makes it funny. The outlandishness of government behavior no longer cues which world I'm in. Reading the piece, I felt like a combat veteran who had been jump-scared by a playful friend: There was relief when the punchline came, but there was also irritation that I had been too bombarded with threat to enjoy the joke. Please, Mr. Goins, warn me in advance next time that it's safe to laugh. Lindsay C. Gibson, Virginia Beach Regarding the March 22 Free for All letter 'Casting aspersions on the grieving,' from a widowed mother offended by Rick Reilly's March 12 op-ed, 'Ash-scattering is out of hand. Please, cremain in place': All humor is based in tragedy, or at least discomfort. This ranges from something as simple as telling knock-knock jokes, where the humor is a result of the other person's momentary confusion and anticipation, all the way to (and likely beyond) my siblings and I making jokes about Alzheimer's, which we all took up as soon as my father did — right after he was diagnosed with it. Grief is awful. No two ways about it. But the world doesn't change to accommodate it, nor should it. The griever should learn to temper their grief over time, as we all do. Matt Weixel, Cleveland Well, Edith Pritchett has done it again. Her March 29 editorial cartoon, 'Your 23andMe results are here,' was mean-spirited and hurtful. We all know people who have faced some of the very situations she makes fun of, and I can imagine how they might feel if they saw this cartoon. Barbara Wilson, Bethesda In his March 15 Free for All letter, 'This understanding is understanding,' Tucker Eskew complained about an editor's note stating, 'A book ... is publishing on March 18.' At least the editor didn't write, 'A book ... will drop on March 18.' Everything that debuts nowadays — movies, TV shows, new donuts at Dunkin' — drops. All I can think of when I hear that word is an animal giving birth. Karen Albamonti, North Kingstown, Rhode Island Join us at 1 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, April 23, for a Free for All live chat! Have a question about The Post's journalism? A grammar pet peeve? Some fun wordplay? Submit questions at
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Here are Chicago's 7 ‘most endangered' buildings of 2025
CHICAGO - Preservation Chicago released its list of the city's seven most endangered buildings. The advocacy group said the historic buildings are under imminent threat and hopes to mobilize support to save them. Preservation Chicago described them as "architecturally and culturally significant structures and spaces that give our city its character. What we know Here are the seven structures that Preservation Chicago says are the most endangered: Location: 36 West Randolph Street Built in the 1870s after the Great Chicago Fire, the Delaware Building is one of the few remaining buildings from the Loop's early reconstruction era. It was listed on the National Register in 1974 and designated a Chicago Landmark in 1983. Location: Burham and Roote in Jackson Park at 1766 Columbia Drive Originally known as the Columbia Drive Bridge, it has provided passage over Jackson Park's lagoon for nearly 150 years. It's one of the few surviving architectural elements of the original Jackson Park and is a rare remaining feature of the World's Columbian Exposition. Location: 42 North Central Avenue It's the only single-family house designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright on the city's West Side. It was listed as a city landmark in 1981 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. Location: 2101 South King Drive It's the oldest surviving African American baptist church building and second-oldest African American church congregation in the city. During the 1919 Chicago Race Riot, the church fought to maintain peace and later serve as a community center during the 1920s as the Great Migration brought an influx of American Americans from the South. Location: 2000 West Pershing Road The tall, slender 11-story red-brick masonry and terracotta clad structure is the tallest in the Central Manufacturing District development. It functioned as a water tower for the first planned industrial district in the nation. Location: 4200 to 4500 South Western Boulevard The eight historic industrial buildings in the Back of the Yards neighborhood exemplify several architectural styles of the period. The buildings form the western boundary of the neighborhood, a historically industrial and working class area associated with the former Union Stock Yards. Location: 5848 South Princeton Avenue Built in 1895 for Chicago's growing German Roman Catholic community in the Englewood community, it's a historical artifact for the Gothic Revival movement in the U.S. St. Martin's shuttered in 2017 and the building has suffered considerable deterioration due to vacancy and neglect. For more information on the buildings and their history, visit
