Good morning, Chicago.
For an event as unusual as a total solar eclipse, enthusiasts hope more elements than just the moon and sun align.
In space, unusual solar activity might make the viewing experience extra dazzling. But on Earth, clouds and rain could mar the experience.
Early predictions indicate southern Missouri, southern Illinois and central Indiana will have clear skies and offer some of the country’s prime observing locations.
But many meteorological factors — such as water vapor and air temperature — that combine to produce cloud cover can complicate and change forecasts as eclipse day approaches.
The Tribune’s Adriana Pérez spoke with a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center and a space weather analyst with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on the forecast for Monday’s event.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
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![Mayor Brandon Johnson talks with "Dreamer" Mariana Gutierrez and other community leaders before speaking to reporters following a roundtable discussion in Chicago on Thursday, April 4, 2024, with community leaders that elevated the contributions of the Black and brown communities and urged President Biden to extend work permits to all workers in the U.S. without legal permission. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)](https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CTC-L-johnson-work-permit21_187240582.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
Mayor Johnson to Biden: Let Chicago’s long-term immigrants work
Mayor Brandon Johnson is leading a multi-city push calling on President Joe Biden to let long-term undocumented residents work legally.
Johnson announced the effort to “challenge President Biden” to create a streamlined work authorization process for long-term undocumented immigrants and recent migrant arrivals alike Thursday while speaking with over two dozen top business, faith, labor, non-profit and immigrant rights leaders.
![Two children play with an umbrella as their mother, Alejandra Hernandez, left, carries containers of food outside a migrant shelter in the 2200 block of South Halsted Street on Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)](https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CTC-L-migrants-tuberculosis-01-cropped.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
Girl, 5, at migrant shelter recovering from tuberculosis, her father says, as city officials confirm ‘small number’ of cases
The father told the Tribune that hours after the girl’s fever was at its peak, health care officials sent the man’s daughter to the hospital. She stayed there for days, he said, and then was given medication and released back to the West Loop shelter.
Heidi Mueller
DCFS Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the appointment of youth justice and child welfare expert Heidi Mueller as the new director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
New DCFS director in court to face questions on children stuck in emergency placements
Cook County Judge Patrick Murphy, the county’s former public guardian, summoned Heidi Mueller to his courtroom to discuss what he called the “systemic” problem of children being kept by DCFS in emergency or psychiatric facilities longer than medically necessary, which often causes their condition to worsen.
![Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, then a professor of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, on April 9, 2015. Goolsbee hopes to reach the goal of reducing inflation to its 2% target without triggering a recession. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune)](https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-Jarrett10_179769525.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
Chicago Fed president still sees inflation on ‘golden path’ to 2%, but housing costs need to come down before rates cut
Housing inflation has proved more stubborn than other components of the Consumer Price Index, and may determine whether and when the Fed does cut interest rates, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee told the Tribune yesterday.
“We want to have confidence that we’re on path to 2% before we start cutting,” Goolsbee said. “We haven’t seen near enough progress on housing.”
![Jaclyn Ross, left, and Tory Eisenlohr-Moul in Ross' office in Chicago on March 15, 2024. The two worked on a study for the University of Illinois at Chicago that found menstrual cycles affect day-to-day suicide risk. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)](https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ctc-l-menstruation-suicidal-idea.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
Menstrual cycles can affect day-to-day suicide risk, UIC study finds
When Tory Eisenlohr-Moul was training as a therapist, she saw people who had chronic suicidal thoughts — thoughts that would abruptly change from week to week. But when one of Eisenlohr-Moul’s patients mentioned her menstrual cycle was impacting her symptoms, the clinical psychologist homed in on how menses might be part of the equation.
Eisenlohr-Moul led researchers to study how suicidal thoughts fluctuate across the menstrual cycle. The result is a longitudinal study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, where Eisenlohr-Moul, postdoctoral researcher and clinical psychologist Jaclyn Ross, and M.D. and Ph.D. student Jordan Barone followed 119 female patients who tracked their suicidal thoughts and mental health symptoms daily over at least one menstrual cycle. They found that female patients with a history of suicidality experience an increased risk of suicidal ideation or suicidal planning in the days surrounding menstruation.
![Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrates after defeating LSU in an Elite Eight round college basketball game during the NCAA Tournament, Monday, April 1, 2024, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)](https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/APTOPIX_NCAA_LSU_Iowa_Basketball_40913_27a909.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
Column: The popularity of women’s basketball is undeniable. It’s not an interest issue — it’s access.
On Monday night, 12.3 million people tuned in to watch Iowa and Caitlin Clark — the projected first pick in this year’s WNBA draft — defeat Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson and LSU in an NCAA Tournament regional final. A rematch of last season’s championship game, it was the most-watched game in women’s basketball history.
If we look back through that history, the popularity of women’s basketball is undeniable. The problem never has been interest but access, writes Shakeia Taylor.
![White Sox starting pitcher Mike Clevinger reacts after giving up a home run to Rays right fielder Luke Raley on April 30, 2023, at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)](https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CTC-L-Sox-CLEVINGER.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
What led to Mike Clevinger’s controversial return to the White Sox — and what’s next for the rotation
The White Sox and Mike Clevinger finalized a one-year, $3 million deal Thursday.
Clevinger, 33, went 9-9 with a 3.77 ERA, 110 strikeouts and two complete games in 24 starts last season. He led Sox starters in wins and ERA.
![Nell Tiger Free as Margaret and Nicole Sorace as Carlita in "The First Omen."(20th Century Studios)](https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CTC-L-THE-FIRST-OMEN-01_187228270.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
Review: ‘The First Omen’ is a prequel with style, plus borderline NC-17 body horror
Tribune film critic Michael Phillips hates to call “The First Omen” unexpectedly well-crafted and a little bit surprising, even. But for an essentially unnecessary prequel to “The Omen,” the 1976 hit about one satanically-minded child, two unfortunate parents and three sixes, its virtues point to an auspicious feature debut from director and co-writer Arkasha Stevenson, a former Los Angeles Times photojournalist with an eye for sinister beauty.
![A poster for Dial M For Murder shows Anthony Dawson and Grace Kelly in 1954. (LMPC)](https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-GettyImages-113.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
‘Triple Threat! A 3D Series’ at the Music Box: It’ll knock both your eyes out
The Music Box invested several tens of thousands of dollars in the XpanD-brand system. It utilizes four transmitters mounted to the back wall of the main auditorium, which sends signals to the screen, which bounce off the screen and hit the eyewear. That’s an amateur’s account, but the results — supple color, very little murk, serious spatial depth — are the best 3D Tribune film critic Michael Phillips has seen.
![Installation of "entre horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico" at MCA Chicago and part of the /Dialogues series for EXPO Chicago 2024. (Shelby Ragsdale / MCA Chicago)](https://i0.wp.com/www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CTC-L-EXPO-2024-01.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
EXPO Chicago announces 2024 lineup and speakers including Chance the Rapper, Asma Naeem and Nate Freeman
EXPO Chicago, an international exposition of contemporary and modern art, has released the full lineup of participants for its 11th annual event, which returns to Navy Pier this year April 11-14.