| Good afternoon, Chicago. The Justice Department yesterday joined a lawsuit challenging a city program offering reparations for civil rights violations to Black residents in Evanston, arguing that the aid program amounted to racial discrimination. The Justice Department filed a motion to join a lawsuit, filed by the conservative activist group Judicial Watch, representing descendants of people who had lived in Evanston but could not apply for the program because they were not Black. The suit argues that the racial requirement is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment — a statute aimed at making formerly enslaved Black
people equal citizens of the United States. Here’s what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/latest-headlines and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History news Christen Carter, founder of the Button Museum and owner of the Busy Beaver Button Co., with some of the buttons in the museum on June 15, 2026, in Chicago. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Visitors to the Obama center, which is opening this week in Chicago, will find buttons scattered throughout the exhibits, including a set of four in a display about Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago’s first Black mayor. More top news stories: business Young people play pinball in Bolingbrook’s Old Chicago amusement park and shopping center, circa 1976. (Chicago Tribune archive) Turn-of-the-century-themed Old Chicago amusement park/shopping center — the first enclosed one in the United States — opened in Bolingbrook on this day in 1975. More top business stories: sports Cubs pitcher Edward Cabrera pitches during the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field on June 16, 2026, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 14th home run of the season was arguably the lone highlight in the Cubs’ 5-2 loss to the Rockies. The Cubs (38-36) again squandered opportunities, finishing 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine on base. More top sports stories: eat. watch. do. Tattoo artist Ben Wahhh creates a phoenix on Ella Nelson’s leg at Deluxe Tattoo in Chicago on June 3, 2026. Wahhh
helps people cover and transform tattoos and scars they got during turbulent times in their lives. Nelson was having her scars worked on. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune) Tattoo artist Ben Wahhh has founded Ink Relief, a charity that supports survivors of domestic violence and other painful pasts by providing cover-up tattoos. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: nation & world Members of the National Park Service clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool of algae, June 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President Donald Trump’s remodeled Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with its “American flag blue” bottom has turned chartreuse from an algal bloom that park service workers struggled to address yesterday just days after its more than $14 million renovation. More top stories from around the world: | 
