Good morning, Chicago.
Peter Chatain had all the qualifications for the job.
A master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. Deft coding skills. A deep appreciation for artificial intelligence ethics.
Chatain thought he’d be a great fit for the machine learning engineer position at Ello, a San Francisco-based startup that produces an AI-powered reading app that listens and engages with children as they read out loud from books. He had proved as much during an internship there in 2022.
There was just one thing, the Winnetka native told his prospective employers:
He hoped to make the U.S. Olympic rowing team in 2024, so he would need some flexibility in his schedule.
Catalin Moreno Voss, Ello’s co-founder and chief technology officer, had heard a lot of interesting stories and codicils from job applicants in his career. But someone asserting their intention of becoming an Olympian was a first.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Stacy St. Clair.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
Subscribe to more newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Today’s eNewspaper edition
Don’t expect a balloon drop quite yet. How the virtual roll call to nominate Kamala Harris will work
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention will officially select their nominee for president in a process that begins today. But unlike in past years, they won’t do so in the raucous party atmosphere of the convention floor or even during the convention itself. Instead, they’ll quietly fill out electronic ballots in the comfort of their homes, offices or vacation spots more than two weeks before the first delegate steps foot inside Chicago’s United Center.
Donald Trump questions Kamala Harris’ racial identity, compares himself to Lincoln at Black journalists convention
Former President Donald Trump questioned the racial identity of Vice President Kamala Harris in her historic candidacy as his Democratic challenger and told an audience of Black journalists in Chicago on Wednesday that he was “the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.”
In a 34-minute appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists, cut short from a scheduled hour, a feisty Trump came out on the attack. He criticized ABC News congressional correspondent Rachel Scott for her first question, in which she recited a list of his past disparaging comments about his political opponents of color, calling it “disgraceful,” “rude” and “nasty.”
Landmark Chicago public housing discrimination settlement extended
A landmark public housing discrimination settlement in Chicago has been extended, giving the Chicago Housing Authority more time to complete development plans for public housing properties.
The case, Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, was a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of public housing resident and community organizer, Dorothy Gautreaux, and it sought to end systemic racial discrimination in Chicago’s public housing.
Susan Walsh/AP
Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell listens during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 1, 2020. (Susan Walsh/AP)
Fed Chair Powell says September interest rate cut is ‘on the table’ as inflation cools
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday set the stage for the central bank’s first rate cut in four years, citing greater progress toward lower inflation as well as a cooler job market that no longer threatens to overheat the economy.
CVS doubling down on primary health care, opening new clinics in Chicago, even as Walgreens pulls back
CVS Health has plans to open 25 Oak Street Health clinics in its stores, including three in the Chicago area — a move that comes as competitors Walgreens and Walmart pull back on the idea.
Stateville inmates request transfer or release in court motion citing prison’s decrepit conditions
Civil rights lawyers representing people incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center filed a court motion requesting that the state transfer or release them no later than Sept. 20, citing the aging prison’s “degradation and deterioration.”
Meet the Olympics superfan who spent $10,000 to get to her 7th Games
Covered with pins and adornments, Vivianne Robinson is hard to miss in the streets of Paris.
The Olympics superfan has attended seven Summer Games over the span of 40 years. But this trip to Paris came at a hefty price — $10,000 to be precise.
US tops South Sudan 103-86 at Paris Olympics, earns spot in men’s basketball quarterfinals
In the rematch, the U.S. had an easier time with South Sudan than it did when the teams first met a couple of weeks ago. Easier. Not easy.
Chicago White Sox record losing streak reaches 17 after getting clobbered 10-3 by Kansas City Royals
At 27-84, the Sox are 57 games below .500 for the first time in franchise history.
The Sox were swept for the 17th time this season. They finished 1-12 in the season series against the Royals.
Stratford Festival 2024: Rotten fathers and fun musicals at Ontario’s gathering of the theater faithful
The star-crossed lovers typically pull focus in “Romeo and Juliet.” But in director Sam White’s simple if atypically violent new production this summer at the Stratford Festival of Canada, it’s the traumatizing parenting that haunts.
‘Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes’ review: Newly discovered tapes from 1964 paint a riveting picture
In 1964, Life magazine ran a 6,000-word story on Elizabeth Taylor culled from nearly 40 hours of audio interviews with the biographer and journalist Richard Meryman Jr.
The Meryman interviews — long, winding conversations over drinks (a “scotch and sodie,” as Taylor playfully puts it) — have been unearthed and they form the basis of the absorbing HBO documentary, “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes.” Tribune TV and film critic Nina Metz has this review.
‘Sing Sing’ review: One-of-a-kind prison drama is guided by actors who really know the story
“Sing Sing,” a genuinely moving highlight of 2024, makes most of the other dramas we’ve seen this year look like phonies, writes Tribune film critic Michael Phillips. It has a few elements, a few moments, that edge into softer emotional territory than most previous prison films go anywhere near. That said, millions on this planet can’t hear the words “Shawshank Redemption” without welling up, and like that film, “Sing Sing” exerts a strong pull on the heartstrings — but without the hard sell or the crafty, manipulative exertion.