Remembering the amazing Ricky Jay – Chicago Tribune newstrendslive

Good morning, Chicago.

Talk about first impressions.

Rolling Meadows High School sophomore Kate Foley obviously made one on Jill Biden when the first lady and several cabinet secretaries visited the northwest suburban high school last fall.

Kate was one of the guests in the first lady’s viewing box at the State of the Union Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., where President Joe Biden made the annual address to Congress. And not only was she asked to attend, she got the invite via a direct phone call from the first lady.

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Mayoral candidate Jesús “Chuy” García’s congressional campaign says it will cut a check for $2,900 to repay clients of a collapsed cryptocurrency exchange the same amount of money the disgraced former head of the business contributed to García’s reelection war chest.

The news came as lawyers representing former clients of the FTX exchange said earlier this week they would try to get back the tens of millions of dollars indicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried lavished on political candidates across the U.S.

Mail carriers in the Chicago area are traumatized, fearing for their lives, following a string of armed robberies and thefts targeting postal workers in recent months, the head of the Chicago branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers told the Tribune.

Stretching back to at least August, mail carriers have seemingly faced a heightened risk while delivering mail, with armed robbers stealing packages, letters and master keys that open clusters of mailboxes.

Even in death, Ricky Jay continues to amaze, writes Rick Kogan.

The actor, author, scholar and fabled magician who died in 2018 was a popular visitor on local stages and an energetic collector of all things strange, marvelous and magical. On Feb. 25, some of his collected treasures will go up for auction.

While many of us were sleeping Tuesday night, LeBron James became the all-time NBA scoring leader, in the process snatching the title of greatest player of all time from Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan.

At least that’s the narrative that spread across the world after the Los Angeles Lakers star passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the scoring list in a 133-130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, writes Paul Sullivan.

The James Beard Foundation will host a rare event on the South Side next month.

Chef and owner Cliff Rome will collaborate with two guest chefs for three courses, each paired with a cocktail or wine. Three of the wine and spirit brands are notably owned by Black women, with two founded in Chicago.