In the Chicago Bulls center’s experience, they have a nagging habit of cropping up whenever he starts playing well. Maybe it’s a compliment. Maybe it’s a reminder not to get too comfortable in success. Either way, it doesn’t matter — to Vučević, rumors are meant to be ignored.
Still, it doesn’t surprise him that his renaissance season with the Bulls has elicited a wave of trade proposals and debates among fans eager to see the team’s front office make its first midseason move since trading for Vučević back in 2021. And with a month left before the Feb. 6 trade deadline, Vučević knows this chatter won’t quiet down anytime soon.
“This time of year, it’s part of it,” Vučević told the Tribune. “You can’t get caught up into that stuff. I’ve heard rumors ever since I was in Orlando. Everybody knows it and that’s just how it goes. Everybody online is going to have their opinions.”
Vučević doesn’t shy away from sharing his own opinions. From the start of last season, he was vocal that the Bulls were at the end of their rope. It was the third — and ultimately final — season of an experiment anchored around Vučević, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan
. And from the jump, Vučević expected the front office to shake things up unless the Bulls accomplished a borderline miraculous turnaround.
Although that change ultimately was delayed until the offseason, it didn’t surprise Vučević when the Bulls parted ways with DeRozan and defensive star Alex Caruso over the summer.
“We didn’t succeed with the team we had,” Vučević said. “We didn’t achieve our goals. So we expected change to happen.”
But for Vučević, the aftermath of those decisions felt strange. Although DeRozan and LaVine garnered the most attention, Vučević was the first player the Bulls front office took a swing on back in 2021, uprooting him from a decade in Orlando in an attempt to build a better future for the Bulls.
After the dust settled last summer, it would have been hard not to feel left behind. The Bulls weren’t completely rudderless, but they didn’t have much of a concrete plan for this season.
For a player in Vučević’s position, another season of uncertainty weighed heavily. At 34, he no longer can take a season for granted. And for four years now, he has treaded water with a team that hasn’t moved up or down in the Eastern Conference.
But even in this uneven landscape, Vučević didn’t want to check out. He still felt the roster had enough talent to be competitive, which was motivation enough to fuel him through another season.
And something else shifted in Vučević before the season.
Bulls center Nikola Vucevic passes the ball past Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. on Oct. 30, 2024, at the United Center. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
In early September, he came back to Chicago to prepare his son for the start of the school year. That gave him three weeks to reconnect with teammates before training camp. And in that time — during weightlifting sessions, pickup games, lunches and dinners — Vučević found something new to invest in.
Where a veteran player might have seen disorganization in the precariousness of the upcoming season, the youngest players saw opportunity. Deep rotational players such as Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips were hungry to earn more playing time. Rookie Matas Buzelis was eager to show
he could become a franchise cornerstone. And Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu were ready to shoulder the mantle of team leadership.
With each day he spent with the younger players, Vučević began to see a new role for himself as an anchor for a group still trying to make its mark on the league.
“When you see something like that, those guys motivated me to help the team along the way,” Vučević said. “I didn’t want to be the guy pouting. That’s not who I want to be. So I just embraced it.”
The shift in tone has been a factor in Vučević’s success in every corner of the court this season. He’s an emotional player. He squabbles with referees, scolds himself in Serbian after misses and shows every ounce of frustration in tough games.
But this season Vučević isn’t allowing those frustrations to seep into his play. He’s a little gentler with himself on the court, a little quicker to forget a mistake. LaVine has mirrored this levity
, both veterans finding a new peace in their roles with the Bulls.
Part of this calm confidence is rooted in the offense’s new playing style, which prevents Vučević from feeling stuck on an island — a common theme of prior seasons in Chicago.
“The way we play, the ball is finding me more naturally,” Vučević said. “And it’s not just me. We’re trying to include everyone in the offense this year and trying to make sure we all get the ball, we all get touches. The best games we’ve played are the ones where we had multiple guys scoring in the 20s.”
Vučević can’t say whether that mentality is the cause of his revitalized shooting this season — but it’s certainly bolstering his ability to keep hot streaks alive.
Vučević ranks 16th in the league
in 3-point percentage at 43.6% on 163 attempts entering Monday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs at the United Center. He closely trails LaVine, who is fifth in the NBA at 44.6% on 222 attempts.
And Vučević isn’t slowing down. He cooled off slightly since the start of December, shooting 38.5% behind the arc over the last 13 games. But even that reduced accuracy is better than any of his prior seasons with the Bulls — and would register as his highest 3-point percentage since his All-Star 2020-21 season.
This has, of course, resulted in renewed scouting by opponents as the season winds on. Teams want to take away the pocket — the sweet spot around the elbows where Vučević can thrive as a passer. Defenders are switching earlier, closing out to Vučević harder behind the arc and attempting to force him back into the low post.
But for Vučević, none of this is new. He has been an efficient shooter before and anticipates the adjustments when his 3-point shot is falling with regularity. And that familiarity strengthens the confident composure that is carrying him through the best shooting season of his career.
“It’s all stuff I’ve seen before,” Vučević said. “I just try to make the adjustment, figure out ways to still be efficient on my shot. The big difference this season is that I can actually do it. My team trusts me, I trust myself and we go from there.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration passed on applying for state funding for a city-owned grocery store, raising questions about the future of the bold proposal the mayor first floated more than a year ago.
Johnson first raised the idea of a publicly-owned grocery store
in September 2023. He framed the idea as a way to improve food access on the city’s South and West sides, where supermarket closures have left many residents with limited access to fresh groceries in their neighborhoods.
Activists who see groceries as a public good akin to a city water department or post office have long supported the concept. Still, the grocery business is notoriously tough and critics have expressed skepticism
that the city, lacking in-house grocery expertise, could pull the project off.
The public grocery stores that exist already are in much smaller municipalities. Chicago could be the first major U.S. city to open a publicly-owned grocery store if it does so, though the idea has attracted interest elsewhere, including in New York City
and Atlanta.
In December, the city passed on applying for state funding for the project despite previously saying it would do so.
The $20 million Illinois Grocery Initiative, which Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law
in 2023, was created specifically to help open or fund grocery stores in food deserts statewide. Municipalities are among the entities that can apply for the funding for up to $2.4 million each — not nearly enough to fund the startup of a new grocery store, but a place to start.
The Tribune filed a Freedom of Information Act request for applications filed by the city for funding under the state program but found no such records. The first round of state grocery grants were awarded in October
, and the deadline to apply for the second round of funding was in early December.
A city spokesperson did not comment on the decision not to apply for funding Monday.
In a memo sent to top City Hall staffers Aug. 28, the mayor’s chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, said she was coordinating efforts to apply for a state grant.
Staff would be expected to work on tasks like site evaluations and financial analysis to ready the city’s application for state funding, Pacione-Zayas wrote in the memo, which the Tribune obtained.
In the memo, Pacione-Zayas said HR&A Advisors, a consultancy that authored a feasibility study on the municipally-owned grocery project for the city, would lead and support city departments in the application effort.
HR&A had highlighted the state grocery program as a possible source of funding in its study, which found a public grocery store to be “necessary, feasible and implementable”
in Chicago. The city has not yet released the feasibility study to the public despite previously saying it would do so. The Tribune and Sun-Times reported on the study in early August.
The HR&A consultants were hired by the nonprofit Economic Security Project, a longstanding proponent of public grocery stores that was an initial partner of Johnson’s on the grocery project.
In a statement, Sarah Saheb, director of the Economic Security Project’s Illinois affiliate, said the organization “urge[s] leaders across Illinois to take advantage of state resources to help support access to groceries in their communities.”
“As corporations have consolidated power in almost every industry, including grocery store operations, they’ve put profits over people, leaving families with chronic diseases and shorter life spans,” Saheb said, adding that the state program “gives municipalities the tools they need to create viable public options.”
Supermarket closings haveplagued
the city’s South and West Sides for years, making it difficult for many residents, especially those who don’t have cars or are elderly, to buy fresh groceries.
City leaders throughout multiple mayoral administrations have struggled to address grocery store closings, in some cases doling out public funds to bring in private grocers that later close stores in the city’s underserved neighborhoods.
Under Rahm Emanuel, for example, the city spent more than $10 million to bring a Whole Foods to Englewood that the company closed six years later.
Proponents of a city-owned grocery store have argued that while opening such a store could be logistically challenging, it would alleviate some of the issues Chicago has faced by making the city less reliant on the good will of for-profit grocery companies.
A Gary man — with a 1989 child molesting conviction on his record— was charged Saturday after briefly attending grandparents’ day in October at a Merrillville charter school, court records show.
Stafford Henderson, 66, was charged with one unlawful entry by a serious sex offender.
He has not been apprehended. When arrested, he is ordered held on a $10,000, or $1,000 cash surety bond.
Merrillville Police responded at 10:12 a.m. Oct. 2 to the Higher Institute of Arts and Technology, 5861 Harrison St.
Court documents show Henderson was flagged when his identification card was scanned at the door. He told a security guard he had to use the bathroom, then left before police arrived.
Principal Tensia Johnson told officers Henderson barely got in the door and had no contact with any children.
Henderson received one year of probation in Lake County in February 2023 for failing to register as a sex offender, filings show.
He was convicted in Cobb County, Georgia of molesting an 11-year-old child in 1989. Henderson is required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.
While winter snow accumulation patterns have adjusted over the last five years during the months of January and February, Valparaiso City Services is continually monitoring the weather for snow, sleet, ice and cold temperatures that impact public safety and transportation. The winter event priority map is available at: tinyurl.com/ValpoWeather. Valparaiso reminds residents of the following procedures in winter weather events. Per city ordinances, vehicles must be removed from city streets when there is 2 or more inches of snow. Park vehicles in garages, driveways, or parking lots until the streets are cleared of snow. Do not push snow into the roads for your safety and the safety of others. The plowing process inevitably results in some snow being pushed back into already cleared driveways. (Please note that Public Works will not remove snow from driveway entrances.) To reduce the chance of this happening and creating more work for residents, Public Works recommends that residents clear an open area to the left of their driveway. This open area gives the street snow a place to land without blocking driveways. During winter weather events, main thoroughfares and emergency routes will be cleared first and will remain the focus in overnight hours. Side streets, neighborhoods and cul-de-sacs will be cleared once the emergency routes are safe to travel. Keep an eye on neighbors, particularly seniors and others who may have difficulty clearing snow or accessing help.
The Valparaiso Police Department offers a Contact Assistance Referral Program (CARE) to check on residents with special needs when the weather is severe. To register yourself or a loved one, contact Natalie Kasberger at nkasberger@valpopd.com or 219-462-2135.
Four Chesterton HS students named Class of 2025 Rising Stars of Indiana
The Indiana Association of School Principals (IASP) has announced the Class of 2025 Rising Stars of Indiana. Each Indiana high school was invited to recognize up to four students currently in the eleventh grade, based on their academic achievement. Among the 940 high school Juniors from 235 schools being honored are four Chesterton High School junior recipients: Mara Huneryager, Mackenzie Kania, Patrick Mochen and Jany Zhang. The IASP congratulates these students on all they have achieved, and offers support and encouragement as they continue their accomplishments well into the future.
Dunes Arts Foundation presents ‘The Writer’s Room’
The Dunes Arts Foundation will offer two introductory sessions of “The Writer’s Room” from 1 to 3 p.m. CT on Jan. 25 and Feb. 8 at the Michigan City Public Library, 100 E. Fourth St., Michigan City. After these two introductory sessions, the members will meet in smaller writing groups every third Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Michigan City Public Library. The “Writers Room” project will provide opportunities for showcasing new work, collaboration, and professional and artistic development for writers through an ongoing series of monthly meetings and special events. Membership is open to all writers in the following areas: playwrights, poets, fiction and nonfiction writers and lyricists. The project also is open to those in the literary arts who are interested in exploring contemporary themes and issues of diversity in their own creative writing. There is no cost for membership. For more information and to register, visit dunesARTS.org/writers, email dunestheatre@gmail.com or call 219-879-7509.
Presentation, concert explores railroad’s history
The Valparaiso Chain of Lakes Watershed Group will host an audio-visual presentation and brass band concert exploring the history of the Valparaiso and Northern Interurban Railroad at 2 p.m. Sunday at First Christian Church, 1507 E. Glendale Road, Valparaiso. The event coincides with an exhibit at the Porter County Museum, “The V&N: Porter County’s Electric Interurban Rail Line.” Built in the early 1900s, the Interurban Railroad accommodated tourists and vacationers visiting hotels and cottages along the Valparaiso Chain of Lakes. The 30-piece South Shore Brass Band has teamed up with the Valparaiso Chain of Lakes Watershed Group to offer this historical presentation including a live musical program and performance by the Indiana Ballet Theatre covering the era from 1911 to 1938, the heyday of the Interurban railroad. The event is free, handicap accessible and open to the public. Volunteers needed to help with this event. For additional information call or text Walt Breitinger at 219-477-7526.
Registration open for Valpo’s Beacon Engineering Academy
Registration for Valparaiso University’s Beacon Engineering Academy is now open. The camp will take place from June 22-28, 2025 and is open to students entering the 10th or 11th grade. This hands-on week will allow participants to explore the world of engineering through projects, activities and team challenges. Two options will be available: an overnight camp from June 22 to 28, and a day camp from June 23 to 27. Cost per-student is $800 for the overnight camp and $400 for the day-camp, with a limited number of partial scholarships are available for qualifying participants. Led by expert engineering faculty and current undergraduate students, the overnight camp features four key components: introductions to various engineering fields, development of real-world skills, social activities and collaborative large-scale engineering projects. Returning projects include robotics, biomechanics and prosthetics challenges, along with a new environmental engineering project. Participants are encouraged to have completed courses in physics or chemistry prior to attending. For more information, details about scholarships, or to apply to attend, click https://www.valpo.edu/college-of-engineering/engineering-camp/. For any questions regarding Beacon Engineering Academy, contact engineering.camp@valpo.edu.
Bears safety Adrian Colbert walks through the locker room with his son as players pack up their lockers at Halas Hall on Jan. 6, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)Cairo Santos’ locker room chart is marked “estatic” following his game-winning field goal against the Packers, at Halas Hall on Jan. 6, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Bears coach Thomas Brown speaks with the media about his season at Halas Hall on Jan. 6, 2025 in Lake Forest. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)Bears defensive end DeMarcus Walker speaks with the media in the locker room at Halas Hall on Jan. 6, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)Bears linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga cleans out his locker in the locker room at Halas Hall on Jan. 6, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Bears guard Teven Jenkins speaks with the media about his season and possible return next year as he cleans out his locker at Halas Hall on Jan. 6, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)Bears kicker Cairo Santos cleans out his locker at Halas Hall on Jan. 6, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)Bears coach Thomas Brown speaks with the media about his season at Halas Hall on Jan. 6, 2025 in Lake Forest. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
