Chicago's life expectancy hit its highest recorded level in 2024 with the strongest gains among Black Chicagoans, according to new data from the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH).

Why it matters: Life expectancy rates can offer a broad picture of how well a city is serving its people in the areas of economics, public safety and public health.

Super stat: Between 2023 and 2024, the 11-year life expectancy gap between Black Chicagoans and their non-Black peers narrowed to 6.3 years.

Of note: Whites, Latinos and Asians saw small to modest gains between 2023 and 2024. Asians far outpaced other races with a life expectancy of nearly 87 years.

Zoom in: The improvements came largely from progress in three major drivers of death:

• Opioid overdoses
• Homicides
• Chronic disease

Between the lines: Mirroring trends across the nation, Chicago saw a 34% decrease in opioid deaths from 1,131 to 745 between 2023 and 2024. CDPH scientists believe a few factors likely played a role:

• Greater access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone, now available at all Chicago Public Libraries.
• Distribution of fentanyl test strips and harm reduction programs, in conjunction with UIC, to test for a host of new adulterants that are showing up in street drugs as the flow of fentanyl slows.

What's next: "We're going to continue calculating life expectancy to identify what cause of death categories or contributors are changing," CDPH epidemiologist Darlene Nolasco Magaña tells Axios.

Go deeper on the stats

Among the star-studded crowd at last Thursday's opening of the Obama Presidential Center sat two guests who drew little attention but occupy a unique place in Barack Obama's political story.

The big picture: Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn were part of Obama's Hyde Park political orbit in the 1990s and later became central figures in attacks against him during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Catch up quick: Ayers and Dohrn became household names in the late 1960s during the anti-Vietnam War protest movement. They became leaders in the Weather Underground, which broke from peaceful anti-war protests and carried out a campaign of bombings targeting government buildings and other symbols of authority.

The intrigue: In 1995, they held a casual party at their house to introduce friends to "a skinny kid with a funny name" named Barack Obama.

• That was enough for Republican operatives to seize upon when Obama ran for president in 2008. They argued Obama had ties to a man they described as a former domestic terrorist, even though the support came nearly 30 years after the Weather Underground.

What they're saying: "The people who tried to say that Obama palled around with terrorists, that he had Palestinian friends, that he had a Black nationalist minister, none of that shit worked because he transcended it," Ayers told Axios.

Zoom out: Even though Ayers has always supported Obama, he didn't always agree with him.

• "We don't agree on policy. We don't agree on a lot of politics, but he is a person of deep intelligence and deep integrity, and let's celebrate that and get back in the trenches and fight for a world at peace with fairness for everybody."

Ayers on the future of the Dem Party

🛍️ The Ford City Mall closed yesterday, a day before a Cook County judge ordered the Southwest Side shopping center to shut down due to safety concerns. (ABC 7)

At least 12 people were injured in a drive-by mass shooting in Roseland on Friday. (Fox 32)

🖼️ The city cannot locate a publicly owned Bill Cass painting that once hung in the office of one of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's top aides. (Sun-Times)

🏉 The Chicago Hounds won the Major League Rugby Championship yesterday, completing the first undefeated season in the league's history. (WGN-TV)

The world's largest Hello Kitty Café opens at 10am Friday at 360 N. Michigan Ave.

State of play: The two-level, 8,000-square-foot space — slated to be the largest Hello Kitty Café in the world — will offer indoor and outdoor patio seating, Chicago-exclusive desserts and beverages, merchandise, and, of course, plenty of photo opportunities.

Flashback: A Japanese illustrator created the Hello Kitty character in 1974 while working at the company Sanrio, according to the BBC.

The intrigue: She's not actually a cat, but a girl.

What to expect: The café's online menu includes coffee and colorful specialty drinks topped with whipped cream and marshmallows, with cakes, cookies, pies and doughnuts.

The bottom line: Lots of Hello Kitty posts are about to flood your Instagram feed.

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Fiesta Boricua may be over, but Chicago celebrates Puerto Rican-influenced culture every day with our homegrown jibarito sandwich, a treat that uses fried plantains instead of a bun for the bread.

We're duking it out over who in Chicago has the best jibarito.

Monica's pick: Eating jibaritos is one of the tastiest ways to celebrate my Puerto Rican heritage, and my favorite place to do it is at Jibaritos Y Mas in Logan Square, where they serve 11 different varieties of the sandwich ($10.60-$11.75), all on perfectly fried, garlicky plantains.

• To me, the tastiest arrives stuffed with a rich blood and rice sausage called morcilla, but you can enjoy one filled with seafood, various meats and even vegetarian varieties.

Carrie's pick: As a pescatarian, I've struggled to find a fish jibarito that really hits the spot for me. I didn't even realize veggie was an option, but Monica turned me on to The Jibarito Stop in the Loop, which offers both a vegetarian ($8.99) and vegan jibarito.

• The sauteed peppers and onions had a nice kick, and the plantains were not overly garlicky.

Justin's pick: You can stop deep-frying your sweet plantains because the best jibarito in the city is at Omarcito's Latin Cafe in Logan Square.

• The Ropa Vieja ($13) is the star, featuring plantains, Cuban-style shredded beef, and a special green garlic sauce. Add Muenster cheese, and you're in for a treat!

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