Daywatch: The best (and worst!) of TV and film this year

Good morning, Chicago.

A Cook County judge overturned the murder conviction of a man who was found guilty in a fatal shooting at a South Side gas station primarily based on the testimony of an eyewitness who turned out to be legally blind.

Darien Harris was an 18-year-old high school senior with a clean criminal record when prosecutors charged him in an ambush-style shooting that left one man dead and another seriously injured in June 2011.

Now 30, Harris has long maintained his innocence, saying he was at home watching LeBron James play in the NBA finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. But a now-retired judge found Harris guilty in 2014 and sent him to prison for 76 years.

More than four years ago, his legal team, family and friends began urging the conviction integrity unit of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to take another look at the case. Among other arguments, they said the key witness had failed to disclose to the trial judge that the witness was legally blind because of his glaucoma.

Read the full story from the Tribune’s Christy Gutowski.

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Gov. J.B. Pritzker won’t proceed with Brighton Park migrant camp, citing ‘serious’ environmental concerns

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration moved to officially scrap Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to build a migrant camp on a controversial Southwest Side lot, in a scathing rebuke of the city’s evaluation of the land’s potential environmental hazards.

Burger King exec testifies about uneasiness with then-Ald. Ed Burke linking permits with tax firm work

The son of a Texas-based fast-food restaurant tycoon told a federal jury Tuesday he was “taken aback” when then-Ald. Ed Burke seemed to draw a direct link between helping with permit issues for their Southwest Side Burger King renovation and hiring Burke’s private law firm to do property tax appeals.

Salesforce Tower opens at Chicago’s Wolf Point

Located along the Chicago River at the Wolf Point site near the Merchandise Mart, Salesforce Tower features a shimmering glass facade with 16,000 individual panes, and is one of the few major office buildings to be developed in the city during the pandemic.

Family members of incarcerated people call on State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to investigate convictions related to former CPD detective

Family members who say their loved ones were wrongfully convicted due to misconduct by a former Chicago police detective on Tuesday called on Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to launch an investigation and take steps to undo the convictions.

“We’re tired,” said Lakisha Jackson, whose brother Kevin is serving a 45-year murder sentence. “We want all this put behind us today.”

Chicago Bears Q&A: Would 7-10 save Matt Eberflus’ job? Is Chris Jones a possible free-agent target? Which QBs are in the 1st-round mix?

The bye week is over and the Chicago Bears are about to begin the final five-game stretch of the season with many important questions looming.

What would they have to accomplish, beginning Sunday at Soldier Field against the Detroit Lions, for coach Matt Eberflus to return for a third season in 2024? Brad Biggs takes a swing at that and many more questions in his weekly Bears mailbag.

Wisconsin governor signs off on $500 million plan to fund repairs and upgrades at Brewers stadium

After months of backroom wrangling, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill that spends half-a-billion dollars in taxpayer money over the next three decades to help the Milwaukee Brewers repair their baseball stadium.

NHL hosting 2024 draft in Las Vegas

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday the league is moving forward with holding the 2024 draft at The Sphere in Las Vegas, the new venue that opened in September and bills itself as the largest spherical structure in the world.

Geddy Lee and the radical decency of Rush fans: Gathered in Chicago for one night only

Each stop on Geddy Lee’s book tour has brought out a surprise interviewer, a famous fan. Jack Black in Los Angeles, Paul Rudd in New York City, Matt Stone of “South Park” in Colorado, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Detroit. But for Chicago, it was Kim Thayil, guitarist and co-founder of Soundgarden, a Park Forest native who shares something sad with Lee, never mentioned during their two-plus hour talk, yet poignantly there beneath their words: Both lost bandmates prematurely, Thayil in 2017 when singer Chris Cornell committed suicide, and Lee in 2020 when Peart died of brain cancer at 67.

In a tumultuous year for Hollywood, standouts include Chicago-set ‘The Bear’ and Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’

There’s only so much TV any one person can keep up with it. Critic Nina Metz offers her picks for 2023, including a few underrated gems.

This year’s list includes a charming animated series, a spiritual cousin to “Friday Night Lights” and a comedy-drama that invokes memories of “Columbo” but with a 21st century sensibility.

The best (and worst!) movies of 2023

The summer of 2023 drew audiences as if COVID wasn’t a thing anymore, writes critic Michael Phillips. Millions responded to the weirdest, simplest, happiest ad hoc marketing coup of recent movie times: Barbenheimer! The “barb” half was based on a toy, the “enheimer” half told the story of the man behind the weapon that stripped our planet of any future certainty. Both were verifiable and remarkable eyefuls. And “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” ended up making nearly $2.5 billion as a double act.

Money can market hits, and sometimes make them, but this year’s highlights — lavishly budgeted in some cases, micro-budgeted in others — worked closer to an artistic impulse.

Then there’s the bummer list, featuring 10 disappointing movies.