The Quebec-based electric school bus maker found eager customers in Illinois school districts, which wanted to take advantage of generous federal grants, reduce pollution and give kids a cleaner, quieter ride to school.

But the bad news about Lion, which has been building for months, got worse Monday, with a court-appointed monitor saying there is a “very high” likelihood that the company will be liquidated, according to the Globe and Mail and other outlets.

“It’s a bit of a sad story, because it’s the right company with an interesting product,” said Yan Cimon, a professor of business strategy at the Université Laval in Québec City. He said Lion followed an ambitious path — including a bold expansion into the United States — and ultimately the company’s sales didn’t keep up.

“Had Lion been a bit more conservative, maybe they wouldn’t be where they are,” he said.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a strong proponent of clean energy, attended the opening of Lion’s now-shuttered Illinois plant in 2023, along with both Illinois senators.

“Illinois has made tremendous strides turning the state into a manufacturing hub for electric vehicles,” the governor’s press secretary, Alex Gough, said Monday in a written statement.

“Governor Pritzker remains committed to maintaining an ecosystem where EV companies and their employees are able to thrive,” the statement said. “Just this morning, (electric vehicle-maker) Rivian made a major commitment to their growth in Illinois by bringing a supplier park to Normal.”

Rivian is constructing a new 1.2 million-square-foot supplier park in Normal, according to a news release from the company. As part of that, Rivian will invest nearly $120 million, which will enable the company to develop the supplier park and create nearly 100 new direct jobs.

Lion announced in December that it was suspending operations at its Illinois plant and temporarily laying off approximately 400 workers in Canada and the United States.

Then last week the company suffered another major setback when Quebec announced it would not invest $24 million in an effort to relaunch the company, according to the Globe and Mail.

“It does not bode well for Lion,” Cimon said. “It may be worth more if it’s dismembered and its assets are sold individually than if the company is kept whole.”

Workingman Capital, a company that helps sell or liquidate manufacturing assets, is listing an equipment auction at its website for a “Lion-Electric Chicago Facility,” at the address of Lion’s Illinois plant.

Susan Mudd, a senior policy advocate at the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said Lion’s apparent failure is very unfortunate, but she sees it as a small step back rather than a reflection of broader trends.

“It doesn’t mean that electric school buses themselves are the problem. A particular company expanded in too many ways, too fast,” she said.

She pointed to new players in the electric school bus business, such as GreenPower in West Virginia, and she noted that big legacy school bus companies such as Bluebird, which sell both electric and diesel buses, have a “huge advantage” over newer, electric-only companies like Lion.

Electric buses are still “where the future is going,” Cimon said.

“The long-term trends are there,” he said. “The whole world is moving toward electric. You see it in China. You see it in Europe. Europeans are really interested in electric. There are other North American companies that look toward electric. So in that sense, it will come.”

nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com

The El Segundo, California-based company said the increases are necessary even though it is speeding up its plans to diversify its manufacturing base away from China. Trump imposed a 145% tariff on most Chinese-made products.

Company executives told analysts on a conference call that China currently accounts for 40% of Mattel’s global production. The company plans to move roughly 500 products this year from manufacturers in China to sources in other countries, compared to 280 products last year.

For some highly sought after toys, Mattel said it would enlist factories in more than one country. To prevent possible shortages, the company said it was focusing on getting products to stores without interruptions.

The company said that even with price increases it expects 40% to 50% of its toys will cost customers $20 or less.

“The diversified and flexible supply chain in global commercial organizations are clear advantages to Mattel in this period of uncertainty,” CEO and Chairman Ynon Kreiz told analysts.

Citing the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the president’s trade policies, however, Mattel withdrew its annual earnings forecast on Monday. The company said it would be “difficult to predict” consumer spending and the company’s U.S. sales for the remainder of the year without more information.

Mattel reported larger-than expected first-quarter sales but also a wider loss. Mattel said sales rose 2% to $827 million for the quarter that ended March 31.

The company’s loss expanded to $40.3 million, or 12 cents per share, in the quarter. That compares with a loss of $28.3 million, or 8 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Analysts expected a loss of 10 cents on sales of $786.1 million for the first quarter, according to FactSet.

Mattel’s shares were down less than 1% in after markets trading.

Over the weekend, Trump accused other countries of “stealing the movie-making capabilities” of the U.S. and said that he had authorized the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative to immediately begin the process of implementing this new import tax on all foreign-made films. But further specifics or dates weren’t provided. And the White House confirmed that no final decisions had been made as of Monday.

Trump later said that he would meet with industry executives about the proposal but a lot remains unclear about how an import tax on complex, international productions could even be implemented.

If imposed, experts warn that such a tariff would dramatically hike the costs of making movies today. That uncertainty could put filmmakers in limbo, much like other industries that have recently been caught in the crosshairs of today’s ongoing trade wars.

Unlike other sectors that have recently been targeted by tariffs, however, movies go beyond physical goods, bringing larger intellectual property ramifications into question. Here’s what we know.

Why is Trump threatening this steep movie tariff?

Trump is citing national security concerns, a justification he’s similarly used to impose import taxes on certain countries and a range of sector-specific goods.

In a Sunday night post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump claimed that the American movie industry is “DYING to a very fast death” as other countries offer “all sorts of incentives” to draw filmmaking away from the U.S.

Trump has previously voiced concern about movie production moving overseas. And in recent years, U.S. film and television production has been hampered between setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Incentive programs have also long-influenced where movies are shot both abroad and within the U.S., with more production leaving California to states like Georgia and New Mexico — as well as countries like Canada.

But unlike other sectors targeted by Trump’s recently-imposed tariffs, the American film industry currently holds a trade deficit that’s in the U.S.’s favor.

In movie theaters, American-produced movies overwhelmingly dominate the domestic marketplace. Data from the Motion Picture Association also shows that American films made $22.6 billion in exports and $15.3 billion in trade surplus in 2023 — with a recent report noting that these films “generated a positive balance of trade in every major market in the world” for the U.S.

Last year, international markets accounted for over 70% of Hollywood’s total box office revenue, notes Heeyon Kim, an assistant professor of strategy at Cornell University. She warns that tariffs and potential retaliation from other countries impacting this industry could result in billions of dollars in lost earnings and thousands of jobs.

“To me, (this) makes just no sense,” she said, adding that such tariffs could “undermine otherwise a thriving part of the U.S. economy.”

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents behind-the-scenes entertainment workers across the U.S. and Canada, said in a statement Monday that Trump had “correctly recognized” the “urgent threat from international competition” that the American film and television industry faces today. But the union said it instead recommended the administration implement a federal production tax incentive and other provisions to “level the playing field” while not harming the industry overall.

How could a tax on foreign-made movies work?

That’s anyone’s guess.

“Traditional tariffs apply to physical imports crossing borders, but film production primarily involves digital services — shooting, editing and post-production work that happens electronically,” notes Ann Koppuzha, a lawyer and business law lecturer at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business.

Koppuzha said that film production is more like an applied service that can be taxed, not tariffed. But taxes require Congressional approval, which could be a challenge even with a Republican majority.

Making a movie is also an incredibly complex — and international — process. It’s common for both large and small films to include production in the U.S. and in other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” for instance, are shot around the world.

U.S. studios frequently shoot abroad because tax incentives can aid production costs. But a blanket tariff across the board could discourage that or limit options, Kim said — hurting both Hollywood films and the global industry that helps create them.

“When you make these sort of blanket rules, you’re missing some of the nuance of how production works,” added Steven Schiffman, a longtime industry veteran and adjunct professor at Georgetown University. “Sometimes you just need to go to the location, because frankly it’s way too expensive just to try to create in a soundstage”

Schiffman points to popular titles filmed outside the U.S. — such as Warner Bros’ “Harry Potter” series, which was almost entirely shot in the U.K. “The cost to have done that would have like literally double to produce those movies under this proposed tariff,” he said.

Could movie tariffs have repercussions on other intellectual property?

Overall, experts warn that the prospect of tariffing foreign-made movies ventures into uncharted waters.

“There’s simply no precedent or sense for applying tariffs to these types of creative services,” Koppuzha said. And while the Trump administration could extend similar threats to other forms of intellectual property, like music, “they’d encounter the same practical hurdles.”

But if successful, some also warn of potential retaliation. Kim points to “quotas” that some countries have had to help boost their domestic films by ensuring they get a portion of theater screens, for example. Many have reduced or suspended such quotas over the years in the name of open trade — but if the U.S. places a sweeping tariff on all foreign-made films, these kinds of quotas could come back, “which would hurt Hollywood film or any of the U.S.-made intellectual property,” Kim said.

And while U.S. dominance in film means “there are fewer substitutes” for retaliation, Schiffman notes that other forms of entertainment — like game development — could see related impacts down the road.

Others stress the potential consequences of hampering international collaboration overall.

“Creative content distribution requires thoughtful economic approaches that recognize how modern storytelling flows across borders,” notes Frank Albarella, U.S. media and telecommunications sector leader at KPMG. “The question hanging over every screen: Might we better nurture American storytelling through smart, targeted incentives, or could we inadvertently force audiences to pay more for what could become a narrower creative landscape?”

AP Writers Jake Coyle and Jill Colvin in New York, Aamer Madhani in Palm Beach, Florida and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion directed the unit to pause helicopter flight operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following Thursday’s close calls, two Army officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday. One official said the flights have been paused since Friday.

The pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not publicly announced. The unit is continuing to fly in the greater Washington, D.C., region.

The unit had begun a return to flight within the last week, with plans to gradually increase the number of flights over the next four weeks, according to an Army document viewed by the AP.

Thursday’s close call involved a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

They were instructed by air traffic control to “perform go-arounds” because of a “priority air transport” helicopter, according to an emailed statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The priority air transport helicopters of the 12th battalion provide transport service to top Pentagon officials. It was a Black Hawk priority air transport known as PAT25 that collided with the passenger jet in midair in January.

That crash was the worst U.S. midair disaster in more than two decades. In March, the FAA announced that helicopters would be prohibited from flying in the same airspace as planes near Reagan airport.

The NTSB and FAA are both investigating the latest close call with an Army helicopter.

The Army said after the latest incident that the UH-60 Blackhawk was following published FAA flight routes and air traffic control from Reagan airport when it was “directed by Pentagon Air Traffic Control to conduct a ‘go-around,’ overflying the Pentagon helipad in accordance with approved flight procedures.”

But helicopter traffic remains a concern around that busy airport. The FAA said that three flights that had been cleared for landing Sunday at Reagan were ordered to go around because a police helicopter was on an urgent mission in the area. All three flights landed safely on their second approaches.

The NTSB said after the January crash that there had been an alarming number of close calls near Reagan in recent years, and the FAA should have acted sooner.

Investigators have highlighted 85 close calls around Reagan airport in the three years before the crash that should have signaled a growing safety problem. FAA officials said they did analyze every close call but missed the alarming trend.

Since then, the FAA launched a review of data at airports nationwide with heavy helicopter traffic that identified safety concerns at the Las Vegas airport related to all the helicopter tours there. That review is ongoing.

Reuters first reported the pause in Army helicopter flights.

In New Jersey on Monday, flight delays and cancellations persisted at Newark Liberty International Airport. The FAA attributed arriving flight delays of nearly four hours to a combination of an air traffic controller shortage, thick cloud cover and antiquated air traffic control equipment that needs to be upgraded.

Associated Press writer Josh Funk contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.

The study, which began in August, is evaluating building a roadway within an existing right of way along Calumet Avenue between 141st Street and 143rd Street, according to Jesse Elam, director of strategic planning and policy for the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways.

“Anything beats nothing,” Dixmoor Mayor Fitzgerald Roberts said. “So the grant is doing a study on it, where we can pretty much make a throughway to get around these trains. I think it’s a great move and I have great respect that they’re trying to help us with this. It’s been going on for so many years.”

The county earmarked $95,000 for the study, funded through Invest in Cook, a grant program that supports transportation projects at different stages including planning, engineering, land acquisition and construction, according to the county’s website.

Although the village applied for the grant, Elam said the county is handling the study directly under an existing consulting contract, rather than going through the typical grant approval process.

The study is funded with state motor fuel tax revenues shared with the county, Elam said.

Elam said the county has explored the feasibility of building a connecting roadway under the interstate and is now reviewing property records to determine ownership and how it might affect the project.

After the study is completed, the county will share the findings with the village and decide on next steps, Elam said.

“We want to get it done as fast as we can, but the property research part of it turned out a little more complicated than we hoped, so I think that’s really the sort of critical path item there,” Elam said. “So we hope to be able to wrap that up in the next couple months.”

The village applied for the grant in 2024 after identifying an unused right of way that could improve access to neighborhoods east of Western Avenue, Roberts said. The road is in disrepair, covered in gravel and overgrown weeds, he said.

“We looked at an old map that showed that we had Calumet Avenue going through there,” Roberts said. “We went on to find out that one of the mayors back in the day sold it or something, but it’s not on a tax roll. It hasn’t been placed on a tax roll. So basically, we want our street back.”

The project aims to create an alternate route for residents and emergency vehicles, Elam said, particularly for those in mobile home parks along Western Avenue where residents are often trapped when trains block both rail crossings at the same time.

The roadway will provide a backdoor entrance to the Colonial Estates Mobile Home Park near 142nd Street and Western Avenue, Elam said.

If the roadway proves feasible, Roberts said the village will need assistance funding construction.

According to the county, the feasibility study will also help identify potential funding sources and grants for engineering and construction.

While blocked crossings impede residents at crossings on Wood Street and Robey Avenue, residents told the Daily Southtown the problem is worse along Western Avenue, where tracks intersect the road in the 139th and 145th blocks.

Roberts said the proposed route won’t fully solve the problem, as there are other crossings without an easy route to get around the stalled trains, but called it a first step toward addressing an issue that has affected residents for years.

“We’ll be able to get from one side to the other side when the train is there,” Roberts said. “But it’s not going to completely solve it because if we have, per se, two trains on the track, you’re still gonna be blocked one way. So we’re still gonna need help.”

There is no federal statute or regulation that sets a specific time limit on how long trains can block grade crossings, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. That limits the actions the agency can take.

Meanwhile, trains have become longer due to precision scheduled railroading — a strategy used by freight rail companies to boost profits, lower operating costs and streamline service, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Roberts said he plans to seek support from legislators to help secure funding for the route and others that would allow residents to bypass stalled trains.

“There’s a lot of pieces to this, to make this project complete,” Roberts said. “This is just the first phase of getting it off the ground.”

smoilanen@chicagotribune.com

“We made the decision for the nonprofit to stay in control after hearing from civic leaders and having discussions with the offices of the Attorneys General of California and Delaware,” said CEO Sam Altman in a letter to employees.

Altman and the chair of OpenAI’s nonprofit board, Bret Taylor, said the board made the decision for the nonprofit to retain control of OpenAI. The nonprofit already has a for-profit arm, but that arm will be converted into a public benefit corporation “that has to consider the interests of both shareholders and the mission,” Taylor said.

However, Taylor declined to say Monday how large of an ownership stake the nonprofit will have in the new public benefit corporation. Altman said in a call with reporters that the nonprofit will choose the board members of the public benefit corporation.

Public benefit corporations were first created in Delaware in 2013, and other states have adopted the same or similar laws that require the companies to pursue not just profit but a social good. Public benefit corporations, which include Amalgamated Bank and the online education platform Coursera, need to define that social good, which can vary broadly, when they incorporate.

Altman said that converting from a limited liability company to a public benefit corporation “just sets us up to be a more understandable structure to do the things that a company of our scope has to do.”

“There’s so much more demand to use AI tools than we thought there was going to be,” Altman said. Getting access to more capital will make it easier for OpenAI to pursue mergers and acquisitions “and other normal things companies would do,” Altman said.

Altman said it would “maybe be easier” to raise money if OpenAI were a “fully normal company,” but given its mission, “we don’t want to be a fully normal company, and we believe this is well over the bar of what we need to be able to fundraise.”

“We’ve had plenty of investors who think OpenAI is a great business but don’t care about or don’t appreciate our mission, and, you know, we’re like happy not to have their money,” Altman said.

OpenAI’s co-founders, including Altman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, originally started it as a nonprofit research laboratory on a mission to safely build what’s known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI, for humanity’s benefit. Nearly a decade later, OpenAI has reported its market value as $300 billion and counts 400 million weekly users of ChatGPT, its flagship product.

OpenAI first outlined plans last year to convert its core governance structure but faced a number of challenges. One is a lawsuit from Musk, who accuses the company and Altman of betraying the founding principles that led Musk to invest in the charity. A federal judge last week dismissed some of Musk’s claims and allowed others to proceed to a trial set for next year.

OpenAI also faced scrutiny from the top law enforcement officers in Delaware, where the company is incorporated, and California, where it operates out of a San Francisco headquarters. The California attorney general’s office said in a statement that it was reviewing the plan and, “This remains an ongoing matter — and we are in continued conversations with Open AI.”

The attorney general’s office in Delaware did not immediately return a request for comment.

A number of advocates, including former OpenAI employees and other charities, had petitioned California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings to use their authority to protect OpenAI’s charitable purpose and block its planned restructuring.

Some were concerned about what happens if the ChatGPT maker fulfills its ambition to build AI that outperforms humans, but is no longer accountable to its public mission to safeguard that technology from causing grievous harm.

Multiple other artificial intelligence companies have opted to incorporate as public benefit corporations, including Anthropic and xAI, Musk’s company. However, OpenAI would remain unique in that its public benefit corporation would still be controlled by the nonprofit’s board.

The case had been scheduled to go to trial in the next week, and was supposed to be the first to be heard in federal court in Chicago over the issue of whether Abbott’s specialized cow’s milk-based formula for preterm babies causes a life-threatening intestinal disease called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

North suburban-based Abbott and formula-maker Mead Johnson are facing hundreds of lawsuits in federal court in Chicago over the issue, and Abbott is facing more than 1,400 lawsuits total in courts across the country. The case resolved Friday was a bellwether case, meaning its outcome was meant to help determine how the hundreds of other cases in federal court in Chicago proceeded, and/or how to settle those cases. The court is scheduled to hear three additional bellwether cases about the issue, with the next trial slated to begin in August.

Jose Rojas, an attorney for the plaintiff in the case that was thrown out Friday, said he was “disappointed” by the decision.

“We’re exploring all our options at the moment,” said Rojas, who is also co-lead counsel in the multidistrict litigation, meaning he’s helping to lead litigation for all the cases over the issue in federal court in Chicago. “I think it goes without saying that we’re devastated by the ruling. This is a family that is really destroyed by the death of their daughter.”

An Abbott spokesperson declined to comment Monday.

In the case, Kentucky woman Ericka Mar contended that her daughter RaiLee, who was born at 28 weeks gestation in 2014, died when she was about 2 weeks old after being fed a cow’s milk-based product made by Abbott. Mar alleges in her lawsuit that the formula was defective or unreasonably dangerous, that Abbott was negligent in selling it and that Abbott failed to warn health care providers and consumers of its dangers.

But on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer granted Abbott’s request for summary judgment and sided with the company.

In her order, Pallmeyer wrote that Mar had not been able to present evidence that Abbott could have designed the formula differently to be safer, nor that her daughter’s illness would have been prevented if Abbott had provided warnings about the higher risk of NEC in preterm babies who consume cow’s milk-based formulas.

Pallmeyer wrote that her decision in the case has “limited direct application” to the hundreds of other cases against the formula-makers in federal court in Chicago. She wrote that it’s possible plaintiffs in those other cases will be able to overcome the issues that led her to rule in favor of Abbott, depending on what evidence and testimony they provide.

In a bright spot for the other cases, Pallmeyer also decided Friday to deny Abbott’s request to exclude from those cases testimony from two expert witnesses on the link between cow’s milk-based formulas and NEC. And she denied Abbott’s motion for summary judgment in the other cases.

Wells Fargo analysts said in a note Sunday that their legal consultant “believes that it is likely that most, if not all, of the pending cases will fail on these same theories,” though it’s possible different state laws might give other plaintiffs more “breathing room,” the analysts wrote.

Rojas said he “vehemently” disagrees that the other cases against Abbott and Mead Johnson will fail.

The ruling on Friday was the latest twist in a yearslong legal battle between Abbott and families of babies who became ill after consuming the company’s specialized formula for preterm infants — a battle that has potential implications for both Abbott and families with babies born very prematurely.

Research has shown that formula feeding is associated with higher rates of NEC for premature infants, but that’s not to say that cow’s milk-based formulas cause the disease. Some premature babies who are fed only breast milk also develop NEC.

Last year, three major federal agencies — the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health — released a statement saying, “There is no conclusive evidence that preterm infant formula causes NEC.”

Some medical professionals are concerned about the many cases against Abbott and Mead Johnson, saying juries should not be deciding questions that scientists can’t even answer. They also worry that large verdicts against Abbott could lead the company to pull its cow’s milk-based products for preterm infants off the market, leaving some families who depend on the products in a bind.

Though neonatologists agree that mothers’ breast milk should always be the first choice of nutrition for babies born very prematurely, it’s not always available, and donated breast milk is not always an option.

Abbott Chairman and CEO Robert Ford warned in an earnings call last year, “If the regulatory process is disregarded, if the science is disregarded, it’s going to be very difficult for any company to remain on the market with these products, taking on that indefinite liability here, at least in the United States.” The specialized formulas, which are generally given in hospitals, represent a very small portion of Abbott’s overall sales.

Though Mar’s case was supposed to be the first one to go to trial in federal court, three other cases about the issue have already been heard in state courts. One of those cases resulted in a verdict of $60 million against Mead Johnson and another ended with a $495 million verdict against Abbott Laboratories — an outcome Abbott is appealing.

In the third case, Abbott initially prevailed, with a jury deciding Abbott and Mead Johnson were not liable for a boy developing NEC after he was fed the companies’ cow’s milk-based products for premature infants. But in a setback for Abbott and Mead Johnson, a St. Louis judge in March granted a motion for a new trial citing “errors and misconduct” in the original trial.

It was, as he called it, a turning point.

“That was about four years ago, when I had 2,000 plants started,” he recalled. “When they were really small they weren’t a problem. But when I had to up-plant them into 4-inch pots, we had them in every room in the house, next to every window I could find.

“My wife put her foot down and said you can’t do that anymore.”

Zeni began his tomato deep dive several years earlier when seeking a late-winter distraction after years of working at home as a graphic designer.

“It gets cold in the winter and I wouldn’t leave the house for weeks,” he said. “My wife claimed I was getting weird, and she insisted that I get a hobby.”

At the same time he was reflecting on the “tasteless atrocities that pose as tomatoes at supermarkets” during the offseason and decided to do something about it. He set up some tables and lights and planted some seeds.

There were mistakes — “overwatering, under watering, not enough heat,” Zeni said. But along with those setbacks were “small successes that gave me enough hope that I was on the right track.”

After a few seasons, he had enough plants that he would give them to any and all interested neighbors, and his tomato operation in La Grange Park kept growing larger. He began selling seedlings at “garage sales” to help fund his hobby, selling 50 to 75 plants.

“We put signage up when people just started showing up, telling me they’d heard about me from other people,” he said. “I got to 500 plants and sold them out. I’d get emails in January asking when’s the sale? That was the first indication I got that maybe this could be more than just a wintertime hobby.”

He decided to go all-in and started calling himself the Chicago Tomato Man.

“It’s spiraled to the point where this year we’ll grow around 15,000 plants,” he said in April.

He still grows at home, but the bulk of his operation is offsite, using contracters who deliver his plants to a warehouse near Western and Ogden avenues in Chicago, where they’re matched to orders and taken to pop-up markets throughout the city and suburbs.

Some of those seedlings are earmarked for other purposes as well.

“We give away lots of plants,” Zeni said. “We hear about efforts by nonprofit organizations or groups that are running gardens that use their harvest to give away produce to food banks. We totally support those efforts, so we give them plants every year.”

Last year, the Chicago Tomato Man organization gave away nearly 1,500 plants, and they’re looking to equal that this year.

Among the organizations that have worked with Zeni is Eden Greens Urban Farm, which provides healthy food as well as gardening resources for underserved communities such as Pullman, Englewood and Greater Grand Crossing.

Tomato plants also went to We Grow We Sow, Inc., an urban farm based in West Pullman that offers produce and education to people in Roseland, Morgan Park and Calumet Park.

Seedlings have even gone to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, for its Karma Garden project.

“This is good,” Zeni said. “We want to get these plants to any neighborhood that lacks access to food.”

And they’re not getting run-of-the-mill tomatoes. They’re getting the good ones, the heirlooms, some that have been passed down seed by seed for generations of gardeners.

Among Zeni’s seedlings are varieties such as Rutgers, developed in 1928 by the Campbell Soup Company and released to farmers in 1934 by Rutgers University.

There’s also Mortgage Lifter, a large beefsteak tomato developed, as the story goes, in the 1940s by a gardener in West Virginia who crossed varieties for six years before arriving at one so popular he was able to pay off his $6,000 mortgage by selling plants for $1 each.

There’s several varieties, such as the Sandburg yellow, attributed to Millard Murdock, a gardener based farther south in the Blue Ridge Mountains, whose retirement efforts to preserve and promote heirloom tomatoes became legendary in the seed saving community prior to his death in 2019.

Closer to home, fellow legendary seed savers Merlyn and Mary Ann Niedens, whose tomato and sunflower patches were sown in downstate Okawville, are represented by varieties such as Illini Star and Illini Gold. According to his 2009 obituary, Merlyn Niedens acquired at least some of his tomato breeding know-how in River Forest with a bachelor of science degree from Concordia Teacher’s College, now Concordia University.

One variety Zeni just started growing this year is steeped in Chicago history. The Inciardi (pronounced in-chi-ardi) paste tomato was brought over from Sicily by immigrant Enrico Inciardi, who sewed the seeds from his family’s signature tomato into the lining of his jacket because he was afraid they would be taken from him at Ellis Island, Zeni said.

Inciardi ended up settling in Downers Grove, got a job at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Cicero and later attended a company excursion aboard the S.S. Eastland in 1915, surviving the worst marine disaster in Chicago history after the ship overturned in the Chicago River, killing hundreds.

Through it all, he kept growing his family’s signature Sicilian tomatoes.

“Now his descendants started offering them for sale commercially,” Zeni said. “That’s a great story.”

Zeni is helping preserve another family story thanks to an encounter with an older guy he met at one of his pop-up sales at the Percolator Coffee Shop in Portage Park. He showed Zeni some seeds and said, “My father-in-law brought these over from Calabria and has been growing them ever since. He passed away and we continued to save these seeds, and I want to give them to you.”

Zeni asked the man, who came out from River Grove, what the tomatoes were called.

“I don’t know,” was the response. “It’s always just been my father-in-law’s tomato. My family has been growing them for 100 years. I’ve been growing them in my backyard.”

The man’s name was Art Zaino, “so that’s what we called them,” Zeni said. “These are big tomatoes. They’re like 16-inch softball sized tomatoes.”

While the Inciardi tomato has become somewhat more well-known among heirloom aficionados, the Art Zaino is “something that’s exclusive to us,” Zeni said. “I don’t think he gave the seeds to anyone else.”

For Zeni, heirloom tomatoes offer not only the opportunity to share the stories of fellow nightshade aficionados past and present, but also some of the places where he sells seedlings as well.

He’s already kicked off the gardening season with popup sales around the city and suburbs, including Pollyanna Brewing in Lemont, and has more coming up. There’s one from 10 a.m. to noon on May 31 at Two-Mile Coffee Bar, 9907 S. Walden Parkway, near the Metra stop in Chicago’s Beverly community; and another from 1 to 3 p.m. on May 31 at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, 5480 S. Kenwood Ave. in Chicago.

He’ll be at Skokie’s Sketchbook Brewing, 4901 Main St., on May 25. Other Pollyanna locations will be on June 7 in Roselle and later that day in St. Charles.

Also on the schedule is the last of four pop-ups on May 24 at First Presbyterian Church of La Grange, 150 S. Ashland Ave. A full list as well as ordering information is on his website at chicagotomatoman.com.

“These are locally owned places that let us set up, and in exchange we try to recognize and promote them, encourage people to buy a croissant and a coffee, or a four-pack or growler of beer,” Zeni said. “It’s about creating community and helping community, so we all prosper and thrive.”

But his primary goal remains to spread his love of tomatoes.

“I understand why the food industry has done what they’ve done to tomatoes,” he said. “Everyone wants to buy tomatoes in January at the grocery store, so they’ve bred them so they’re durable, they look great and they’re all the same size. But the flavor is gone and I think it’s criminal.

“A real tomato is something everyone should experience. The flavor is so wonderful. It’s so gratifying when someone picks those first few off the vine and realize the experience was worth all the time and effort put in to grow them.”

Landmarks is a column by Paul Eisenberg exploring the people, places and things that have left an indelible mark on the region. He can be reached at peisenberg@tribpub.com.

The announcement Monday will add a 1.2 million-square-foot supplier park and about 100 jobs to the expanding production operation of the California-based EV automaker, which manufactures its entire fleet in the college town about 130 miles south of Chicago.

Construction on the supplier park is underway and expected to be completed in 2026, in time for the rollout of the much-anticipated R2.

“We are excited to see this supplier park coming together so quickly,” Rivian CEO and founder R.J. Scaringe said in a news release. “This will be a key enabler to increasing production at the plant in 2026 when we start to build R2 in addition to R1 and our commercial vans.”

Rivian began building its full-size electric R1T pickup truck, the R1S SUV and its commercial delivery vans in September 2021 in a former Mitsubishi auto plant on the outskirts of Normal. Last year, Rivian revealed that the R2 also will be made in Illinois, putting plans to build a $5 billion Georgia plant on hold.

Backed by $827 million in state incentives, Rivian is expanding its 4.3 million-square-foot auto plant by an additional 1.1 million square feet and creating more than 550 assembly jobs over five years to build the midsize R2 SUV, which is expected to begin rolling off the production line in 2026.

Rivian is seeking to lure new buyers at price points well below its first-generation SUV and truck, which cost upward of $80,000. The R2 will be priced starting at $45,000.

The plant had about 7,000 assembly workers in April 2024, when it streamlined operations and went from three to two shifts. Rivian had 14,861 employees across North America and Europe at the end of 2024, but declined Monday to provide the current number of employees in Normal.

The new supplier park will allow Rivian to bring key component manufacturers to Normal to build and assemble parts needed to produce the EVs. Rivian will construct an underground tunnel between the supplier park and the main plant, which will ensure efficient operations while avoiding increased traffic on local roads, the automaker said.

In addition to direct Rivian employees, the park is expected to bring hundreds of new supplier jobs to Normal. “Rivian’s investment will attract suppliers from across the globe to invest in Illinois and continue to create good-paying jobs, providing Illinois with the competitive edge to thrive in the clean energy economy,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in the news release.

Last year, Rivian produced 49,476 and delivered 51,579 EVs from its Normal plant, with slightly lower production guidance for 2025.

During the first quarter, the automaker built 14,611 vehicles at its Normal plant and delivered 8,640, reflecting a “challenging demand environment” driven in part by the fires in Los Angeles, a key market for Rivian, the company said last month.

EV sales hit a record 1.3 million units last year, accounting for 8.1% of total auto sales in the U.S., according to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book. Tesla remains the top-selling EV brand, although it showed the largest year-over-year volume decline of any manufacturer as legacy automakers increase their offerings and continue to gain traction.

Total new vehicle sales reached nearly 16 million in 2024, according to Cox.

The industry could face additional challenges this year from President Trump’s auto tariffs, which are meant to stimulate domestic manufacturing. Economists say they will raise car prices and tamp down sales. On Saturday, a 25% tariff on imported auto parts kicked in, following last month’s 25% tariff on all imported vehicles.

Although Rivian builds its vehicles in Normal, it will still be subject to the tariffs on parts such as batteries, which it imports from Asia.

rchannick@chicagotribune.com

“Our mother was someone who was fiercely loyal not just to us, but to her friends, mentees and those who entrusted her to lead. Her career was filled with extraordinary accomplishments that will help define her legacy,” said the statement from her children. “So many knew her as a transformative force in public service, city planning and civic development, but to us, her most meaningful role was as our mom.”

More recently, in 2020, Healey joined the Obama Foundation as senior vice president and executive project officer for the Obama Presidential Center, where she was leading construction of the Jackson Park campus.

“Chicago is a better city because of Lori Healey. Lori established herself as one of the most respected and sought-after voices in both the public and private sector thanks to her brilliance, indefatigable work ethic, wise judgment and wit,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the foundation. “Lori could connect with anyone in any room: heads of state, developers, construction workers, young people and every member of our team. She was generous with her time and passionate about living a purposeful life and (being) a mighty force for good.”

Before being hired in 2019 as Chicago’s regional president of Clayco — the development firm tied to expansions of O’Hare International Airport and Willis Tower — Healey was appointed in 2015 the CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, also known as McPier, which owns Navy Pier and McCormick Place. In that role, she supervised the construction of Wintrust Arena and Marriott Marquis Chicago, according to City Club Chicago.

“The loss of Lori Healey is devastating. Lori was not just my former boss and colleague, not just a mentor, she was a dear friend,” said Larita Clark, Healey’s successor as McPier CEO. “She was a wise and charismatic leader who, in her humble way, was a champion for all people and a tireless advocate for women. Always willing to give of herself, Lori led by elevating those around her.”

Bob Clark, executive chairman and founder of Clayco, told the Tribune over email that he couldn’t think of anyone who had “this much impact” on the city.

“She loved Chicago with all of her being,” he said, “and every morning I’m sure she thought of how to make our community bigger, better and more functional. For everyone.”

After earlier stints both in state government and City Hall, Healey worked under Daley and then ran his family’s firm, Tur Partners, until her appointment to McPier.

In 2012, Healey coordinated and planned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit in Chicago as executive director of the host committee. A few years earlier, in 2009, she had helped lead the city’s failed bid for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics.

Just last week, Healey’s son Ramsey Al-Abed accepted the 2025 Game Changer Award on her behalf when she was unable to attend the 37th Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards.

“Her impact has definitely helped shape the landscape of this city over the past decades,” Al-Abed wrote on an Instagram post.

In a video montage presenting the award, friends talked about Healey’s interests and passions beyond work, including golf, the Chicago Bears, her horses and hot sauce she used to stash away in a cabinet.

“I want to thank you. Thank you for not only changing the city of Chicago for the better, and our state and our country, but also for the kind of person that you are,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in the video message.

Healey’s relatives called her “a remarkable woman — a deeply devoted mother and grandmother who found her greatest joy in time spent with her adoring family.” She was also “a loving partner” to Walt Eckenhoff, “and an inspiring leader, a friend to so many and a tireless advocate for Chicago.”

“We are heartbroken by this loss but comforted in knowing that her legacy lives on in the countless lives she touched — in her grandchildren, colleagues, friends and the city she loved so much,” the statement read.

Apart from her son, Ramsey Al-Abed, she is also survived by her daughter, Emily Thompson Lewis. The family asked for privacy and said additional details about a celebration of life would be shared soon.

adperez@chicagotribune.com