Welcome to the Reader's morning briefing for Tuesday January 19, 2016. If you had yesterday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, welcome back to work.

• Weather—It's going to be a little warmer

After Sunday and Monday's bitter cold wind chills, we finally get a reprieve—with a high of 15. There will be clouds and sunshine through the day with a high probability of up to 1 inch of snow overnight. [AccuWeather]

• Missing: Equipment from closed CPS schools
  

Chicago Public Schools officials do not know what happened to classroom equipment—including computers, desks, and books—from the 50 schools Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed in 2013.
[Sun-Times & Better Government Association]

• What the Van Dyke murder trial judge has in common with Laquan McDonald
  

Judge Vincent Gaughan, 74, will preside over Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke's murder trial, and he has more in common with Laquan McDonald than one might think. Gaughan had a run-in with police at age 28, but their response to his actions was very different than Van Dyke's. [Reader]

• Mother and daughter found dead in NW Indiana
  
  

Velia Taneff, 86, and her daughter, Lana Taneff, 63, were found dead in Calumet Township with ligature marks on their necks. Both deaths have been ruled homicides. Velia was a former talk radio show host and a "local political activist, pundit, landlord and lifelong Democrat." [Tribune]

• Why the Blackhawks' 11-game winning streak is a big deal
  

Chicago should get excited about the Blackhawks again. Flukes are more common in hockey, so it's much harder to sustain a long winning streak than it is in other professional sports. The puck isn't reliable: it " skips, bounces, wobbles and rolls" and "hits skates, goalposts, crossbars and teeth". [Sun-Times]

• Local airport workers brave extreme cold to call for higher pay
  

Although temperatures hovered around -24 degrees F Monday, the cold did not stop airport workers from calling for a $15-an-hour minimum wage outside Willis Tower. [Tribune]

• How strict is the city on enforcing bike traffic laws?
  

We've all seen bikers and drivers break the law on Chicago's streets. WBEZ investigates how diligent the city actually is about enforcing all of its bike laws. [WBEZ]