Good morning, Chicago.
The upcoming Democratic National Convention has Paige Weaver bracing for her CTA commute.
She usually heads downtown two or three times a week to her marketing job. But, anticipating crowds on transit during the convention, she plans to shift her workday to arrive at her office early in the morning.
“I feel like the CTA doesn’t tend to rise to the occasion for events as we just saw with Lollapalooza,” she said, referring to her experience waiting for trains around the city while the crowded music festival took place downtown. “So I’m very concerned about how it’ll be able to handle a rush of people into the city.”
The stakes will be high for the CTA and embattled CTA President Dorval Carter as an expected tens of thousands of politicians, dignitaries, protesters and media descend on Chicago for the convention and the city looks to put its best foot forward.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Sarah Freishtat.
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Chicago Survivors’ Storytellers Camp helps kids heal after violent loss
At summer camp, Keant’e “KJ” Boyd Jr., like any 6-year-old, ran in circles, played with other boys and girls, and clung to his grandmother’s side when she came to get him. But one activity made this summer camp different. KJ painted a stone and placed it in a garden, in memory of his mother.
Erica Reed was killed in a shooting in Chicago in May of last year. Her son participated this summer in Storytellers Camp, where kids who have lost loved ones to violence gathered to play while also trying to make sense of their loss.
‘Crisis mode’: Housing providers are being squeezed by rising insurance costs, driving rents up. Unlike other states, Illinois can do little about it.
Most publicly available data on insurance rate increases focuses on homeowners’ insurance policies, and not the premiums that owners of multifamily buildings pay. But insurance experts say many rental building owners have seen their insurance costs increase 10% to 20% in recent months and years, and property owners interviewed by the Tribune reported increases ranging from 11% to 150% between 2023 and 2024.
The home buying and selling process is changing. Here’s what you need to know in Illinois.
Save up money. Find a real estate agent. Attend open houses. Put in an offer … or two or three or four. Once the deal is closed, real estate agents for both the buyer and seller get paid commissions, typically by the seller.
This is a condensed version of how the home buying and selling process has functioned for years. And this process is about to change.
Dolton deputy police Chief Lewis Lacey, an ally of Mayor Tiffany Henyard, indicted on federal bankruptcy fraud charges
Dolton police Deputy Chief Lewis Lacey, a strong ally of embattled Mayor Tiffany Henyard, was indicted Monday on federal bankruptcy fraud charges alleging he lied under oath in a scheme to hide assets and income from creditors to avoid paying more than $40,000 in a lawsuit settlement.
Free COVID vaccines will soon become harder for some to find
After COVID-19 vaccines transitioned to the commercial market in the fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stepped in to ensure that adults without insurance, or those whose insurance plans did not fully cover the vaccine, could receive free shots. The agency’s Bridge Access Program provided roughly 1.5 million shots, said Dr. Georgina Peacock, director of the immunization services division at the CDC. Nationwide, about 27 million adults do not have health insurance.
But the CDC announced in May that funding for the program, which clinics expected to last through December, would actually run out by the end of August.
Q&A with ‘Hard Knocks’ director Shannon Furman: Chicago Bears have ‘some of the best stories we’ve ever had’
Four more episodes are ahead with the next installment arriving Tuesday night. So what can we expect next from the NFL Films/HBO production over the next month? And what has been the process of identifying the most compelling content to share with a national audience?
Tribune reporter Dan Wiederer recently caught up with “Hard Knocks” director Shannon Furman to discuss the series.
Chennedy Carter has a coach that trusts her in Teresa Weatherspoon — and it’s taking the Chicago Sky guard to new heights
For better or worse, Carter was thrust onto some people’s radar for the first time after the much-discussed flagrant foul against Fever guard Caitlin Clark on June 1. But she’s been a bright spot for the Sky, who entered the All-Star and Olympic break at 10-14.
With a wicked first step, lethal speed and an ability to create and finish plays through contact, Carter is averaging 16.4 points and 2.9 rebounds through the first half of the season.
Food guide: Where to go for a taste of democracy during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago
The new Kamala cake at Brown Sugar Bakery in Chicago did not just fall out of a coconut tree.
Baker Stephanie Hart created the cake inspired in part by a visit from Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021. The VP’s staff had pre-ordered a slice of German chocolate cake, made with coconut frosting. Harris had said it’s her favorite cake flavor, and she gets it for her birthday every year.
Her ‘I-94’ series taps into on musical link between Chicago house music and Detroit techno
Midwest is best, at least when it comes to dance music. The DJ and event creator Hannah Viti, who performs as VITIGRRL, created a project to highlight this idea.
In July, Viti launched “I-94,” an online mix and event series that highlights the deep cultural connections between the birthplace of house music (Chicago) and the birthplace of techno (Detroit). Named after the expressway connecting the two cities, “I-94” celebrates the legacies of each city and the strong influences they’ve had on each other.
Column: Are comic strips still a part of your daily life?
Rick Kogan has never been a regular reader of comics, not even as a kid, but he respects those who do and know they have been popular entertainments for more than a century.
Some people see them as firmly part of the country’s cultural fabric. Richard Marschall, the author of “America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists,” told Kogan years ago. “The comic strip and jazz are the only two American art forms.”
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