Daywatch: Chicago’s downtown buildings are slowly sinking
Good morning, Chicago.
Have you heard? Downtown buildings are sinking. The good news is that it’s happening slowly.
Tribune reporters Adriana Perez and Rebecca Johnson spoke with experts on the cause (underground climate change), the potential cost and risk to residents.
Buildings are unlikely to crumble because of underground climate change, Alessandro Rotta Loria said, but damage from what he calls a “silent hazard” could lead to “tremendously” costly upkeep and retrofitting bills. And at the end of the day, the Northwestern University assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering noted, sensible people tend to be uncomfortable with cracks in walls.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Marilyn Mulero calls on Chicago to stop defending alleged bad cops
Marilyn Mulero, the first and only woman in Illinois exonerated after being sent to death row, was incarcerated for 28 years before Gov. J.B. Pritzker commuted her sentence in 2020.
Tears welled in her eyes as she described writing 3,000 letters while incarcerated, affirming her innocence and pleading for support.
“I never got a response from nobody,” she said.
A day after filing a federal lawsuit against the city of Chicago and former detectives, she called on the city to stop defending and paying the pensions of former police officers whose alleged misconduct has led to scores of wrongful convictions.
Native American students, educators have high hopes for bill mandating their history be taught in Illinois schools
As someone who identifies as Navajo and Choctaw, Nizhoni Ward said her own experiences with what’s taught in Illinois public schools about her ancestry included the classic story of “Columbus sailing the ocean blue” and a first-grade play about the Indians and pilgrims sitting down for a “happy feast after a successful harvest.”
“I was actually asked to play an Indian in that play about Thanksgiving,” Ward said. “I was born on a Navajo reservation in Arizona and I was brought up traditionally, surrounded by my culture. But then growing up here (in Illinois), it was really hard explaining myself to people who didn’t know anything about Native Americans.”
House Bill 1633, spearheaded by state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford and supported by several others, aims to make it a requirement for Illinois schools to teach a unit of Native American history.
Officials identify remains found at Indiana farm in 1983 as Chicago teen slain by late serial killer
Human remains found buried in 1983 at an abandoned Indiana farm have been identified as those of a Chicago teenager who was a victim of the late serial killer Larry Eyler, authorities said.
Eyler confessed to at least 20 killings before dying in 1994 at an Illinois prison, where he was on death row for the 1984 murder of 15-year-old Danny Bridges of Chicago.
Democrats gather with union leaders for convention labor agreement
The scene at McCormick Place underscored the importance to Democrats of avoiding strife with workers in Chicago before and during the four-day, made-for-TV event next August when the political party will nominate its 2024 presidential candidate at the United Center and try to burnish its credentials as America’s pro-labor party.
New regional airline coming to O’Hare
A new airline is coming to O’Hare International Airport, where it will offer flights to three small Midwest cities.
The new flights come as some small airports have had airline service cut in recent years, according to the Regional Airline Association. Those airports are often served by smaller regional carriers on behalf of major airlines, and the regional carriers have been particularly hit by a pilot shortage affecting the industry.
Law firm inks deal for Fulton Market tower, continuing the trend of corporate moves
The global firm will occupy 90,000 square feet in 360 N. Green St., a 24-story tower that developer Sterling Bay plans to finish next year. The surrounding neighborhood west of the Loop, transformed in the past decade from an industrial district into a sleek office center packed with restaurants, retail and boutique hotels, was part of its appeal, said Rita Powers, comanaging shareholder of the firm’s Chicago office.
Northwestern AD Derrick Gragg, under scrutiny for hazing scandal, offers questionable advice about women in book
In his book, Derrick Gragg — who oversees both women’s and men’s sports in his role as Northwestern’s athletic director — calls women “man’s greatest distraction,” criticizes the portrayal of women in music videos as “booty-shaking sex-kittens,” and provides his take on serious crimes like rape and sexual assault.
Rocky Wirtz, the Chicago Blackhawks owner who helped turn the franchise into an NHL power, dies at 70
William Rockwell Wirtz took over the team after his father, Bill, died in 2007. It came as a surprise that Rocky took over the Hawks instead of his brother, who had served as team vice president and worked for the franchise for about two decades.
He wasted little time in remaking the Hawks on and off the ice.
Review: In ‘Rock of Ages’ at Mercury Theater, knockout singers bring nothin’ but a good time
Tribune theater critic Chris Jones has never rated a production of “Rock of Ages” this highly before.
Column: The lesson Hollywood should learn from ‘Barbenheimer’? Let originality come through.
“Barbenheimer” saved the movie universe this week by handing eager audiences an eyeful of two very different planets, writes Michael Phillips.
Neither “Barbie” nor “Oppenheimer” was “just another,” meaning: not just another sequel to a proven, if fading, franchise. Or just another superhero, trapping in a quantum realm somewhere in a Marvel soundstage in Atlanta, looking for a decent return on the usual $300 million investment.
