Daywatch: Officials press White House for more help in migrant arrivals

Good morning, Chicago.

With the number of migrant-filled buses arriving in Chicago set to hit unprecedented levels this week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson have ramped up pressure on President Joe Biden to do more to help local officials cope with the burgeoning humanitarian crisis.

During a call Sunday with Biden’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, senior adviser Tom Perez and Department of Homeland Security officials, the mayor and governor underscored how the accelerating rate of asylum-seekers will spell a new era for Chicago’s migrant situation, according to sources briefed on the conversation. The total number of arrivals since the first bus from Texas arrived in August 2022 is expected to jump from 15,000 as of last week to 20,000 this week, the sources said.

That total could double within three weeks. The projection is based on information from people along the southern border that indicates 20 to 25 additional buses a day will be arriving in Chicago, at least five days a week, each with about 50 migrants aboard. That means about 1,000 to 1,250 new arrivals daily.

Read the full story from the Tribune’s Dan Petrella and Alice Yin.

Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.

Puzzles & Games | Daily horoscope | Ask Amy | Subscribe to more newsletters, including Chicago Theater Loop: A new newsletter just in time for the fall theater season

‘Invasion’ of tropical birds known as limpkins reported in Illinois; invasive snails may be attractive food source, experts say

While on a recent visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden, Ann Harness spotted a creature she’d never seen before. The tall brown bird with a long bill looked like a cross between a rail and a heron. It was a limpkin — far from its home.

The bird lives in tropical areas, from southern Florida to the Caribbean islands, Mexico and Central and South America, where it gives a piercing cry from its wetland habitat. Harness’s sighting was one of at least 24 in Illinois this year.

Marijuana dispensary in former Rainforest Cafe won flip-flop from state regulators, but remains on hold as one man fights against it

The former Rainforest Cafe in Chicago once featured a costumed frog named Cha Cha selling beef lava nachos. Plans now call for a new business on the site to instead have budtenders serving marijuana with names such as Bionic Cheetah and Hood Candyz.

Ford lays off 243 workers at stamping facility in Chicago Heights due to UAW strike at nearby Chicago Assembly Plant

A total of 330 layoffs were announced Monday between the Chicago Stamping Plant and the Lima Engine Plant in Ohio. Both facilities supply parts to Ford’s idled assembly plant on the city’s Southeast Side, where thousands of employees walked off the job Friday in the United Auto Workers’ expanding strike against the Big Three automakers.

Naperville police find machine gun in car at TopGolf — third weapons bust made there since mid-September

A man who allegedly left a machine gun inside his parked car at Naperville’s TopGolf facility — the third loaded gun to be recovered from a vehicle there in less than three weeks — was arrested this weekend on an unlawful weapons charge.

In each of the three cases, the suspect has not been an area resident and the bust made after a police officer walking a foot patrol of the venue’s 3221 Odyssey Court parking lot spotted a gun clearly visible through a window.

Will Lionel Messi make an appearance at Soldier Field against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday? Here’s what to know.

The Fire are set to host Inter Miami on Wednesday, a game that was initially met with fanfare by the club and local fans. But it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that Messi will make an appearance in the highly touted — and potentially sold out — match.

2023 Equity Jeff Awards: Goodman, Teatro Vista and American Blues are the big winners

The Goodman Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of “The Who’s Tommy,” Teatro Vista and American Blues Theater’s staging of August Wilson’s “Fences” were big winners at Monday night’s 55th annual Joseph Jefferson Awards, presented to Chicago’s Equity theaters by the long-standing, all-volunteer Jeffs committee.