Daywatch: Why Biden’s reelection effort has focused on Illinois
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Good morning, Chicago.
Bright floats, candy-tossing volunteers and the loud call of union slogans helped kick off this year’s Labor Day Parade in the Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side.
This year’s parade stepped off around noon Saturday from a new route location at 108th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue south to 113th Street. In prior years, the parade celebrating working people began at 104th Street and Ewing Avenue to Eggers Grove Forest Preserve.
Alex Jimenez, a member of Ironworkers Local 63 who attended the Pullman parade, says he was happy to have a chance to celebrate the union landscape he proudly works in.
“Labor Day means being represented by our local unions that fought for us to have our rights and protections,” he said.
Read the full story from Ilana Arougheti.
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Illinois is solidly blue. So why did President Joe Biden’s reelection effort spend so much time here this summer?
For the last two months, Chicago and the state of Illinois have resembled a Midwestern home for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, starting with a June visit to debut his “Bidenomics” recovery strategy and followed by repeated stops from Vice President Kamala Harris, a visit from first lady Jill Biden and countless tours by Cabinet officials.
Illinois has voted Democratic in presidential contests since 1992, and rejected former President Donald Trump by 17 percentage points in both 2020 and 2016. So the attention the Biden campaign is devoting to a reliably blue state might appear to run counter to the need to hit competitive states that will be crucial in the 2024 election.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch’s staffers say he’s rebuffed their efforts to unionize
More than 20 staffers in Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office renewed calls to be recognized as a union.
The employees, whose roles include research and legislative functions, formed the Illinois Legislative Staff Association earlier this year in a bid for higher wages and better benefits. They went public with their intentions to unionize in May but in a statement issued Friday, the association said that Welch, a Democrat from Hillside who became House speaker in 2021, has not been willing to discuss the issue with the group despite requests it has made over the last nine months.
Labor Day is forecast to hit the 90s
After a relatively dry August with normal temperatures and just a few spikes in rain and heat, Labor Day is coming in hot — but not so much as to disrupt holiday activities.
A year in, Chicago’s migrant crisis exacerbated by City Hall and state delays, hefty contracts and questionable decisions
Behind a thick black curtain at O’Hare International Airport where a security guard with a German shepherd stood watch, dozens of migrants sprawled on the hard tile floor, awaiting placement to Chicago-run shelters, some saying they’d been there for weeks.
The men and women, many with children, ate Popeyes and ramen and washed their clothes in the bathroom sink. Toddlers used brooms as toys. The lucky ones slept on cots, but most made do with thin blankets spread among bags and piles of trash.
Former suburban Chicago corporate headquarters give way to data and logistics centers in post-pandemic landscape
For years, a drive on the highways and byways of Chicago would reveal a string of sprawling corporate campuses, from Allstate along I-294 to Sears, built off its own interstate exchange at I-90.
But the view is changing rapidly these days as signs come down, buildings are razed and iconic office complexes are supplanted by massive data and logistics centers.
Electric heating in vintage Chicago homes, including bungalows and two-flats, could greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, study finds
Built in 1922, Katanya Raby’s South Side home has a classic look: dark brick, white trim and cheeky little attic windows peering out from the roof.
But this is not your parents’ Chicago bungalow.
In 2021, Raby enrolled in a study that aims to show that Chicago’s vintage homes can slash their greenhouse gas emissions — and lower their utility bills — by weatherproofing and switching to high-efficiency electric appliances.
Amazon Fresh getting stale in Tinley Park as opening pushed to sometime into 2024
An Amazon Fresh store planned for Tinley Park won’t open until sometime next year, according to an executive with the company that owns the shopping center where the store is supposed to locate.
The village and Amazon announced plans in summer 2022 for the store. At the time, the village said it expected the store to open by later in the year, although Amazon would not confirm an opening timetable.
3 takeaways from the Chicago White Sox-Detroit Tigers series, including Tim Anderson’s milestone and Michael Kopech’s frustration
Too many walks led to a short afternoon for Chicago White Sox starter Michael Kopech.
The bullpen picked him up Sunday, but the Sox couldn’t keep Spencer Torkelson in check all day. The Detroit Tigers designated hitter gave his team the lead with a solo home run in the seventh against reliever Aaron Bummer, and they held on to beat the Sox 3-2 in front of 22,246 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
3 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs’ 4-game split in Cincinnati, including hitters stepping up and Jameson Taillon’s slow starts
The Chicago Cubs delivered the decisive blow in their 15-7 victory with a seven-run eighth inning after they exchanged leads with the Cincinnati Reds four times through the first two innings. A boisterous “Let’s go, Cubbies!” chant started among the 37,029 fans after Dansby Swanson’s RBI double capped the big inning by extending the lead to 12-5.
Beach volleyball takes over Oak Street Beach for the AVP Chicago Classic
Chicago hosted the 2023 AVP Bally’s Gold Series Chicago Open this weekend at Oak Street Beach. It is the 33rd year of the tournament in Chicago featuring the best men and women beach volleyball players on the tour. See the tournament, captured by Tribune photographer Chris Sweda, here.
Jimmy Buffett’s 12 best musical moments that weren’t ‘Margaritaville’
Beloved beyond his “Parrothead” majority for the plush, tropical island vibe of 1977′s “Margaritaville,” the music and words of Jimmy Buffett forever had a lonely, laissez-faire literary éclat. Yes, there was a ready sense of escapist humor to his smartly snarky turns of phrase, touched by the scent of cannabis and the taste of Mezcal. However, just below his hazy clouds and boozy romanticism laid the heart of a ruminative, cuttingly counter-cultural short story writer.
Open at last, Matrix Club’s ready to host parties, weddings, concerts and anything else that fits its huge Naperville space
After opening dates came and went, the much-anticipated Matrix Club in Naperville is finally in business.
The 75,000-square-foot venue can accommodate banquets, conventions, weddings, parties, live music and concerts, theater performances and other events. It boasts, among other things, a restaurant, bar, art gallery and recording studio.
