Good afternoon. My colleagues at WBEZ have created a GoFundMe campaign to help our friends who were laid off this week. Here’s what you need to know today.

1. Monday’s solar eclipse could bring up to 200,000 people to southern Illinois

The eclipse’s path of totality, where the moon aligns perfectly with the sun and casts a shadow over Earth, will traverse about a quarter of the state, entering southern Illinois just after noon, my colleague Kade Heather reports.

And state officials expect around 100,000 to 200,000 people will head to southern Illinois for the phenomenon.

“I’ve had this event on my calendar since Aug. 22, 2017 — the day after the last one,” said Greg King, a police officer from Tinley Park, adding that his one takeaway from the previous eclipse was, “You have to experience it.”

But one uncertainty, however, has most travelers crossing their fingers.

“Hopefully it’s not cloudy. If it is, then it’s just a big bust,” King said. [Chicago Sun-Times]

2. Thousands of Black women say hair relaxers gave them cancer and other illnesses

The first of several thousand lawsuits was filed at Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse in 2022 by a woman from St. Louis claiming that chemicals in hair relaxer products she used — such as Soft Sheen, Just for Me and Dark & Lovely — caused her cancer.

Near-identical lawsuits began piling up in state and federal courts across the U.S. The federal cases — now counting 8,500 plaintiffs, with more added every week — were consolidated last year in front of a single federal judge in Chicago, my colleagues Andy Grimm and Natalie Moore report.

Studies have associated women regularly using these products with having a higher risk of getting certain cancers. The industry maintains its products are safe.

“I feel like if a product is even possibly linked to a serious condition, it should be outlawed,” said Traccye Love, who used hair relaxers for years before developing golf ball-sized fibroid tumors in her uterus. “At least with cigarettes, there’s a warning.” [WBEZ]

3. Unions push back against Mayor Johnson’s gas stove ban

Labor representatives say jobs will be lost if Chicago ends natural gas hookups in new Chicago homes and buildings to help fight climate change, my colleague Brett Chase reports.

And leaders from four unions connected to utility Peoples Gas also questioned the move to all-electric homes and other new construction, saying gas is a reliable source of heat for the time being even as concerns mount over the continued use of fossil fuels.

The news comes as the city hopes to reduce carbon emissions, the largest so-called greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, by more than 60% by 2040. Buildings are a major contributor to these emissions.

“Climate change is real, and we must take action,” said Angela Tovar, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s top environmental official, at the beginning of a nearly nine-hour hearing on the gas stove ban. [Chicago Sun-Times]

4. Chicago will get $78 million in federal grants for violence prevention

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made the announcement during a visit to the city this week, crediting community-based programs for playing a critical role in reducing crime.

Garland cited a 13% decline in homicides nationwide in 2023. Killings in Chicago declined by 12% last year, the second consecutive year the number of slayings in the city has fallen following two years of near historic levels of violence, my colleague Andy Grimm reports.

In Chicago, the cost of expanding violence outreach programs to a level that would produce a 50% decrease in homicides — a level not seen since the 1960s — would cost about $400 million over the next five years, according to a coalition of city, state and county leaders.

Private donors from the city’s business community have pledged $66 million to the effort. [Chicago Sun-Times]

5. Chicago high school students were in Taiwan during this week’s devastating earthquake

Students from St. Ignatius College Prep were eating breakfast in Taiwan when a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck, the school posted on Facebook.

“The group is in good and brave spirits!” the post reads. “We are SO grateful for that!!!”

The earthquake is the strongest to hit Taiwan in 25 years and at least nine people have died, according to The Associated Press.

Search-and-rescue efforts have been launched for others who may be stuck under the rubble of collapsed buildings. More than 1,000 people have been injured.

The earthquake struck the country’s eastern region near the city of Hualien, and the St. Ignatius group was traveling west to safer ground, according to the school. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Here’s what else is happening

• The Biden administration approved sending thousands of bombs to Israel on the same day Israeli airstrikes killed seven aid workers. [Washington Post]

• This year’s hurricane season will be “extremely active,” forecasters say. [USA Today]

• Hard rock band Kiss sold their songs and brand in a deal estimated to be over $300 million. [AP]

• Artificial intelligence was asked to generate images of queer people, and there was a lot of purple-dyed hair. [WIRED]

Oh, and one more thing …

Several readers reached out about the news of layoffs at WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times that I shared yesterday. Here’s what some had to say.

Joyce Miller-Bean writes:

“I’m concerned about the layoffs you described in today’s newsletter. Of course, I’m not asking you about your personal business, but please do not hesitate to let me and your other loyal readers know if there is ever anything we can do along with being members of WBEZ to show our support. You have it.”

Rona Pietrzak writes:

“I hope this is the appropriate place to express my disgust that so many WBEZ staffers are being laid off. And my even greater disgust that, at virtually the same time, the on-his-way-out CEO got a 19% raise. If there is financial suffering to be had, it should be shared up and down the ladder. How many staffers could have been retained if Chicago Public Media CEO Matt Moog’s raise was halved (9.5%) or even quartered (4.75%)?

“I am a long-time sustainer of WBEZ and make a significant additional contribution as well. It does not make me inclined to give knowing that priorities are to take care of the people on the top at the expense of the rank-and-file.”

And Renee writes:

“This news is very upsetting. This pattern of over-building and over-paying executives is so common in America. It’s bewildering that it keeps happening. A case of the eyes being too big for the stomach. But in a non-profit? Did no one say no when these decisions were being made? $6.4 million [for a new studio]? Seriously? The damage is done, so we all have to make the best of it.”

Tell me something good …

What’s your favorite breakfast or brunch spot in the Chicago area?

Zach writes:

“Best breakfast/brunch spot for me is Hyde Park’s Roux! Southern-inspired menu — can’t miss the fresh beignets and their take on avocado toast with chow chow. And then you can check out the events or expos at the Smart Museum of Art nearby!”

And Ari writes:

“Twisted Spoke is one of my favorite brunches! Their bloody marys are fantastic, the food is great (with clever names like road rash) and when the weather is nice, the rooftop is great for outdoor dining.”

Feel free to email me, and your response might be shared in the newsletter this week.