Good afternoon! I haven’t seen (or heard) any cicadas yet — and it turns out they won’t be evenly distributed across the city. While we’re waiting, these Cicada Watch hats may help tide us over. Here’s what you need to know today.
1. Experts predict less wildfire smoke but muggier weather this summer
Chicagoans are unlikely to face the same smoky conditions as last year because Canada’s fire season isn’t expected to be nearly as bad as last summer, Brett Chase reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.
At times last summer Chicago’s air quality rated as the dirtiest in the world among big cities.
While there will be less smoke, experts predict a hot, muggy and wet summer — although with less extreme heat.
“Because we have had such a wet spring across much of the region, I wouldn’t expect a summer with a large number of extremely hot days,” Trent Ford, the Illinois state climatologist, told the newspaper. “But the abundant moisture in the ground can make for some very humid conditions this summer, which can exacerbate heat stress. So the outlook right now is for a warm — likely muggy — and stormy summer across the Midwest.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
2. More than 2 million Illinois residents are expected to travel during Memorial Day weekend
A record 1.9 million people are anticipated to travel by car to kick off the unofficial start of summer, Jessica Ma reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.
And O’Hare Airport is expected to be the fourth-busiest airport in the U.S. with more than 800,000 passengers scheduled to depart, Lindsay Schwimer, a spokesperson for travel booking app Hopper, told the Sun-Times. The airport will be busiest between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The American Automobile Association projects this to be the second-busiest Memorial Day weekend on record, with about 44 million Americans expected to travel at least 50 miles. [Chicago Sun-Times]
If you’re staying put, Chicago-area beaches officially opened for the season today.
The Chicago Park District reminded beachgoers to follow safety advice, including avoiding nonswimming areas, staying out of the water when flags are red and paying attention to the waves. [WTTW]
The programs serve more than 40,000 students statewide — including 15,000 in Chicago — and range from academic support to classes on 3D printing and robotics, my colleagues Nader Issa and Sarah Karp report.
A coalition of community groups rallied outside CPS’s downtown offices yesterday ahead of the monthly Board of Education meeting to draw attention to the impending losses. They also encouraged state lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 2943, which would allocate $50 million to support the programs around the state.
Advocates say these programs help keep teens safe during the peak hours of violence and crime during the summer.
“Not bringing in community partners, and trying to shrink the options students have instead of growing them, it’s a domino effect,” said Lindsey Ridley, a parent of a student at Parkside Academy in South Shore. “It falls out of the schools and into the neighborhoods.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
When Lori Lightfoot was mayor, her ally and campaign contributor Carmen Rossi was fined for violating lobbying rules. Under Chicago’s current mayor, he’s in line to get tens of millions in taxpayer-funded city deals, my colleague Tim Novak reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Johnson’s administration wants to give $28 million in tax-increment financing to Rossi’s lobbying client — an Italian billionaire who plans to convert one of four Loop office buildings to affordable apartments under a program Lightfoot initiated.
The mayor also plans to hand Rossi — a lawyer and North Side bar owner who formerly held the liquor license for Lollapalooza — and another of his lobbying clients city grants totaling $454,000 to rehabilitate two downtown storefronts that include one of Rossi’s bars, the Sun-Times reports.
Though Rossi and his companies had given $68,500 to Lightfoot’s campaign, Johnson hasn’t gotten any campaign contributions from him, his businesses or his clients. The mayor’s office didn’t respond to questions about Rossi’s deals. [Chicago Sun-Times]
5. Folk-pop duo Finom draws heavily from Chicago’s music influences, from Wilco to free jazz
When Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart sing together, Cunningham’s alto and Stewart’s soprano become a singular voice that’s unlike either, WBEZ contributor Mark Guarino writes.
The Chicago duo has together and separately served as principal figures in Chicago’s music scene since they were teenagers, as multi-instrumentalists, arrangers for other artists and performers in their own right across the indie pop and free jazz worlds.
Originally, they made music together under the name OHMME. But they’ve rebranded, and Finom, their latest project, is the furthest both women have gone in creating a unique form of pop music that draws heavily from the eerie vocal beauty of folk music and the experimental impulses of Chicago’s free jazz scene.
On Not God, their new album out Friday, Finom draws easy comparisons to folk sister act the Roches, but the duo sets guitars and vocal harmonies against a restless backdrop of buzzing electro-pop guitars and synthesizers. [WBEZ]
Here’s what else is happening
- Morgan Spurlock, the documentarian behind Super Size Me, died at 53. [CNN]
- The United Nations’ top court ordered Israel to stop its military offensive in Rafah. [AP]
- Forecasters warn of an “extraordinary” Atlantic hurricane season. [NPR]
- An Italian teenager and computer prodigy is set to become the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint. [CNN]
Oh, and one more thing …
Native Americans have always lived in Chicago, but in the mid-20th century they established a cultural enclave in Uptown, anchored by community centers and social connections, Kadin Mills reports for WBEZ’s Curious City.
The neighborhood had affordable, tenement-style apartments and numerous social service offices. There was also the American Indian Center, established by Native people already living in Chicago. Anticipating the influx of Native Americans to the city following the Termination Act, the center — then on Wilson Avenue — was designed to “help Native families cope with the transition from reservation to urban life.”
While Uptown is no longer the nucleus, there is still a thriving community of Natives living in Chicago, with numerous organizations providing spaces for community and culture. [WBEZ]
Tell me something good …
What was one of your favorite jobs?
William writes:
“My favorite job was on a Drewrey’s beer truck as a helper during summers and Holidays while I was in Medical school. Really hard physical work, interesting drivers and brewery workers and most of all one of a kind neighborhood bar owners. I learned so much that helped me in my career as a Physician.”
Thanks for all the messages this week! I’m sorry we couldn’t include them all, but it was great hearing from everyone.
