Good afternoon! Here’s what I imagine the birds are doing outside my window when they wake me up at 6 a.m. And here’s what you need to know today.

1. The race for mayor gets more inflammatory as it enters the final week

With polls signaling this mayoral election could be the closest in recent history, the race is growing even more heated with just seven days left.

John Catanzara, the controversial president of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police, told The New York Times that between 800 and 1,000 officers would leave the force if Brandon Johnson wins over the union’s preferred candidate, Paul Vallas.

“If this guy gets in we’re going to see an exodus like we’ve never seen before,” he told the newspaper, predicting “blood in the streets.” [New York Times]

Meanwhile, Vallas accused the Chicago Teachers Union of distributing recent “Vallas for Mayor” signs popping up across the city that include a red box saying, “MAGA 2024.”

“Of course, that’s what Paul Vallas thinks,” a CTU spokesperson said. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Johnson said he won’t cut “one penny” from the Police Department, reversing his previous pledge of reducing police spending by $150 million. [Chicago Sun-Times]

2. A CTA worker is accused of beating a man who was later found dead

The worker, Emmett Richardson, is accused of brutally beating a man and tossing him down the stairs of the La Salle Street Blue Line station early Saturday, according to Chicago Police.

Authorities say video cameras captured the attack. After Richardson allegedly dragged the man up and down stairs, he left the man inside the station, where he was found by police, a source told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Richardson has been charged with felony counts of aggravated battery, and more charges could be filed depending on the results of an autopsy of the victim, who remains unidentified. [Chicago Sun-Times]

The news comes as the CTA has struggled to dig out of a pandemic slump. Paul Vallas this week vowed to fire the head of the transit agency. [Block Club Chicago]

3. A survivor of the Highland Park mass shooting was on vacation in Nashville when a school shooter killed six people

Ashbey Beasley, who survived the Fourth of July shooting in Highland Park, is going viral after she crashed a news conference in Nashville after a shooter killed three children and three adults at a grade school.

“Aren’t you guys tired of covering this?” she asked nearby reporters. “Aren’t you guys tired of being here and having to cover all these mass shootings?”

Beasley, visiting family in Nashville, said she wasn’t involved in gun safety activism before the Highland Park shooting, but was spurred into action after seeing how her 7-year-old son struggled to cope with the tragedy. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Meanwhile, Nashville police today released video from a body-worn camera that shows officers entering and searching The Covenant School before confronting the shooter. [AP]

4. A plan to boost Chicago’s ranks of cops with retirees faces long odds and could jeopardize reform efforts, experts say

A key element of Paul Vallas’s public safety plan is luring back retired police officers to help boost the city’s ranks that have shrunk by 1,600 officers since 2019.

But several cities have tried this approach with few reporting much success, reports my colleague Chip Mitchell.

And even if this plan worked, experts say it could undermine police reforms aimed at rebuilding community trust.

“We don’t want to go back to the ‘good old days’ of coercing confessions and capturing a really wide swath of individuals — clearing corners, kicking down doors for the sake of terrorizing communities,” said Kim Smith, program director of the University of Chicago’s crime and education labs. [WBEZ]

5. The Chicago area could see a high in the 60s on Friday

I literally had to double check what month we’re in this morning because the weather makes me feel like I’m Quantum Leap-ing through the seasons this year.

And it looks like we could be getting a little bit of everything this week.

There’s a chance the region could see snow tomorrow morning as a cold front moves in, bringing with it wind gusts that could reach 25 mph, reports Block Club Chicago.

Then on Thursday, there is a chance of rain in the afternoon. But it could be sunny for most of the day, with a high at 51 degrees.

And on the greatest of all days, Friday could hit a high of 62 degrees, but there’s also a chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening. [Block Club Chicago]

Here’s what else is happening

• At least 39 migrants are dead and 29 others injured after a fire erupted at an immigration facility in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. [NPR]
• A federal judge ordered former Vice President Mike Pence to appear before a grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. [New York Times]
• An attorney for Jonathan Majors claimed a woman has taken back her allegations of assault and harassment against the actor. [NPR]
• The next season of The White Lotus will be set in Thailand. [Variety]

Oh, and one more thing …

My colleague Erin Allen recently got to interview actor CCH Pounder on The Rundown podcast, and I’m totally envious.

Pounder — who you might remember as the awesome Detective Claudette Wyms on The Shield — is a renowned art collector, and some of her pieces are on display at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.

The installation, called “Diaspora Stories,” is open through July 16. [WBEZ]

Tell me something good …

The “road construction season” is upon us, as you can tell from the traffic on the Kennedy. What podcasts do you play when you’re stuck in traffic?

John Malloy writes:

“I’ve been listening to a lot of Underworld, where two journalists discuss organized crime around the world. It doesn’t have the sensationalism of true-crime podcasts (they don’t discuss specific cases, but focus more on the big-picture), and both of the journalists are self-deprecating enough to add humor to it.

“For a lighter listen, Doughboys. Two comedy writers invite big-name comedy guests on to discuss fast food and give their arbitrary ratings to various chains.”

Feel free to email me. And let me know if you’d like to be included in an upcoming report on how people are handling recent traffic disruptions.