Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Almost every community in the Chicago area is at risk of flooding, and powerful storms are expected to increase. Should you buy flood insurance?
🗞️ Plus: Chicago Housing Authority residents wait a long time for safe housing, we recap the Crosstown Classic and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The White Sox beat the Cubs on Sunday, 9-8, claiming the Crosstown Classic series; the Sky defeated the Lynx, 86-79.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌧️
Showers with a chance of thunderstorms and a high near 82.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Few Chicago residents buy flood insurance, but should they?
By Brett Chase
Insurance isn’t assurance: Less than 1% of Cook County homeowners and residents have flood insurance. Intense storms, fueled in part by climate change, are expected to get worse in the coming decades. Heavy recent rainfall raises the question: Are Chicago homeowners covered by existing insurance policies if their basements flood? The answer is, probably not.
Weather warning: Big thunderstorms are becoming more frequent and dropping more rain in a short period of time. Streets and sewers across Chicago and the Cook County suburbs are not designed to handle so much rain, and that’s sending water into homes. Almost every community in the Chicago area is at risk of flooding.
About that policy: Many homeowners are finding out they don’t have the right insurance to cover losses from water in their homes. Major insurers, such as State Farm and Allstate, will not automatically cover sewer-backup basement flooding as part of a regular homeowner’s plan.
HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT 🏠
CHA resident waited years for safe housing, and there are hundreds more like her
By Lizzie Kane
CHA backlog: It can take years for Chicago Housing Authority residents to move into another unit after filing relocation requests with the agency over safety concerns. Some have been in limbo for seven years. Others have died waiting, according to records.
At issue: Nearly 400 households are on waitlists to move, records show. About 150 of the requests are labeled an “emergency.” And 241 of transfer requests are to accommodate disabilities. Among the other reasons CHA residents have sought emergency transfers are infestation, mold and fire. Records also show 103 transfer requests cite the Violence Against Women Act.
Key context: In February, a CHA employee filed a whistleblower complaint accusing the agency of failing to follow its reasonable accommodations process for residents with disabilities. This comes as about 3,978 apartments out of the CHA’s roughly 21,400 public housing units, or 18%, stand vacant, mostly because they are uninhabitable, records show.
SAM SIANIS 1934-2026 🐐
Sam ‘Cheezborger’ Sianis, legendary owner of Billy Goat Tavern, dies at 91
By Mitch Dudek and Mariah Rush
Chicago legend: Sam Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, died Friday from natural causes. He was 91. Mr. Sianis opened the tavern on Lower Michigan Avenue in 1964, three decades after his uncle William “Billy Goat” Sianis opened its predecessor on West Madison Street. The subterranean location, near the former offices of the Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, was a favorite watering spot for reporters and columnists.
Backstory: After immigrating from Greece, Sam Sianis moved to San Francisco, and then to Chicago to work at his uncle’s tavern. Mr. Sianis went on to own several locations of the Billy Goat and to be immortalized in a classic “Saturday Night Live” sketch.
Key quote: “My dad was always a person who lit up the room when he walked in, always in a good mood,” said Mr. Sianis’ son Bill Sianis, who along with his brother Paul Sianis has operated the tavern since their father mostly retired about a decade ago.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Mom charged in baby’s death: Tatiana Maxwell has been charged with fatally stabbing her infant daughter in Gage Park before allegedly jumping from a second-story window and injuring herself Friday, police said.
- Man charged in fatal shooting: Ammar Houssamo faces murder and gun charges in connection with a fatal Edgewater shooting Thursday, police said. Houssamo allegedly shot a man walking his dog, then turned the gun on himself.
- Feds sue West Ridge business: Yosef Banath has been accused of running a massive nationwide scam that netted tens of millions of dollars from more than 100,000 consumers, according to a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Illinois.
- U. of C. protest: Students, parents and teachers at a private institution for preschool through high school students run by the University of Chicago are rallying against a policy they say hurts teachers’ ability to support marginalized students.
- Synagogue project plans: Developer Fern Hill recently presented updated plans for transforming Edgewater’s Emanuel Congregation into a mixed-use property, following feedback from synagogue members and the community, which include three lakefront towers.
- Ford City Mall to close: A judge ordered the flagging Southwest Side mall to close June 22, affecting about two dozen retailers, including the last anchor tenant, JCPenney. The order comes after city complaints that the property’s poor condition poses an “imminent danger.”
- Lollapalooza’s CPS gift: Chicago Public Schools received a $1.7 million grant from Lollapalooza to expand art education programming. The grant will be doled out over the next five years.
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- Rising costs: Prices are skyrocketing and businesses are feeling the strain. Elliot Richardson of the Small Business Advocacy Council, Michael Salvatore of Heritage Hospitality Group and Julie Horowitz of Virtu discuss.
- What’s That Building?: The recurring series returns, this time spotlighting a historic mansion on Ontario Street now being used as a magic venue. Dennis Rodkin of Crain’s Chicago Business joins the conversation.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- Dining discussion: Award-winning journalist Ashok Selvam talks about new trends, technology and social norms when it comes to dining out after the COVID-19 pandemic. Callers weigh in.
CROSSTOWN CLASSIC ⚾
- Wild bash: The White Sox’ Edgar Quero and Tristan Peters upstaged the Cubs with two memorable home runs Sunday.
- Things got spicy: Fans heckled Pete Crow-Armstrong after the Cub missed a catch Sunday — and he responded.
- Umpire suffers concussion: Brian O’Nora, who has been umpiring in the major leagues since 1992, will be out indefinitely after he was struck in the left side of the jaw by a foul ball during Saturday’s game.
- Post-series analysis: The Sox’ confidence is growing, and rightly so, after their win over the Cubs, writes Brian Sandalow.
- ‘Mune mania’: Sox rookie sensation Munetaka Murakami is helping to create new opportunities for small businesses and the team, with offerings that include Japanese-inspired hot dogs and rice lagers as well as custom jerseys.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 4D: “Golden ___” (nickname for Jackson Park’s statue of The Republic)
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
As Red Line expands, South and West Siders run — and imagine something new
By Somer Van Benton
More than 360 Chicagoans from the West and South sides ran three miles Saturday along 103rd Street to exercise, and to reimagine what the corridor could become.
Runners gathered at Corliss Early College STEM High School in Pullman for the inaugural 103rd Street 5K Peace Walk/Run. The event ended at Percy L. Julian High School with a vendor fair and community conversation about how vacant lots could be transformed into businesses and community centers.
In April, the Chicago Transit Authority broke ground on the Red Line Extension Project, which includes a station planned for 103rd Street. Community organizations are now working to revitalize the corridor from Cottage Grove Avenue to Vincennes Avenue in anticipation of increased traffic and investment in the neighborhood.
In an effort to bridge communities across the city, West Side athletes from Peace Runners 773 run club joined South Side residents to imagine new possibilities for the corridor, like restaurants, gyms and community centers.
“As we keep uniting throughout the city, we create these really big movements that reclaim our spaces, and get the things that we need for our communities,” said Jackie Hoffman, founder of the Peace Runners.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What now-closed Chicago business do you miss the most? Tell us why.
Email your answer (please include your first and last name). We may run your response in a future newsletter or story.
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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