How mayoral candidates stack up

Good morning, Chicago. ✶

🔎 Below: After deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes overseas in 2018 and 2019, hundreds of lawsuits were filed in Chicago because the Boeing Co. was headquartered here at the time. Now, almost all of those cases have been resolved.

🗞️ Plus: How mayoral candidates stack up, the federal change putting piping plovers at risk and more news you need to know below.

☀️ Today’s weather: Sunny with a high near 67.

☎️ Ask the mayor: Mayor Brandon Johnson will stop by WBEZ’s In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons at 9 a.m. today to answer your questions live on air. Call 866-915-WBEZ (866-915-9239).

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⏱️: An 8-minute read

TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎

Mayoral race revs up as candidates file stacks of nominating petitions

Reporting by Mariah Woelfel

How they stack up: Mayoral contenders on Monday brought tall stacks of nominating petitions to the downtown Chicago Board of Elections office, where election workers measured the stacks with wooden rulers. It marked the start of the weeklong filing period for February’s election, intended to whittle down the crowded mayoral race by cutting from the ballot candidates who fail to collect at least 12,500 valid petition signatures. Officials will certify all candidates on the ballot by Dec. 17.

Signature move: Mayor, city treasurer and city clerk candidates often turn in double or triple the number of signatures needed to be safe from validity challenges. Mayoral candidate and businessman Willie Wilson said he plans to challenge “everyone.”

Chicago tradition: Candidates who turn in their signatures first thing Monday get entered into a lottery for the coveted first spot on the ballot. Others may wait to file on the last day, Oct. 26, for a chance at the last place on the ballot. It’s all to avoid being an overlooked name in the middle of a pack and reel in any uninformed voters who might check the easiest box.

Mayoral candidate standings: Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said he submitted 60,000 signatures. John Kelly estimated he turned in more than 36,000. Wilson turned in an estimated 35,000. Matt Brewer, a commissioner on the Chicago Housing Authority board, said he submitted “over 32,000.” Spokespeople for Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, both absent Monday, said they plan to file later.

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MIDTERMS ☑️

Early voting kicks off in all 50 wards

Reporting by Michael Puente

Immediate decisions: Chicagoans can now more easily cast their early votes for the Nov. 3 midterm election. On Monday, expanded in-person voting opened in all 50 wards and at three Chicago-area universities. Find your polling place here.

On the ballot: In the city, voters are choosing the president and members of the Chicago Board of Education. Statewide, voters are casting ballots in races for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois governor and lieutenant governor, as well as attorney general, other statewide offices and their local members of the Illinois General Assembly.

‘It’s your right’: Among the early voters at Dr. Martin Luther King Community Service Center on Monday was Bronzeville resident Richard Rolark, who told WBEZ he marched in 1965 with King and other voting rights activists when they were attacked by state troopers in Selma, Alabama. “I tell people to vote, and they say … ‘I don’t need to vote.’ I got hit in the back of the head with a rock to try to get the right to vote. Don’t tell me not to vote. It’s your right.”

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COURTS ⚖️

Almost all suits brought over deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes have been resolved

Reporting by Robert Herguth

Lawsuits resolved: Boeing has resolved almost all litigation brought by families of the nearly 350 people killed in two overseas 737 MAX crashes, with a jury awarding the survivors of one of those who perished, Michael “Mick” Ryan, $29 million in August in Chicago’s federal courthouse.

Chicago tie: Because Boeing was based in Chicago until its headquarters moved to Virginia, hundreds of lawsuits were centered at the Dirksen Federal Building in the South Loop. Plaintiff lawyers and Boeing officials won’t say how much has been paid out so far in total, though it’s likely in the billions of dollars.

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ENVIRONMENT 🪶

Illinois animals at risk amid gutting of Endangered Species Act

Reporting by Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco and Kaitlin Washburn

At risk: Changes by President Donald Trump’s administration to the legal interpretation of the Endangered Species Act could put 24 federally endangered species and 12 threatened species at greater risk in Illinois. That includes the rusty patched bumble bee, piping plovers and freshwater mussels.

What has changed: Last month, the administration determined that those razing the habitat where endangered or threatened species breed, feed and shelter would no longer face federal penalties. In a separate, internal memo, the administration made clear that it also plans to reinterpret the law to only ban the intentional killing of an endangered species, letting go of the long-held criminalization of attempts to harass, harm, pursue, wound, trap, capture or collect at-risk species.

In other news: Fall bird migration hit its peak this month, and over the weekend, at least 1,000 birds ended up dead or injured after colliding with buildings.

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MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️

• Bloodhound Q50‘s autopsy: The 22-year-old rapper, born Mikquale T. Cooper, was struck five times as gunmen unleashed 50 shots during an ambush attack last month at a Fuller Park gas station, records show.
   
• Teachers strike averted: The Cook County College Teachers Union Local 1600 and the City Colleges of Chicago reached a tentative contract agreement just hours before a strike was set to kick off Monday.
   
• Remembering Ted Johnson: As an Old Town School of Folk Music teacher and multi-instrumentalist, Mr. Johnson shared the magic of music with decades of students. He died Oct. 10 at age 98.
• Resurrection project support: The Pilsen nonprofit is a finalist in Capital One’s affordable housing solutions program, where it will receive $200,000 for its home-buying support proposal and compete for $4.6 million to execute its plan.
   
• Party on the 96th floor: A new private event venue atop the former John Hancock Center will begin accepting bookings in early 2027, ahead of its planned opening in 2028.
• ‘A Strange Loop’ review: This ambitious, unique show blends satire and meta-commentary in a way that can’t be easily categorized, writes Graham Meyer.

ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻

In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.

• Ask the mayor: Mayor Johnson joins the show in-studio.

Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.

• Home remedies: From soup to tea, we’ll discuss ways people nourish themselves when they’re feeling under the weather. Callers weigh in.

CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭

Today’s clue: Cabrini ___ (former housing project where Candyman is set)

PLAY NOW

FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈🏒🏀

• Stadium saga: Gov. JB Pritzker has indicated he’s confident he and other Springfield leaders can get the best of both worlds while carrying a Bears stadium deal across the goal line. It could even happen in Chicago, Pritzker says.
   
• Bears report: Uncertainty lingers on the offensive line as Jonah Jackson is injured and the team has a decision to make at left tackle.
   
• Kane he do it?: Patrick Kane hasn’t had a “dream start” back with the Blackhawks, but he sees reasons for optimism.
   
• Wilson’s mindset: Bulls rookie Caleb Wilson said he’s not putting too much pressure on his debut Wednesday in Toronto.
   
• Sky’s the limit: Gabby Williams is just another former Sky player to flourish elsewhere, writes Alissa Hirsh.

BRIGHT ONE 🔆

For Chicago’s flute queen V.V. Lightbody, life’s a period piece

Reporting by Selena Fragassi

In Chicago, V.V. Lightbody (whose real name is Vivian McConnell) is permanently on the indie rock speed dial, called upon any time a band gets a craving for some extra wind instruments.

She has worked with Twin Peaks, Whitney, Finom and Elizabeth Moen. And demand is not just among Chicago musicians — let’s not forget Harry Styles.

“That was a crazy one-off scenario,” she said of filling in for his gig at the BBC Radio One’s Big Weekend Festival in 2022, also contributing keys, guitar and vocals, all of which she is equally versed in.

But after years of supporting other musicians, including being a proud “album doula” in the studio, Lightbody is finally back with her first proper solo album in six years: “Period Piece,” released Oct. 9.

“In these songs, I’m thinking deeply and feeling the world pretty heavily,” Lightbody told the Sun-Times. “You feel the pressure of a person who’s trying to live, but that feels really exciting to me.”

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YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

What are your home remedies when you’re feeling under the weather? 🤧

Reply to this question via email (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.

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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Michael Lansu
Copy edited by: Satchel Price