Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Laura Murillo’s arrest by ICE last fall was a rupture, both for the city’s immigrant community and for the life she had built around work and her daughters. Six months later, Murillo returned home to find that life, and her place in it, had changed.
🗞️ Plus: The CTA’s plans to deploy violence and mental health help, Chicago’s string lights problem and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Cubs beat the Nationals, 12-6; the White Sox shut out the Reds, 5-0; the Sky fell to the Valkyries, 91-71.
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⏱️: A 7-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌧️
Foggy with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms and a high near 80.
CHICAGO JIGSAW PUZZLE 🧩
Piece together history to reveal more about today’s photo from the Sun-Times archives.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
After 6 months in ICE detention, a tamale vendor rebuilds her life
Reporting by Alma Campos
Chicagoan detained: Through the window of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle last September, Laura Murillo could see her tamale stand near 47th Street and Western Avenue. Murillo, 55, immigrated from Mexico in 2005 then spent nearly 15 years in the tamale business, work that allowed her to support her two daughters. Then she was arrested and spent six months in federal immigration detention.
Inside detention: Murillo was taken nearly 1,500 miles away to a facility in El Paso, Texas. She said she experienced psychological abuse from the guards and met women whose lives outside were beginning to fall away. She had started to lose hope until March, when the federal government unexpectedly released her after acknowledging her arrest had violated a consent decree that limited immigration arrests without warrants.
Different life: Murillo’s daughters, 20 and 17, brought her back to Chicago, where Murillo has been trying to rebuild a different life. She said she’s in the process of obtaining legal status and wants to find work outside of the grueling vendor business. She has also been trying to spend more time with her daughters, who told her how many people stepped in to help while she was detained, offering food, money and overall support. “Mami, you have no idea how much people love you. … You can’t even imagine,” her daughter told her.
TRANSPORTATION 🚆
CTA deploying violence interrupters, mental health clinicians on trains this fall
Reporting by David Struett
Getting personnel: Dozens of non-law enforcement personnel trained to intervene in violence and mental health crises are expected to start riding trains this fall on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red, Blue and Green lines.
$10M pilot: The CTA board approved a $10 million, yearlong Crisis Intervention Safe Ride Specialist Pilot program designed to complement the recent boost in security and police on trains and buses.
How it will work: The specialists, drawn from contracts with four local groups, will don colorful vests while they provide mental, behavioral and drug-use treatment services to those who need it, Nora Leerhsen, the CTA’s acting president, told the board. For example, one group will provide 20 violence intervention specialists on the Red Line, seven days a week, from Roosevelt to Lake Street from noon to 3:30 a.m.
CITY LIFE 💡
String lights not permitted under little-known municipal code rule
Reporting by Stephanie Zimmermann
Lights out: String lights, those decorative flourishes adorning hundreds of outdoor dining areas in the city, aren’t allowed in the public way. That’s according to an inspector from the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, who recently had Mitch Einhorn, co-owner of Lush Wine & Spirits in Roscoe Village, take his lights down.
Code word: In an email, a BACP spokesperson said that “under the Municipal Code of Chicago, string lights are not permitted in sidewalk cafes.” It’s unclear why they aren’t allowed. BACP just said it “conducts complaint-driven investigations at businesses throughout the City of Chicago to ensure compliance with Chicago’s Municipal Code,” and those usually originate with calls to 311.
What to do? Einhorn said he doesn’t know who filed the complaint about his lights, and he’s ticked off that the inspector didn’t walk Roscoe Street to see the other businesses with similar white lights. He asked BACP if he could apply for a special use permit for the lights but was told no such permit exists.
LET’S HEAR FROM YOU 🗣️
Have you switched to a concierge doctor or to a doctor at a direct primary care practice? Or has your primary care doctor switched to a concierge model?
The Sun-Times and WBEZ are interested in hearing about your experience for an upcoming story. Reach out to Sun-Times Reporter Elvia Malagón here.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Deadly Portage home explosion: An 86-year-old woman was killed Tuesday after her home suddenly exploded into flames as severe storms began to sweep through the area, toppling trees, downing power lines and damaging residents and cars.
- Heat-related death: A 94-year-old woman who died in July is the 11th person in Cook County whose death has been tied to extreme heat, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
- Fed agent pleads guilty: Adam Saracco, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, was sentenced to a year of court supervision after he admitted to attacking lawyer and activist Robert Held last year.
- Calling a bluff? A City Council majority accused Bally’s of using Chicago’s ongoing battle over video gambling terminals as an excuse to slow down construction of a $1.7 billion casino and entertainment complex that they contend the company can no longer afford to build.
- New businesses in Pullman: Following a Chipotle opening Thursday, local leaders in Pullman announced 2027 plans for a Starbucks, a Tropical Smoothie Cafe and Chicago’s first Slim & Husky’s, a pizza chain that counts former Bears star Matt Forte as an investor.
- Shedd gets more whales: Four more beluga whales were expected to leave a troubled adventure park in Canada and arrive at Shedd Aquarium early Thursday, joining four other Canadian rescues that arrived here last month.
CHICAGO HISTORY 🌕
When the men who walked on the moon walked through Chicago
Reporting by Justine Tobiasz and Sun-Times staff
On this day: In August of 1969, Chicago welcomed Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. and Michael Collins to the city only a few weeks after their stop on the moon. Confetti cascaded down from skyscrapers in a ticker-tape parade and millions lined the streets of Chicago’s financial district to get a glimpse of the three Apollo 11 astronauts. One small step for man was one giant celebration in Chicago.
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- Addressing gun violence: Dr. Selwyn Rogers, founding director of the University of Chicago Medicine Trauma Center, joins the show to offer his perspective as a trauma surgeon and discusses the root causes of this American problem.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- Home surveillance: Do you have a Ring camera? Would you put one up if the police asked you? Callers weigh in.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾🏈🏀⚽
- Asking what if? The White Sox retired Ozzie Guillen’s number, sure, but they could’ve had all-time great Terry Francona — twice, writes Steve Greenberg.
- Sox Pope Hat resellers: Those White Sox-themed Pope hats that the team recently gave away at a game are now reselling online for $50 or more.
- Training camp dispatch: Bears coach Ben Johnson has softened his tone, saying QB Caleb Williams is no longer “drowning” in his offense.
- WNBA denounces ‘bad faith’ debate: The league on Wednesday criticized those trying to create a narrative about transgender women playing in the league.
- Stars fire head coach: Having fallen in last place, the Stars dismissed coach Martin Sjögren after less than a year with the club.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 7A: Bird on the Illinois State Flag
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Rare half-male, half-female bird spotted at suburban Chicago preserve
Reporting by Elijah James
Local researchers and bird-lovers were in awe this spring when they spotted a rare bird with both male and female characteristics at a nature preserve in suburban Barrington.
The mysterious bird, a bobolink, was identified as a bilateral gynandromorph: The bird’s body was divided down the middle, with one side having male characteristics and the other side female.
Luke Dahlberg, a conservation seed program manager with Citizens for Conservation and longtime birder, first encountered the bird May 10 at the organization’s Hill ‘N Dale Preserve. Due to its dual color, he named it “Black and Tan,” and experts say its discovery can help provide a greater look into the condition.
The bird is no longer at the preserve, but Dahlberg hopes it returns next spring.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Where in the Chicago area do you like to go for some fresh air?
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Edited by: Satchel Price
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