Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: City and state laws to prevent buses and other vehicles from idling and spewing fumes into the air are almost never enforced, despite the problem occurring “every day, every block.”
🗞️ Plus: A memorial ride for a cycling advocate, alderpersons promise to reject a plan to sell Chicago’s parking meters and more news you need to know.
✍️ Correction: A previous version of this newsletter misstated the origins of a plan to sell the city’s parking meters. The entity that owns the meters, Chicago Parking Meters LLC, is seeking to transfer the meters to a New York-based company.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌥️
Partly sunny with a chance of thunderstorms and a high near 86.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Idling limits on diesel vehicles are rarely enforced
By Maya Cederlund
The laws: A 2006 state law limits diesel vehicles’ idling time to 10 minutes per hour and imposes penalties for violations. Illinois legislators said it aimed to protect the environment and reduce exposure to diesel pollution, which can harm health and disproportionately affects marginalized communities. And Chicago has its own anti-idling ordinance, passed in 2009, which limits idling time to just three minutes an hour.
The reality: In the 20 years that the state law has been in effect, it almost never has been enforced, our review has found. Over that period, the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County sheriff’s office each have issued just one citation. Enforcing the law would require an inordinate amount of officers’ time, a sheriff’s spokesperson says. The problem occurs “every day, every block,” Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) says.
‘Like a chimney’: Amy Eickhoff says the charter buses that idle outside her 62-floor building downtown spew fumes so noxious that people living there avoid going out on their balconies. She also sees buses idling regularly outside the nearby Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower. “All those fumes do is go right up the side of the building like a chimney,” she said.
CITY HALL 🏛️
22 alderpersons will reject parking meters’ sale, accuse Johnson of holding back info
By Fran Spielman
Rejection plans: At least 22 City Council members say they plan to reject the sale of Chicago parking meters to a New York investment firm, after accusing Mayor Brandon Johnson of withholding critical information from the Council and of secretly agreeing to a June 30 deadline to authorize the transaction.
Message to mayor: In a sharply worded letter to the mayor delivered Monday, the alderpersons say their decision to block the transfer of city parking meters from Chicago Parking Meters LLC to Stonepeak Partners is based “on the fact that your administration has systematically withheld the information necessary for proper evaluation.”
More from City Hall: Johnson’s campaign fund, Friends of Brandon Johnson, is readying to return a $250 contribution from an IT consultant who was the subject of a scathing report from City Hall’s inspector general.
HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT 🏘️
Neighbor wants to block Lincoln Park museum’s expansion
By Kyle MacMillan
Boutique build: Nestled on a residential street in Lincoln Park, Wrightwood 659, which opened in 2018, is one of Chicago’s most influential boutique museums. It’s constructing a new 10,000-square-foot satellite structure on the site of two former 19th-century residences. A lawsuit filed by neighbor Lisa Berron aims to block the build.
Key claims: Berron said she bought a third-floor condominium at 675 W. Wrightwood Ave. 22 years ago and planned to live there into old age. Her suit alleges negligence and malfeasance in terms of how she was informed of the museum’s project, how alterations were made to her building, and how Wrightwood entities bought two other units in her building and infiltrated her condo association.
At issue: The lawsuit raises larger questions about neighborhood museums and what they can and can’t do in residential areas.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Memorial ride for killed cyclist: Hundreds of cyclists rode through Bridgeport on Monday to honor Riley O’Neil, a Chicago Department of Transportation employee and champion of improving road safety. O’Neil, 35, was fatally struck by a truck driver while biking Friday.
- Boy charged in mass shooting: A 13-year-old boy was ordered held on gun charges Monday after police accused him of carrying out a shooting that wounded four children, ages 11-14, Saturday night in Bronzeville.
- Boutros pushback: More than 100 former federal prosecutors who served in northern Illinois delivered an extraordinary rebuke Monday of Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, saying there’s been a “failure of leadership” in an office with “a renowned history of excellence pursuing justice.”
- Spencer Leak Jr. services: Public visitation will be Thursday at Leak and Sons Funeral Home in Grand Crossing. A celebration of his life will take place Saturday at the House of Hope in Pulllman.
- HIV treatment research: A new study finds that widely used flu medications have the potential to reduce cognitive decline as well as premature aging in people living with HIV, according to Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
- Researcher booted from conference: A Northwestern University researcher and several other diabetes experts were escorted out of a medical conference Friday in New Orleans for handing out copies of an editorial criticizing President Donald Trump’s attacks on scientific research.
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- Rideshare union efforts: A bill awaiting Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature could allow Illinois rideshare drivers to pursue collective bargaining. Drivers Giovanni Suarez and Ebony Echevarria discuss what the law could mean for them.
- LGBTQ+ history: Guests Karen Morris of the LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project, Norma Seledon of Equality Illinois and storyteller Jay Myers reflect on the history of the movement and on Pride month.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- Public art: Faheem Majeed of the Floating Museum and Sun-Times contributor Genevieve Bookwalter talk about the city’s large collection of public artwork. Callers weigh in on their favorite pieces of public art.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾🏀
- Batter ups and downs: Cubs’ Alex Bregman isn’t the only big name who’s finding it hard to get his bat warmed up this season. Manny Machado, Bo Bichette, Austin Riley and Matt Chapman have also fallen short.
- Sox’ possible All-Stars?: Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery, Davis Martin and more are making legitimate cases for trips to the Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia.
- High school boys basketball: With June’s summer shootouts upon us, here are four questions to be answered in the coming weeks.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 3D: How one might feel after waiting for a ghost bus
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Girls’ lemonade stand leads to new murals in Lincoln Park tunnel
By Genevieve Bookwalter
The new murals in Lincoln Park’s LaSalle Drive underpass started with two girls, a dream and a lemonade stand.
It ended up, says artist Cheri Charlton, as “this larger-than-life, illustrated storybook that you walk through,” featuring flora and fauna found in and around Chicago.
Titled “Day into Night: Lincoln Park’s Living Canvas,” the two 100-foot murals stretch through the tunnel connecting to the North Avenue Beach.
The works came about after Elizabeth, 11, and Lillian Jahn, 10, asked if Charlton, their art teacher, might paint murals in the drab tunnel they went through every day on their way to school. They even held a lemonade stand to raise $300 to get the project underway.
The girls’ mother, Julie Jahn, reached out to contacts through her work on the board of Lincoln Park Conservancy. They raised enough money to hire Chicago Public Art Group to shepherd the project through city permitting and other requirements. In fall 2025, Charlton began painting the mural.
Elizabeth and Lillian asked Charlton to include animals, like a squirrel and chipmunk, Jahn says. They also stopped to visit Charlton as she worked.
As a result, “there is something childlike about this mural,” Jahn says.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What’s the best way to spend a rainy summer day in Chicago?
Reply to this email (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
Yesterday, we asked you: How do you feel about the Bears possibly moving to Hammond, Indiana?
Here’s some of what you said…
“I say let them. Go — go now. But pay the remaining lease for Soldier Field and fully fund restoring Soldier Field to landmark status” — Michael Blaine
“Lifelong Bear fan, old enough to understand that the NFL is a business. Old enough to understand the dysfunction in Illinois politics; however [there’s] enough blame to go around, including the mayor and the Bears. I live south so Hammond is a short ride, but if the politicians in Illinois figure it out and Bears stay in Illinois, I will drive 40 miles to see them because I’m loyal.” — Rich Barber
“The continued drama and indecision that encapsulated the now yearslong news about the Chicago Bears possibly relocating across the state line to Indiana is a harbinger of what’s happening in professional sports today: Billionaire owners make decisions that center on boosting the bottom line, rather than on what’s good for loyal fans. Let them go.” — Edward Burry
“It won’t be overnight. I’m disappointed by the move, but they’ll still play at Soldier Field for a bit. It’s a money grab for already rich people.” — Michael Minetti
“It never should have gotten to this point. Leaving Chicago is one thing; leaving the state is another. Since state legislators now have egg on their faces for not coming up with a solution, the new name of the team should be the Hammond Eggs!” — Paul Lockwood
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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