Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: After his office moved to drop charges in a third case handled by the prosecutor at the center of the “Broadview Six” fiasco, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros says he’ll review nearly 20 years of her cases.
🗞️ Plus: Activists urge Chicago to create a violence reduction department, a City Hall artwork remains missing and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The White Sox beat the Guardians, 6-5; the Sky lost to the Sun, 92-63.
⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Mostly sunny with a high near 74.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
‘Broadview Six’ damage spreads with review of 20 years of one prosecutor’s cases
By Jon Seidel
Big review: U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros announced plans Monday to review nearly 20 years of grand jury proceedings involving veteran prosecutor Sheri Mecklenburg, who’s at the center of the tainted “Broadview Six” case, as he moved to permanently drop charges in another case she handled in which similar misconduct claims have surfaced.
The filing: Boutros personally filed a nine-page motion dropping charges tied to a 2018 arson at a West Side grocery store, using the document to make the case that “the presumption of regularity to which [the government] is entitled under the law should not be shaken.”
10 in 3: Ten defendants in three cases have now seen their federal criminal charges permanently dropped as a result of the grand jury controversy in Boutros’ office. Questions remain about who redacted alleged misconduct by a veteran prosecutor from transcripts given to U.S. District Judge April Perry.
PUBLIC SAFETY 🚨
Activists, government officials urge city to create gun violence reduction department
By Violet Miller
Push for action: A coalition of city and county officials and advocacy groups is pushing for the creation of a new city Department of Gun Violence Reduction. Few details were discussed regarding staffing or what the department might look like.
The ideas: Officials said the department should have a $100 million budget made up of existing public safety money. The city plans to spend more than $3 billion on public safety this year, meaning the proposal would take up about 3% of that spending.
Weekend violence: The plan comes as violence in Chicago is down, with the fewest homicides in 2025 the city has seen since 1965. Still, eight people were killed — including a 14-year-old boy — and nearly 40 were wounded in multiple shootings over the Juneteenth holiday weekend, according to the Chicago Police Department.
ARTS AND CULTURE 🎨
The case of the missing City Hall artwork
By Tim Novak and Robert Herguth
Gone art: A painting that has been in City Hall’s public art collection since the 1980s and was last known to be hanging in the office of a top aide to former Mayor Lori Lightfoot is missing. The artwork is by artist Bill Cass, who says he sold the 3-by-5-foot painting to the Chicago Public Library in the 1980s. City officials say they don’t know what happened to it.
Emails obtained: The painting had been hanging in the City Hall office of Paul Goodrich, who was Lightfoot’s chief operating officer, from about the end of 2021 until May 2023, when Mayor Brandon Johnson succeeded Lightfoot. Emails show Johnson aides discussed where it might be, planning to press Goodrich on its whereabouts. They never reported the missing artwork to police. Goodrich told the Sun-Times he didn’t take it.
Bottom line: It isn’t that valuable. City officials estimate the untitled painting is worth between $500 and $1,000. But it is city property, though it’s not listed among the roughly 700 items in an inventory of city-owned art objects. The cultural affairs department says it “does not maintain a list of missing artworks.”
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- MSI’s new $22M project: The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry plans to break ground this year on a project that will reopen the 133-year-old edifice’s south entry for the first time in a century, and add an indoor cafe with seating on the building’s renovated terrace.
- Accused killer on trial: Two witnesses who saw Henry Graham fatally punch banking executive Russell Long on the Magnificent Mile in 2023 testified Monday that the shocking attack was unprovoked. Graham’s defense said he lacked the “mental state” to prove intent.
- Hospital could lose power: West Suburban Medical Center might have its power shut off next month because the owner is behind on electric bill payments. The beleaguered hospital was recently shut down by the village of Oak Park because all 28 of its elevators stopped working.
- Ready for video gambling: Beverly, Lake View, Mount Greenwood and Printers Row are at the front of the line for the city’s first state-sanctioned slot machines outside of Bally’s Chicago Casino. We name the bars and restaurants lining up for the machines.
- F1 arcade opening: The Midwest’s first Formula One arcade will open Aug. 14 at Grand Avenue and State Street in River North. Among its plans are 61 full-motion racing simulators and watch parties for races.
MUST-READ COMMENTARY 🗣️
- Raymond E. Crossman and Justin Ian Sia: As the number of people who identify as LGBTQ+ in America rises, gains in social and political acceptance are eroding. Here’s how you can help.
- Alden Loury: Count Black men among the wonderful dads and father figures in many people’s lives, including mine.
- Neil Steinberg: Happy birthday to me, her and President Donald Trump.
- State Rep. Curtis J. Tarver II: The Southeast Side or Hammond, Indiana, should beat Arlington Heights for the Bears’ stadium.
- Rummana Hussain: A “foreign” sport no more — Americans finally get soccer.
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- Interrupting violence: Chicago Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Emmanuel Andre, Cedric Hawkins of Chicago CRED and Sam Castro of the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago discuss what’s next after a violent weekend.
- Hospital bills: The Sun-Times’ Stephanie Zimmermann talks about a new analysis that sheds light on hospital billing.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- What would you do as mayor?: Joe Ferguson of the Civic Federation, who’s also a former Chicago inspector general, is the guest as callers weigh in.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏀⚾
- NBA Draft: Tuesday is Round 1 and the Bulls have picks No. 4 and No. 15. The Bulls are set to come out of the first round as a much more talented franchise. They’ve already acquired big man Nic Claxton.
- Negotiated recovery: After the WNBA announced that the regular season will expand to 50 games in 2027, the players union secured minimum standards for facilities and staffing to help players recover.
- Steeling himself: The Cubs’ Justin Steele opened up about losing years of what should’ve been his prime — and the success he “knows” is coming.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 1D: Time slot for two 2026 Bears games (abbr.)
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Novel is love letter to Chicago’s indie music scene
By Selena Fragassi
In another life, Susannah Felts might have found her path as an indie rocker in Chicago’s turn-of-the-century pack of musicians. Instead, Felts found her calling as a writer. In the early and mid-2000s, she worked up a familiar byline in the Chicago Reader, married another writer (Chicago’s “The2ndHand” zine maker Todd Dills) and eventually moved back to Nashville.
But Felts never forgot the fertile time she spent as an observer and admirer of Chicago’s music scene, and made it the epicenter of her new novel, “The Come Apart,” released June 15 on Northwestern University Press. It follows the story of Maggie Corbin and her up-and-coming band Spinning Birds from 2008 to 2010 as they struggle to get a sophomore record going during the Great Recession. At the same time, complex inner-band dynamics, a freak bike accident and unexpected family drama end up setting the quartet and Maggie on a different path.
Felts pays incredible attention to detail in the book, like coming up with Maggie’s catchy lyrics and mock interviews with a music journalist, as well as a faithful replication of the era. From waxing about Pitchfork Music Fest to late nights at Danny’s Tavern in Bucktown and Rainbo Club and Maggie’s day job at Holfax Café — inspired by former West Town spot Bite Café — the book reads like a love letter to the scene that she watched from the outside for years.
“The artistic journey Maggie is on, the place she’s at in her life, those feel very real to me and reflect my own experience with writing,” Felts said. “And I hope those are universal themes for other people trying to make a life in art and believing it’s possible.”
VIDEO: RIDING CLUB ▶️
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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