Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling announced his retirement after 30-plus years with the Chicago Police Department and nearly three years as top cop.
🗞️ Plus: Burglaries at video gambling sites soar, Bob Dylan recruits a longtime Chicago guitarist and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Cubs beat the Padres, 23-3; the White Sox lost to the Orioles, 6-1.
✍️ Editor’s note: Look for a special Independence Day edition of this newsletter in your inbox Friday morning. Then it’s back to our regularly scheduled programming Monday.
📧 Subscribe: Get our morning newsletter delivered to your inbox weekday mornings.
⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER ☀️
- Today’s forecast: The heat wave continues with another sunny day and a high near 96. Heat index values are expected to be as high as 102. An extreme heat warning remains in effect through early Friday.
- Work doesn’t stop: Though Wednesday marked the heat wave’s fourth consecutive day, many Chicagoans pushed through and showed up to work. We checked in with some of them as they sweltered in the sun.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Chicago police boss Larry Snelling announces retirement
By Sophie Sherry, Fran Spielman and Violet Miller
Leaving CPD: When Mayor Brandon Johnson introduced Larry Snelling as the next leader of the Chicago Police Department in August 2023, he touted him as a “son of Englewood” with decades of experience policing Chicago streets. Snelling announced Wednesday he would step down as the city’s top cop July 15. Police veteran Fred Waller will again serve as acting police superintendent during a search for Snelling’s replacement, Johnson said.
His tenure: During Snelling’s mostly controversy-free tenure, murders fell to historic lows and the Democratic National Convention largely went off without a hitch. Snelling also had to navigate the unprecedented deployment of federal agents across Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz.
Strife with City Hall: Behind the scenes, tension alienated Snelling and made him determined to leave before the mayoral election, sources said. City Council members said Snelling was unhappy with Johnson’s decision to use each of his three city budgets to shrink the department by attrition — and that he feared it may happen again.
CITY HALL ✶
Financial troubles dogged ex-Lightfoot aide central to City Hall hiring and contracting scandal
By Tim Novak and Robert Herguth
Money troubles: When then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot hired her friend Paul Goodrich as City Hall’s chief operating officer in 2021, she hailed his fiscal experience. But it wasn’t revealed that Goodrich had financial problems, which had seen him face three liens by the IRS for more than $90,000 in unpaid income taxes. Lightfoot won’t talk about whether she knew of Goodrich’s financial issues, though sources say he was thoroughly vetted before being hired.
City Hall scandal: After a year on the job, Goodrich helped his college-age son land a paid internship with a city contractor, Robert Blackwell Jr., who sought Goodrich’s help to secure $9.6 million in additional information technology work from City Hall — a hiring and contracting scandal that came to light this spring, three years after Lightfoot and Goodrich left the city payroll.
PUBLIC SAFETY 🚨
Burglaries at video gambling establishments are soaring
By Robert Herguth
Rise in burglaries: Bars, restaurants and other establishments offering video gambling in Illinois were burglarized 473 times in 2025, an alarming rise from the prior year’s 358 incidents. Not even six months into 2026, there already have been more than 500 burglaries. The answer as to why such crime has skyrocketed may be simple: People might be catching on that there’s a lot of cash at stake, and gambling establishments are seemingly everywhere.
Common approach: Crews of young people drive up, sometimes in a stolen car; use tools to smash through the front doors and windows at night when the businesses are closed; then pummel or make off with the devices — video poker machines, ATMs or “redemption” kiosks — to get at the cash. They’re in and out in minutes and, even with cameras and alarms, they’re often not caught by responding police.
COURTS ⚖️
- Chicago FBI chief resigns: Chicago FBI boss Douglas S. DePodesta will leave his job July 6, an unexpected move causing further tumult in the city’s federal law enforcement community, the Sun-Times has learned.
- Men charged in attack on journalists: Felony charges were filed against William Huerta, Rafael Salinas and Jon Twist in connection with the attack on a CBS news crew Monday along the lakefront. Among the charges, Twist is accused of committing a hate crime.
- Dad accused in mom’s death: Eddie Jenkins, who has a documented history of abusing his wife, Kiara, has been charged with murdering her in the backyard of her home in January.
- Cannabis mogul sentenced: David Berger, the co-founder of a major Illinois cannabis company who was convicted in a scheme to lease jets for a Mexican cocaine trafficker, was sentenced Wednesday to one year in federal prison.
- Probation for ex-Austin aide: Chester Wilson Jr., former top aide to ex-Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), received three years of probation and a $20,000 fine for his role in a scheme in which the pair allegedly used their public office to attain granite countertops and other home improvement items.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Campaign contribution controversy: Illinois Senate President Don Harmon’s campaign took, then shed a $50,000 contribution from online casino group ARB Interactive, parent company of a website that state gambling regulators say “is engaged in the operation of an illegal online casino in violation of the Illinois Criminal Code.”
- City’s financial outlook: Chicago closed the books on 2025 with an unassigned balance of negative $52 million — down from zero in its operating checkbook — even after spending controls and higher than expected revenues.
- Alderpersons skip CTA meeting: For the second time in a row, acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen avoided questions from City Council members because too few of them showed up to a required meeting.
- Duckworth heads to Japan: Sen. Tammy Duckworth will leave Friday in an effort to help boost Illinois agriculture and the state’s advancements in quantum technology, her office said.
- Fourth of July travel: Chicago is expected to see its busiest Fourth of July travel period in recent memory, with nearly 2 million passengers moving through the city’s airports this weekend and more traveling by road.
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- Weekly news recap: The Sun-Times’ Rummana Hussain, Politico’s Shia Kapos and journalist Leigh Giangreco break down the week’s biggest stories.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- Student loans: How has repaying your student loans changed? Lesley Turner of University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and callers weigh in.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏀⚾🏒
- Fever coach comments: Indiana’s Coach Stephanie White condemned the harassment of Mercury star Alyssa Thomas and acknowledged her own potential blind spots. That should not be remarkable, but it was worth hearing in the moment, writes Alissa Hirsh.
- Cubs need Boyd: Amid pitching injuries, the Cubs need Matthew Boyd to make a big impact as the summer goes on, writes Vinnie Duber.
- New Hawks: The Blackhawks added physicality and playoff experience in signing Cole Smith and Ian Cole.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 1A: Org. whose locations all operate as cooling centers during heat waves.
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Bob Dylan hires Chicago guitarist for his band after sudden departures
By Mark Guarino
Chicagoans who attend the Bob Dylan concert next Wednesday on Northerly Island will recognize a familiar face: Local guitarist Joel Paterson, who joined the music legend’s band Tuesday.
Paterson, 55, has been a fixture on the Chicago music scene for more than 25 years. Besides his long-time residency at the Green Mill on Monday nights with his quartet, he performs regularly throughout the city and suburbs.
His appearance Tuesday in Austin, Texas, came at a tumultuous moment for Dylan, who reportedly let go two guitarists the week prior. Paterson had received the invitation at least two weeks ago, friend and bassist Casey McDonough said.
The Western Elstons, McDonough’s and Paterson’s long-time country and western swing band, was scheduled to play Simon’s in Andersonville on Wednesday night, but the guitarist announced on the band’s text chain that he couldn’t make it because he “was going to work with someone named Bob.”
“Everybody was really happy for him. Why wouldn’t you be? He’s our pal,” McDonough said.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
How do you plan to observe America’s 250th birthday?
Reply to this question via email (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
Yesterday, we asked you: What’s the most memorable summer job you worked while growing up in the Chicago area?
Here’s some of what you said, edited for clarity.
“After high school, I worked as a demonstrator, now called a guide/lecturer, at the Museum of Science and Industry when I was 17, during the summer of 1961. I learned to give the U-505 tour and can still, more than 60 years later, recite the trophy room speech that started the tour. Later, I met the woman who became my wife; she worked at MSI as well.” — Tom Judge
“For two summers, when I was 14 and 15, I detasseled corn in fields just west of Naperville. You walk the rows manually pulling out the tassels from the female plants in mid-July to allow farmers to cross-pollinate the plants. It was hot, sweaty work but I have a deep and abiding respect for farmers and farm workers to this day.” — Laurie ShoulterKarall
“Gate staff at Ravinia. I learned two fantastic life lessons: How to be okay with being bored, and how to deal with entitled people.” — Jordan Mainzer
“I worked at a Cafe Brauer hot dog stand at the Chess Pavilion location of Oak Street Beach during the summer of 1968. Great weather, friends with the lifeguards, flirting with the girls, great free Sunday music concerts in the park across LSD in Lincoln Park, where the Yippies were congregating prior to the [Democratic National] Convention.” — David Kraft
“The most memorable summer job was Taste of Chicago 1982. The Park District/Soldier Field had refreshment trailers around the fest that didn’t take tickets and only [accepted] cash. We sold pop, dogs, chips and, oddly, candy — free for any Chicago cop and Mayor Jane Byrne. My friend Joey and I made $800 each over three sweltering days — big cash for 1982.” — Marty Regan
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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