Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: When Emanuel “Chris” Welch became Illinois House Speaker, a women’s group and a fellow state representative called for an investigation into domestic violence and sexual harassment accusations against him. Five years later, one person says, “I don’t think it was ever spoken of again.”
🗞️ Plus: A new state law hides hospital finances, a century-old movie theater prepares to reopen and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Cubs beat the Cardinals, 10-2; the White Sox fell to the Yankees, 3-2.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER ☀️
Sunny with a high near 81.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
As Welch navigates new crisis, old scandal remains unresolved
Reporting by Robert Herguth and Mitchell Armentrout
Previous claims: When Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch was first elected to the powerful legislative position in 2021, the National Organization for Women’s Chicago chapter raised concerns over accusations that he had engaged in domestic violence and sexual harassment years earlier, saying the accusations were serious enough to warrant an investigation.
Unresolved crisis: Five years later, as new questions emerge about whether Welch slow-walked sexual harassment accusations against now-former state Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, there’s no indication that any investigation into Welch occurred. Said one person familiar with the situation: “I don’t think it was ever spoken of again.” If so, it’s unclear why.
Key context: A Hillside Democrat, Welch was chosen as speaker after his predecessor and longtime political ally, Michael J. Madigan, was forced out of the post amid a corruption investigation that later saw him charged, convicted and sent to prison.
HEALTHCARE 🩺
New state law keeps hospital finances hidden from the public
Reporting by Kristen Schorsch and Kaitlin Washburn
Hidden money: A new law in Illinois requires hospitals to file more financial information with state regulators, giving them a deeper look into whether medical centers are struggling. But these records will be hidden from the public, the law states, limiting how much patients, their doctors and even community leaders like city councils know about the hospitals.
Wavering support?: This is one piece of a broad law Gov. JB Pritzker signed in June “to support at-risk hospitals, strengthen our statewide care infrastructure, and defend the interests of patients and taxpayers,” he said at the time. State lawmakers approved the new law unanimously, records show. After WBEZ raised questions about shielding hospital finances from the public, some lawmakers now either say they don’t support that part of the law or suggest it could be changed.
Patients rally: On Tuesday, patients and supporters rallied in Daley Plaza, denouncing that aspect of the new state law and also demanding that Pritzker reopen two abruptly shuttered safety net hospitals, Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park.
WEATHER 🌪️
4 tornadoes hit Chicago area during Monday’s storms, officials say
Reporting by Elijah James and Mary Norkol
Hit hard: People across the greater Chicago area on Tuesday were dealing with the effects of heavy thunderstorms and four confirmed tornadoes from the day before. Officials said communities hit hardest during Monday’s storm include Chicago Heights, Maywood, Crestwood, Bolingbrook, University Park, Libertyville and portions of the South Side. In Downers Grove, crews on Tuesday recovered the body of a contractor trapped in a storm drain.
Four tornadoes: One tornado hit south suburban Lansing while another passed through Country Club Hills, Hazel Crest, Harvey and Homewood. Both tornadoes had gusts topping 110 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The other two tornadoes hit Glen Ellyn and Orland Park, each with winds reaching a maximum speed of 85 mph, according to NWS.
Chicago damage: Chicago reported nearly 600 homes were flooded. The storm rain also overwhelmed some streets and brought down or damaged trees in several neighborhoods. According to ComEd, more than 530,000 customers lost power.
LET’S HEAR FROM YOU 🗣️
Do you have flooding questions? Ask our journalists. Fill out this form to share your questions about flooding in and around Chicago.
CITY HALL 🏛️
- Mayor’s CFO abruptly exits: Mayor Brandon Johnson is losing his chief financial officer, Steven Mahr, just as Chicago prepares to host a crucial investors conference and an emboldened City Council gears up for a grueling election-year budget season.
- Reelection still unannounced: Mayor Johnson said Tuesday he has not decided whether to forge ahead with a battle for reelection or to walk away after a single term. He did OK unnamed supporters to start circulating petitions and gather signatures needed to get on the ballot.
- Race shapes up: Among the prospective candidates vying to replace Johnson: Outgoing Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Cook County Board of Review Commissioner George Cardenas, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who has not formally announced, boasts a campaign war chest of nearly $22 million.
- IG knocks city’s rat tactics: In other news, Inspector General David Glockner said the city needs a “unified strategy coordinated across city departments to cut rats off from the resources that let them thrive and multiply,” instead of throwing poison at the problem.
EDUCATION 🍎
- State bans cellphones in schools: Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Tuesday intended to keep students’ eyes off their phones and on their schoolwork, adding Illinois to the list of states that ban distracting devices in the classroom. School districts are required to implement the ban in time for the 2027-28 school year.
- CPS vows no furloughs: Chicago Public Schools officials said they would not furlough staff for five days in the upcoming school year, reversing that initial plan to save money and keep the budget balanced. CPS said it’s now counting on the city to send more money from special taxing districts.
- 5 uncontested board races: Voters in at least a quarter of Chicago’s school board districts will see only one name on their ballot in November’s historic elections as candidates continue to be removed after challenges.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Man sues feds for Blitz raid: Leo Feler of Lake View alleges immigration agents entered his home without a warrant and arrested a construction worker he’d hired, during the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz last fall.
- 6 months for judge threats: James Lebuhn of Libertyville was sentenced to six months in prison after threatening two federal judges in Texas and Florida with letters containing pictures of bullets.
- Geothermal apartments: The developers behind Chicago’s first geothermal and all-electric apartment tower broke ground Tuesday, at a time when the city sorely needs more apartment construction.
- Food giants want you back: Chicago-based companies like Kraft Heinz, Conagra and Mondelez are grappling with an increasingly hard-to-please consumer base and rising inflation.
FILM 🎥
Historic theater is set to reopen with new owner, cheap tickets
Reporting by Courtney Kueppers
New showtimes: Jordan Stancil, the new owner of Chicago’s 400 Theater in Rogers Park, was raised in the movie business, as his great-grandfather started a small empire of theaters in northern Michigan. Now, the 52-year-old former foreign service officer and one-time candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives is going all in and expanding the 400 Theater once again.
Opening Friday: Stancil plans to reopen Friday, marking a new chapter for the historic cinema, which closed in 2023 after more than a century of continuous operation under various names and owners. Stancil said he and the theater’s neighbors are eager to reopen the somewhat scrappy theater, which is why he’ll start showing movies even before many of his planned updates are underway.
‘Bootstrap kind of thing’: “Sometimes people say, ‘Who’s the investor?’ Well, the investors are the people that buy tickets week after week,” Stancil said. “This is a bootstrap kind of thing.”
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- Talking GLP-1s: GLP-1 drugs are a treatment, not a cure, for obesity. Dr. Silvana Pannain of the UChicago Medicine Center for Weight and Metabolic Health explains why you should know the difference.
- What’s it like to take them?: A panel of residents across the Chicago region discusses how these medications changed their health, their relationships with food, and the complicated decisions involved in taking or stopping GLP-1 drugs.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- Where are you a regular?: Whether it’s at your neighborhood dive, your longtime barbershop or your favorite café, becoming a regular at a local institution can be a gratifying experience. Ashok Selvam of Ravenous and Kara Meyers of Metric Coffee, along with callers, weigh in.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾🏈🏀
- Murakami’s hometown struck by quake: White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami said he was “deeply in shock” after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake Tuesday hit his hometown of Kumamoto, Japan, reportedly killing at least 13 people and leaving many missing.
- Trade deadline nears: Having put the front office in a position to buy at the trade deadline, the Cubs are excited by who they’ve already got and who they might add in the coming days.
- Bears camp starts: On the first day of training camp, Bears coach Ben Johnson doubled down on insisting QB Caleb Williams complete “70% of the balls thrown.”
- She’s got next: Sky’s Sydney Taylor is not an All-Star yet, but the right people are noticing her.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 2D: “L” line that has segments that date back to 1892
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
George Clinton expands his Afrofuturist universe through paintings on display
Reporting by Erica Thompson
As a boundary-pushing pioneer of funk music, George Clinton imagined entire mythologies of beings from outer space. He also says he has encountered them, and tried to capture one 1976 experience in his painting titled “In the Daytime, Bobba!” which depicts a white spaceship hovering over Earth against an intense blue sky.
The painting is displayed with other works in his new art show, “Mothership,” now showing at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in West Town through Sept. 5.
“He is a pre-internet architect of Afrofuturism vocabulary and imagery,” said Mariane Ibrahim, a French-Somali gallerist who also owns spaces in Paris and Mexico City.
“To think about Black bodies in the cosmic [realm], as technological bodies, he was one of the first artists to engage with that,” Ibrahim said. “My parents used to look at him like, ‘He’s totally crazy.’ But this craziness had the color of my skin, so I felt entitled to be crazy as well, to free myself.”
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What’s the most memorable Lollapalooza performance you’ve seen? Please include the year and what made it so significant. 🎶
Reply to this quesiton via email (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
On Tuesday, we asked you: If you were to be incarcerated, what sound from the outside world would you miss most?
Here’s some of what you said…
“Of course, the sound of my family. Maybe the sounds of the lake and the waves hitting the rocks. Perhaps the birds chirping at sunrise.” — Brice Notardonato Ellett
“The water lapping against the barriers on Lake Michigan.” — Daniel Christie
“The crack of a cold one.” — Bryan Murillo
“My daughter’s voice, birds in the morning, rain hitting my window late at night, cars driving by.” — Mimi Gates
“Cicadas.” — Dennis Willis
“I’d miss the voices of my loved ones, and the laughter that ensues when we’re together.” — Christine Bock
“Live music, casual conversation, my feet on a sidewalk as I walk wherever I want to go.” — Paul Lockwood
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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