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This Tuesday, read up on the invasive plants infesting Chicagoland’s forests, an update on Michael Madigan’s impending sentence and the local history of the gyro. |
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A volunteer helps remove buckthorn. (The Morton Arboretum) |
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European buckthorn — an ornamental shrub that escaped cultivation — has earned a reputation as public enemy No. 1 for ecologists and conservationists. Like most invasives, it crowds out native plants, creating a mono-culture that offers few benefits to wildlife. In a dastardly twist, buckthorn also emits a toxin — emodin — that kills or stunts other flora. The question facing land managers today is how to capitalize on the increased awareness of the threat buckthorn poses and involve more people in the fight against this formidable opponent. People who aren't, say, professional restoration ecologists employed by forest preserve districts. Because buckthorn doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's everywhere that birds drop the seeds of buckthorn berries — backyards, office parks, roadsides.
A 2020 census revealed that buckthorn accounts for 36% of trees in the Chicago region. That survey, led by Morton Arboretum, used sample plots to estimate total numbers. Lindsay Darling, a researcher at the arboretum who specializes in data analysis and mapping, drilled down even further. Darling took high-resolution aerial imagery gathered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and combined it with airborne LiDAR (a type of laser scanning technology) to map the location of buckthorn stands, as well as other shrubby invaders like honeysuckle. The results, recently published in the journal Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, confirmed land managers' worst fears: Shrubby invaders have infested nearly 80% of the region's forests.
How to fight it:
The scope of the problem is almost unfathomable, but "the stakes are so high that we can’t give up,” Darling said.
“We can get rid of (invasives). It’s just really expensive and time-consuming,” she said, pointing to natural areas like Morton Arboretum and the Chicago Botanic Garden, both of which are pretty much buckthorn-free.
“It's not impossible, it's just really hard,” said Darling. |
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Gyros may have traveled from Istanbul to Athens, but its American soul belongs to Chicago. (WTTW / David Hammond) |
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Long before gastropubs and gourmet doughnuts, Division Street near Rush Street was Chicago’s unofficial party row, a blur of flashing lights, disco beats, and thin gold chains. In the 1970s, when nightlife didn’t slow down until near sunrise, you needed something fast, filling, and just a little trashy to soak up the booze and keep the groove alive all the way home. That something was often gyros.
If you’ve never had a gyros (and if not, you really should rectify that immediately), here’s the breakdown. The word “gyros” comes from the Greek for “turn,” and it refers to seasoned lamb and beef (sometimes pork or chicken), shaped into a vertical cone, roasted slowly on a spit, and shaved into ribbons of sizzling, savory glory. It’s typically stuffed into warm pita bread, topped with tomato, onion, and a cooling dollop of tzatziki, a cucumber-yogurt sauce that tastes like ranch dressing’s Mediterranean cousin.
Today, gyros are practically everywhere, including small storefronts and white tablecloth restaurants. What many don’t realize is that Chicago is the city that gave gyros their American glow-up.
The gyro’s American debut likely traces back to George Apostolou, a Greek immigrant who served them at Lawndale’s Parkview Restaurant as early as 1965.
But it was the creation of the pre-formed meat cone that changed the game. Before that, chefs hand-packed slabs of meat onto rotating spits, a time-consuming process that yielded an inconsistent product. Enter Peter Parthenis, a Chicago engineer and a regular at local Greek restaurants. At that time, the imported vertical rotisseries kept breaking down and made-in-Greece replacement parts were not easy to procure. Parthenis was asked by some restaurant owners to build a sturdier model using local components that could be procured and installed locally. |
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Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan leaves the Dirksen Federal Courthouse after the first day of his corruption trial on Oct. 22, 2024. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois) |
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Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan on Monday afternoon strolled into a 12th-floor courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago — the same spot where four months earlier a federal jury found him guilty following his landmark corruption trial.
Madigan on Monday returned to the courthouse where a jury of eight women and four men convicted him in February on charges of bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud. The hearing comes just days before Madigan is set to be sentenced in that case — prosecutors are seeking a 12.5-year prison term; the defense has asked for probation.
During that brief hearing, U.S. District Judge John Blakey rejected Madigan’s motion for acquittal or a new trial, setting the stage for Madigan’s sentencing to go ahead Friday. |
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More From WTTW News: |
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A production that originated at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company took home two Tony Awards Sunday night. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose” won best play, and Kara Young took home the award for best performance by an actress in a featured role for the production that first opened in Chicago in 2024. The play moved to Broadway and is running in New York through Aug. 31, 2025.
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Back in the Day: June 10, 2005 - Red Sox Play First Game at Wrigley Field |
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Before 1997, matchups between Major League Baseball teams from the American League (AL) and the National League (NL) only occurred during spring training, the All-Star Game, and the World Series. That year, MLB introduced interleague play, which allowed teams from both the NL and AL to compete against each other during the regular season. From 1997 to 2001, only teams geographically close to each other played games against each other, meaning that the NL Central would play against the AL Central and so forth. By 2002, MLB started allowing rotating cross-country matchups between select teams. This meant that in 2003, the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs would match up for the first time in MLB regular season history. The two had last faced each other in the 1918 World Series (the Sox won the series 4-2) where the Cubs played in Comiskey Park. On this day 20 years ago, the Red Sox played in Wrigley Field for the first time ever, losing 14-2 thanks to a great performance from the Cubs offense and pitcher Greg Maddux. Since 2023, MLB has allowed every team to play each other during the regular season.
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This Week’s Staff Recommendations |
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Every Tuesday, WTTW News staffers highlight their favorite things in and about Chicago. This week, it’s Abena Bediako, Judy and John McCarter Family Fellow for WTTW News and “Chicago Tonight,” on her favorite Black romance novelists that you can find at local bookstores.
Abena Bediako: I am a sucker for a good book, but what I love even more are romance novels. Some of the greatest forms of literature came from the romance genre, and while they may be far fetched themes and plots they are the greatest form of escapism for me. Here are my favorite Black romance novelists that you can find at your independent Chicago bookstore.
Talia Hibbert
First up, is actually a writer recommended to me by my lovely co-worker, shout out to Shelby Hawkins. Talia Hibbert is a New York Times Bestseller for her extremely popular and beautifully written novel, “Get A Life Chole Brown.” But she has countless others that will grip you. Hibbert writes contemporary and paranormal romance with very diverse plots and characters varying in race, ethnicity and body shape. My favorite by her so far is “Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute.” It’s one of those ex-best friends turned rivals force proximity themes with plenty of comedy in every chapter.
Kwana Jackson
Kwana Jackson is one of those hidden gems because she goes by two names in the literature world, K.M. Jackson. I personally prefer her latest work as Kwana. She is another longtime proponent for diversity in the publishing industry. Do yourself a favor and read “Real Men Knit” and then reward yourself a second time and pick up “Knot Again.” They won’t disappoint! Jackson has been tapped by Oprah Magazine, ShondaLand and NPR for their Best Romance lists. And she is now a USA Today Bestseller. Trust me, she deserves every one of these accolades.
Jane Igharo
Last, but certainly far from least is the brilliant Nigerian novelist, Jane Igharo. I don’t know if it’s her journalism background and connection to West Africa (Ghanaian over here) but either way I vibe with her books in a way I can’t describe. She writes about strong, audacious, beautifully flawed Nigerian women much like the ones in her life. If you’re in the market for a new coming of age story, read “With Love, Miss Americanah.” You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but most importantly, you’ll feel inspired. |
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What's your favorite animal that you can spot in the Chicago area? Tell us why. |
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. |
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry |
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