It’s a new week, Chicago. Murder charges have been filed against the man accused of killing Chicago police Officer John Bartholomew and critically wounding his partner in a shooting Saturday at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital. Plus, more stories from WTTW News.
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An image of the McCook Reservoir. (Courtesy of MWRD)
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Flooding in Chicago has always been a possibility during warmer months. Now, with a warming climate, that threat is expanding. And so are the links between the global climate and neighborhood-level impacts.
Since March, multiple rounds of severe storms have caused flooding, plus hail damage and even tornadoes. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, and that moisture can turn into rainfall.
“This is a classic recipe for severe weather,” said Ashish Sharma, the Climate and Urban Sustainability Lead at the University of Illinois’ Discover Partners Institute. “Right now, it’s just happening a little bit more often.”
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) manages several lines of defense against floodwaters in Chicago and 128 suburbs. These include the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan, commonly known as “the Deep Tunnel”; over 35 stormwater reservoirs; and “green” infrastructure and storage projects with partners around the region.
Some backstory:
According to Kevin Fitzpatrick, the assistant director of engineering at MWRD, the work of managing floodwaters begins before the rain even starts to fall.
“As part of (reversing the Chicago River), we created 76 miles of manmade waterways,” said Fitzpatrick. “In advance of a storm, we can let more water out of those canals downstream, and create about 5 billion gallons worth of storage in the canals.”
During a storm, up to 11 billion gallons of water are captured and pumped to treatment plants before being returned to nature.
The system is set up well to handle massive amounts of water – if it can get there. In some areas of Chicago, aging sewer systems struggle to keep up with the volume of water during heavy rains, causing it to back up into neighborhoods.
Working in an urban environment can make infrastructure upgrades difficult, according to Fitzpatrick.
The Chicago area is “a highly dense area, there’s not a lot of room to put in a new reservoir. So we’re having to get creative,” said Fitzpatrick.
Beyond traditional and “green” infrastructure, there’s another area where improvements can be made: information.
Sharma is working on that with others through a new forecasting tool. Predicting when and where flooding will occur is a bigger challenge than just predicting rainfall, and he hopes to give more neighborhood-specific forecasting.
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A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent takes part in an early morning operation in Park Ridge, Ill., Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo / Erin Hooley)
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Attorneys representing hundreds of elected officials, community organizations and attorneys again argued in favor of a special prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes by federal agents last fall during the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement operations, claiming State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has abandoned her own duties to do so.
Cook County Chief Judge Erica Reddick on Friday heard arguments from petitioners who claim a special prosecutor must be appointed to investigate crimes committed during “Operation Midway Blitz” after O’Neill Burke’s office has failed to act.
“The absence of action is an abandonment of prosecutorial authority,” said Locke Bowman, an attorney representing the coalition. “This does not need to be the case.”
Reddick has not yet ruled on the coalition’s request. She scheduled a hearing to do so on May 11.
More context:
They claim that despite “overwhelming evidence” of criminal misconduct carried out by federal agents during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts known as “Operation Midway Blitz,” O’Neill Burke’s office has taken no action to investigate or prosecute those alleged crimes.
Attorneys with the law firm of Loevy and Loevy, which filed the petition, argued this represents a conflict of interest and an “abandonment” by the state’s attorney’s office of its duties.
“These are not just brutal acts,” Meg Gould, an attorney for the coalition, said during arguments Friday. “These are crimes.”
The coalition contends that O’Neill Burke has an “alliance” with federal law enforcement they claim prevents her from taking action against immigration agents.
They pointed to communications sent by O’Neill Burke just before the launch of Operation Midway Blitz last year in which she “explicitly refused to criticize” the Trump administration’s threats to send federal agents into Chicago, because she allegedly saw maintaining her own “excellent working” relationships with the feds as her “top priority” in order to combat illegal firearms.
O’Neill Burke previously said she was “horrified by the thuggish and inappropriate conduct” of federal agents during Midway Blitz.
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An attendee signs a poster during a Red Line extension project ceremonial groundbreaking event on April, 24, 2026, near Michigan Avenue and 116th Street, the future site of one of the new Red Line stations. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
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Chicago Transit Authority and elected officials participated in a groundbreaking event Friday to formally kick off construction for the long-awaited Red Line extension project.
The ceremonial groundbreaking comes after a federal judge recently ruled the Trump administration must temporarily unfreeze about $2 billion in federal funds designated for the CTA’s Red Line extension project and other improvement projects.
“When our federal funding was threatened, we didn’t step back, we stepped up,” said Chicago Transit Board Chairman Lester Barclay during the event. “No community should have to wait generations to connect to its own city. No community should have to wait 60 years to access all its city has to offer."
The $5.7 billion extension would connect residents of the Far South Side — particularly those living in the Roseland, Pullman, West Pullman and Riverdale areas — to CTA rail lines.
The Red Line extension will extend the rail line by more than five miles, starting where the Red Line currently ends, at 95th Street, through 130th Street. Four new, accessible stations will be built at 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue and 130th Street.
The project also involves building a new rail yard near 120th Street.
More on the project:
The extension is expected to serve as an economic catalyst for the Far South Side, according to officials.
The extension project is estimated to create more than 12,500 construction jobs and an additional 60,000 indirect jobs supporting that work, according to the transit authority.
The new extension and stations are expected to be completed and in service in 2030.
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More From WTTW News:
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Back in the Day: April 27, 1926 - Chicago Gangsters Kill Assistant State’s Attorney William McSwiggin
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William McSwiggin was a 26-year-old assistant state’s attorney who was known as the “hanging prosecutor” because of his success in murder trials and had been doggedly trying to convict gangster Al Capone for the 1924 murder of Joe Howard. On this day 100 years ago, McSwiggin was killed in a barrage of machine gun fire outside of a Cicero Saloon along with two other men, James Doherty, a Cicero beer-runner, and Thomas Duffy, a Chicago political fixer. Gangster Al Capone, who had his home base at the time in Cicero, was a prime suspect but was released after questioning. The following day, President Calvin Coolidge used McSwiggin’s murder as a pretext to announce a
nationwide effort to crack down on organized gang violence. Theories and rumors abounded about the murder, but the case was closed in 1927, as the investigation “had failed to uncover any information on who killed McSwiggin.” McSwiggin’s murder remains unsolved, but evidence seized from Capone during the case eventually led to his conviction of tax fraud.
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This Week’s Civic Events and Meetings
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Every Monday, WTTW News highlights the best ways to get involved with local government.
Show Up Chicago
On Monday at 7 p.m., head to the Hideout for a “combination community gathering, cocktail hour, and political panel show.” Guests this week include former Tribune editor Mark Jacob and Steve Held, cofounder of the independent news website Unraveled on a topic titled “The New New Journalism.” RSVP here.
WTTW
On May 6, join WTTW and Chicago Votes for a screening and discussion event centered on "Firsthand: Democracy," the acclaimed docuseries produced by WTTW. During this event, we will screen the Firsthand: Democracy episode featuring Camille Williams of Chicago Votes. Prior to the screening, executive producer Dan Protess and Pat Odom, "Firsthand: Democracy" producer, will provide an overview of the series and the filming of Camille’s story. For more information and to RSVP for the free event, click here.
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What Chicago neighborhood has the best food? Tell us why.
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
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5:30 PM | 10:00 PM
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Want more WTTW News content? Follow WTTW on Instagram to check in with us daily, go behind-the-scenes, and more.
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
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