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Today, WTTW News has stories on tariffs, Lake Michigan’s water cribs and the Joffrey Ballet. Plus, live music recommendations and more. |
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(WTTW News) |
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Businesses are starting to feel the impact of steel and aluminum tariffs that took effect Wednesday. The Trump administration is putting a 50% tax on these metals when they’re imported from other countries. Backers say it’s an effort to protect national security and promote more domestic manufacturing, but critics say it could needlessly drive up costs.
Foreign-made steel is used in household products like stainless steel refrigerators, microwaves and soup cans. Car manufacturers and the beverage industry also rely on aluminum and steel, which they can get cheaper from other countries.
Ray Stout, executive director of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, said the tariffs will be an extra pressure on small beer companies that already deal with small margins from the costs of production. He said many local businesses won’t be able to afford to absorb the costs and will have to shift the price burden onto consumers.
“These craft brewers are paying 13 cents and 25 cents per can,” Stout said. “Even just looking at the independent brewers, if you tack on a 2 cent price increase, that’s well over $1 million that’s either going to have to be paid for by the small manufacturer or passed on to the consumers.”
Robert Gulotty, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, said small companies don’t have the resources to bear the brunt of these tariffs the same way large corporations can, and will therefore be hurt the most.
“You’re not necessarily going to be able to survive by trying to raise your prices on consumers,” Gulotty said. “So you just end up shutting down anyway. Some people can pass on the prices right to consumers, but others, they’re going to be stuck. That means in many cases they’ll never come back. One of the challenges with the tariffs we’ve seen in the past, we look at the communities that were affected. They don’t recover. It just accelerates the sort of deindustrialization of America.” |
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(WTTW News) |
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Have you ever gone to beach, peered out over Chicago's lakefront and wondered about those big, stationary barges out in Lake Michigan? Well, those are called water cribs, and they have a fascinating history and purpose. Toward the end of the Civil War as Chicago’s population began to boom, water from the Chicago River in Lake Michigan was polluted with raw sewage, chemicals and rotting animal carcasses from the Union Stockyards causing epidemics of cholera, typhoid and dysentery.
Enter Ellis Chesbrough, Chicago’s first city engineer and designer of the water delivery system we still use today. Chesbrough’s plan: build an offshore structure called a crib to act as a straw and bring clean water from miles out on the lake through a pipeline and into the city. In 1864, he had one crew working on the shore digging 200 feet below the lake bottom, a second crew building a water intake crib two miles out on the lake digging down and west from there inching toward the other tunnel. With great fanfare, the crib opened in March 1867. Thousands of gallons of fresh, unpolluted water flowed into the new 154-foot-tall Chicago Water Tower and pumping station on Michigan Avenue.
After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the city decided to build more water cribs to spread out the water supply for fire protection. All in all, nine cribs were built off Chicago’s shores. Today, six of those cribs are still standing but only two are in active use. |
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Stefan Gonçalvez, Amanda Assucena, Jonathan Dole and Victoria Jaiani from the cast of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” (Todd Rosenberg) |
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“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” the classic English children’s novel by Lewis Carroll dating from 1865, could hardly be more familiar to audiences of all ages. But the ballet version of the story, as choreographed by Britain’s Christopher Wheeldon — which had its world premiere in 2011 by the Royal Ballet and is now in its Chicago premiere by the Joffrey Ballet — is a wonderfully innovative take on the classic tale.
The show (which has a rotating cast throughout this run) takes you — and Alice — on a crazy journey, with characters full of temper tantrums and more. It might all seem absurd, and alternately both tragic and comic. And the fact is, it even captures something of the essence of our current world.
The show runs through June 22 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive. For tickets, phone 312-386-8905 or visit joffrey.org. You can also purchase tickets at the Lyric Opera’s box office. |
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Back in the Day: June 11, 1915 - Nicholas Metropolis, A-Bomb Scientist and Computer Pioneer, Born in Chicago |
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On this day 110 years ago, Nicholas Constantine Metropolis, a physicist who was instrumental in building the atom bomb with J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, as well as constructing one of the world's first high-speed computers, was born on Chicago's West Side. He attended Austin High School and the University of Chicago, where he served as a lab assistant to Enrico Fermi, the scientist behind the world's first artificial nuclear reactor. He was enlisted to work on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He was present during the atomic bomb test in 1945 and was awarded for his service after the war. Following World War II, he taught at the University of Chicago, but returned for Los Alamos in 1948 to lead a group of scientists in developing one of the world’s first high-speed digital computers, which he gave the acronym MANIAC. He would bounce between New Mexico and Chicago until his death in 1999. |
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Chicago-Area Live Music Recommendations for June 11-June 17 |
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Each Wednesday, WTTW News producer Josh Terry presents must-see live music shows from indie rock to jazz, country, hip-hop and more.
Thursday, June 12:
Florry, Lily Seabird, Glass-Beagle at Schubas. Tickets.
Two of the finest folk-rock bands from the East Coast and one rising act from Chicago.
Friday, June 13:
Cabeza De Chivo, Conjunto Primitivo, Perro Mundo at Empty Bottle. Tickets.
One of the city’s best live bands combines Latin grooves and psychedelia.
Smino at Salt Shed. Tickets.
This St. Louis rapper spent his formative years honing his craft in Chicago.
Saturday, June 14:
The Tubs, National Photo Committee, Joe Glass at Empty Bottle. Tickets.
Jangly riffs, sunny vibes and anthemic choruses radiate from this Welsh band.
Tuesday, June 17:
The Bug Club, Omni at Empty Bottle. Tickets.
Welsh garage-pop and Atlanta post-punk make up this stellar bill.
Perfume Genius, urika’s bedroom at Vic Theatre. Tickets.
One of indie’s best performers takes the stage in Lakeview. |
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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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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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