It’s Tuesday. Baseball is back (the Cubs lost their season opener in Tokyo this morning) and we’re filling out our March Madness brackets. Here’s what else is happening in Chicago.
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Endangered sunflower sea stars — debuting at Shedd Aquarium — can grow as many as 24 arms and have as many as 15,000 tube legs. (Shedd Aquarium)
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A group of microscopic sunflower sea star larva arrived at Shedd Aquarium last year and have been bulking up behind the scenes ever since. Now, after growing 16,000%, they’re ready to make their public debut.
The tiny sea stars — just 2 inches in diameter — may be hard to spot in their habitat at the moment, but they won’t stay that way. The sunflower is one of the largest species of sea stars and can reach up to 3 feet in diameter.
Star power?
Like a lot of aquatic creatures, sea stars have a certain Zen quality to them. That appearance is deceiving.
“Sunflower sea stars are actually voracious predators,” Rachel Zak, senior aquarist of aquarium sustainability at Shedd, said in a statement.
What else do they do?
In the wild, sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) are a keystone species in kelp forests and they primarily prey on urchins, which would otherwise over-graze on kelp. By keeping the urchin population in check, sea stars help maintain ecosystem balance in kelp forests, Zak said.
Which is why it’s concerning to scientists that a mysterious wasting disease has reduced the global population of sunflower sea stars by 90%, to the point the sea stars are now listed as critically endangered.
Shedd's efforts:
Shedd is raising the sunflower sea stars as part of a collaborative international program to save the creatures from extinction. The team at Shedd has already collected data about the optimal conditions for rearing larval sea stars and will continue gathering information throughout the sea stars’ ongoing development, information that could prove crucial to the species’ survival.
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Adrián Viajero Román at “Archivos Vivos,” his new exhibition at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)
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“What is home to you, and where is home? Home could be anywhere – it could just be in your own mind, your own emotions,” says Adrián Viajero Román. The New York artist stood in front of a tribute to his grandfathers, both of whom moved to the United States in the late 1940s. “They were the first to migrate from Puerto Rico to New York,” he said. Román pointed to his mustachioed abuelo. “He fought in the Korean War and was murdered in his hometown later in life.”
The piece is titled “Perhaps Home Is Not a Place but Simply an Irrevocable Condition.” “During the 1940s, Puerto Rico started Operation Bootstrap with the government here to bring Puerto Ricans over for work,” Román explains. “They thought that they’d just be coming to work and then come back. But you end up staying, and it becomes your life.” Those lives are reflected in the new exhibition “Archivos Vivos” at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture.
Based in Brooklyn, Román now has his first show in Chicago. He’s enjoying the stretch of Division Street in Humboldt Park known as Paseo Boricua, and he wishes New York City still had a place like it. The artist spoke with WTTW News about the large yet intimate graphite images he draws on wood panels. The portraits are embedded in a setting of everyday items and heirlooms – a straw fedora, steamer trunks and machetes.
“Archivos Vivos” will be on view at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Art and Culture until Jan. 17, 2026.
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Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle appears on “Chicago Tonight” on May 11, 2023. (WTTW News)
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Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has announced she is running for reelection. Running as a Democrat, Preckwinkle has held office as Cook County Board president since 2010. She is the first Black woman to be elected in the role. In her last reelection bid in 2022, Preckwinkle won against Republican candidate Bob Fioretti in the general election.
Preckwinkle cited building upon efforts of her current tenure such as criminal justice reform, expanding health care access and relieving medical debt. Preckwinkle pointed to being proud of “having balanced budgets year after year, without any new taxes,” according to a campaign email.
“With a new administration at the helm in the federal government causing chaos and uncertainty, now is not the time to step aside from this important work,” Preckwinkle wrote in a campaign email. “Now is the time to lead the fight to protect all residents of Cook County."
More backstory:
Before her role as Cook County Board president, Preckwinkle served nearly two decades as an alderperson of Chicago’s 4th Ward on the South Side, representing Kenwood, Oakland, Douglas, Grand Boulevard and Hyde Park. In 2019, Preckwinkle ran for mayor of Chicago and advanced to a runoff election before losing to Lori Lightfoot.
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More From WTTW News
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Chicago activists and attorneys alleged Monday that federal immigration agents violated the rights of 22 people, including a U.S. citizen, in immigration enforcement arrests during the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Veteran theater critic Hedy Weiss review Skokie's Music Theater Works production of “Guys and Dolls."
Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in 2023, diversity is in decline at medical schools nationwide. Here's what that might mean for health care nationwide.
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Back in the Day: March 18, 1925 - The Deadliest Tornado In Illinois History
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On this day 100 years ago — March 18, 1925 — what is now known as the Tri-State Tornado ripped through Southern Illinois, Missouri and Indiana. The storm raged across 219 miles and killed 695 people. To this day, it’s the deadliest tornado in not just Illinois but United States history. The ‘20s did not have the meteorological and broadcast tools to alert the public of a tornado warning, which partially explains the devastating nature of the storm. Broadcast media began disseminating tornado
warnings in 1954 while the outdoor sirens originally designed to be used in case of an enemy attack, were made available for tornado warnings around 1970. With reported winds of roughly 300 miles per hour, experts are convinced the tornado would have been classified as an EF5 tornado—the highest designation in the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
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This Week’s Staff Recommendations: Tea Shops
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Every Tuesday, WTTW News staffers highlight their favorite things in Chicago.
Shelby Hawkins, associate producer for WTTW News: After moving to Chicago from Washington, D.C. last summer, starting a new chapter of my life and career, I was determined to find my third space in a post-pandemic world. As an avid tea enthusiast (two of my tattoos are tea-themed!) I figured finding a good tea house would be a decent place to start. Here are my top three favorite finds.
Chiya Chai (2770 N Milwaukee Ave, Logan Square)
Chiya Chai is an Indian restaurant, bar, and, as the name suggests, a tea shop wrapped into one. It’s a cozy place to relax for a while and try one (or two) of their 18 different flavors of chai, and maybe grab a samosa.
Go to order: Ginger cardamom chai.
The Coffee & Tea Exchange (3311 N Broadway Ave, Lakeview)
The Coffee & Tea Exchange is a great place to stock up on herbs, spices and loose leaf teas for an at-home collection. This store, however, has no seating area so it’s just a grab-n-go shop. But the literal barrels of herbs displayed on the floor really make me feel like a scavenger.
Go to order: Hot London fog with vanilla oat milk.
Eli Tea Bar (5507 N Clark St, Andersonville)
Queer-owned and operated Eli Tea Bar is my neighborhood tea house that has just about everything from kombucha on tap to boba. It’s become a cozy community space for me where I keep finding my way back, especially for Tuesday night trivia.
Go to order: Iced strawberry matcha latte with tapioca balls.
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What's your favorite fun fact or piece of trivia about Chicago?
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
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