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This Thursday, we have the latest on Trump’s threats to send the National Guard into the city. Plus, more from WTTW News. |
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Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at an event in Maywood, Illinois on Aug. 27, 2025. (WTTW News) |
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Gov. JB Pritzker said he’s received no word from the Trump administration following reports that they may use the Naval Station Great Lakes outside Chicago to house federal immigration agents or National Guard troops who could be deployed in Illinois. The governor on Wednesday said his office has not received any calls from the White House or federal officials regarding the suburban naval base near North Chicago after President Donald Trump had threatened to send troops into Chicago.
“They don’t seem to want to communicate at all,” Pritzker said following an unrelated event in Maywood. “And that’s odd, because it sounds like what they’re trying to do is to march right over local police.”
The Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday reported that agents from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection would be housed at Naval Station Great Lakes beginning in September.
More context:
If Trump makes good on his latest threats, Chicago would join Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and become the third American city to be occupied by federal troops deployed over the objections of local leaders. All three cities are led by Democratic mayors who are Black and have refused to help carry out Trump’s goal of implementing the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”
Citing an email from Navy Cpt. Stephen Yargosz to his leadership team Monday, the Sun-Times reported the feds' operations would be “similar to what occurred in Los Angeles earlier this summer.”
Chicago and Los Angeles are also self-proclaimed sanctuary cities and have refused demands from federal officials that local law enforcement help federal agents deport undocumented immigrants.
“The attacks on Chicago and Illinois are not about safety and security, we know that,” U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Chicago), said at a separate event Wednesday. “They are about trying to terrorize the resistance … and yet Trump and his loyalists are willing to weaponize the government against political opposition in communities because we resist his unconstitutional agendas.” |
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Sponsor Message |
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The Illinois Mycological Association will display fungi foraged in the region's forests at the group's annual show, Sunday, at the Chicago Botanic Garden. (Courtesy of Kate Golembiewski) |
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Depending on how you look at things, fungi is either the third-best or third-least known of the kingdoms of life.
There are plants and animals, or animals and plants, in the top two spots with fungi trailing in the distance (never mind the two or three other kingdoms biologists don't even totally agree on).
“Fungi have gotten the short end of the stick,” said Kate Golembiewski, a science writer who works in public relations at the Field Museum. “Compared to animals or even to plants, fungi have just been kind of pushed aside for a really long time.”
The Illinois Mycological Association (IMA), a group of fungi-philes of which Golembiewski is a board member, has been working for decades to give mushrooms' public image a boost. On Sunday, the organization will host its annual mushroom show at the Chicago Botanic Garden, where locally foraged fungi — including Chicago's own will take center stage in all their fascinating, weird, beautiful-ugly forms.
Some backstory:
It was at the IMA exhibit, a couple of years ago, that Golembiewski became hooked on mushrooms (the fruiting bodies of fungi), after being shown the charismatic bird's nest fungus (Nidulariaceae).
“They’re these tiny little cups that contain little packets of spores that look like a tiny little nest with little eggs in it…. Fancying myself as someone who kind of knows some stuff about nature, I was like, ‘I’ve never heard of any of this,’” she said.
The event is also IMA's largest recruitment effort. The organization promises fun with fungi but engages in serious business too, namely a project to document all of the estimated 1,500 fungi species in the Chicagoland region and perhaps identify some new ones. |
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Chef Curtis Duffy appears on “Chicago Tonight” on Aug. 26, 2025. (WTTW News) |
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Decorated chef Curtis Duffy has made his mark on Chicago’s food scene over the past 25 years.
Now he’s sharing a little more than fine dining. His new book, “Fireproof: Memoir of a Chef,” outlines his rise to success and dives deep into challenging and traumatic events he faced throughout his childhood.
In 2015 he released a documentary, “For Grace,” that also touched on his personal story while showcasing the journey of opening his first restaurant, Grace. But Duffy felt those featured moments in the film only scratched the surface of his story. Working on his memoir with co-writer Jeremy Wagner gave him an opportunity to further explore his life.
“Every story led to something new, some new discovery, something that I put away for many years, kind of shuffled under the carpet as we all do,” Duffy said. “It was very therapeutic in that sense.” To learn more about Duffy and his remarkable journey, click here. |
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Chicago taxpayers paid $100,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed by the family of a Park Ridge teen who was pinned to a sidewalk by an off-duty Chicago police sergeant more than three years ago, an incident that was captured on a video that went viral, records show.
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Back in the Day: August 28, 1990 - Plainfield, IL’s EF5 Tornado
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On this day, 30 years ago, the only EF5-rated tornado to ever strike the Chicago area touched down in suburban Plainfield. Aug. 28, 1990, was a remarkably hot and humid day, and meteorological conditions were prime for a supercell thanks to an unstable atmosphere and a cooling low-pressure system from the northwest. One formed near Janesville, Wisconsin, and moved south towards Illinois. At 3:15 p.m, a tornado formed near Oswego, and for the next half hour raged through Kendall and Will counties. It killed 29 people and 350. The tornado left a 16.4-mile-long damage path, which ranged from 600 yards to a half-mile in width. It caused an estimated $380 million in today's dollars in damages, with about 470 homes destroyed and 1,000 damaged. To date, it remains the only EF5 tornado to strike the Chicago area and the only one to happen in the U.S. during the month of August. What’s weirder is that thanks to low clouds, rain and low visibility, no known photographs or videos of this tornado exist. |
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This Week’s Arts and Culture Events |
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Every Thursday, WTTW News arts correspondent Marc Vitali highlights the city’s must-see cultural events.
Marc Vitali: From the semi-obvious to the semi-obscure, a roundup of arts recommendations awaits — but business before pleasure.
If you’re an artist or know one, this Saturday is the Healing Arts Chicago Summit. Art plays a powerful role in supporting wellness. This summit brings together artists and health workers, and people with arts training can even become certified community healthcare apprentices. It’s presented by DCASE, the Department of Public Health and host Malcolm X College, more info at Chicago.gov/HealingArts. Be well. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
The 2025 Chicago Jazz Festival – various downtown locations
In the waning days of summer, Jazz Fest brings wall-to-wall music to drown out the cicadas. Big names jam all kinds of jazz in venues outdoors and in — see a show at Preston Bradley Hall in the Cultural Center if you can. Always terrific is the Next Generation program on the Harris Theater Rooftop Terrace. Talented youth from Kenwood Academy, Whitney Young and Jones College Prep (among others) play with purpose. Aug. 28-31.
“Buñuel: Master of Dreams” – International Museum of Surgical Science
The exhibition itself sounds surreal — a celebration of a great surrealist artist inside North America’s only museum devoted to surgery. Visionary Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel goes under the knife, so to speak, in honor of the 100th birthday of surrealism (roughly, birth records of arts movements aren’t very exact). With screenings, ephemera and no anesthesia. Opens Aug. 29.
“Hershey Felder’s Rachmaninoff and the Tsar” – Writers Theatre, Glencoe
The music and story of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff are brought to life by Hershey Felder, who has the virtuosic talent to pull it off. Felder is known for his uncanny ability to portray composers on stage (Gershwin, Chopin, Beethoven). In this play with music, Rachmaninoff reflects on his escape from Russia in 1917, and he’s haunted by the mystical presence of Tsar Nicholas II. Through Sept. 21.
“Clue a Drag Parody” – Steppenwolf Garage
No, this isn’t the season opener for the Tony Award-winning Steppenwolf ensemble, but it is part of their Lookout series. The murder-mystery farce stars some of “Chicago’s best and brightest queens,” and I won’t argue with fab folks with stage names like Neutral Gena and Squeaky Banks. It’s a whodunit in drag with Colonel Mustard, Mrs. Peacock and murder. We like to save one pick for silly, weird and fun events, and this checks off all the boxes. Aug. 28-30.
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Where's your favorite place to see live music in Chicago? 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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