|
It’s a new week. Start your Monday with stories from WTTW News on how Chicago is preparing of ICE actions, possible troop deployments and more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
A community group in Pilsen is handing out whistles so residents can alert each other about ICE raids. (WTTW News) |
|
For the last 54 years, the Little Village neighborhood has played host to a Mexican Independence Day Parade. Things will feel different this year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement strike teams are likely to begin operations around Chicago, and local officials expect agents to target large gatherings celebrating Mexican Independence Day.
While the weekend’s planned events, Sunday’s parade in Little Village and Saturday’s Mexican Independence Day Parade in Pilsen, still proceeded, the two-day El Grito Chicago festival scheduled to take place in Grant Park Sept. 13-14 has been postponed due to the threat of raids.
In addition to ICE agents, President Donald Trump has also been threatening the deployment of National Guard troops or other armed military personnel in Chicago. Neighborhood community leaders say despite the threats, they are still coming together to fight back.
More news:
Chicago Public Schools says it does not intend to offer a remote learning option to students amid a possible deployment of National Guard troops, immigration strike teams or other armed military personnel into the city.
District officials have maintained that schools are the “best and safest place for children,” as concerns in Black and brown communities grow ahead of a potential troop deployment that could begin as soon as Friday.
“Our students are finalizing their third week of the school year, and our focus remains on teaching and learning,” a CPS spokesperson said in a statement. “Schools are consistently following established procedures to welcome students, provide in-person instruction, and keep families informed of any updates. We remain committed to making sure every CPS school is a safe and supportive place for students each day.”
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates last week called on CPS to build up its remote learning infrastructure to allow students who may fear being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents an option to continue learning from home. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Learn about sponsorship opportunities. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Jeremy Zimmerman (right) joined a Field Museum expedition to a Mazon Creek site in spring 2025. Fossils of 300-million-year-old plants and other organisms are buried in spoil piles left over from coal mining operations. (Courtesy of the Field Museum) |
|
Three hundred million years ago, what’s now Illinois was covered by an inland sea teeming with aquatic life. The sea is long gone, but the life is still there, roughly 60 miles southwest of Chicago.
An entire Paleozoic ecosystem is preserved at a site called Mazon Creek (“muh-ZAHN”), which sprawls across more than 250 individual locations in an area of northern Illinois that stretches roughly from the city of Morris to the village of Essex.
It’s one of the most important fossil deposits on the planet and in certain circles, also one of the most famous. Still, a lot of people who live within an hour’s drive of Mazon Creek have never heard of it.
“I had no idea that something like this was so close to Chicago, a world-class fossil location,” said Jeff Allen. “It just sort of blew my mind.”
In 2024, Allen had recently retired from a career as a computer scientist and was casting about for a new purpose. He found it at Mazon Creek, joining long-time fossil hunters from the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois (ESCONI) on expeditions to the site.
“The first time I went out was before I met anybody, and I collected probably 50 pounds of rocks,” Allen recalled. “Then I started meeting people from ESCONI and started to tag along on some of the trips. I started realizing, ‘Oh my god, that first collection was mostly junk.’”
Some facts:
Most Mazon Creek specimens are found in waste piles that are the byproduct of mining operations. Turns out the fossil-rich layer of shale harboring Paleozoic concretions was sitting on top of a seam of coal. The shale was stripped away to get at the coal below, and it’s these spoil piles that fossil hunters comb through looking to strike pay dirt of their own.
To date, the Mazon Creek deposit has coughed up nearly 800 different species, any one of which, either in whole or in part, could be entombed inside a concretion. Maybe a leaf, an anemone, a spider or, quite often, nothing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Chicago police officers patrol a protest in riot gear during the summer of 2020. (WTTW News) |
|
Chicago taxpayers have spent more than $10.8 million to defend and settle lawsuits alleging Chicago police officers committed a wide range of misconduct during the protests and unrest during the summer of 2020 that were triggered by the police murder of George Floyd, according to an analysis by WTTW News.
Taxpayers paid $6.3 million to settle 54 lawsuits identified by WTTW News that were filed by Chicagoans who said they were the victims of misconduct by CPD officers during the protests and unrest, according to records from the Chicago Department of Law.
An additional $4.5 million went to pay private lawyers to defend the conduct of CPD officers from late May until mid-August 2020, one of the most tumultuous periods in Chicago history, according to records obtained by WTTW News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Taxpayers also paid a premium to hire private attorneys to defend the conduct of CPD officers even though two probes found officers beat protesters with batons, doused their faces with pepper spray, used racial slurs and mocked the push for racial justice and police reform. In many cases, that conduct violated protesters’ First Amendment rights and involved unjustified and excessive force, according to the probes.
In the wake of officers’ actions, Chicago faced “an unprecedented volume of civil litigation,” a statement from the Chicago Department of Law. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-
President Donald Trump recently expanded his criticism of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture to include additional museums. WTTW News talked to Cesáreo Moreno, visual arts director and chief curator at the National Museum of Mexican Art, who is sounding the alarm about Trump’s plans to scrutinize museums.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Learn about sponsorship opportunities. |
|
|
Back in the Day: September 8, 1985 - Bears Kick Off ‘85 Season with a Win
|
|
Certain local sports teams are etched in Chicago’s collective memory: the 2005 White Sox, the 2016 Cubs, the 1990s Bulls and the 2010s Blackhawks. But no roster captured the city’s attention and imagination quite like the ‘85 Bears, who lost only one game all season and won Super Bowl XX. On this day 40 years ago, their NFL campaign launched with an opening week win against the Tampa Buccaneers. Quarterback Jim McMahon capped the victory with two rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns. The score ended up 38-28 in favor of the home team, kicking off the best season in franchise history.
|
 |
|
|
|
This Week’s Civic Events and Meetings |
|
Every Monday, WTTW News highlights the best ways to get involved with local government.
City Council’s Committee on Budget and Government Operations
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the City Council's Committee on Budget and Government Operations will hold its mid-year budget hearing for the 2026 fiscal year. Oral public comment time will be available at the beginning, prior to the meeting's start. Details and agenda can be found here.
City Club of Chicago
At noon on Tuesday, Sept. 9, join City Club of Chicago for a roundtable discussion on "The Current State of Immigration: Facts, Impacts & Realities." Featured speakers include Martin Cabrera, CEO and Founder of Cabrera Capital Markets, Dagmara Avelar, State Representative for Illinois' 85th District and Raul Raymundo, co-founder of The Resurrection Project (TRP). Tickets and details can be found here.
City Club of Chicago
At noon on Thursday, Sept. 11, join City Club of Chicago for a roundtable discussion called “Inside the 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial.” Featured speakers include Lee Bey, architecture critic, author and photographer; Mark Sexton, architect and Chicago Architecture Biennial Board Member; and Florencia Rodríguez, artistic director of the 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Tickets and details can be found here.
City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights
On Friday at noon, the City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights will hold a subject matter hearing on “recent efforts to support immigrant and refugee communities in Chicago, as well as federal immigration activity trends in Chicago.” The agenda and further details can be found here. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What’s your favorite Chicago Public Library or suburban branch? Tell us where, why and a recent thing you read from there.
|
|
|
|
Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
5:30 PM | 10:00 PM |
|
|
|
|
Want more WTTW News content? Follow WTTW on Instagram to check in with us daily, go behind-the-scenes, and more. |
|
Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry |
|
|
|
|
