We hope you had a good weekend and your DNC news hangover has subsided. Today, WTTW News recaps last week’s convention and we have a heartwarming story about balloons that’s not full of any hot air.
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Our Spotlight Politics Team Recaps the DNC |
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WTTW News Spotlight Politics Team: Amanda Vinicky, Heather Cherone, and Nick Blumberg (Credit: Chicago Tonight)
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Last week was a busy one for WTTW News. With the DNC happening in Chicago, we had most of our newsroom on the ground reporting on the happenings throughout and around the convention. From early morning delegate breakfasts to late night post-speech recaps on "Chicago Tonight," our Spotlight Politics team of Amanda Vinicky, Heather Cherone and Nick Blumberg put in long hours to keep Chicago updated.
On Friday, they didn't take a day off. WTTW News Director Jay Smith sat down with our political team to reflect on the Democratic National Convention.
Jay Smith: Let’s start with the local political scene. Local politicians were front and center last week, especially Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson, who both had a lot at stake. Amanda let’s start with the Governor. Did he have a good week?
Amanda Vinicky: This was huge for him. He and his team had, I mean, I'm not exaggerating when I say that they
started campaigning to get the DNC here in 2021… So, it was huge for him, and I think he is elated.
JS: Heather, how about Mayor Johnson? How was this week for him?
Heather Cherone: I think that because there was such a big amount of tension about (what could happen with) protests and everything else, when that really didn't materialize, it felt like everybody was like, ‘oh, this is so much greater than I thought.’ I mean, I think that it went as well as the Mayor could have possibly hoped.
JS: You were very close to it all, but do you have any perspective on how Chicago came off in the glare of the national spotlight?
Nick Blumberg: Yeah, I think anecdotally, I mean all the out-of-town folks that I talked to who hadn't spent much time here before enjoyed themselves and were impressed. And I think convention organizers put in a real effort to try and get people out and seeing some of the beautiful parts
of the city, so that they got an experience that wasn't just, you know, a convention center and an arena.
Read the full conversation here.
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Balloon drop at the Democratic National Convention 2024. All of the balloons were Sempertex brand, made from natural latex obtained from rubber trees. (Emily Soto / WTTW News)
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If you watched Thursday night's finale to the DNC, you saw the celebratory balloon drop following Kamala Harris' speech. Some 100,000 red, white and blue baubles rained down on delegates at the United Center. It's a fun tradition that takes a lot of work. A few dozen of the country's foremost balloon artists gathered in Chicago last week, traveling from 18 states and Canada to pitch in on the DNC installation, inflating something like 1,000 balloons every 10 minutes.
Treb Heining, considered by many the king of balloon art, assembled a hand-picked crew of his peers to work on the DNC installation. He brought them together in support of Tommy DeLorenzo, owner of Balloons by Tommy, one of the Chicago area's premier balloon artists. DeLorenzo has been battling Stage 4 lymphoma since 2022 and received a stem cell transplant on Tuesday.
WTTW News reporter Patty Wetli has the heartwarming story of solidarity here.
"It was a way for us to show community, we all came together," said Alissa Lane, owner of Party Lane, based in Merrillville, Ind. "Honestly, it was an amazing gift. What Treb did was amazing — I'm so happy we were able to rally and show support."
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Read the story
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Newberry exhibit (photo credit Anne Ryan)
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The late journalist Mike Royko was an undeniable but complicated local legend. He was prolific, sometimes writing five columns a week. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for Commentary at the Chicago Daily News, and he later wrote for the Sun-Times and the Tribune. Now, 27 years after his death, the Newberry Library has an intimate exhibition featuring the cream of the library’s Royko collection. WTTW News arts correspondent Marc Vitali interviews Sarah Boyd Alvarez, the library’s director of exhibitions, about the collection.
How did he connect so strongly with his readers?
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Learn more about advertising & sponsorship with WTTW.
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Back in the Day: August 26, 1994 - Johnny Cash Plays Chicago’s Bismarck Theatre
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In the early ‘90s, country icon Johnny Cash was a music industry outcast. Though beloved for his material from the ‘60s and ‘70s, he hadn’t had a hit record in decades. At the time, he was playing at dinner theaters instead of auditoriums and stadiums when star producer Rick Rubin approached him to work on a new album. Their first collaboration was the LP “American Recordings,” which came out in 1994. While not a chart-topper, it was a critical success. Full of covers and a few Cash originals, the record reignited his career.
Thirty years ago today, he performed a rousing show at Chicago’s Bismarck Theatre (now the Cadillac Palace Theatre). Cash performed 28 songs, including several signature tunes like “Big River” and “Folsom Prison Blues” as well as several covers like Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire” and Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” It marked the first of many albums Cash would release with Rubin before he died in 2003.
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Learn more about advertising & sponsorship with WTTW.
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What’s a now-closed Chicago neighborhood spot that you miss dearly?
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your response. Your answers will be published Friday.
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Other News From Around Town:
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11 Best Places to Have a Big Night Out in Chicago (Esquire)
Lincoln Square’s Western Brown Line Stop Will Be Partially Closed Through Sept. 20 (Block Club Chicago)
The Chicago Bears Went 4-0 in Preseason Football. Here’s What Else To Know Before Week 1 (Chicago Tribune)
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Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez will preview the new academic year.
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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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