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Happy Friday. End your week with a new column from science and nature reporter Patty Wetli and more stories from WTTW News. |
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A bulldozer slices through Bell Bowl Prairie, March 9, 2023. (Courtesy of Jessie Mermel) |
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Patty Wetli: This week, we received an update on the status of Bell Bowl Prairie.
If you’re thinking, “Wait, didn’t Rockford Airport plow under that ancient prairie back in 2023?”, you have a good memory.
Yes, the fight to save the prairie failed. But some of Bell Bowl’s soil was salvaged from the construction site. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission and the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County all took part in the rescue mission.
Some 20 dump trucks full of soil were transported to the Cedar Cliff Nature Preserve, a new-ish Winnebago County preserve created in 2017, located about 3 miles from the airport. Formerly farmland, the preserve’s 167 acres are being restored to prairie, making the site the perfect repository for Bell Bowl’s soil.
“The idea is that the soil still contained a seed bank,” along with microorganisms and fungi, according to Mike Brien, director of natural resources Winnebago County forest preserves.
In a video interview with Wild Ones, a nonprofit organization that promotes native landscapes, Brien explained that a suitable site was chosen within Cedar Cliff, where Bell Bowl soil was spread four inches deep on top of the young prairie restoration.
Results in 2024 were promising and 2025 “has been fantastic,” Brien said. Species like violet wood sorrel, hoary puccoon, small skullcap and porcupine grass have popped up — some of which are quite rare, all of which are indicative of a high-quality gravel prairie.
These plants “aren’t represented elsewhere at this site,” Brien said. “The assumption is that they came in on that [Bell Bowl] soil.”
While the goal always is to protect on site what little is left of Illinois’ remnant prairies, the successful (so far) transplanting of Bell Bowl is better than losing the prairie for good.
“This project represents a new chapter for Bell Bowl Prairie,” Brien said. “The genetics of those plants will live on in perpetuity here at Cedar Cliff Forest Preserve.” |
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The House of Representatives attempts to convene but cannot due to Texas Democrats breaking quorum at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Mikala Compton /Austin American-Statesman via AP) |
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A downstate Illinois judge has rejected a request from Texas officials to arrest and return absent Texas Democratic House legislators who fled to Illinois back to their home state.
Eighth District Judge Scott Larson in a ruling published Wednesday said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton “failed to present a legal basis” for the Illinois court to consider civil arrest warrants filed in a different state.
“This court, under a petition to show cause, does not have the inherent power to direct Illinois law enforcement officers, or to allow the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, or any officer appointed by her, to execute Texas civil Quorum Warrants upon nonresidents temporarily located in the State of Illinois,” Larson wrote.
Some backstory:
That order comes as Texas Republicans continue their efforts to force the absent House Democrats to return home amid an ongoing congressional redistricting battle.
Paxton had asked an Illinois court in Quincy to enforce warrants issued for the absent lawmakers in Texas so they could be arrested beyond that state’s borders. He and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott want state courts to remove Democratic lawmakers from office, asserting that they have abandoned their posts.
The Democrats have claimed the redrawn Texas maps proposed by Republicans would disproportionately affect districts represented by Black and Latino Democrats and have raised concerns about Abbott and Paxton’s use of law enforcement and the justice system against their political opponents.
Texas Democrats intend to run out the clock on their current special session, which cannot extend beyond Aug. 19. But Gov. Greg Abbott said he’ll call lawmakers back to the Statehouse again and again until enough Democrats show up to reach the attendance threshold required to vote on the bill.
Return plan in the works:
Texas Democrats on Thursday moved closer to ending a nearly two-week walkout that has blocked the GOP’s redrawing of U.S. House maps before the 2026 election and put them under escalating threats by Republicans back home.
The Democrats on Thursday announced they will return provided that Texas Republicans end a special session and California releases its own redrawn map proposal, both of which were expected to happen Friday.
Democrats did not say what day they might return. Abbott still intends to push through new maps that would give the GOP five more winnable seats before next year’s midterm elections. |
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(Sakorn Sukkasemsakorn / iStock) |
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Mass deportation efforts are starting to impact the health care workforce. U.S. Census data shows more than half of home care workers in the Chicago metro area are not U.S. citizens. Agencies and clients have started to report issues with immigrant employees not showing up for work out of fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, raids. President Donald Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation operation in American history. Those in the industry believe these actions could shrink an already understaffed workforce.
WBEZ reported 65% of the 24,000 people who worked for Chicago-area home care agencies in 2024 were not citizens.
For Michelle Garcia, ongoing immigration reform efforts are having dire effects. She has cerebral palsy and uses a motorized wheelchair. Her trouble in finding a home care aide caused her to go three weeks without a shower or assistance around her home.
“I depend on health care workers to support me to do my daily activities like cooking, dressing, bathing, and I depend on immigrant home health care workers,” said Garcia, manager of community organizing at Access Living. “ICE raids have decreased their ability to come to support me, because they’re in fear of being detained if they go out of their homes to come to support me, or they fear that ICE can come knocking at my door.”
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Back in the Day: August 15, 1904 - Ravinia Festival Opens |
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(Courtesy of Ravinia Festival) |
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The jewel of suburban concert venues, Highland Park’s Ravinia Festival, opened on this day in 1904. The spacious, 36-acre and picnic-friendly space brings in over 400,000 people annually for its summer slate of live music and orchestra performances, but it was originally designed as an amusement park by the A. C. Frost Company for riders of the fledgling Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad. “If you care anything for good music and derive any pleasure from being amid beautiful, out of doors surroundings, make a journey to Ravinia park,” said an effusive Chicago Tribune critic in 1905. “The evening or afternoon spent in the quiet of the lovely park will do good to your city tired spirits.” The park featured a casino and dance hall, baseball stadiums, a theater, a music pavilion and an electric swing. While the pavilion and space has since been updated, the indoor Martin Theatre is the only structure still standing from the original construction. As WTTW points out, “More than a century later, you can still travel to Ravinia by rail, and trains remain an integral part of the experience as they rumble past during concerts.” Conductor Thomas Beecham said when he led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra there in 1940 that Ravinia is “the only railway station with a resident orchestra.” |
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Nature Calls: This Week’s Outdoorsy Events and Activities |
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Every Friday, WTTW News science and nature reporter Patty Wetli highlights the best ways to get outside.
Patty Wetli: We can’t wait to see what nature has in store this weekend along Chicago’s lakefront during the Air & Water Show. Last year, we witnessed an incredible swarm of dragonflies from our viewing perch at Belmont, and the year before that a flock of geese stole everyone’s hearts, flying in their own V formation alongside the Blue Angels.
For a different kind of air show, head to Hummingbird Fest at Sagawau Environmental Learning Center in Lemont, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Activities will include a demonstration of how the birds are banded for tracking and research.
A Nature Journaling Paddle at River Park is a two-fer event: One part nature journaling workshop, one part canoe trip in the Chicago River for inspiration. Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon; cost is $10, advance registration required.
Lake County Forest Preserves has a trio of restoration work days planned at different locations Saturday and Sunday. Activities could include removing invasive species, collecting native seed or monitoring wildlife. Pitch in at: Pine Dunes in Antioch, Saturday, 9-11 a.m.; Grant Woods in Ingleside, Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon; or Duck Farm in Lake Villa, Sunday, 9 a.m. to noon.
Need a pick me up? Surround yourself with sunflowers. Thompson Adventure Farm in Wisconsin, roughly 55 miles north of Chicago, is kicking off its Sunflower Festival this weekend. The farm’s raspberries are also ripe for picking.
It’s going to be another hot weekend — because it’s still peak summer, even if school district calendars don’t think so. Just a reminder that most Chicago Park District pools are still open.
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What's your favorite music festival held in Chicago? From your neighborhood block party to Lollapalooza, tell us where, why and when. |
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. Here's what you had to say:
“Pitchfork Fest, without question. Hoping something pops up to fill that vacuum.” — @beardlywine.bsky.social
"Lollapalooza" — @itsmetyrinh
"It was Pitchfork…" — Chris P.
"The one that does not screw up downtown traffic for a week." — Ray H.
"The Lollapalooza after shows: same artists with a fraction of the crowds." - @williammcollins
"Hyde Park Summerfest - RIP" -@claire_yvonne
"Blues Fest" -@bishjm
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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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